Following its April launch, the U.S. Air Force’s Communication/Navigation Outage Forecasting System (C/NOFS) satellite is now gathering data that scientists hope will enable better forecasting of ionospheric interference with radio communications. This interference, known as scintillation, occurs when radio waves traveling through the ionosphere at 50-360 miles altitude become distorted or lost. The phenomenon can cause serious transmission problems for communications or Global Positioning System (GPS) satellites.
Boeing will take a pre-tax charge of around $250 million in the second quarter to cover further losses on its Wedgetail airborne early warning and control (AEW&C) program for the Royal Australian Air Force.
The U.S. Transportation Department (DOT) has chosen the X Prize Foundation to create a competition for jet fuel alternatives, DOT Secretary Mary Peters announced July 10. The aim of the award is to stimulate market competition for the development of alternative fuels. The original X Prize competition awarded a $10 million prize in 2004 to the team behind the world’s first privately developed manned suborbital spacecraft, SpaceShipOne.
Space Systems/Loral (SS/L) has added Hispasat to its satellite customer list, winning a contract to built Hispasat 1E for a 2010 launch. For its recent spacecraft, Hispasat has turned to Alcatel Alenia Space and its 3000B series platform. SS/L will use its 1300 series platform, equipping it with 53 Ku-band transponders for fixed and broadcast satellite services. Hispasat 1E is to have a launch mass of about 5 tons and prime power rating of 14 kW at end-of-life. No contract value or launch provider have been announced.
MESA, Ariz. – Boeing will begin work this month on the first of two new sites on the U.S./Mexico border for the “virtual fence” being developed under the Secure Border Initiative (SBI) program. The stretches of border south and west of Tucson, Ariz., will be the first equipped with the improved surveillance system being developed by Boeing under Block 1 of its SBInet contract.
NEW DELHI – At the request of the U.S. Air Force, an Indian Air Force (IAF) contingent will arrive in the U.S. on July 17 to participate in the Red Flag 08 exercise. The contingent will first arrive at Mountain Home Air Force Base, Idaho, before heading to Nellis Air Force Base, Nev., where Red Flag will take place from Aug. 9-23. The IAF will participate in the exercise with eight SU-30 MK-Is, two IL-78 air-to-air refuelers and one IL-76 transport aircraft. The contingent has 156 personnel below officer rank and 91 officers.
MESA, Ariz. – Boeing has flown the first AH-64D Apache Block III, the next major upgrade of the long-serving attack helicopter. The first of two avionics test aircraft flew for the first time on June 27 at Boeing’s rotorcraft plant here, followed on July 5 by a helicopter equipped with new composite main rotor blades. A formal first flight was conducted on July 9 with U.S. Army Vice Chief of Staff Gen. Richard Cody as co-pilot. The Block III Apache is scheduled to enter service with the Army in 2011.
MAINTAINING JSC: Boeing submitted a proposal to NASA July 8 for the Facilities Development and Operations Contract (FDOC), a four-year contract under which Boeing hopes to work in collaboration with NASA on maintaining and improving the agency’s next-generation mission control center and other facilities at Johnson Space Center in Houston. NASA’s Johnson Space Center Mission Operations Directorate will manage FDOC, which consolidates a portion of the current Space Program Operations and Mission Support Operations contracts.
Iran’s latest test of its long-range missile capability bolsters U.S. arguments for the need to base an anti-ballistic missile defense system in Eastern Europe, Defense Secretary Robert Gates said July 9. Iran reported that its Revolutionary Guards test fired up to nine missiles, including the Shahab-3, which U.S. analysts say can hit targets up to 1,250 miles away.
STRIKE ARCHITECTURE: The U.S. Air Force and Northrop Grumman have completed an incremental system design review of the new software and computing architecture that will manage B-2 stealth bomber missions for the next several decades. The new architecture defines standardized hardware and software interfaces that will allow the B-2’s new integrated processing unit (IPU) to communicate, via fiber network, with the aircraft’s processing applications, both now and in the future.
Carol A. Haave is the new Department of Homeland Security assistant secretary for International Affairs. DHS Secretary Michael Chertoff calls her “a skilled international negotiator” with more than 25 years of combined experience in national security and international affairs. While serving at the Defense Department, Haave oversaw the development of the Iraqi National ID Card program, which required sensitive negotiations with the Iraqi government and other Middle Eastern countries.
The Pentagon’s decision to recompete the U.S. Air Force’s aerial refueling tanker between Boeing and Northrop Grumman-EADS teams was welcomed by Capitol Hill, but the industry rivals apparently remain more suspicious.
With thousands of shoulder-fired missiles still on the black market after a six-year effort by the U.S. to have surplus weapons destroyed and foreign stockpiles fully secured, the threat reduction effort is continuing.
The U.S. Army’s Bell ARH-70 Armed Reconnaissance Helicopter (ARH) program has filed a Nunn-McCurdy cost and schedule breach, but the Army’s second-highest general asserts the program already is advancing. “The key performance parameters for ARH have been validated and revalidated,” said Army Gen. Richard Cody, vice chief of staff. “We have to go through this process by law.”
PRESSING EXPORTS: Both British and Australian defense leaders will be in Washington this week, in part to meet with U.S. lawmakers who are considering whether to ratify two groundbreaking export control treaties that President Bush has signed with former leaders of those two allies. On July 10 the liberal Brookings Institution think tank will host the British Secretary of State for Defense, Des Browne, for a discussion of British and U.S. policies in Iraq, Afghanistan and beyond, both now and with the change in U.S. leadership in 2009.
H-46 CHIEF: U.S. Marine Corps Lt. Col. Paul M. Riegert has taken command of the H-46 Program Office (PMA226) at Marine Corps Air Station Cherry Point, N.C. As the H-46 program manager, he will lead a team of about 150 acquisition professionals and is charged with the life-cycle management authority for a fleet of 198 helicopters. The aircraft are heavily deployed in Operations Iraqi Freedom and Enduring Freedom and are used primarily in the assault support mission for the Marine Corps.
Members of the European Defense Agency have endorsed the so-called Capability Development Plan (CDP) aimed at harmonizing modernization efforts. The document has no immediate effect on research and procurement spending, but is supposed to be used as a guide by members in setting near- and long-term requirements. The EDA hopes that the CDP will effectively drive more common European defense spending. The document looks ahead to 2025.
EMPIRE CHALLENGE: Boeing has integrated network-centric capabilities into two operational Airborne Warning and Control System (AWACS) aircraft for a demonstration at Empire Challenge 2008, a joint U.S. military exercise underway now at China Lake, Calif. The modifications, including the high-speed Tactical Targeting Network Technology system, allow greater use of AWACS mission data, better access to external Web services data and an enhanced suite of battle-management tools, Boeing says. Modifications on the aircraft were completed in early June.
FUTURE IT: Regardless of which senator takes over the White House in January 2009, the Iraq and Afghanistan wars and other global counterterror operations will continue to dominate the federal information technology (IT) budget due to the need to refresh equipment and technology and rebuild the armed services, according to IT consultancy Input. But the Democratic and Republican candidates also appear focused on other areas that will require technology investments to bring their campaign promises to fruition.
SCOPED UP: Lockheed Martin said July 7 that the U.S. Navy awarded it a $144 million contract for system design and development of the Automatic Radar Periscope Detection and Discrimination (ARPDD) system for MH-60R helicopters. It is an upgrade to the AN/APS-147 multimode radar to automatically detect, track and discriminate submarine periscopes from floating sea debris. The helos, currently the sea service’s primary antisub aircraft, will begin deployments aboard aircraft carriers next year.
TerreStar says the reflector intended for its first hybrid high-speed mobile service satellite (MSS), TS-1, has sustained damage that may delay the spacecraft’s launch from the end of 2008 to the second quarter of 2009. The reflector, supplied by Harris Corp., is now expected to be shipped by March 15, 2009, TerreStar says. Launch had already been pushed back a year because of a number of technical issues with the satellite, currently under construction at SpaceSystems/Loral, including problems with the S-band feed array.
CHECKPOINT SCANS: X-ray detection technology company American Science and Engineering (AS&E) said July 7 that it received a $55.1 million contract from Abu Dhabi Customs. The Customs Administration at Abu Dhabi, the largest emirate of the United Arab Emirates, purchased “multiple” OmniView, Z Portal and Z Backscatter Van X-ray detection systems to scan cargo trucks, passenger vehicles and containers at border checkpoints.
