HUNTSVILLE, Ala. — Though the U.S. Missile Defense Agency wants its future SM-3 IIB ICBM-killer to be “compliant” with the Aegis system, the weapon could expand beyond the confines of the Aegis MK41 vertical launcher. MDA is now in the early stages of planning for a procurement of its new interceptor, which is dubbed SM-3 IIB to emphasize the need to integrate with existing SM-3 systems. But it is not assumed that SM-3 manufacturer Raytheon will necessarily win the contract to do this work.
NEW DELHI and LONDON — The Royal Thai Air Force is slated to receive its Saab 340-based Erieye airborne early warning system in December. The aircraft, along with a regular Saab 340 due to be handed over at the same time, are part of a larger Thai acquisition of an air defense system that has six Gripen C/D fighters at its core. Delivery of the fighters and a command and control system, with three ground-based radio controller sites, are to take place in March to Squadron 701 of the 7th Wing.
LASER HOLD: A flight trial designed to test the 747-400F-based Airborne Laser against a target at twice its previous range has slipped from Aug. 17 to Aug. 21, according to Missile Defense Agency officials. A problem with the tracking camera cooling system on the aircraft, which houses the multi-megawatt chemical oxygen iodine laser, is the culprit. MDA Director Army Lt. Gen. Patrick O’Reilly says target missiles are his “most precious asset,” and he does not want to fire one for the flight test if there is any chance the aircraft will not perform.
SOLUTIONS NEEDED: A leading U.S. diplomat tells the strategic weapons community that Washington is looking for several nonproliferation-related capabilities. “We are looking for new capabilities to support initiatives to further reduce nuclear arms, to secure fissile materials worldwide, and to reliably detect attempts to conduct covert nuclear tests,” says Rose Gottemoeller, assistant secretary of state for the bureau of verification, compliance and implementation. “We are also looking to explore the full potential of the Open Skies Treaty ...
HUNTSVILLE, Ala. — In its efforts to develop an unmanned aerial system capable of detecting boosting ballistic missiles, the U.S. Missile Defense Agency is focusing on a sensor pod that could fly on existing UAVs, rather than a new, integrated UAV design, according to MDA Director Army Lt. Gen. Patrick O’Reilly.
LONDON — The Swiss government has now committed to determining the fate of the F-5 fighter replacement program next month. Among the decisions to be taken between the executive and legislature is whether to proceed with the fighter modernization program at all, and if so, what the scope of the project should be. Swiss officials indicate the decision could immediately be linked to a type selection.
The U.S. Navy has left Congress with precious little time to fully analyze the service’s acquisition plan for its Littoral Combat Ship (LCS), according to the Congressional Research Service (CRS).
New images from NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) show geologically young cliffs on the Moon, indicating that it has shrunk due to cooling in the relatively recent past and may still be tectonically active today.
Boeing Defense, Space & Security President and CEO Dennis Muilenburg says the company will step across the Mississippi River to open its first manufacturing plant in Illinois in support of its St. Louis operations. Boeing is to open a 50,000-sq.-ft. plant to produce unspecified assemblies and subassemblies at MidAmerica Airport in Mascoutah, Ill., late this year or early in 2011. The plant is about 30 mi. from Boeing’s main defense plant in St. Louis, where the F/A-18 and F-15 are manufactured and the C-17 and other programs are supported.
CONSOLIDATION: Kratos Defense & Technology has acquired DEI Services Corp., which provides full-scale technical simulation products for platforms such as the Tiger, Harrier and Prowler fixed-wing aircraft; Black Hawk, Chinook and Sea Stallion helicopters; and M1 Abrams main battle tanks and M2 Bradley Fighting Vehicles. DEI now is part of Kratos’ IT Solutions division, which supports network-centric operations for government and commercial customers. Kratos expects DEI to contribute $15 million-$20 million of revenue in 2011.
An ongoing trial of space-based ship detection by the South African Maritime Safety Authority demonstrated the ability to improve security during the recent World Cup soccer tournament, according to service provider ExactEarth. The Cambridge, Ontario-based company, a subsidiary of Canada’s Com Dev International, is demonstrating the provision of space-based automatic identification system (AIS) data using a microsatellite in low Earth orbit.
Indian Military Aircraft Crashes April 2007 – July 2010 Indian Military Aircraft Crashes April 2007 – July 2010 Date Aircraft Type Service Personnel Killed Civilians Killed/Injured April 05, 2007 Sea Harrier 1 0/0 May 08
The U.S. military is expanding its program to use Afghan companies to produce and sell equipment for the Afghan National Security Forces. Called “Afghan First,” the program helps develop a local manufacturing and procurement base in Afghanistan to provide equipment such as boots, uniforms and other military gear. Thus far the military has spent about $150 million for the program, according to U.S. Air Force Col. Larry Avery, director of the Security Assistance Office-Afghanistan. That amount is expected to grow to at least $500 million, he says.
NEW DELHI – Thirty-nine Indian military aircraft, including the MiG series, Sukhoi and various helicopters, have been lost in air crashes during the last three years, Indian Defense Minister A.K. Antony said in parliament. Of the aircraft lost, 21 were MiGs, including 12 MiG-21s. Thirteen service personnel were killed. The most recent crash was in July. (See chart p. 6.)
The Pentagon’s newly released 2010 annual report to Congress on military developments in China provides some clues about how the country is tackling its missile defense problem. It involves ships, surface-to-air missiles (SAMs), electronic warfare and computer network attack (Aerospace DAILY, Aug. 17). New People’s Liberation Army (PLA) Navy ships reflect the leadership’s priority for an advanced anti-air warfare capability at sea, which has historically been a weakness of the fleet, the report says.
WASHINGTON and LONDON — The U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) is granting the U.S. Air Force an expedited decision on a protest filed by would-be KC-X competitor U.S. Aerospace earlier this month.
COLD FIRE: NASA and Alliant Techsystems Inc. (ATK) will conduct a full-scale test of a five-segment, first-stage solid rocket booster at 11:05 a.m. EDT on Aug. 31 at ATK’s facility in Promontory, Utah. The two-min. static firing will assess motor performance at low temperatures. The heavily instrumented motor will feature more than 760 sensors to measure 53 test objectives. The motor was built for NASA’s Constellation Program; the Ares I rocket would have used the five-segment modified space shuttle rocket as its first stage.
Lockheed Martin and Kaman Aerospace are expected to deploy the K-Max unmanned cargo helicopter to Afghanistan under a U.S. Army program separate from, but supporting, U.S. Marine Corps plans to demonstrate an unmanned cargo resupply capability.
As the U.S. Navy took delivery last month of the DDG 107 guided missile destroyer, the service continued to leverage its long-term shipbuilding experience with the DDG-51 Arleigh Burke Class program to drive down costs and incrementally increase capability. Shipbuilder Northrop Grumman was able to deliver the destroyer with fewer sea trial issues despite having to revamp its yard in Pascagoula, Miss., after Hurricane Katrina, and having to put the ship through its final paces in the wake of the Gulf oil disaster.
HOUSTON — The International Space Station closed in on the full recovery of internal systems on Aug. 18, including the reactivation of power to science experiments, following a serious malfunction of the external cooling system on July 31. Expedition 24 flight engineers Doug Wheelock and Tracy Caldwell Dyson carried out the external recovery from a failure of the Loop A thermal control system pump with a series of three spacewalks that concluded on Aug. 16.
A former NASA contract worker pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court in Houston Aug. 17 to the theft of a NASA flight suit issued to Sally Ride, the first American female astronaut, according to U.S. Attorney José Angel Moreno with the Southern District of Texas. Calvin Dale Smith, 56, of Houston, faces a maximum imprisonment of 10 years and a fine not to exceed $250,000. Smith, who is free on bond, is scheduled for sentencing on Nov. 2 before U.S. District Judge Nancy Atlas.
