CANADIAN RADAR: The Canadian Department of National Defense has tapped Sensis to modernize critical components of its Terminal Radar and Control System (TRACS) fleet of Area Surveillance Radar (ASR). Sensis will replace a majority of original TRACS/ASR-3 electronics with commercial off-the-shelf hardware, including a signal processing system and a solid state transmitter, in an effort to improve reliability while cutting maintenance costs. Financial details were not provided.
The addition of a fourth satellite in the U.S. Air Force’s Advanced Extremely High Frequency (AEHF) portfolio will likely prompt a program cost breach of more than 25 percent, triggering a rigorous series of reviews under the Nunn-McCurdy law before a way forward is decided. The program is not, however, experiencing new technical or cost management issues, says Gary Payton, deputy under secretary of the Air Force for space programs. The additional funding is needed to restart Lockheed Martin’s AEHF production line.
The Pentagon and its services are working on plans now that, under the National Defense Authorization Act for fiscal year 2008, will allow them to cut costs by using government civilians instead of contractors for certain contracting work, according to a recent report by the Defense Department Inspector General (DOD IG). The agencies are developing guidelines and procedures to ensure that consideration is given to using DOD civilian employees to perform new functions or functions that are performed by contractors, according to the report, released July 23.
In heated exchanges on Capitol Hill July 31 over the truncation of the U.S. Navy’s DDG-1000 destroyer program, discussions over a change in Navy strategy began to emerge, pointing to a move out of littorals and back to blue water. The Navy’s lead shipbuilding officials, Vice Adm. Barry McCullough and Allison Stiller, deputy assistant secretary of ship programs, faced the House Armed Services Committee’s Seapower and Expeditionary forces Subcommittee to answer questions about why the Navy no longer wants to continue the DDG-1000.
The U.S. Defense Department’s new National Defense Strategy aims to balance the country’s conventional warfighting capabilities, which now dominate its force structure and current future planning, with irregular and asymmetric skills ands weapons highlighted since 9-11, according to an official document and the comments of Pentagon leaders on July 31.
POD UPGRADE: The Portuguese air force selected Northrop Grumman’s third-generation LITENING advanced targeting (AT) system for its F-16 Advanced Targeting Pod upgrade program. Under the terms of the contract, Northrop Grumman will deliver 12 targeting pods and spares to the Portuguese air force beginning this year, with final deliveries in 2009. LITENING targeting pods have flown more than 865,000 flight hours on the AV-8B, A-10, B-52, F-15E, F-16 and F/A-18 aircraft.
AIR WARRIOR: The Air Warrior Product Office at the U.S. Army Aviation Missile Command (AMCOM) has awarded WestWind Technologies a five-year, $38 million contract to support the Air Warrior program in its mission to develop and field integrated soldier systems for Army helicopter crew members. The Air Warrior system is modular and increases freedom of movement at flight controls.
Oto Melara has managed to hold onto its position as the exclusive supplier of naval gun mounts to the Royal Netherlands Navy. This week, the Finmeccanica company signed contracts for the supply of four 30mm Marlin weapon systems and eight 12.7mm Hitrole naval turrets to be installed on the four new Patrol Ships for the service. According to an early July 30 announcement by Oto Melara, the contracts are the result of an international bid process that started in July 2007.
NEW RADAR FACILITY: Lockheed Martin has begun building a new 9,600-square-foot radar test facility with an anechoic chamber in Syracuse, N.Y., that it says will be one of the most advanced, large-scale antenna measurement systems in use for near-field radar test and measurement when it is completed in mid-2009. The 80-foot-tall structure will be added to an existing radar systems facility. The Medium Extended Air Defense System (MEADS) program will be an early user of the facility to test a surveillance radar and multifunction fire control radar.
HELO FUEL TANKS SALE: A Sikorsky Aerospace Services company, Helicopter Support Inc. (HSI) of Turnbull, Conn., has sold 12 Robertson Aviation extended-range fuel tanks to the Colombian air force for installation on Bell Huey II helicopters. It is the first sale of this type since HSI became the distributor for Robertson tanks for non-U.S. government customers in January. The tanks are for use on helicopters made by Sikorsky and other manufacturers.
House defense appropriators have directed the U.S. Air Force to consider “industrial base concerns” in its next evaluation of a replacement air refueling tanker. The directive was contained in the $487.7 billion fiscal 2009 defense appropriations bill approved July 30 by the House Appropriations Committee’s defense subcommittee. Fully funds tanker program
HELMET CUES: Boeing awarded Vision Systems International (VSI) a $17 million initial contract for the Joint Helmet Mounted Cueing System (JHMCS) in 145 F-15E Strike Eagles. The contract includes dual-seat capable JHMCS hardware and pilot equipment to include helmets and visors. Initial deliveries have already begun and will continue through mid-2009. The system allows a pilot to accurately cue onboard weapons and sensors against enemy aircraft and ground targets without the need to turn the aircraft or place the target in the Head-Up Display (HUD) for designation.
Japan is moving to modernize at least 12 more Boeing F-15Js with upgraded radars in response to delays in the selection of its next fighter. The Japanese Defense Ministry now plans to field about 40 such aircraft, enough for two squadrons. Its budget request for the financial year beginning April 1 will probably include the funds needed for modernizing “a dozen or so” F-15Js, the Yomiuri Shimbun newspaper has reported.
MOJAVE, Calif. – Virgin Galactic is optimistic of starting suborbital flights by late 2010 or early 2011 pending successful flight-tests of the Whiteknight2 (WK2) mothership, which was debuted at Scaled Composite’s facility here earlier this week.
The Defense Department’s business systems modernization has long been designated a high-risk program by the congressional Government Accountability Office (GAO) because of DOD’s challenge in implementing key information technology (IT) management controls, and the Marine Corps’ Global Combat Support System is a prime example. New recommendations from GAO include limiting investment in the program and addressing cost and schedule estimating, risk management and system quality measurement weaknesses. Neither outcome realized
The French-U.S. Jason 2 Ocean Surface Topography Mission has generated its first maps of ocean altimetry between 66 degrees north and south latitudes. France’s Centre National d’Etudes Spatiales (CNES) produced the maps using data collected by the new spacecraft in the 10 days beginning July 4. Launched June 20 from Vandenberg Air Force Base, Calif., on a Delta II vehicle, Jason 2 is orbiting in formation with its Jason 1 predecessor at 1,336 km. (830 miles) with just 55 seconds separating them.
The U.S. Navy may eventually need as many as 90 Aegis Ballistic Missile Defense ships – far more than the 18 planned by the end of this year – especially if worldwide missile defense requirements help drive shipbuilding needs, a key three-star admiral said July 30.
THREE STRIKES: According to the Federation of American Scientists (FAS), the U.S. military has canceled its prompt – and perhaps pre-emptive – nuclear strike planning dating from earlier in the Bush administration. The Concept Plan (CONPLAN) 8022 was put into effect in summer 2004 to provide the president with a global strike capability against “time-urgent and mobile targets,” according to the watchdog group. FAS said an attempt was made to make the plan operational by assigning it to U.S.
NASA’s Cassini spacecraft has found evidence that a body of hydrocarbon on Saturn’s moon Titan is liquid, based on its reflectivity in infrared wavelengths.
Boeing and Hamilton Sundstrand have received contracts to design the power generation system for a electrically propelled spacecraft able to move around rapidly in geosynchronous orbit (GEO) to inspect, repair and reposition other satellites. The contracts are for Phase 1 of the U.S Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency’s Fast Access Spacecraft Testbed (FAST) program.
Personnel issues are threatening the U.K. Defense Ministry’s ability to meet longer term “operational capabilities,” according to the British Parliament’s Defense Committee.
Former U.S. senator and astronaut John Glenn says placing a base on the moon to facilitate human exploration of outer space may not be such a great idea. Noting President Bush’s idea to return to the moon and use it as a launch pad to further explore space, Glenn told a congressional committee July 30 “it seems to me the moon is questionable as a way station” to Mars.
KOREA AIR: Northrop Grumman said it has won a $74.6 million contract to provide ALQ-135M electronic combat systems for the Republic of Korea Air Force F-15K. The AN/ALQ-135M is a fully automatic, internally-mounted electronic combat system that prioritizes, manages and attacks multiple threats simultaneously. The latest configuration improves on heritage ALQ-135 systems by replacing multiple processors with a new “PowerPC” system that offers significant speed and memory enhancements.
PERSISTENT PAYLOAD: Northrop Grumman has been awarded a contract by the U.S. Office of Naval Research (ONR) to develop and demonstrate a signals intelligence (SIGINT) payload for use on an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) under the Warfighter’s Tactical SIGINT Resource (WTSR) program. Under the three-year, $5.2 million contract, Northrop Grumman will first develop a low-cost, lightweight, SIGINT sensor package that supposedly requires minimal power. The sensor will be equipped with flight-tunable receivers that enable rapid retasking of the SIGINT payload during flight.
