PARIS – France’s defense ministry is setting up a special office to streamline its cumbersome and costly procurement system. The office, to be housed with the ministry’s general secretariat, which is responsible for monitoring and auditing ministry operations, aims to optimize purchasing processes, rationalize the purchasing chain and reduce billing costs. The ministry thinks the economies realized combined with increased reliance on outsourcing can cut the price for administering purchases 5-10 percent by 2014-15.
LOS ANGELES – Testing is under way of an F-18 with a covered aft cockpit to help prove that a camera-equipped aircraft with no forward view windows could be a viable option for a future supersonic business jet.
With three-quarters of allied helicopter accidents in the Middle East and Southwest Asia involving “brownouts” – the inability to see the ground or horizon because of rotor-blown dust – researchers at Israel’s Elbit Systems have combined several technologies to create an onboard system that compensates for the aircrew’s lost vision.
OUT OF GAS: A former U.S. Defense Department contractor – who is also a former Army captain – pleaded guilty Oct. 7 to participating in a scheme to steal fuel worth almost $40 million from the Army in Iraq, federal prosecutors announced.
OMAHA, Neb. – U.S. Air Force Space Command’s (AFSPC) long underfunded program to buy helicopters to support its intercontinental ballistic missile fields is getting a budget boost in the wake of the Pentagon’s finding that the air service’s stewardship of its nuclear weapons has been lacking.
A small Chinese subsatellite released from the nose of the manned Shenzhou 7 spacecraft two hours after China’s first extravehicular activity (EVA) on Sept. 30 continues to circle the Shenzhou unmanned orbital module that was left in orbit when the crew returned to Earth in the descent module. Except for their gloves, the crew’s Chinese and Russian spacesuits used during the EVA remain onboard the orbital module because they were too heavy for return in the descent module. Growing maturity
SpaceX founder and CEO Elon Musk isn’t feeling quite so sheepish about being awarded this year’s American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics award for outstanding contribution to the field of space flight after reviewing the data of the Falcon 1 launcher’s first successful flight on Sept. 28. Musk received the award two weeks before the flight, which followed three unsuccessful launch attempts.
ARMY IT: The U.S. Army’s next planned set of computer networks will save about $1.5 billion a year over less efficient systems the land service now operates, according to the Army’s chief information officer. Lt. Gen. Jeffrey Sorenson also says current networks are expensive and poorly structured for the job they need to do. “We have separate networks that don’t talk to each other and this is not supporting our Army today,” he says.
The newest U.S. regional combatant command, Africa Command (AFRICOM), is standing up its own Theater Special Operations Force – although it will have no permanent standing troops, AFRICOM’s commander said Oct. 8. Army Gen. William “Kip” Ward told a group of defense writers early Oct. 8 the new unit looks to have a special forces group. Yet, for now, AFRICOM will be a so-called headquarters command starting in summer 2009, drawing troops as needed from a “global force pool” of specialists.
One expected bidding team for the U.S. Army and Marine Corps’ Joint Light Tactical Vehicle (JLTV) contract – Force Protection and DRS – has already been disqualified from competing for the program, leaving five left to fight it out for the three spots for the 27-month technology development (TD) phase. The TD phase gives the three winners 14 months to develop and deliver a vehicle, which then gives the Army and Marines 13 months for testing and evaluation.
As the Pentagon starts to get closer to achieving its plans to modernize and refurbish its military space network, the Defense Department is putting money into getting its satellites and sensors in space. By the midpoint of 2008, the department has funded about $1.5 billion in space vehicle contract and contract modifications, according to an Aerospace DAILY analysis of government contracting data provided by the National Institute for Computer-Assisted Reporting.
U.S. Army Maj. Gen. Charles Cartwright says there are currently 20 Honeywell-made Micro Air Vehicles (MAVs) deployed with a Stryker brigade combat team in Iraq, with plans to have a total of 32 there by the end of November. Cartwright made the announcement during an Army briefing on the Future Combat Systems (FCS) program at the annual Association of the U.S. Army conference in Washington on Oct. 8.
OMAHA, Neb. – The Pentagon is embarking on a new program to procure a single satellite to collect overhead imagery to satisfy an “urgent need” for U.S. Central Command in the Middle East, says Gary Payton, deputy undersecretary of the U.S. Air Force for space. Top Air Force official Michael Donley approved a separate plan for the new program within the past few days, Payton told Aviation Week here Oct. 7 during the Strategic Space and Defense Conference hosted by the Space Foundation.
IRANIAN CONTAINMENT: The U.S. Commerce Department has issued guidance to the U.S. exporting community to encourage exporters’ vigilance against Iranian efforts to buy items for Iran’s nuclear and missile programs. “This action is part of the United States’ broader strategy to ensure that no U.S.-origin items contribute in any way to Iran’s nuclear weapons and ballistic missile programs,” according to the State Department.
OMAHA, Neb. – More cooperation is needed between the U.S. military and the commercial satellite communications industry, Intelsat Chief Executive David McGlade says.
The U.S. Air Force has decided to stand up a separate major command focused specifically on nuclear forces, which include bombers, air-launched missiles and intercontinental ballistic missiles. The decision was made this week at a conference meeting of the air services’ four-star generals. A name for the major command has not yet been selected, and the Air Force is coordinating its plans with Pentagon leadership and other armed services.
If Barack Obama becomes president he will not generally slash defense weapons spending, although some major acquisition programs would fall under tighter scrutiny, according to the senior foreign policy adviser to the Democratic senator’s campaign.
LOS ANGELES – XCOR Aerospace has set an unofficial record for the most flights of a manned rocket-powered vehicle in a day by flying the XR-4K14-powered Rocket Racer seven times in one day and eight times in a week.
ON AFGHANISTAN: Will a surge-like strategy work in Afghanistan? Yes and no, says the Army general who engineered the surge in Iraq. “Some of the concepts used in Iraq are transplantable, others, perhaps are not,” Gen. David Petraeus, the new head of Central Command, said Oct. 8 following a speech at the Heritage Foundation. The biggest lesson of counterinsurgency, Petraeus says, “is that every situation is unique.
U.S. lawmakers have acted to extend a highly desired research-and-development (R&D) tax credit as part of the massive financial crisis response bill passed last week.
NEW DELHI – The 76th anniversary of the Indian Air Force (IAF) on Oct. 8 saw an air display by 52 aircraft at the Air Force Station, Hindon, near Delhi.
