The U.S. Air Force is reviewing the C-130 Avionics Modernization Program (AMP) as part of its fiscal 2011 budget review, and it is unclear when — or whether — it will enter production. The program has suffered setbacks, including some technical and requirements challenges and a major cost overrun. As a result, what began as an effort to upgrade avionics of more than 500 C-130s of varying models was curtailed to 222 aircraft.
HUNTSVILLE, Ala. – The U.S. Missile Defense Agency (MDA) is preparing to release a request for proposals (RFP) to kick off a new competition worth up to $2 billion for ballistic missile targets. The RFP will be issued as soon as early next month, says Patty Gargulinski, MDA targets project manager. The solicitation will be sweeping, and include flight-test targets required through 2016 as well as spares.
Lockheed Martin has begun flying a Gulfstream business jet modified to test combinations of sensors, processors and datalinks that can speed the delivery of intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance data directly to individual soldiers. Called the Airborne Multi-intelligence Laboratory (AML), the company-owned Gulfstream III is participating in the U.S. Army’s annual C4ISR On-the-Move demonstration event at Ft Dix, N.J., following FAA approval of the modifications.
When NASA selected the $79 million Lunar Crater Observation and Sensing Satellite as a piggyback payload with its Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter mission, it gave LCROSS a Class-D ranking, the lowest ranking in terms of redundancy. On Aug. 22, LCROSS earned a D+ grade. The mission, which began with healthy margins of 140 kilograms (309 lb.) of station-keeping fuel, lost about 90 kilograms when an errant fault message prompted LCROSS’ active control system to switch to a backup, fuel-hungry navigation system.
Faulty fairing separation caused the failure of South Korea’s first attempt at launching a satellite, officials say. Another attempt is planned for April, using a rocket of the same KSLV-1 design. The Russian-supplied first stage of the KSLV-1 appears to have worked flawlessly, but one of two fairings enclosing the satellite atop the South Korean second stage failed to drop off. The mass of that fairing, greater than that of the 100 kg. satellite, upset the stabilization and navigation systems.
Boeing Commercial Airplanes (BCA) has dipped into some paint technology already applied to AH-64 Apache helicopters and F-15 and F-18 fighters – paint without toxic, carcinogenic chromate compounds. First to receive the new paint is a KLM Royal Dutch Airlines 777-300ER that was delivered Aug. 25 and painted in a SkyTeam livery that celebrates that airline alliance’s 10th anniversary.
AEROSTAT DEBUT: Raytheon has flown the first aerostat platform for the U.S. Army’s Joint Land Attack Cruise Missile Defense Elevated Netted Sensor (JLENS) system. Manufactured by TCOM, the 74M aerostat made the first tethered ascent from its mobile mooring station to an altitude of 3,000 feet on Aug. 25 at Elizabeth City, N.C. The JLENS system will use two tethered aerostats, one carrying a wide-area surveillance radar and the other a fire-control radar, to detect and track low-flying cruise missiles and direct surface-to-air missiles to over-the-horizon intercepts.
KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, Fla. — Shuttle managers will reconvene on Aug. 27 to review data on the balky fuel valve that scuttled the second attempt to launch Discovery on mission STS-128, and decide whether to proceed with refueling for another try early in the morning of Friday, Aug. 28. After the defueled external tank was fully inerted on Aug. 26, the PV12 inboard liquid hydrogen fill-and-drain valve in the aft of the orbiter was repeatedly cycled at ambient temperatures, in which its behavior is better understood than under cryogenic conditions.
PARIS - The clock has started ticking for European Union members to begin adopting legislation aimed at opening their own national defense and security procurements to foreign firms. An EU directive to introduce more competition took effect Aug. 21, with members having two years to pass appropriate legislation. The objective is to bring about a “European defense market.” Western defense spending and acquisition is dominated by the United States.
South Korea’s often-delayed KSLV-1 launch vehicle lifted off early Aug. 25 with a small domestically produced spacecraft aboard, but while the Russian-powered rocket performed well enough, the satellite was released into an orbit 36 kilometers higher than planned. According to press reports from Seoul, South Korean Science Minister Ahn Byong-man said controllers with the Korean Aerospace Research Institute (KARI) had been unable to track the satellite after that.
2009 Pentagon SpendingDefense Department Money Spent Or Designated To Be Spent On Products Or Services For First Quarter 2009 Pentagon SpendingDefense Department Money Spent Or Designated To Be Spent On Products Or Services For First Quarter Name Of Product Or Service Number Of Contracts Or Modifications Amount Of Money Spent Or DesignatedFor Product Or Service Amount Per Contract Or Contrac
EGLIN AIR FORCE BASE, Fla. – U.S. Air Force officials say a bad aircraft sensor is to blame for a problem encountered July 13 during an attempted flight-test of the Joint Air-to-Surface Standoff Missile (JASSM). During the test, engineers were hoping to clear various configurations of the B-1 bomber carrying the stealthy AGM-158 cruise missile, as well as the Sniper targeting pod, says Maj. Gen. Charles Davis, commander of the Air Force’s Air Armament Center and program executive officer (PEO) for weapons here.
Air weapons and programs outpaced other products and services among contracts and modifications reported during the first quarter of this year, according to an Aerospace Daily analysis of military contracting data.
Russia’s cyberwarfare attacks on Georgia in 2008 used civilian volunteers recruited and armed through Internet forums devoted to dating, hobbies, politics and other shared interests, according to a recent report analyzing the cyber aspects of the conflict.
KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, Fla. — With the weather looking clear, NASA began loading space shuttle Discovery’s external tank with 535,000 pounds of liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen at Launch Pad 39A here late Aug. 25, in anticipation of a second attempt to launch STS-128 early the next morning.
TOUGH STUFF: New fibers for structural composites that are more than twice as strong as carbon fiber are the goal of a new U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency program. Propsoals are being sought for the Advanced Structural Fiber program, which aims to demonstrate small-scale manufacturing of fibers with a tensile strength of 1,800 Ksi. and tensile modulus of 60 Msi. By comparison, carbon fiber used in the Boeing 787 has a strength of 710 Ksi. and modulus of 34 Msi.
EX SUPPORT: Contractor VSE is reactivating the ex-USNS Andrew J. Higgins (TAO-190) for transfer to Chile. The company was just awarded a $249 million cost-plus-award-fee contract option by the U.S. Naval Sea Systems Command for another year of support for ex-U.S. Navy ships that are sold, leased or otherwise transferred through foreign military sales. Such recipients now include Bahrain, Egypt, Japan, Mexico, Taiwan, Turkey, Poland, the Philippines, Italy and Romania. The U.S. Navy frequently sells off decommissioned ships like the ex-Higgins fleet oiler.
EGLIN AIR FORCE BASE, Fla. – The Air Force’s program executive officer for weapons says he does not expect major changes in the air-launched weapons portfolio as a result of the Quadrennial Defense Review (QDR), but some programs in production could see fewer units procured in the near term.
MODEL DECISION: A final decision on a “major” project to provide the Australian Defense Force (ADF) with a new Pilot Training System will be made between 2012 and 2015, according to Aug. 25 comments by the country’s minister for defense, Sen. John Faulkner. “Over the coming decade, the ADF plans to replace almost all of its airborne assets with the latest generation aircraft, which will require a greater number of pilots with more advanced skill sets,” he said.
A surgical jamming system that can stop the enemy from communicating and navigating while minimizing disruption to friendly forces will be demonstrated under a new program launched by the U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency. The Precision Electronic Warfare (PREW) program will demonstrate synchronization and pointing technology enabling multiple airborne and ground transmitters to work together to focus their jamming power on an area smaller than a city block.
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SHOOTER FINDER: The U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency plans to award contracts for further development of systems to protect helicopters and vehicles from small-arms fire. Plans call for BBN Technologies to test an integrated bullet-detection and shooter-localization system based on its Boomerang acoustic sensor on Black Hawk and unmanned Maverick helicopters, with the option of procuring 30 systems including sensors, processors and displays.
