WGS SHIPPED: Boeing has shipped the second Wideband Global Satcom (WGS) satellite to Cape Canaveral for the expanded military communications network operated by the U.S. Air Force. Launch on an Atlas V is set for March 9 on the eastern range at Cape Canaveral Air Station with a 41-minute launch window that opens at 9:26 p.m. EDT. WGS-2 is the second of six Boeing 702 satellites built for the new WGS network, which is replacing the Defense Satellite Communications System.
March 11 - 12, 2009 National Press Club Washington, DC Gen. George W. Casey, Jr., Chief of Staff of the United States Army Gen. William M. Fraser, III, Vice Chief of Staff for the Air Force LTG Raymond Johns, USAF Deputy Chief of Staff for Strategic Plans & Programs MG Jay H. Lindell, Director, Global Power Programs, Office of the Assistant Secretary of the Air Force for Acquisition
Center for Arms Control and Non-Proliferation analyst Travis Sharp has identified four U.S. weapons systems that could end up on the chopping block — the U.S. Air Force’s F-22 Raptor, the Navy’s DDG-1000, the Army’s Future Combat Systems and missile defense. In missile defense, Sharp noted numerous “unproven systems” could be cut, including the Airborne Laser, Kinetic Energy Interceptor, Space Tracking and Surveillance System and the Multiple Kill Vehicle, as well as the Third Site ground-based midcourse defense system planned in Europe.
Adding to the list of Israeli tactical and operational innovations during the Gaza Strip incursion were new conduits for both ground and airborne intelligence gathering.
A Rheinmetall-Rafael team has been selected to supply a light multirole missile for Germany’s Mells program, intended to allow the country’s new fleet of Puma fighting vehicles to defeat tanks, helicopters and bunkers.
LONDON — While the outcome of the British Defense Ministry’s study to further rationalize helicopter basing is now not expected until the third quarter of this year, budget constraints appear to be an increasing threat to any radical proposals. The ministry’s Program Belvedere is looking to consolidate the Joint Helicopter Command’s battlefield helicopter force, with the base at RAF Lyneham in the southwest of England as one of the leading contenders. Still, the required investment at the site could rule this out.
The Pentagon’s expected funding needs from now through 2013 are far greater than the Defense Department forecast in its 2009 Future Years Defense Program (FYDP) projection, congressional researchers told the House Budget committee Feb. 4. “By all accounts, there appears to be a gap between projected budgets and the cost of the programs,” said Stephen Daggett, a specialist in defense policy and budgets at the Congressional Research Service (CRS).
NASA scrubbed the launch of the Lockheed Martin NOAA-N Prime weather satellite at 2 a.m. PST Feb. 4 when a pressurization system on the Boeing Delta II rocket failed. An immediate repair of the gaseous nitrogen pressurization system was undertaken on the launch pad at Vandenberg Air Force Base, Calif., and a second attempted launch is set for 2:22 a.m. PST Feb. 5. The system maintains pressurization and purges of various components on the rocket.
NASA acquisition management, first cited as a high-risk endeavor by congressional auditors in 1990, is still on the U.S. Government Accountability Office’s High-Risk List for 2009. The list, which started with 14 areas of high risk when it was created in 1990, has grown to 30. The list is updated every two years and released at the start of each new Congress to help set oversight committee agendas.
MOSCOW Russia and Belarus on Feb. 3 signed an agreement for the formation of common regional air defenses, including five air force units, 10 air defense missile units, five radio-technical units and one electronic warfare unit. According to Russian Air Force commander Gen.-Col. Alexandr Zelin, “common regional air defense system will improve radar air space monitoring at low and super-low altitudes on the western boundary of Russia and Belarus from Baltic States to Ukraine.”
UNMANNED CONTRACT: The U.S. Army has ordered additional RQ-11B Raven small unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) and associated services for its fiscal 2009 requirements from AeroVironment. Each Raven system consists of three aircraft, two ground control stations and spares. The aggregate order value, an option under an existing contract, is $41.7 million and is fully funded, according to military officials. The award was released under the existing Army joint small UAS program of record for Ravens and will provide systems, spares and services for the Army and Marine Corps.
The U.S. Air Force is taking the F-22 Raptor to the Paris Air Show for the first time this summer, according to Larry Lawson, executive vice president and general manager of the F-22 program. The trip to Paris has been long delayed. A furor that surrounded the detailed customs inspection and electronic surveillance of the F-117 the only time it went to France has apparently subsided.
The U.S. Air Force should move forward “as rapidly as possible” to field a follow-on to the B-2 bomber for long-range strike capability, a report by a Washington think tank urged Feb. 3.
The GE Rolls-Royce Fighter Engine Team expects to push the first production-configuration F136 engine for the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter (JSF) to full thrust by mid-February, having achieved the first run at idle power on Jan 30. The run to idle and subsequent push to full power this month marks the start of a busy year for the engine development effort, which will see five F136 units enter testing by December for both conventional- and short-takeoff-and-vertical-landing (CTOL/STOVL) fighter variants.
The U.S. Air Force is planning to conduct verification testing of its developmental Multi-Platform Radar Technology Insertion Program (MP-RTIP) sensor in preparation for integration onto the Global Hawk Block 40 unmanned aircraft this spring. The MP-RTIP, developed by a Northrop Grumman/Raytheon team, is designed to be a scalable, active electronically scanned array radar. A 1.5-by-4 foot version has been flying on Northrop’s high-altitude Proteus manned UAV surrogate in preparation for Global Hawk integration in late May.
Iran says it successfully orbited its first homegrown satellite using a Safir-2 rocket on Feb. 2. According to Globalsecurity.org, U.S. Strategic Command (STRATCOM) has detected two new objects in space following the launch, occupying a 245 kilometer by 378 kilometer orbit inclined 55.5 degrees. Described as a lightweight telecommunications satellite by the Islamic Republic News Agency (IRNA), the satellite is named “Omid,” meaning “Hope.”
BRAZILIAN HORNETS: Boeing and the U.S. Navy delivered a proposal Feb. 2 to the Brazilian Air Force (FAB) offering the F/A-18E/F Super Hornet as part of Brazil’s F-X2 fighter aircraft competition. The Super Hornet was one of the three aircraft selected by the FAB in Oct. 2008 to be evaluated in the Request for Proposal phase of the F-X2 competition. Brazil’s stated requirements is for 36 aircraft; final contract award is expected in late 2009.
PARIS – The French-led Corot planet-finding satellite has discovered its first Earth-like planet – the first outside our solar system to be observed directly as it transited in front of its star, and the smallest yet discovered. The finding, known for a year but only recently confirmed by ground-based telescopes, was announced at a symposium here Feb. 3. It is the latest in a series of startling discoveries since Corot was launched in December 2006 specifically to find terrestrial planets and provide an indication of their relative abundance in the universe.
BOMBER AVIONICS: The U.S. Air Force awarded Boeing a $45 million contract to upgrade avionics software on the B-1 long-range heavy bomber. The award is Sustainment Block 15 of an upgrade program launched in 2003. The annual sustainment software blocks respond to changes in strategy and tactics and enable maximum operational flexibility, Boeing says.
Aerospace & Defense Earnings Snapshot for Fourth Quarter and Full Year 2008 Aerospace & Defense Earnings Snapshot for Fourth Quarter and Full Year 2008 FOURTH QUARTER FULL YEAR 2008 Sales Net Income Sales Net Income Allegheny Tech
ROADBLOCK LIFTED: Sen. John McCain, senior Republican on the Senate Armed Services Committee, is dropping his objection to President Barack Obama’s pick for the No. 2 job at the Pentagon. McCain’s office said Feb. 3 the Arizona Republican will allow the nomination of William Lynn for deputy defense secretary to proceed after Lynn supplied additional information about his work as a Raytheon lobbyist. The White House previously granted Lynn a waiver from new, tougher conflict-of-interest rules.
