The U.S. Air Force has decided to pull the financial plug on a mobile command-and-control system conceived as an offshoot of a program meant to marry FAA and NORAD radars to prevent terrorists from completing another 9/11-type attack, sources say.
Europe’s Automated Transfer Vehicle (ATV) has ended a flawless inaugural mission at the International Space Station (ISS) with a successful undocking from the orbital facility. The maneuver, completed at 11:29 p.m. European Central Standard Time Sept. 5, began with a series of preliminary tasks the day before. Once these tasks were performed, the ATV hooks opened, detaching the vehicle from the ISS with a spring mechanism that pushed it slowly away.
Scientists are beginning to cull information from a small asteroid, 2867 Steins, following a close flyby by Europe’s Rosetta comet chaser on Sept. 5 that brought the probe to within 800 kilometers (500 miles) of its target object and allowed it to be viewed with its Osiris wide-angle optical camera.
The U.S. Navy has begun buying the next-generation commercial satellite communications terminals to augment its Military Satellite Communications, representing a potential tenfold increase in at-sea data throughput.
PARIS – Launch of Europe’s Goce gravity field and ocean circulation explorer, scheduled last week on a Russian Rocket booster, has been delayed until Oct. 5. The European Space Agency (ESA) said the delay was caused by an anomaly in the guidance and navigation subsystem (GNS) of the rocket’s Breeze KM upper stage that will require one of the units in the GNS to be replaced.
LIGHT FANTASTIC: Rockwell Collins will demonstrate new emissive micro-displays (EMDs) with the ability to generate dynamic three-dimensional holographic images under an $8.4 million U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency contract. Unlike LCDs, EMDs do not need a backlight, and consume less power. The program goal is to develop EMDs with high brightness and long lifetime, at low cost. Potential technologies include field-emission and organic light-emitting diode displays.
ARMY AM General LLC, South Bend, Ind., was awarded on Sept. 3, 2008, a $76,029,475 firm/fixed price contract for the purchase of 560 M1152A1B2 High Mobility Multi-Purpose Wheeled Vehicles. The work will be performed in Mishawaka, Ind., with an estimated completion date of Dec. 31, 2009. One bid was solicited and one bid was received. TACOM Warren, Warren, Mich., is the contracting activity (DAAE07-01-C-S001).
Space shuttle managers have moved back the next two launches by two days each to accommodate delays forced by Tropical Storm Hanna this week, and they don’t expect Hurricane Ike to change that tentative schedule even if it forces a rollback of the shuttle already on the pad.
THALES STAKE: The replacement of Alcatel-Lucent’s CEO, Pat Russo, by Ben Verwaayen is prompting new rumors that Alcatel-Lucent’s 21 percent share in aerospace and defense contractor Thales may end up on the block. Although Chairman Philippe Camus, who replaced Serge Tchuruk, says such a sale “is not on the table,” the 1.65 billion euro ($2.5 billion) stake may be too valuable to hang on to for the troubled telecom manufacturer, analysts say.
To list an event, send information in calendar format to Donna Thomas at [email protected]. (Bold type indicated new calendar listing.) Sept. 9 - 10 — 2008 Homeland Security Symposium & Exhibition, “New Directions in Homeland Security,” Marriott Crystal Gateway Hotel, Arlington, Va. For more information go to www.ndia.org/meetings/8490
BEIJING — The U.S. is renewing space cooperation negotiations with China, including top-level talks aimed at the formation of a potential landmark “long-term and stable mechanism for aerospace cooperation” between the American and Chinese space programs. The reinitiation of space cooperation talks after a two-year hiatus comes at the same time the Chinese are poised for a manned space spectacular and the kickoff of the country’s first optical/radar satellite constellation.
PICKING UP ELINT: Britain is nearing a decision on how to replace its primary manned electronic intelligence (ELINT) platform, the BAE Systems Nimrod R1, with three options in consideration: acquisition of the U.S. RC-135 Rivet Joint, refitting the present R1 aircraft with an improved payload or using the Nimrod MRA4 airframe as the basis for its ELINT aircraft.
TESTING VIRGINIA: The U.S. Navy’s Virginia-class submarine will continue its Operational Evaluation (Opeval) testing through this fall. The testing is designed to evaluate the submarine’s capabilities in an operationally realistic environment. In August, the Navy conducted multiple launches of Tomahawk cruise missiles from the USS Virginia (SSN 774), the first-ever such tests for this type of submarine. The tests included launch and extended flight of multiple missiles. The program’s full-rate production decision is in 2009.
HANDED OVER: The main control center for the Galileo satellite navigation system is being prepared to house the workforce of up to 100 operators who will be needed to control the full 30-spacecraft constellation. German aerospace center DLR has recently completed acceptance of the €16-million ($23.2-million) installation.
SWATTED DOWN: Australia is cutting short its program to replace the center fuselage barrels of its McDonnell Douglas F/A-18A and B Hornet fighters, partly because analysis suggests the fleet can operate until its planned withdrawal in 2018-20 with fewer than 15 of the 71 aircraft refurbished. An order for 24 F/A-18F Super Hornets from the Boeing group will also relieve pressure on the fighters. The replacement work, originally intended for up to 49 of the aircraft, has proven difficult.
The U.S. Air Force’s deputy chief information officer thinks the service should be “sweating bullets” about its workforce issues, which should take priority over information technology (IT) programs.
FORWARD DEPLOYED: The USS George Washington (CVN 73) will assume its role in Yokosuka, Japan, as the U.S.’s only forward-deployed aircraft carrier this month. It took 91 days of repair work after a May 22 fire in an unmanned Auxiliary boiler Exhaust and Supply space to get the ship back on track. The fire recovery effort cost the U.S. Navy about $70 million and 55,000 man-days of work. The Navy employed its “One Shipyard” concept to achieve the fix — relying on personnel from Puget Sound Naval shipyard and Intermediate Maintenance Facility and Norfolk Naval Shipyard.
WINGS CLIPPED: U.S. Air Force Gen. Arthur Lichte, head of the service’s Air Mobility Command, tells Washington-based defense reporters that he is not part of the push for a proposed C-17B, a spiral upgrade Boeing has promoted to add capabilities to the airlifter and improve short-airfield performance. “We don’t see as much a requirement for that,” Lichte says.
Two prominent Republicans on the U.S. Senate Armed Services Committee (SASC), John Cornyn (Texas) and James Inhofe (Okla.), are asking committee leaders to push Congress to authorize more than a half-billion dollars toward buying additional F-22s.
GENOA, Italy — Alenia Aeronautica has notched up an order for four C-27J Spartan tactical airlifters, though the customer has yet to be made public. The sale is to a non-NATO Mediterranean state that has stipulated it not be identified for now.
SHORTENED LIFE: Eutelsat says studies by Thales Alenia Space show that a June 16-17 incident involving a solar panel failure on its W5 spacecraft will reduce the satellite’s lifetime by up to three years. This means the nominal life of the spacecraft, which was launched in 2002, would end in the fourth quarter of 2014, instead of the first quarter of 2018 as originally planned. Initial evaluation had shown the satellite would lose four of its 24 Ku-band transponders.
FORGET GEORGIA: The conflict between Russia and Georgia isn’t the only international mess facing U.S. lawmakers just back from their five-week summer recess. The House Armed Services Committee plans to explore current operations and future plans for Iraq and Afghanistan at a hearing Sept. 10. Chairman Ike Skelton (D-Mo.) has scheduled testimony from Defense Secretary Robert Gates and Adm. Michael Mullen, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs.
PARIS — The French defense ministry is assessing the procedures and materiel in use in its Afghanistan operations to identify what changes should be introduced to avoid another bloody engagement like the one last month that killed 10 French soldiers and wounded 21.
Despite a decision to slip the date for the final proposal request (FPR) of its Combat, Search and Rescue helicopter replacement (CSAR-X) aircraft, the U.S. Air Force still expects to award the $15 billion contract this fall. The Air Force is moving the FPR from mid-September to around the week of Oct. 6 to allow itself more time to review proposals before the request, according to sources familiar with the acquisition (Aerospace DAILY, Sept. 2).
