A move to apply the joint-forcing concept beyond the U.S. military continues to gain incremental ground, with the next expected military leader of NATO endorsing an interagency reorientation among U.S. agencies. “Today, our military functions extremely well in the joint world,” U.S. Navy Adm. James Stavridis testified June 2 to the Senate Armed Services Committee (SASC). “I believe the next step toward increasing effectiveness of our national security apparatus is to institute similar provisions that encourage an interagency approach.”
POST-SHUTTLE CUT: The fiscal 2010 NASA spending bill that the House Appropriations Committee will consider June 9 includes a $212.3 million cut in funding for the post-shuttle exploration program. Rep. Alan Mollohan (D-W.Va.), chairman of the Appropriations subcommittee on commerce, justice, science and related agencies that made the cut in its markup, says it reflects the Obama administration’s appointment of a panel headed by former Lockheed Martin CEO Norman Augustine that will review U.S. human spacefight plans and recommend options by the end of August.
The U.S. Joint Forces Command (JFCOM) is currently conducting war games to test concepts enshrined earlier this year in its Capstone Concept for Joint Operations document, which outlines “how the joint force circa 2016-2028 will operate in response to a wide variety of security challenges.”
REAL IT: U.S. federal procurement rule-writers are hosting six public meetings this summer between industry and federal agencies about ways to develop greater assurances over the authenticity of information technology (IT) acquired by the government. The government’s civilian and defense rulemaking groups, the Civilian Agency Acquisition and the Defense Acquisition Regulations councils, will host the meetings from late June through mid-August at the General Services Administration in Washington.
Lawmakers in both houses of Congress are protesting Defense Secretary Robert Gates’ decision to terminate the VH-71 presidential helicopter, with now near-daily complaints growing more numerous.
GOT DIBS: Raytheon announced June 2 that its Distributed Common Ground System (DCGS) Integration Backbone, or DIB, team has completed a multiple-day test of its new DIB version 1.3. DIB software, installed on more than 100 systems worldwide, that provides access to intelligence information that previously existed in isolated channels. The open system creates an avenue for sharing information across the defense and intelligence communities. Recent testing of this third-generation technology evaluated all aspects of the software.
Senior NASA spaceflight managers have concluded that a wiring problem that appeared during last month’s liftoff of the space shuttle Atlantis is understood well enough to permit launch of the shuttle Endeavour June 13 as originally planned.
GD BUYS AXSYS: General Dynamics has reached a $643 million deal to acquire Axsys Technologies, a supplier of electro-optical and infrared sensors and multi-axis stabilized cameras. The purchase, which is expected to close in the third quarter pending regulatory approvals, will enable the defense powerhouse to expand its offerings in the high-growth intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance market. Axsys was founded 50 years ago and is based in Rocky Hill, Conn. The company has 1,000 employees and projects sales of $280 million this year.
U.S. Special Operations Command (USSOCOM) failed to establish quality assurance for contracting tasking orders worth hundreds of millions of dollars, according to a recent report by the Pentagon Inspector General (IG). The IG says USSOCOM needs to make sure the federal Antideficiency Act was not violated as a result of some of the lapses.
The Swedish government has agreed to commit 25.5 million euros ($35.7 million) to the Ariane launch vehicle program for the period 2009-11, boosting prospects for the future of the key European space program. The money will be earmarked for the Ariane 5 ME midlife update, the ARTA Ariane 5 continuing engineering initiative and the Future Preparatory Launcher Program. Sweden had delayed funding for the three programs, approved at last November’s European Space Agency ministerial summit, because of transparency and cost efficiency issues.
A Northrop Grumman-led team is awaiting permission from the U.S. Missile Defense Agency (MDA) to hopefully conduct first flight of a high-speed ballistic missile interceptor, despite the Pentagon’s plans to terminate the effort.
GLOBAL OBSERVANCE: U.S. government agencies funding the Global Observer Joint Capability Technology Demonstration (JCTD) program have exercised an option for the assembly of a third AeroVironment Global Observer aircraft and additional items. Six contract options have been exercised since the program was initiated, resulting in a cumulative value of more than $120 million in program funding. Each completed Global Observer aircraft will take off and land on a runway and have a payload capacity of about 400 pounds.
The Aerospace Corporation is analyzing data received from its Picosatellite Solar Cell test bed (PSSC), developed to test a new generation of solar cells. The 6.4-kilogram (14-pound) nanosatellite, built by Dr. Henry Yoo of the Air Force Research Laboratory in collaboration with engineers from Aerospace Corp., is testing the latest generation of high-efficiency solar cells from Spectrolab and Emcore under conditions in outer space.
The director of the U.S. Missile Defense Agency (MDA), Army Lt. Gen. Patrick O’Reilly, says the agency is rethinking its targets acquisition strategy to attain economies of scale and cut the per-unit cost of target missiles used in flight tests.
The Saab Bofors Dynamics work force in Sweden is being cut as a result of reduced business there. The layoffs are only the latest in a series announced by Saab, which is dealing with pressures on its commercial aviation business and some defense slowdown as well. The company already has reorganized the aerospace operation to focus more on the Gripen fighter.
The Pentagon is looking to have its new combat, search and rescue (CSAR) aircraft requirements by September. Defense acquisition czar Ashton Carter officially canceled the $15 billion CSAR-X replacement helicopter program May 28, following years of controversy surrounding certain requirements development, as well as bidder protests that overturned the initial contract award to Boeing.
Lockheed Martin plans to begin expanding the flight envelope of the Advanced Composite Cargo Aircraft (ACCA) following the June 2 first flight of the X-plane technology demonstrator from its Skunk Works facility at Palmdale, Calif. ACCA is a U.S. Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) program to demonstrate that advanced composite materials and manufacturing processes can be used to produce an aircraft at lower cost in less time.
The Swiss government has received the final data package for its F-5 Tiger replacement program, with EADS, Saab and Dassault recently submitting another round of information. The latest submission was focused particularly on industrial issues. The bulk of the data associated with the bid process already was provided in April, but the Swiss government wanted more information on how Ruag Aerospace and the armasuisse government agency would be involved.
A-12 SAGA: Nearly two decades later, litigation continues over the shutdown of the Navy’s A-12 stealth fighter program. An appellate decision this week in favor of the government has touched off another round of court fighting, with Boeing and General Dynamics committing to further appeals. According to press reports, the companies were ordered to pay $2.8 billion plus interest to settle the dispute that followed over the Navy’s 1991 shelving of the project.
