SOARING SUPPORT: Even before President-elect Barack Obama takes office Jan. 20, U.S. lawmakers are making a push in letters addressed to him to secure the future of the stealthy F-22 production line in Marietta, Ga. Sens. Saxby Chambliss (R-GA) and Patty Murray (D-WA) sent a letter to Obama Jan. 16 requesting funding for production for the twin-engine fighter. Citing a flyaway cost reduction of 35 percent, the senators also say the end of the fighter’s production could further drain the U.S. economy in the midst of a recession.
Two Obama administration nominees for top Defense Department posts say they don’t oppose the use of multi-year procurement contracts for major weapons programs. William Lynn III, the nominee for deputy defense secretary, and Robert Hale, Obama’s pick for Pentagon comptroller, offered their opinion during a Jan. 15 confirmation hearing before the Senate Armed Services Committee.
KOUROU SOYUZ: European Space Agency head Jean-Jacques Dordain says the first Soyuz medium-lift booster will take off from a new launch pad in Kourou, French Guiana by year’s end, following the resolution of equipment delivery problems. A 2009 launch is imperative if the agency is to orbit the first two In Orbit Validation satellites earmarked for the Galileo satellite navigation system by mid-2010, as scheduled, he says.
FIGHTER BOOST: The U.S. Air Force is planning to increase its annual purchase of F-35A Joint Strike Fighters in the upcoming fiscal 2010 budget request. The service had planned to cap its buy of the single-engine stealthy fighters at 80 per year in 2018. But funds added to the program in the new budget will drive that annual rate up to 100, says Sue Payton, the service’s acquisition czar.
The departing program executive officer for the F-35 Lightning II program, U.S. Air Force Maj. Gen. Charles Davis, is declaring proverbial clear skies ahead for the Joint Strike Fighter as he leaves for his new assignment — where he will some day receive the JSF.
ARIANE BUY: EADS CEO Louis Gallois hopes to sign off on a 35-unit follow-on Ariane 5 contract with Arianespace sometime this year, but says that nailing it down “will not be easy.” An authorization-to-proceed agreement allowing EADS to begin work on long-lead items for the deal, known as Batch PB, was inked in June 2007.
AUSTRALIAN HOOKUP: The Royal Australian Air Force is now a step closer to fielding an operational Wedgetail Airborne Early Warning & Control (Boeing 737-700) aircraft. One of the projected fleet of six aircraft conducted the design’s first aerial refueling at Edwards Air Force Base, Calif., on Jan. 7 and received 14,000 pounds of fuel during two connections from a KC-10 tanker. On Jan. 10, the aircraft duplicated the feat with a KC-135 tanker.
Astra says its Astra 5A satellite, positioned at 31.5 deg. E. Long., has suffered a catastrophic failure and will be removed from service. The immediate nature of the failure was not given. The spacecraft, launched in November 1997 to 5 deg. E. Long. as Sirius 2, would normally have had around three years of life remaining. The satellite operator, Swedish Space Corp., and manufacturer Thales Alenia Space are preparing to deorbit the spacecraft and attempting to determine the root cause of the incident.
European Space Agency (ESA) and NASA planners will decide in the coming days which path they will pursue in the next phase of exploration of the outer planets. For the past year, scientists have been weighing the pros and cons of two competing undertakings: Tandem, which would send the agencies back to explore the Saturn system, or Laplace, aimed at visiting Europa and other satellites of Jupiter.
MISSILE LAUNCHERS: The U.S. Navy has awarded Raytheon an $18.8 million modification to a previously awarded contract for the production of four Mk 49 MOD 3 Guided Missile Launcher Systems (GMLS) and associated equipment for the LPD 25 and CVN 78 platforms, as well as 10 Mod 1 to Mod 3 GMLS Ordalt Kits. Work will be performed in Ottobrunn, Germany (50 percent), Louisville, Ky. (45 percent) and Tucson, Ariz. (5 percent) and is expected to be completed by Feb. 2012.
MIXED BLESSING: The European Parliament last week approved a new defense procurement directive to ease competition within the European Union. But the Aerospace and Defense Industries Association says the wording represents a “mixed blessing.” One concern is that the language will weaken government interest in defense and security research and development spending. The European Defense Agency applauded the legislation.
THALES CLEARED: A Paris court has cleared Thales of claims in Le Monde that the company is riddled with corruption in French and international markets. The charge, brought by a former employee, Michel Josserand, and published in Parisian daily Le Monde and its website on Sept. 27, 2005, were rejected and the paper, along with Josserand and two Le Monde journalists, found guilty of libel. The decision may be appealed.
To list an event, send information in calendar format to Donna Thomas at [email protected]. (Bold type indicated new calendar listing.) Jan. 26 - 28, 2009 — 6th Annual Tactical Power Sources Summit, Hilton Alexandria Old Town, Alexandria, Va. For more information go to www.idga.org/us/tacticalpower
THALES SHAKEUP?: French daily Les Echos says Dassault Aviation may seek to dump Thales boss Denis Ranque one its acquisition of a 21 percent stake now held by Alcatel-Lucent is finalized. The 1.6 billion euro ($2.2 billion) transaction was approved by Dassault and Alcatel on Dec. 19 following French government clearance, and now awaits only a European Commission okay. The move is rumored to be linked to the unexpected dismissal of Thales Aerospace Division head Francois Quentin last week.
CYBER SCENARIO: The House Armed Services Committee plans to monitor cyberwarfare developments during the 11th Congress, and not a moment too soon, says Paul Kaminski, former Clinton-era defense acquisition chief and adviser to President-elect Barack Obama. He says long development times, often stretching out into decades, are causing the Pentagon to “lose the recipe” for success and domination of key technology areas such as the cyberworld. Cyberwarfare demands a development cycle of “less than weeks” instead the months and years now required to deflect network attacks.
EUTELSAT TEAMS: Eutelsat and Speedcast will team with Furuno of Japan, a global leader in maritime navigation and communications systems, to offer worldwide mobile broadband satellite services for the maritime industry. Eutelsat had agreed in March to develop the service with Hong Kong-based Speedcast, a leading Asian satcom service provider owned by AsiaSat, using the two operators’ satellite fleets.
NEW DELHI — Gripen is denying a news report in a local daily claiming the company will be left out of field trials for India’s Medium Multi-Role Combat Aircraft (MMRCA) competition because it didn’t make the grade with the Indian Air Force’s Technical Evaluation Committee. The technical report is said to have been submitted to the Indian ministry of defense in mid-November of last year. It now has to be approved by the ministry before the field trials can begin.
NASA has scheduled a dress rehearsal for the launch of shuttle Discovery on STS-119 for Jan. 19-21 at Kennedy Space Center, Fla. Formally known as the terminal countdown demonstration test, the rehearsal will include both the astronauts and ground crews participating in a practice countdown, including emergency egress training. Discovery was rolled to Launch Pad 39A at 10:08 a.m. Jan. 14 via its enormous crawler-transporter, which carried the stacked shuttle the 3.4 miles from the Vehicle Assembly Building to the pad, traveling at less than 1 mph.
ENGINEERING AGENT: The U.S. Navy has awarded Raytheon Integrated Defense Systems (IDS) a $23 million contract to serve as the platform systems engineering agent (PSEA) for the Ship Self-Defense System (SSDS). This is a first step toward a PSEA base year contract with options years through fiscal 2012. Raytheon IDS will manage the integration of capability upgrades into various aircraft carrier and amphibious ship combat systems while providing support for already fielded systems.
Challenges that faced the U.S. Navy in 2008 are relevant to issues the service will deal with in 2009, according to Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Gary Roughead. “The topics I covered last year are still pertinent today,” Roughead said at the Surface Navy Association symposium Jan. 14. Reflecting on 2008 is not déjà vu, he added, instead calling it “consistency of purpose.”
