The U.S. Navy has established a new program office to manage its unmanned maritime vehicle (UMV) efforts, marrying traditional acquisition and advanced development into a single charter. “The goal is to coordinate [unmanned vehicle acquisition] efforts and then direct specific experimentation and technology maturation,” says new program manager Capt. Duane Ashton.
BUYING BACK: General Dynamics’ board of directors on Aug. 4 declared a regular quarterly dividend of 42 cents per share on the company’s common stock, payable Nov. 12, 2010, to shareholders of record at the close of business on Oct. 8. The board also authorized the repurchase of up to 10 million shares of the company’s issued and outstanding common stock on the open market.
HOUSTON — Nearly 300 participants gathered Aug. 3 for the first NASA International Space Station Research Academy, a three-day offering designed to familiarize researchers and payload developers with the orbiting outpost’s designation as a National Laboratory and its capabilities to support experiments in fields ranging from fundamental biology and physics to biotechnology and Earth observations.
HOUSTON — The Orion rendezvous navigation system demonstration planned for NASA’s STS-134 mission, the last scheduled flight of the space shuttle, holds unusual significance for the future of human spaceflight, according to Lockheed Martin’s Pam Melroy, a former shuttle commander.
HOUSTON — NASA has selected Aug. 6 and tentatively Aug. 9 for a pair of spacewalks to replace the faulty external cooling pump module identified as the cause of last weekend’s abrupt interruption in cooling aboard the International Space Station. Research activities have been suspended until the external repairs are complete as well. The first excursion by flight engineers Doug Wheelock and Tracy Caldwell Dyson is scheduled to get underway on Aug. 6 just before 7 a.m. EDT.
Certain U.S. Army commands misused supplemental money meant to fund emergency responses to terrorist attacks, a recent Pentagon Inspector General (IG) report says. The service commands spent some of the money for items like furniture or even for expenses incurred before the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks that served as the impetus for the funds, according to the IG report, “Management of Emergency Supplemental Appropriations at Selected Department of the Army Commands in Response to the Terrorist Attacks,” released July 12.
Northrop Grumman has completed shore-based pointing and tracking tests with the Maritime Laser Demonstrator (MLD) as a step toward mounting the system on a U.S. Navy ship for at-sea tests of its ability to counter small boats. Shore-based tests at Port Hueneme, Calif., showed the system’s ability to track small boats at long ranges in a maritime environment, and did not involve the high-energy laser, but “proved it’s ready for the at-sea demo,” says Dan Wildt, Northrop’s vice president of directed energy systems.
BENGALURU, India – A high-level naval delegation from the Aeronautical Development Agency (ADA) — the government makers of India’s much-anticipated Light Combat Aircraft (LCA) — is in Russia for contract negotiations and issues related to the program’s shore-based test facility (SBTF).
LONDON — Airbus Military has passed a major structural milestone on the A400M, with the airlifter clearing its ultimate wing-load test. The test exposed the A400M wing to 150% of the maximum load the aircraft would be expected to encounter. During the trial using MSN5000 at Airbus Military’s facility in Getafe, Spain, outside Madrid, the wing deflected upward around 4.6 ft. Both the Boeing C-17 and Airbus A380 failed the test on the first try.
The U.S. Air Force says the first Lockheed Martin Advanced Extremely High Frequency (AEHF) satellite is slated for launch Aug. 12. Once in operation after months of testing, AEHF will begin ushering in a new era for protected, jam-proof communications. This mission is now handled by the Milstar constellation. AEHF will be able to send high-data-rate communications to users around the globe (except for the extreme polar regions).
U.S.-European cooperation in the exploration of Mars has moved a step forward with the selection of instruments for the first of three joint missions to the Red Planet. Set for launch in 2016, the combined NASA/European Space Agency (ESA) ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter will mark a thousandfold improvement in the sensitivity of atmospheric measurements at Mars. One of the gasses it will seek — methane — could be a signature of biological processes on the planet, and already has generated intriguing readings from less capable sensors.
STORM BOUND: NASA researchers are preparing for one of the agency’s largest hurricane research efforts ever, counting six NASA centers, three satellites, three aircraft, 14 different instruments and numerous scientists. The mission, set to last Aug. 15 through September – key hurricane season – also will be the first major field campaign to deploy NASA’s Global Hawk unmanned aircraft, outfitted with “advanced” hurricane-probing instruments.
SPACE SUPPORT: U.S. trade representatives at the Aerospace Industries Association are unveiling a website to help concerned citizens lobby the White House and Congress for space funding. Spaceleadership.org, which offers an expedited letter-writing service of sorts, also links to AIA’s space portal online for documents and social media sites “to help spread the word” while Washington works out a compromise over NASA’s future. “U.S. leadership in space has been recognized across the globe for decades,” AIA President and CEO Marion Blakey said in an announcement.
The Pentagon’s drive to reduce program costs is prompting Boeing to shift engineering jobs for its B-1 bomber and C-130 Avionics Modernization Program (AMP) out of its Long Beach, Calif., facility to Oklahoma City, where labor costs are lower and the company has plenty of space to expand.
PARIS — The U.S.’s first integrated nationwide high-speed satellite-terrestrial mobile satellite service (MSS) is ready to take form following a multibillion-dollar deal between Harbinger-Skyterra and Nokia Siemens.
Amphibious assault remains at the top of the priorities the U.S. Marine Corps is setting for its post-Afghanistan force, according to a leading official at the Navy Department. Robert “Bob” Work, undersecretary of the Navy, told a Center for Strategic and International Studies audience in Washington Aug. 3 that his top six priorities for the Marines will be reflected in the Force Structure Review Group findings, expected in November. Budget effects then would be felt in the Fiscal 2013 process.
TRIDENT OVERHAUL: For the 10-year life of the proposed New Treaty with Russia, the United States expects to have up to two Trident nuclear-armed submarines in long-term refueling overhaul at any given time, according to a fact sheet Aug. 2 from the State Department. When a U.S. ballistic missile nuclear submarine goes into overhaul, the intercontinental missiles are removed from its launch tubes — an issue that goes toward counting strategic weapons under the deal with Moscow.
HOUSTON — The July 31 failure of a coolant pump module assembly on the International Space Station has NASA managers and engineers re-evaluating their strategy for keeping the orbiting space laboratory flush with critical spare parts as the space shuttle retires. The bulky 780-lb. pump module is scheduled for replacement during a pair of spacewalks using one of four external spare pump module assemblies delivered to the station aboard shuttle missions in November 2009 and July 2006. The first spacewalk is scheduled for early Aug. 6.
Lt. Gen. David Deptula, the first U.S. Air Force deputy chief of staff for intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR), says that the service must adapt its procurement system to respond more rapidly to the needs of commanders fighting today’s battles. A quicker acquisition system could be used to field a next-generation unmanned aerial system (UAS) suitable for operations in contested airspace, he says.
DEFENSE PARTNERS: The Brazilian and Uruguayan governments have inked a defense cooperation pact that also calls for greater cooperation in research and development and procurement. Article one of the agreement, signed on June 30 in the border town of Santana do Livramento between the presidents of the two countries, also calls for sharing information on science and technology matters.
ARMY Harris Corp., Rochester, N.Y., was awarded on July 22 a $78,500,000 firm-fixed-price contract for Foreign Military Sales radio base stations, vehicle mounts, and man packs for the government of the Philippines. The work is to be performed in Rochester, with an estimated completion date of Nov. 1, 2010. One bid was solicited with one bid received. CECOM Acquisition Center, Fort Monmouth, N.J., is the contracting activity (DAAB07-01-D-M001).
