The U.S. Navy took another step toward upgrading its shipboard networks recently by awarding two contracts for the System Development and Demonstration (SDD) of its Consolidated Afloat Networks and Enterprise Services (CANES) program. The Navy’s goal with CANES is to create a secure afloat network, streamlining the current infrastructure. CANES also will be used at shore-based sites, in addition to being installed on the Navy’s 300-plus ship fleet.
After a disappointing test run earlier this year, the U.S. industry team pursuing the Non-Line-of-Sight Launch System (NLOS-LS) is mapping out a new path forward, according to Raytheon Missile Systems. Plans should be unveiled within the next 60 days.
NEW YORK — A surge in long-range sniper accuracy is taking place, in part owing to the nature of the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, where snipers play important roles.
LONDON and PARIS — Airbus Military is taking another step in the development of the A400M military airlifter, with the aircraft flying for the first time to Toulouse, France, its second flight-test home. Airbus is splitting flight testing between Seville, Spain, and Toulouse, in part to meet contractual workshare requirements between members. The ferry flight comes several weeks later than planned, with test conditions having been hampered by poor weather in Seville.
TEST FAILURE: Space Exploration Technologies (SpaceX) engineers are examining data from a March 9 on-pad static test of the company’s Falcon 9 launch vehicle that apparently failed at ignition. Flames were briefly visible at the base of the kerosene-fueled rocket, and a cloud of black smoke wafted away from Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Fla., but the planned 3.5-second burn did not materialize.
LONDON — The U.K. is on the brink of adding a fourth Skynet 5 satellite to its military communications network, with an announcement anticipated March 9. Along with the three satellites currently in orbit — Skynet 5A, 5B and 5C — the ministry also procured the main subsystems for a fourth Skynet 5. Originally two satellites were intended to be orbited, with the third acting as a spare.
YAOGAN LAUNCHED: China has launched the ninth unit in its Yaogan series of remote sensing satellites. A Long March 4C launcher successfully placed Yaogan 9 in orbit on March 5, the Jiuquan satellite launch center says, adding that the spacecraft will survey land resources, forecast grain output and help manage disasters — the same tasks mentioned for earlier Yaogan satellites. The Pentagon lists the remote sensing satellites among Chinese military assets.
ARMY Northrop Grumman Corp., Apopka, Fla., was awarded on March 1, 2010, a $79,000,624 fixed-price indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract. The contract is for the lightweight laser designator rangefinders. The work is to be performed in Orlando, Fla., with an estimated completion date of Sept. 30, 2014. Bids were solicited on the World Wide Web with two bids received. U.S. Army Research, Development, and Engineering Command, Aberdeen Proving Ground, Md., is the contracting activity (W91CRB-09-D-0061).
Northrop Grumman’s announcement that the company will not support a joint bid with EADS North America for the U.S. Air Force’s KC-X aerial refueler competition contained a parting shot for the Pentagon and Boeing: Don’t overpay with a sole-source contract. In his March 8 statement, Northrop Grumman CEO Wes Bush says that when his company’s bid won in 2008, the per-unit price was $184 million for the first 68 tankers, including the $1.5 billion development cost.
The first flightworthy primary mirror segment for the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) has passed its mission-readiness review, a milestone that confirms its operational performance in microgravity at temperatures of about 35K (minus 397 F). A contracting team spread across five states was involved in the process of turning powdered beryllium into a mirror polished to a tolerance of just 20 nanometers. For comparison, Ball Aerospace JWST Program Manager Mark Bergeland notes that a common sheet of typing paper is about 100,000 nanometers thick.
WEIGHING TANKER: Northrop Grumman decided to finally abandon its pursuit of the U.S. Air Force tanker replacement (See story p. 1) after the company’s tanker team spent a 10-day closed session in Melbourne, Fla., “to see if they could wicker a solution to how they could turn the tanker RFP requirements into a solution that they could make money on,” one former Air Force chief of staff says.
Detailed images collected over time from Mars orbit are giving scientists more clues to work with as they decipher what’s happening on the active surface. Data from the High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) on the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, combined with in-situ imagery from one of the surface rovers, have produced at least a theory of why some dunes on the planet are moving and some aren’t.
AIR FORCE Wyle Laboratories Inc., West Huntsville, Ala., was awarded an $8,917,289 contract which will provide for the Reliability Information Analysis Center which will research, test, develop, and deliver data analysis and interoperability testing results. At this time, $273,000 has been obligated. 55 CONS/LGCD, Offutt Air Force Base, Neb., is the contracting activity (HC1047-05-D-4005).
LONDON — Alongside doubling the number of MQ-9 Reaper unmanned aerial vehicles it operates, the U.K. Royal Air Force (RAF) also will increase its cadre of Reaper crews from 17 to more than 40 to accommodate the larger number of airframes. An RAF Reaper crew consists of a pilot and a sensor operator.
Boeing is eyeing a place in the persistent intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance UAV arena with its Phantom Eye demonstrator. A twin-engine, hydrogen-fueled prototype designed to stay aloft at 60,000 feet for days, Phantom Eye will have a wingspan of 150 feet and a 53-foot length. The high-altitude/long-endurance (HALE) UAV will take off using a cart and land using nose gear and skids, a design choice made to conserve weight, says a Phantom Works executive.
Top aerospace and defense (A&D) executives are moving to reposition their businesses for an era of leaner Pentagon spending and preserve core capabilities as aging baby boomers retire. But they face formidable hurdles in getting their organizations to execute on the new business strategies, according to a report released March 8.
OBITUARY: Jon C. Jones, the president of Raytheon’s Space and Airborne Systems business, died suddenly March 6 of an apparent heart attack. He was 55. Jones had led the 13,000-employee unit since November 2005 and was one of a handful of company insiders viewed by analysts as a potential successor to Raytheon Chairman and CEO Bill Swanson. The El Segundo, Calif.-based Space and Airborne Systems unit had sales of $4.6 billion in 2009 and an operating profit of $647 million.
LONDON — A tumble in the euro triggered by Greece’s debt crisis is providing some much-needed good news to EADS as the European aerospace giant braces for another big earnings hit from the troubled A400M military airlifter program. The A400M charge came in at €1.8 billion ($2.5 billion), adding to €2.4 billion in charges already taken on the project, which is running three years behind schedule (Aerospace DAILY, March 8).
DEFENSE LOGISTICS AGENCY Allen-Vanguard Inc., Ogdensburg, N.Y., is being awarded a maximum $24,506,533 firm-fixed-price, total set-aside contract for advanced bomb suit and components. There are no other locations of performance. Using services are Army and Air Force. The original proposal was Web solicited with one response. Contract funds will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. The date of performance completion is March 2011. The Defense Supply Center Philadelphia, is the contracting activity (SPM1C1-10-C-0012).
The U.S. Army is stuck in a too-familiar battle between cost and benefit as it prepares to field a host of new Joint Tactical Radio System (JTRS) radios. The issue is not the benefit JTRS would bring to the Army, according to Rickey Smith, director of the Army Capabilities Integration Center-Forward (ARCIC). “The Army is large — that’s the frustration,” he said. “But [JTRS] radios bring huge benefits.”
AIR FORCE Lockheed Martin Corp., Fort Worth, Texas, was awarded a $568,531,272 contract which will provide the incremental funding for the original F-22 weapons system undefinitized contract action modification awarded on Dec. 15, 2009, to authorize and fund the Structural Retrofit Program II and the Reliability and Maintainability Maturation Program during the calendar year 2010. At this time, $411,201,032 has been obligated. 478 AESG/SYK, Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio, is the contracting activity (FA8611-08-C-2897, P00040).
