A group of former senior managers who served in federal agencies with roles in Earth science and human health is calling for the creation of a new federal agency “to meet the unprecedented environmental and economic challenges facing the nation.” An Earth Systems Science Agency (ESSA) would combine the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) into a single organization, according to the proposal published in the July 4 issue of Science.
ARMOR TESTING: Northrop Grumman and Oshkosh’s Joint Light Tactical Vehicle (JLTV) family of vehicles has completed armor testing. Plasan USA was selected to design and engineer the vehicle’s armor and conduct ballistic and mine-blast testing on the team’s JLTV prototype. After the first round of testing, the armor passed all threshold capability and achieved several objective-level force protection requirements, according to the companies. Plasan is using an advanced composite-technology armor system to conserve weight.
LONDON – The U.K. Defense Ministry and BAE Systems are discussing development of a large, long-endurance reconnaissance unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV), known as Mantis, against a backdrop of debate within the ministry over its strategic UAV acquisition approach. BAE Systems has been working on the Mantis program for some time, with the project drawing on classified work the company has been carrying out for the ministry. Talks aimed at finalizing ministry support for Mantis are believed to be ongoing.
The top leaders of the House Armed Services Committee (HASC) have written Defense Secretary Robert Gates citing misgivings about moving North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) from Cheyenne Mountain to Peterson Air Force Base in Colorado.
Brazil is to help India develop an airborne early warning and control (AEW&C) aircraft based on the Embraer EMB-145 regional jet and carrying an indigenously developed radar. Flight-tests are to begin in 2012, the India defense ministry says. Under the agreement, signed on July 3, Embraer will modify the EMB-145 to carry the active-array antenna under development by the Indian Defence Research & Development Organisation’s (DRDO) Centre for Airborne Systems (CABS).
TEN THOUSANDTH: The 10,000th Mine Resistant Ambush Protected (MRAP) vehicle soon will be heading for the front lines after having rolled off the assembly line July 3. The MRAP still has to be equipped with weapons, radios and other equipment at the U.S. Navy’s Space and Naval Warfare Systems Command (SPAWAR) in Charleston, S.C. Once completed, the vehicle will be handed off to U.S. Transportation Command to be transported by air or sea to Iraq or Afghanistan.
UNMANNED OPS: U.S. Army and Air Force leaders met June 30 to discuss the development of a new, joint unmanned aerial system (UAS) concept of operations (conops) to maximize the contributions the systems can provide to joint forces in the field. The new conops will lay the foundation for UAS acquisition, airspace, air defense, force structure and organizational strategies, the services said. The Army-Air Force team has been working together for the past several months to identify current and future UAS requirements.
The U.S. Air Force Research Laboratory is preparing for a second week of flight-tests this year with a Calspan Learjet in November to evaluate how sensors and algorithms could help an unmanned air vehicle (UAV) sense and avoid other aircraft.
The first batch of scientific papers from the Jan. 14 flyby of NASA’s Mercury Surface, Space Environment, Geochemistry and Ranging (Messenger) reports the discovery of huge volcanoes on the closest planet to the sun, and settles once and for all the question of what produces Mercury’s magnetic field.
LONDON –The British Defense Ministry and industry have finally inked the main contracts – worth around $6 billion – covering the build program for the Royal Navy’s two-next generation aircraft carriers. The program is now meant to see the first enter service in 2014, with the second to follow in 2016. The first ship will go operational with the Harrier GR9, before the planned U.K. service entry of the F-35B Joint Strike Fighter in 2017.
To list an event, send information in calendar format to Donna Thomas at [email protected]. (Bold type indicated new calendar listing.) July 14-17 — Pacific Operatonal Science & Technology Conference. Hilton Hawaiian Village, Honolulu, HI. For more information call 703-247-2599 or go to www.ndia.org July 14-20 Farnborough (England) air show. For more information call +44 (125) 253-2800, fax +44 (125) 237-6015 or go to www.farnborough.com
Boeing and the U.S. Air Force are in talks over development of a larger, piloted blended wing body (BWB) “X-Plane” demonstrator that would follow-on from the current subscale X-48B unmanned BWB demonstrator now flying at Edwards Air Force Base, Calif.
The Netherlands government is locked in a head-to-head fight with the country’s aerospace and defense industry over its decision that Dutch industry should pay 10.3 percent of all revenues from F-35 Joint Strike Fighter (JSF)-related orders through 2053 to the state. The revised percentage was announced July 1 by Dutch Minister of Economic Affairs Maria van der Hoeven, replacing the preliminary figure of 3.5 percent that was agreed to in 2002.
TANKER TRAJECTORY: After two botched U.S. Air Force attempts to procure a fleet of KC-135 replacement tankers, the Pentagon’s civilian leadership is stepping in. Acquisition czar John Young is overseeing the corrective actions needed after the Government Accountability Office (GAO) found numerous problems with how the service conducted the competition between a Northrop Grumman/EADS team’s A330 design and a Boeing 767 variant.
A July 3 story on the Hubble Space Telescope servicing mission contained an error in its description of the clean room at Goddard Space Flight Center. The room is a Class 10,000 facility, which denotes how well it cleans the air.
The two-ton primary mirror for the Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy (SOFIA) has gotten a shiny protective aluminum coating as preparations continue for the 747SP’s service entry next year. However, it wasn’t much of a coating – just 1/300th of the thickness of a human hair and weighing 1/14th of an ounce spread over the 60-square foot mirror surface. A 20-second spritz and it was done.
LONG DISTANCE: The U.S. Army has established a new distance record for Lockheed Martin’s Guided Multiple Launch Rocket System (GMLRS) rocket, destroying a target 85 kilometers (53 miles) from the launch site during a June 19 demonstration at White Sands Missile Range, N.M. The previous maximum range for GMLRS was 70 kilometers (43 miles). This flight-test was the fourth in the GMLRS Unitary Production Verification Test program. The GMLRS rocket was fired from a High Mobility Artillery Rocket System (HIMARS) launcher.
TANKER HEARINGS: Congress is far from done looking at the U.S. Air Force replacement refueling tanker imbroglio. At least two House panels have scheduled hearings on the tanker selection process. On July 10, the House Armed Services air and land forces subcommittee will hear testimony from Pentagon acquisition chief John Young and Sue Payton, who’s in charge of acquisition at the Air Force. On July 15, the House Oversight Committee will look at the tanker competition. Acting U.S. Comptroller General Gene Dodaro, who also heads the U.S.
NEW FIGHTER: Brazil has formally relaunched its new fighter procurement program, issuing requests for information on six contenders: the Boeing F/A-18E/F, Dassault Rafale, Eurofighter Typhoon, Lockheed Martin F-35, Saab Gripen and Sukhoi Su-35. The new F-X2 program is to progressively replace the Brazilian air force’s fleets of Dassault Mirage 2000s and upgraded Northrop F-5Ms and Embraer/Alenia A-1Ms beginning in 2015. The F-35 replaces the F-16, which was evaluated under the previous F-X BR program shelved in 2003.
DOD is not following through on its policy requiring the commitment of full funding to develop major weapon systems when they are initiated, according to the U.S. Government Accountability Office. With costs regularly exceeding planned funding levels on the majority of weapon system programs, shortfalls are resulting in inefficient funding adjustments, deferred costs or reduced procurement quantities.
PARIS – The European Commission (EC) and the European Space Agency (ESA) have issued a request for proposals for 28 full operating capability (FOC) satellites – 26 operational units plus two spares – and related ground segment equipment for the Galileo satellite navigation system.
ARIANE DELAYED: An anomaly in the electrical interface between the Ariane 5 launcher and its launch table has forced Arianespace to postpone the launch of ProtoStar-1 and Arabsat’s Badr-6 until July 7. The launch had been scheduled for July 4. The electrical interface change-out is occurring in the Final Assembly Building at Kourou, French Guiana, where the Ariane 5 remains in a safe condition with its dual-satellite payload.
