WATCH THIS: U.S. Air Force planners aren’t keen on banning social networking among service members because those capabilities are proving to be good digital aids in combat. “Internet Relay Chat is a good example,” says Lt. Gen. William Lord, the service’s chief information officer. “You have an intelligence analyst in the U.S. who is looking at a live picture of the battlefield while chatting online with a Predator operator that can point [the UAV’s] sensors.
PRODUCTION READY: Boeing is set to begin assembly of the Tracking and Data Relay Satellite K/L spacecraft it is building for NASA following completion of system critical design review and production readiness review. Approval came Feb. 19 after a three-day review by NASA. Launches are set for 2012 and 2013.
GPS SHIFT: The U.S. Air Force is shifting the orbit of three of its Global Positioning System (GPS) satellites to improve worldwide coverage and assist soldiers in areas such as Afghanistan, where the rugged terrain can block signals and reduce accuracy. Previously organized around 24 slots in six orbital planes in medium Earth orbit, the constellation is being adjusted to provide positions for 27 satellites. The shift is using only spacecraft that are already in orbit, and should not affect either satellite lifetimes or planned replenishment schedules.
TANKER TALK: Northrop Grumman is likely to forgo a bid on the KC-X tanker contract, JP Morgan analyst Joseph B. Nadol predicts, after a request for proposals released Feb. 24 failed to address concerns that the U.S. Air Force’s criteria favors Boeing’s 767 design over a Northrop/EADS offering (Aerospace DAILY, Feb. 25). Such a move would provide a “much needed shot in the arm” for Boeing’s “growth challenged” defense business, Nadol says, while eliminating the threat of EADS’ Airbus unit establishing a U.S. production foothold.Oppenheimer & Co.
COMMERCIAL CONCERNS: Dyed-in-the-wool commercial space pioneer and Scaled Composites founder Burt Rutan admits he has qualms about the Obama administration’s plans to turn U.S. human space access over to commercial vehicles. “No question, it would be good to see commercial companies quickly succeed at orbital access and to take that capability beyond low Earth orbit,” he tells an aide to Rep. Frank Wolf (R-Va.) in an e-mail message. “However, I am fearful that the commercial guys will fail; i.e.
U.S. Air Force Secretary Michael Donley said Feb. 25 that the initial operational capability (IOC) of the Lockheed Martin Joint Strike Fighter (JSF) has slipped for his service to late calendar year 2015. Meanwhile, Navy officials may not stick with their earlier plan of a 2014 IOC.
LONGBOW RADAR: Longbow LLC, a joint venture between Lockheed Martin and Northrop Grumman, was recently awarded an $86 million contract from AgustaWestland to support Longbow Fire Control Radar (FCR) systems on the U.K. Apache AH Mk-1 aircraft. The four-year contract includes engineering services, integrated logistics and an in-country repair capability. Support services will continue through March 2014 and will be performed in both the U.K. and in the U.S. at Lockheed Martin and Northrop Grumman facilities.
FINAL BURN: Alliant Techsystems (ATK) engineers will use results from the final ground test of a space shuttle reusable solid rocket motor at the company’s Promontory, Utah, facility to continue work on the five-segment version of the motor they are developing as the first stage of the Ares I rocket. NASA’s Fiscal 2011 budget proposal cancels Ares I development, but for now the development contract is continuing with Fiscal 2010 funding. Among the 258 instrument channels on the Feb.
NASA has broken ground near Canberra, Australia, on a project to replace its three 70-meter Deep Space Network (DSN) antennas with a new generation of 34-meter antennas by 2025. The 70-meter (230-foot) antennas, located at the NASA DSN complexes at Goldstone, Calif.; Madrid, Spain; and Canberra, are showing signs of wear after more than 40 years of continuous use, according to NASA.
Attribution of a computer attack — who is actually conducting the attack and from where — is at the heart of mapping out the responsibilities and capabilities of the newly founded 24th Air Force — the service’s cyber-warfighting organization. “Figuring out if [a cyber inquiry] is good, bad, allowed or should be shunted off someplace where we can study it are all decision processes that we’re building right now,” says Lt. Gen. William Lord, the service’s chief information officer, talking to Aviation Week in an exclusive interview.
LONDON — Defense ministers from Belgium, France, Germany and the Netherlands have formally given approval for the establishment of the European Air Transport Command. The command will begin operations in September from its home in Eindhoven, the Netherlands. The first personnel are to start arriving in July to help build up the organization.
FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. — The U.S. Army may have decided it does not have a requirement for Fire Scout in its Brigade Combat Team Modernization (BCTM) plan, but manufacturer Northrop Grumman has other ideas about the suitability of its vertical takeoff unmanned aerial vehicle (VTUAV) for the service.
FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. — The failure of four of six shots from the U.S. Army’s Non Line-of-Sight Launch System (NLOS-LS) during recent testing could spell trouble for the Raytheon-built vertical launcher, which also is supposed to be fielded aboard the Navy’s Littoral Combat Ship (LCS).
INCREMENT ONE: The U.S. Army awarded Boeing a $138 million contract to equip the first Infantry Brigade Combat Team with Increment 1 capabilities. The contract for low-rate initial production (LRIP) follows a successful production review by the Defense Acquisition Board in December. Increment 1 of the Army’s Brigade Combat Team Modernization (BCTM) comprises the small unmanned ground vehicle, Class I UAV, unattended ground sensors and a network integration kit.
LONDON — European governments have reached an agreement in principle with industry over how to restructure the A400M military airlifter, and are provisionally targeting a signing ceremony for March 8 in Paris, according to the French defense ministry. Government officials met for two days in Palma de Mallorca, Spain, on the sidelines of an informal meeting of European Union defense ministers. However, adjustments are still possible and industry has signaled it wants to make sure some issues are properly clarified.
FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. — Lockheed Martin celebrated a victory for its Airborne, Maritime/Fixed Station Joint Tactical Radio System (AMF JTRS) here Feb. 25 after the announcement that the U.S. Air Force and Army have requested 60 percent more engineering development models (EDM) than originally anticipated.
NASA’s proposed policy turnaround faces stiff bipartisan opposition in Congress, which twice authorized the George W. Bush administration’s Constellation program with bipartisan support. In back-to-back Senate and House hearings by the NASA authorizing committees this week, members from both parties sharply questioned Administrator Charles Bolden about the new plan he was defending. No lawmaker in either hearing endorsed the change.
The Australian government has kicked off the competition to buy either the Sikorsky/Lockheed Martin MH-60R or NH Industries NH90 as its new maritime combat helicopter as it looks to replace its aging Seahawks and meet a requirement left open with the cancellation of the Seasprite program two years ago.
NO SMALL CHANGE: Consultancy Forecast International says the market for U.S. defense electronics shows a steady decline over the next 10 years, from a high of $8.4 billion this year to $4.08 billion in 2019. Still, even with the 52 percent drop in annual value, the market will be worth at least $55 billion altogether from 2010-2019. Senior Analyst Richard Sterk says small-ticket items such as electro-optical (EO) night vision and thermal-imaging weapon sights have leapt in demand as the U.S. fights two counterinsurgencies overseas.
TARGET MAINTENANCE: The U.S. Army awarded Lockheed Martin a follow-on Performance Based Logistics (PBL) contract to support the Target Acquisition Designation Sight/Pilot Night Vision Sensor (TADS/PNVS) and Modernized TADS/PNVS systems on the AH-64 Apache helicopter. The contract has a potential value of $90 million in 2010. This is the third option on a PBL contract awarded in early 2007.
LONDON — A 12-month funding hiatus may be about to end for a key U.K. project intended to help clear the introduction of unmanned aerial vehicles into nonmilitary airspace. The second phase of London’s Autonomous System Technology Related Airborne Evaluation and Assessment (Astraea) program was due to have begun in the first quarter of 2009, but government funding for the continuation of the program was not secured.
FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. — The U.S. Army has slipped the release of a request for proposals (RFP) for its new Common Infrared Countermeasures (CIRCM) program, a replacement for BAE Systems’ beleaguered Advanced Threat Infrared Countermeasures (Atircm) system. An industry source said here Feb. 25 that the Army pushed the draft RFP release date slightly, into mid-March. CIRCM would provide AH-64 Apaches, UH-60 Black Hawks and other, smaller helicopters with a laser-based jamming system.
NEW DELHI — Indian officials say they are cooperating with international agencies to ensure security at the Commonwealth Games due to be held here from Oct. 3-14. The comments come as U.S. FBI Director Robert Mueller and Indian government officials conduct talks — evidence of the robust and active counterterrorism cooperation between the U.S. and India.
