The French government is looking at gapfiller options to avoid a tactical airlift shortage resulting from delays with the Airbus Military A400M transport. Options are being evaluated and will be presented to French President Nicolas Sarkozy in coming months, says Defense Minister Herve Morin. France’s C-160 Transalls are aging and the country believes it needs a gapfiller of some sort since it cannot stretch the service lives of the existing fleet until the A400M comes online – now four years later than expected.
The French government has long been pushing for greater industrial cooperation in Europe, and now has identified several initiatives it would be interested in pursuing. French Defense Minister Herve Morin suggests industrial arrangements could be made along the lines of those existing between French and Italian industry. Thales Alenia Space is often seen as a model the French government wants to see implemented more widely.
The U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) has released a how-to guide for cost estimating and assessment to guide the federal government in money management. “The ability to generate reliable cost estimates is a critical function,” GAO says in the opening pages of its 438-page report. “Without this ability, agencies are at risk of experiencing cost overruns, missed deadlines and performance shortfalls.”
The U.S. Air Force’s second Wideband Global Satcom (WGS) spacecraft is nearing launch on a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Fla., on March 13. Liftoff off is scheduled from Space Launch Complex 41 during a 38-minute launch window from 9:25 to 10:03 p.m EST. Generating approximately 1.7 million pounds of thrust at launch, the Atlas V includes a first stage powered by the kerosene/LOX RD-180 engine, and a liquid hydrogen–liquid oxygen powered Centaur upper stage.
UNMANNED RAPPORT: The congressional unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) caucus will focus on traditional military applications for UAVs, but also on their growing civilian applications, according to Rep. Alan Mollohan (D-W.Va.). The congressman, who spearheads House appropriations for NASA, NOAA and other agencies, also told a Global Hawk industry event in Washington late last month that there are growing connections between the UAV industry and lawmakers.
GETTING SERIOUS: The Obama administration will review the use of sole-source, cost-type contracts and improve the quality of the acquisition work force and use technology to create transparency around contracting, the director of the White House Office of Management and Budget promised lawmakers March 3. “We will review acquisition programs that are on the GAO high-risk list for being over-budget and prone to abuse,” Peter Orszag testified, referring to the Government Accountability Office.
Saying the U.S. is committed to the independence and security of countries like Poland and the Czech Republic, President Barack Obama on March 3 denied offering to delay deployment of a controversial missile defense system in Eastern Europe in exchange for Russian help in preventing a nuclear-armed Iran.
Northrop Grumman is developing a wireless databus that could eliminate many of the wiring harnesses in a spacecraft, reducing both weight and the time required for integration and test. The company has won a 21-month, $4.1 million Phase 1 contract to develop a wireless databus interface for the U.S. Air Force Research Laboratory’s (AFRL) Space Plug-and-Play Avionics (SPA) architecture.
The U.S. Marine Corps mistakenly released classified data during normal procurement transactions, a recent Pentagon Inspector General (IG) report says. “We have determined that the U.S. Marine Corps (USMC) has processed disbursement transactions that contain classified information into unclassified DOD systems,” the IG says in its February report.
TOP COVER: The Defense Department is soliciting public comment on its statutory requirement to develop a more comprehensive acquisition strategy for Defense Base Act (DBA) insurance. DBA requires all contractors performing work outside the United States to have coverage for workers’ compensation benefits for employees. Except for contracts performed in Iraq and Afghanistan, contractors now are required to obtain that insurance from private insurance carriers, according to the Professional Services Council, a leading federal outsourcing industry group near Washington.
GETTING SCHOOLED: Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University is opening new teaching locations in Iraq at Camp Victory and Balad Airbase. Balad, the central logistical hub for allied forces in Iraq, is the busiest air base operated by the U.S. Defense Department and is the second busiest airport in the world (following London’s Heathrow), according to the university. Balad serves about 15,000 service members, of which around 6,000 are Air Force. No aviation programs were being offered at Iraq-based U.S. military education centers. Embry-Riddle said it holds an exclusive U.S.
FAILURE PROBE: The mishap investigation board probing the loss of NASA’s Orbiting Carbon Observatory (OCO) formally began its work March 3, according to NASA. The five-member panel is led by Rick Obenschain, deputy director at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md. OCO never reached orbit during its Feb. 24 launch attempt, due to the apparent failure of the Taurus XL rocket’s fairing to properly separate (Aerospace DAILY, Feb. 25).
With the end of his reign in sight, Pentagon acquisition czar John Young sent out a report card on major Defense Department programs to Defense Secretary Robert Gates and other defense officials showing that many key programs have been flawed in their earliest stages. “The AT&L (acquisition, technology and logistics) team pulled Selected Acquisition Report (SAR) data on 42 programs,” Young said in a Jan. 30 e-mail to AT&L officials detailing material contained in a memo to Gates.
ORLANDO, Fla. – U.S. Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. Norton Schwartz says he is more focused on maintaining cost and schedule discipline for a future stealthy bomber than on fielding it by 2018, as demanded by others in the Pentagon.
The top admiral in charge of the U.S. Coast Guard is making a case that the armed service has made substantial progress in recent years and remains strong. “We are becoming more flexible, agile and responsive to change, with all our effort focused on mission execution,” Coast Guard Commandant Thad Allen said in a public address March 3.
EXTENDING ODIN: The Swedish National Space Board has decided to extend operation of Sweden’s Odin research satellite at least until the end of 2009. Although the astronomy mission of the eight-year-old spacecraft has basically ended, the value of its atmospheric research measurements continues to increase.
SINGAPORE SCANEAGLE: Boeing’s ScanEagle unmanned aerial system completed a ship-based trial with the Republic of Singapore Navy (RSN) March 2. The trial included both an RSN LST (Landing Ship, Tank) and a frigate. ScanEagle was launched and recovered from the ships’ helicopter decks flying day missions using an electro-optical camera payload and night missions using an infrared camera payload.
A Proton K Block DM-2 rocket launch and a new Proton M contract have Proton prime contractor Khrunichev and launch provider International Launch Services (ILS) off to a solid start in 2009. The Proton K launch, at 7:10 a.m. Moscow time on Feb. 28, orbited a Raduga-1 military communications satellite. Russian space officials said the 2-metric-ton spacecraft separated without incident. Also known as the Globus-1, Raduga-1 was developed by Reshetnev ISS to provide communications for the Russian government and strategic armed forces.
The U.S. military’s search continues for a compact, nonlethal, nonexplosive weapon that destroys electronics, while many questions still swirl around the 39-month anti-electronics demonstration program at the U.S. Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) at Kirtland Air Force Base, N.M.
Australia has dropped plans to buy the Northrop Grumman RQ-4 Global Hawk for maritime surveillance, citing program delays that would have created a workload clash with the proposed introduction of Boeing P-8 Poseidons in the middle of the next decade.
MRO MILITARY 2009 CONFERENCE & EXHIBITION April 22-23, 2009 Gaylord Texan Resort & Convention Center Grapevine/Dallas, TX Join U.S. military leaders in strategic planning sessions -- sharing of best practices, lessons learned, and emerging ideas/technologies in the field of MRO. REGISTER NOW http://www.aviationweek.com/conferences/milmain.htm
Chinese engineers are evaluating data from a controlled impact of the moon by the Chang’e-1 orbiter March 1 to help their planning for a soft landing there in 2012. The Chinese news agency Xinhua reported the 2,350-kilogram (5,180-pound) orbiter crashed just south of the lunar equator at 52.36 degrees East Longitude, 16 months after its launch on a Long March 3A rocket.
