President-elect Barack Obama wasn’t specific Nov. 25 about what programs he intends to cut from the federal budget to finance middle-class tax cuts and a massive jobs creation program, but he made clear that cuts are coming. “We cannot sustain a system that bleeds billions of taxpayer dollars on programs that have outlived their usefulness, or exist because of the power of a politician, lobbyist or interest group,” Obama told a Chicago news conference where he presented his White House budget team.
GAS POWERED: In December the U.S. Army will equip its first National Guard unit with a Future Combat Systems (FCS) component — the gasoline-powered Micro Air Vehicle (gMAV) — prior to the unit’s January deployment to Iraq. The gMAV is the precursor to the FCS program’s Class I Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) that will be fielded to Infantry Brigade Combat Teams starting in 2011. The gMAV is man-packable and provides a hover-and-stare capability not currently available in either Army or Air Force UAV inventories. Its sensor platform can take still and video imagery.
SUBMARINE WARFARE: L-3 Communications has signed an agreement to acquire Chesapeake Sciences Corp., a Millersville, Md.-based company that develops and manufactures anti-submarine warfare systems. Financial terms were not disclosed. L-3 said Chesapeake Sciences’ expertise in toward sonar arrays for use onboard submarine and surface ship combatants will complement its products and expand its capabilities in anti-submarine warfare. Chesapeake Sciences will add about $70 million to L-3’s annual sales.
In observance of the U.S. Thanksgiving Day holiday, Aerospace Daily & Defense Report will not publish on Nov. 27 and 28. The next issue will be dated Dec. 1.
AUSSIE JDAM: Boeing’s Joint Direct Attack Munition Extended Range (JDAM ER) weapon system completed testing with the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) in August, the company announced Nov. 25. The tests were led by the Australian Department of Defence with support from Boeing and its subsidiary, Hawker de Havilland, developer of the wing kits for the 500-pound JDAM ER. The company said it expects the tests to lead to low-rate initial production in 2010.
FLEET SUPPORT: The U.S. Navy’s Space and Naval Warfare Systems Command has awarded ITT Corp. a $160 million contract for engineering support services. Under the five-year contract (one base year and four one-year options), ITT will provide services to the Navy’s Fleet Systems Engineering Team, a division that provides command, control, communications, computers, intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (C4ISR) support to Navy afloat Strike Groups and shore-based commands worldwide.
A U.S. Air Force Boeing F-15D crashed during a Red Flag exercise in July after the pilot exceeded maneuver limits and the aircraft entered a spin, according to the accident investigation board (AIB) report. Operating as an aggressor aircraft, the two-seat fighter crashed on a Nellis Air Force Base, Nev., training range July 30. The pilot was killed. A U.K. Royal Air Force exchange pilot in the rear seat sustained minor injuries.
PARIS — The European Space Agency (ESA) has contracted with OHB System of Germany to build and validate the Small Geo bus, and with Hispasat of Spain to launch and operate an initial demonstration mission utilizing the new platform.
Early results from a test of the big rotary joint that spins solar arrays at one end of the International Space Station (ISS) truss suggest it may not be necessary to replace the unit’s moving surface after all, according to NASA’s ISS program manager. Mike Suffredini told reporters Nov. 25 the cleaning, lubrication and repairs carried out by spacewalkers from the space shuttle Endeavour on the starboard solar alpha rotary joint (SARJ) over the past week may have been enough to keep it turning smoothly with periodic follow-up lube jobs.
LONDON — Continuing development problems with the propulsion system for the Airbus Military A400M airlifter are pushing first flight into the second half of 2009. Ongoing concerns with the software for the full authority digital engine control (FADEC) unit for the Europrop International TP400-D6 powerplant are hampering the program.
BRACE YOURSELF: President-elect Barack Obama will speak Nov. 25 about the “meaningful cuts and sacrifices” he hopes to start making in the federal budget to better address a worsening U.S. economy. In a Chicago press conference Nov. 24, Obama introduced his economic team and reiterated that his administration will perform a “line-by-line” review of the federal budget as promised during his campaign.
ARMY Raytheon Co., Andover, Mass., was awarded on Nov. 20, 2008, a $77,378,819 firm fixed fee price contract. The acquisition is for the continuous technology refreshment of 166 each, Patriot PAC2 Forebodies to Guidance Enhanced Missile Plus (GEM) Frequency Generator Upgrade. The work will be performed in Andover, Mass., with an estimated completion date of Aug. 30, 2011. One bid was solicited and one bid was received. U.S. Army Contracting Command, Redstone Arsenal, Ala., is the contracting activity (DAAH01-00-D-004).
ARMY General Dynamics Land Systems Division, Sterling Heights, Mich., was awarded on Nov. 18, 2008, a $63,658,800 firm fixed fee price contract to exercise an option for contract funding for the labor to reset 180 Abrams M1A2 System Enhanced Package (SEP) v1 to M1A2 SEP v2 tanks. The work will be performed in Tallahassee, Fla., Anniston, Ala., Scranton, Pa., and Sterling Heights, Mich., with an estimated completion date of Sept. 30, 2010. One bid was solicited and one bid was received. TACOM, Warren, Mich., is the contracting activity (W56HZV-06-G-0006).
The F-35 Joint Strike Fighter (JSF) is lining up to become the future digital warfare aircraft for the U.S. Air Force and Marine Corps, although the tasking mission is far from worked out. After years of questions, but only vague answers about the future of tactical, airborne electronic attack (EA) for both services, officials are increasingly commenting on the JSF’s EA future.
FALCON FIRE: SpaceX conducted a full mission-length test firing of its Falcon 9 launch vehicle’s first stage at its McGregor Test Facility in Texas on Nov. 22. The first stage fired for 178 seconds while secured to a vertical test stand, generating 855,000 pounds of sea-level force at full power. All nine Merlin engines fired for 160 seconds, at which point two were shut off, as would happen during a typical ascent to limit acceleration. The first Falcon 9 launch is scheduled for next year from Cape Canaveral, Fla.
SMART FELLOWS: Six university faculty scientists and engineers have been named by DOD as the 2009 class of its National Security Science and Engineering Faculty Fellowships (NSSEFF) program. Last year was the inaugural for the program, which provides grants for top-tier researchers from U.S. universities to conduct long-term, unclassified, basic research of strategic importance to DOD (Aerospace DAILY, June 9). DOD fielded 659 nomination letters from 156 academic institutions.
NASA managers have agreed to keep the shuttle Endeavour docked to the International Space Station (ISS) for an extra day to give the combined crews more time to troubleshoot a persistent problem with the new urine recycler onboard. Instead of departing on Nov. 27, the crews will spend the U.S. Thanksgiving holiday together onboard and undock Nov. 28. That would set up a landing at Kennedy Space Center, Fla., no earlier than 1:18 p.m. EST Nov. 30.
BREAKING GROUND: WestWind Technologies is expecting to complete its new Huntsville Aircraft Modification & Integration Center by August 2009, at which point the company will have completed a 65,000 square foot hangar that will provide aircraft services and extended runway capacity at Huntsville International Airport, Ala. The company broke ground on the hangar Nov. 21. WestWind designed the hangar to accommodate every type of helicopter in the U.S. Army’s inventory as well as a large number of fixed-wing aircraft with sizes up to the Air Force’s C-130.
NATO LIFT: The NATO Airlift Management Agency (NAMA) general manager, on behalf of the Strategic Airlift Capability (SAC) nations, has signed a Letter of Offer and Acceptance with the U.S. government for the acquisition of two Boeing C-17 Globemaster III long-range cargo aircraft, Boeing announced Nov. 24. The agreement follows NATO’s Oct. 1 announcement that the 12 SAC nations had formally agreed to move forward with the acquisition of the C-17s to address national requirements for strategic lift.
An additional flight-test of the Ares I crew launch vehicle, extra shifts at the new J-2X rocket engine factory and faster work on life-support systems for the Orion capsule are among steps NASA managers say could advance the first flight of the shuttle follow-on vehicle by as much as a year.
Boeing met with the U.S. Defense Contracts Management Agency (DCMA) Nov. 24 to find out what needs to be done before production of CH-47 helicopters and V-22 tiltrotor fuselages can resume at its Philadelphia plant. Both lines were halted Nov. 21 when the local DCMA representative issued a Level 4 corrective action report (CAR) after a Boeing employee found debris in a V-22 fuselage during a quality-assurance inspection.
NASA’s Ares I crew launch vehicle won’t be “significantly different” from today’s Atlas V and Delta IV in the capabilities it will provide for space-science missions, while the planned Ares V heavy-lift follow-on could actually be too capable for NASA to use often for science launches, a National Research Council (NRC) committee has found.
