U.S. officials will unveil the Navy’s inaugural Littoral Combat Ship (LCS) Mission Package Support Facility (MPSF) during a ceremony at Naval Base Ventura County, Calif., on Oct. 16. With the Navy set to acquire and deploy 55 LCS and dozens more “mission packages,” the MPSF could be a precursor for worldwide logistics stations supporting a backbone U.S. fleet this century.
BOMBS AWAY: The U.S. Air Force has awarded ITT Corporation a $39.3 million contract to manufacture, test and deliver weapon release systems for F-16 aircraft used by the U.S. and allied nations. An initial order of $10.7 million has already been authorized, for production of 49 BRU-57/A smart racks plus spare components. The indefinite delivery/indefinite quantity award includes options to produce additional racks and spare parts scheduled to be awarded to ITT during the next three years.
TOP PERFORMANCE: BAE Systems, GE Aviation and Lockheed Martin and their armed service partners were recognized last week with the fifth annual Secretary of Defense Performance-Based Logistics Awards. The system-level awards were made to Lockheed’s Consolidated Automated Support System-Navy partnership and the High Mobility Artillery Rocket System-Army team. GE and the Defense Logistics Agency, and BAE and the Navy received the subsystem awards. The GE-DLA award was for the performance of the F404 engine agreement, which resulted in savings of $53.4 million.
PROMOTING R&D: Members of the U.S. House research and science education subcommittee recently examined two major federal advisory reports, “Rising Above the Gathering Storm” and the Arise analysis, looking for ways to improve funding for high-risk scientific ventures necessary for future breakthroughs and international science leadership.
An astronaut, a cosmonaut and a circus clown returned to Earth from the International Space Station (ISS) early Oct. 11, capping a standard ISS tour for the two spaceflight professionals and what may be the last space-tourist flight for a while.
MOSCOW and LONDON — Prompted by Western and competitive air-to-air developments and renewed domestic funding, Russia is now offering upgraded versions of its own weaponry in the export arena. Russian industry claims testing of an improved version of an active radar-guided medium range air-to-air missile is already complete.
LONDON — The British Defense Ministry is trying to move ahead with the acquisition process of an armed long-endurance unmanned aerial vehicle in the first quarter of 2010, to avoid the requirement potentially becoming ensnared in the pending full-blown defense review. While there are indications that funding may remain problematic, the ministry is understood to be trying to get approval for the so-called initial gate phase of the program in the first quarter of next year. The tentative in-service date is 2015.
AIR FORCE Northrop Grumman Space Technology of Redondo Beach, Calif., was awarded a $35,383,382 contract which will exercise the option for the defense on-orbit sustainment for both the defense support program and spacecraft bus. At this time, no money has been obligated. SMC/ISKD, El Segundo, Calif., is the contracting activity (FA8810-09-C-0001, P00019).
AIR FORCE Lockheed Martin Space Systems Co., of Sunnyvale, Calif., was awarded a $21,639,894 contract which will provide for advanced extremely high frequency satellites which will perform a 50 percent design adequacy assessment for the mission control segment and continue preparation for the preliminary design review as well as study the impacts on strategic command requirements. At this time, $4,000,000 has been obligated. MCSW/PKA, El Segundo, Calif., is the contracting activity (F04701-02-C-0002, P00383). NAVY
MOSCOW — Russia will start deployment of the new RS-24 intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) complex by the end of the year, Russian Strategic Missile Forces commander Lt. Gen. Andrei Shvaichenko said Oct. 12. Teikov missile regiment will be the first to master the new complex.
Assuming President Obama signs on as expected, Congress has decided to appropriate $8.8 billion for the U.S. Coast Guard in fiscal 2010, which started Oct. 1. The compromise between the House and Senate, announced last week, is $275.2 million above 2009 and includes more than $1.15 billion for the Deepwater recapitalization effort, or $120 million above last year. Specifically, $389 million would go to complete production of the fourth National Security Cutter (NSC) and for long-lead-time materials for NSC 5.
TYPHOON FORECAST: London and Riyadh have agreed on an initial support package for the Royal Saudi Air Force (RSAF) Typhoons covering a three-year period, as part of the Salam program. The RSAF has — with the delivery of four of its 72 Tranche 2 aircraft — now begun flying operations in country with the type. Aircraft support will be provided by BAE Systems under a full availability service contract. The arrangement also includes training for RSAF Typhoon aircrew and ground crew in the U.K. The RSAF have selected the German IRIS-T dogfight missile for their aircraft.
UAV MARKET: U.S. consultancy Forecast International predicts the market for unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) will be worth $38 billion or more worldwide over the next 10 years. “No matter how many UAVs are built, military agencies want more,” says Larry Dickerson, Forecast’s senior unmanned systems analyst. On top of $17.9 billion procurement, research funding for UAVs could exceed $20 billion through 2018, he added.
DAEJEON, South Korea — NASA Administrator Charles Bolden says there hasn’t yet been a top-level White House discussion of the agency’s future direction in human spaceflight, and it remains to be seen what President Barack Obama will decide once he and his advisors get a look at the final report of the outside panel that has been preparing options on the issue since June.
LONDON — British involvement in Afghanistan — and until recently Iraq — continues to reveal logistics support and spares supply problems, according to the House of Commons Public Accounts Committee. The committee’s “Support to high intensity operations” report examines the Defense Ministry’s performance in providing and supporting equipment for recent combat operations.
L-3 Communications is planning for first flight of the Constant Hawk intelligence aircraft for the U.S. Army in January, says Amela Wilson, the company’s U.S. Army ISR programs director. Under the Constant Hawk Afghanistan contract the company won in February, L-3 communications will modify four KingAir 350s with 96 megapixel cameras that will be used for forensic intelligence — or backtracking from an event (such as an incident with an improvised explosive device) to track insurgent areas of operation.
PALMDALE, Calif. Northrop Grumman will begin acceptance tests on the first Euro Hawk variant of the RQ-4 Global Hawk unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) following its official rollout at Palmdale, Calif., Oct 8. The first international version of the UAV, which differs from previous variants in having six wing-mounted signals intelligence (SIGINT) pods, will require revised flight control software. This is being finalized for the start of taxi tests, currently expected to start in February.
DOCKING MECHANISMS: Boeing is proceeding into the second phase of development on the Common Docking Adapter for the International Space Station (ISS), which will allow the planned U.S. Orion crew exploration vehicle and European Space Agency Advanced Reentry Vehicle to dock with the ISS. The company received $15 million in economic stimulus package funds from NASA’s Johnson Space Center for the work.
BLINKING CONTEST: Amid suggestions the U.K.’s Serious Fraud Office (SFO) may scale back its case against BAE Systems over bribery allegations — there have been reports the South African investigation may be dropped — industry watchers are waiting to see if either side blinks. The case is high profile for the SFO, while a prolonged court case would be far from welcome for BAE Systems. An out-of-court settlement based on a plea bargain could yet re-emerge as a possibility (Aerospace DAILY, Oct. 2).
