PARIS – European Space Agency (ESA) managers have dropped plans to seek sharply expanded funding for the agency’s science program, but still hope to get a real spending increase.
Boeing is developing a system that combines signals from the heavily populated Iridium satellite constellation to boost the strength of Global Positioning System (GPS) signals through jamming or into hard-to-reach places like canyons to help dismounted soldiers receive precise coordinates more quickly. This capability could also be useful in better employing GPS-guided weapons in jammed environments.
IRCM FLIGHT: ITT Corporation announced Oct. 14 the successful airborne testing of its Infrared Countermeasures (IRCM) system in flight trials during two weeks in September. The IRCM system developed by ITT was integrated with an infrared missile warning system (IRMWS) aboard a UH-60 Black Hawk. Tests were conducted at Naval Air Engineering Station, Lakehurst, N.J., and sponsored by the U.S. Army’s Communications and Electronics Command (CECOM) in Ft. Monmouth, N.J.
BUY BIOMETRICS: Safran’s Sagem Security unit has agreed to acquire Motorola’s biometrics business. The unit, which operates under the Printrak trademark, is based in Anaheim, Calif., and serves law enforcement, civil and commercial customers worldwide. Sagem is already a world leader in biometric technologies. The acquisition also will serve to strengthen Safran’s industrial footprint in the U.S., noted Safran CEO Jean-Paul Herteman.
PARIS – The European Space Agency (ESA) is expressing confidence that its newest flagship mission, Herschel-Planck, will get off the ground next spring, putting Europe in the forefront of infrared and cosmic-background astronomy.
BETHESDA, Md. – Boeing is testing the environmental suitability of new sensor and communications towers for the U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) SBInet border security project in a remote New Mexico mining town-turned-test bed, company and government officials said Oct. 15. The towers – three equipped with sensors and one with microwave communications equipment – are being tested in Playas, N.M., to simulate the environment expected when they are deployed for Block 1 of Boeing’s SBInet contract, said Jack Chenevey, the new SBInet program manager.
The high-power microwave bomb may finally become a reality in the next decade, with U.S. Air Force planners pushing to get a program into the fiscal 2010 DOD budget plan. The development strategy includes an industry technology assessment this year, followed by a Joint Concept Technology Demonstration submission for FY ’09 and, if all goes well, a place in the FY ’10 multiyear budget plan known as the program objective memorandum (POM).
Next week’s planned launch of India’s first mission to the moon will intensify the search for lunar water ice that could help support future lunar base operations. Crews kept the Chandrayaan-1 mission on track for its Oct. 22 launch date with a move Oct. 14 to the vehicle assembly building at the launch facility on Sriharikota Island in the Bay of Bengal for mounting atop its PSLV-XL Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle.
Lockheed Martin engineers working on the Orion crew exploration vehicle will use data from a test deployment by Orion subcontractor ATK as they develop the distinctive Mickey-Mouse-ears solar arrays that will power the next-generation U.S. human spacecraft. ATK deployed a 5.5-meter version of its UltraFlex array, and demonstrated that the arrays can handle the 2.7-g acceleration they would experience in a departure for the moon.
The Canadian Air Force has received its first Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI) Heron unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV). IAI and Canadian firm MacDonald Dettwiler and Associates (MDA), teaming as prime contractor, were awarded a contract in August for delivery of the first IAI Heron UAV through MDA to Canadian forces deployed in Afghanistan under the “Noctua” project.
Six industry teams are to help NASA identify advanced configurations and technologies that could overcome the economic and environmental challenges facing commercial aircraft entering service 25-30 years from now. NASA’s aeronautics research is focused towards three generations of commercial aircraft. N+1 is aimed at conventional aircraft entering service around 2015, including the next-generation single-aisle airliner. N+2 is targeting unconventional hybrid wing-body aircraft entering service around 2020.
The U.S. Air Force awarded Boeing a $30 million contract to continue testing its Advanced Tactical Laser (ATL), to help allow the service and other potential users to properly evaluate the laser’s capabilities.
BRITISH TRUCKS: Nine finalists have been tapped to compete to replace a significant portion of Britain’s tactical wheeled vehicle fleet in the Operational Utility Vehicle Systems (OUVS) program. Navistar Defense recently said it will provide vehicles for testing and trials in 2009. The company was selected to compete in both the OUVS Large and Small categories and intends to provide variants of its International MXT for testing in both divisions.
The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency’s Blackswift hypersonics testbed was expected to fly in 2012. A typographical error in an Aerospace DAILY article Oct. 13 indicated the wrong year.
DISCO RADAR: U.S. Naval Sea Systems Command said that Naval Surface Warfare Center Port Hueneme engineers will install the first maintenance system using laser technology to improve upkeep of the AN/SPY-1D(V) multi-function phased array radar onboard the USS Sterett (DDG 104) this week. Previously, necessary measurements were taken over a four-day period for all four ship arrays. The new laser technology cuts the effort to two days, with just two personnel needed instead of three.
NUCLEAR NAVY: U.S. Naval Sea Systems Command has awarded Bechtel Plant Machinery Inc. a $349 million cost plus fixed fee contract for Naval nuclear propulsion components. Work will be performed in Pittsburgh, Pa., (77 percent) and Schenectady, N.Y., (23 percent). Contract funds will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. The service is mum on completion dates or any other info concerning nuclear propulsion contracts.
CUTTING LESSONS: The U.S. Coast Guard’s second National Security Cutter (NSC), identified as the Waesche, is 69 percent complete and should begin sea trials next summer. The third NSC marked a “significant” construction milestone of its own last week with a start-fabrication ceremony — typically celebrated after the first 100 tons of steel are cut for a ship. The armed service claimed NSC 3 is more complete than NSC 2 was at this stage due to lessons learned in ship sequencing for the embattled class.
RE-ENGINED COMPANY: Pratt & Whitney, a United Technologies company, will reorganize a few sectors under a new unit “to drive strategic alignment and improved responsiveness.” The new organization, Commercial Engines & Global Services, includes the company’s Commercial Engines, Global Service Partners and Global Material Solutions units. Todd Kallman will be its president.
Europe’s senior defence procurement officials are expected to meet behind closed doors later this week in Brussels, Belgium, to discuss their strategy to maintain key areas of competence within Europe. Alexander Weis, director of the European Defence Agency (EDA), told Aviation Week at a conference there that “we have identified helicopters and UAVs as being the first areas to look at.” The conference was titled “Which concrete solutions to strengthen the European Defence Technological and Industrial Base (DTIB).”
Some analysts counter-intuitively contend that a Democratic White House might be better news to the F-22 Raptor program than a Republican administration. While Washington’s decision about building 20 more F-22s — for as many as 203 total — has been punted to the next presidential administration, some believe that an Obama administration would be obligated to spend on defense projects for at least the first two years to prove itself strong on defense and support jobs.
The U.S. Navy is beginning production of its newest weapon to target and destroy enemy air defenses, the Advanced Anti-Radiation Guided Missile (AARGM), which is built cooperatively with the Italian Air Force. Low-rate initial production was approved Sept. 30 and fielding of the Alliant Techsystems (ATK) weapon will begin in late 2010, according to Navy officials.
Members of the congressionally appointed Allard Commission are likely to approach the next presidential administration to discuss their panel’s far-reaching recommendations on how to overhaul U.S. national security space, according to commission member and retired U.S. Army Gen. Edward Anderson.
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