The two Russian crewmembers of International Space Station (ISS) Expedition 17 have installed a docking target and made other preparations for the arrival of a new pressurized module next summer in the second spacewalk of their mission.
A pending defense export license treaty with the U.S. is “very crucial to Australia,” Australian Defense Minister Joel Fitzgibbon says. In his first visit to the U.S. since becoming defense minister earlier this year, Fitzgibbon said he would be meeting with White House and congressional leaders to push for passage of the treaty, which he called “very important to the Australian defense industry.”
The Phoenix Mars Lander team so far this week has been improving the coordination of scooping away frozen soil and returning it to its sample ovens for analysis. The challenge is to do the task quickly enough so ice in the soil shavings doesn’t sublimate before it can be analyzed by the Thermal and Evolved-Gas Analyzer – Phoenix’ combination oven and mass spectrometer for heating up soil samples. The week started with an enlargement of a hard subsurface area called Snow White to 8-by-12 inches to expose subsurface soil for a successful scoop.
EW FOR A400M: Northrop Grumman, under a $28.2 million contract, has been selected to provide eight Combat Electromagnetic Environment Simulator (CEESIM) systems to support the Electronic Warfare (EW) self-defense ground station of the EADS A400M transport aircraft. The Airbus A400M is replacing aging C-130 Hercules and C-160 Transall air transport fleets around the world.
PARIS – SES Astra has awarded EADS Astrium a contract to build a spacecraft for its 19.2 deg. E. Long. neighborhood. The spacecraft, Astra 1N, will be launched in 2011, mainly to serve French, German and Spanish customers. It will utilize Astrium’s Eurostar 3000 space bus – the 13th application for the platform – and carry 55 Ku-band transponders.
Exploration Systems & Technology (EST), a joint venture of Hamilton Sundstrand and ILC Dover, has formally protested NASA’s award of the $745.9 million Constellation spacesuit contract to a team headed by Oceaneering International Inc. (OII).
Key technology areas still pose hurdles in the development of the U.S. Navy’s next generation of aircraft carriers, according to the Congressional Research Service (CRS). “The Navy faces challenges in developing certain new technologies intended for CVN 21, particularly the electromagnetic aircraft launch system (EMALS) – an electromagnetic (as opposed to the traditional steam-powered) aircraft catapult,” says the report by Ronald O’Rourke, CRS naval affairs specialist. It was released earlier this month.
PARIS – Thales Alenia Space is poised to deliver the optical imager for the first of two high-resolution Pleiades observation satellites to be launched by France in early 2010. To be integrated by satellite prime contractor EADS Astrium, the imager features highly integrated avionics that permit volume to be reduced three-fold compared to previous designs, and a carbon-carbon structure and Zerodur mirrors that afford extra high dimensional stability.
A commission appointed by Congress to study the threat of high-altitude electromagnetic pulse (EMP) attacks believes the U.S. federal government “does not today have sufficient human and physical assets for reliably assessing and managing EMP threats,” the commission’s chairman told the House Armed Services Committee (HASC) last week.
FARNBOROUGH – Alenia North America and Boeing “continue to have discussions” about teaming to establish a stateside C-27J final assembly facility, according to Boeing Integrated Defense Systems President Jim Albaugh. Alenia, however, is not waiting on the discussions to proceed with the construction plans. The company’s U.S. CEO, Giuseppe Giordo, says he is moving forward with plans to break ground on the facility in Jacksonville, Fla., pending approval from local development authorities.
NEW DELHI – A German spectrometer is set to hitch a ride on the unmanned Indian lunar probe Chandrayaan-1 in September when it blasts off from the Satish Dhawan launch center aboard India’s four-stage Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle. Designed by an independent, non-profit Max Planck Institute for Solar System Research in Lindau, the SIR-2 spectrometer will examine and map the moon’s surface and help in understanding the evolution of the solar system.
The U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) is asking the Defense Dept. to flesh out its Operationally Responsive Space (ORS) concept more fully to meet requirements from the battlefield. According to a new report, GAO found that both the intelligence and military communities are unclear about the ORS concept and “concerned about DOD’s lack of consultation and communication with them.”
VADER SENSOR: Under a contract with the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, Northrop Grumman has completed the first test flight of a new Vehicle and Dismount Exploitation Radar (VADER) system. VADER is a radar sensor being developed for use with Sky Warrior, an extended-range multi-purpose unmanned aerial vehicle under development by General Atomics.
SAUDI AWACS: Boeing announced July 15 the completion of a major communications upgrade on the first of five Saudi E-3 Airborne Warning and Control System (AWACS) aircraft as part of a $49.2 million contract. The enhancement, know as Link 16, is a secure, jam-resistant, digital data link that also supports text messaging and imagery data along with additional channels for digital voice. The remaining four aircraft will be upgraded in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, by Alsalam Aircraft Co. The fleet upgrade is scheduled to be completed in December 2009.
FARNBOROUGH – Two years after it was first unveiled, the U.K. Defense Ministry and industry have signed off on the partnering agreement to sustain and develop the U.K. guided-weapons sector, while also launching a raft of missile upgrade and research programs to support the restructuring effort. The Team Complex Weapons (CW) initiative is aimed at supporting the U.K.’s national missile sector. The effort initially emerged as a result of the recognition of the down-turn in planned Defense Ministry spending on missile systems in the near term.
When Colorado-based FreeWave Technologies formally announces the launch of its high-speed Ethernet radio July 21, it will be the smallest data radio in its class, the company says.
The U.S. Air Force is promoting Lockheed Martin’s F-16 fighter as a “bridge” to eventual F-35 purchases by former Soviet satellite states now allied with the U.S., according to Bruce Lemkin, deputy under secretary of the Air Force for international affairs.
SUITABLE ENVIRONMENT: Northrop Grumman recently completed a battery of tests designed to prove the new radar units developed for the U.S. Air Force’s B-2 Radar Modernization Program (RMP) will perform properly under all environmental conditions the aircraft is likely to experience. The environmental qualification testing “exercised” the radar units – an antenna, a power supply and a receiver/exciter module – in a lab environment under extreme temperature, altitude, humidity, shock and vibration conditions.
The director of the U.S. Missile Defense Agency is touting the still-developing deal to base U.S. missile defense interceptors in Poland, saying that the two sides have reached another milestone in their negotiations. U.S. Air Force Lt. Gen. Trey Obering told a group of reporters at the Pentagon July 15 that the two countries’ negotiating teams have approved the text of a potential agreement.
SECURED BIRDS: General Dynamics C4 Systems said it received a $9.2 million contract option to continue development and certification of a National Security Agency (NSA)-approved encryption module that will be used to secure telemetry, tracking and control of Defense Department satellites. The option modifies a contract initially awarded in July 2006, which brings the total value to $19.3 million, according to the company. The contract is through the U.S.
Saab plans to sell is space business, including its subsidiary Austrian Aerospace, to Swiss company RUAG Holding for SEK335 million ($56.3 million). The deal requires approval from competition authorities. Saab announced late last year it was considering selling the space business because it was unable to achieve sufficient synergies with other businesses to provide the desired growth and profit.
TARGETED COMMENTS: The top economic adviser to the presumptive Republican presidential nominee says the Arizona Sen. John McCain’s plan to balance the federal budget would dramatically scale back high-profile or high-priced defense procurements. Douglas Holtz-Eakin told The Washington Post editorial board that as much as $160 billion could be taken out of the Pentagon’s procurement plan through 2013, according to a July 14 report.
NO SMALL AGENDA: The United States is allowing other nations to dominate the global small arms agenda by not participating in the U.N. small arms process now underway at U.N. headquarters, Washington critics assert. “The absence of the United States, one of the world’s largest arms exporters, undermines the global nature of the U.N. process and will likely be a topic at the meeting,” declares the World Security Institute (WSI) think tank. Countries are meeting for the first time since the failed U.N.
PATH FINDER: In preparation for the Pathfinder pilot sensor system developmental and limited-user evaluation by the U.S. Army’s Aviation Applied Technology Directorate (AATD), Lockheed Martin’s Pathfinder flight team set up shop at Felker Army Airfield in Ft. Eustis, Va. The evaluation phase is expected to last through November, and will assess Pathfinder’s performance integrated on board a U.S. Army Reserve HH-60L Black Hawk Medevac helicopter.
