REAFFIRMED: General Dynamics (GD) continues to work on a U.S. Navy award for common enterprise display system consoles after the sea service reaffirmed its choice of the contractor following a Government Accountability Office (GAO) report. A GD spokesman said June 18 that the company reinvigorated its contract work in April. The GAO decision occurred in February, but a redacted report was published only days ago (Aerospace DAILY, June 18).
Blueprints for advanced nuclear weapons may have found their way from the computers of smugglers in Switzerland to some of the most treacherous regimes in the world, according to a report from a U.S. think tank.
SPACE SUPPORT: A new Gallup poll commissioned by the Coalition for Space Exploration shows that more than 52 percent of those surveyed would support an increase in space exploration funding. NASA’s current budget is less than 1 percent of the federal budget, or roughly 15 cents per day for the average taxpayer. Furthermore, 68 percent of respondents agreed that the benefits of the human exploration of space outweigh the risks. Gallup conducted the poll during April and May.
LITHUANIAN INTERCEPTORS: The U.S. has considered Lithuania as an alternative European host for ground-based midcourse ballistic missile interceptors, but no formal or informal talks have begun, according to a Pentagon spokesman. Briefing reporters there June 17, Geoff Morrell said defense officials believe that Poland still wants to strike a deal for the U.S. proposal of 10 two-stage interceptors to guard against expected Iranian intercontinental ballistic missiles next decade.
As this year’s annual Coalition Warrior Interoperability Demonstration (CWID) tests the viability of multinational command, control, communications, computers, intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (C4ISR) systems, a call is being put out inviting participants to contribute ideas for the 2009 test.
NEW DELHI – The Indian government is in the midst of last-minute efforts to sign a civil nuclear deal with the U.S., trying to persuade the Left parties to agree to the accord. Under the deal, the U.S. has agreed to trade nuclear reactors, technology and fuel to help meet India’s growing energy needs.
The U.S. Government Accountability Office’s (GAO) recommendation for the U.S. Air Force to recompete its aerial refueling tanker award has recast a spotlight on the embattled armed service’s already bruised acquisition process at a time when the service is reeling from Washington-level missteps.
The U.S. Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) is kicking off the second phase of its automated aerial refueling (AAR) program to demonstrate the capability to refuel unmanned aircraft in flight. AFRL is looking for an integrator to conduct AAR Phase II, which will develop and demonstrate the capability for U.S Air Force-style boom and receptacle refueling of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs). U.S. Navy-style probe and drogue refueling will not be demonstrated.
PARIS – The French will rejoin the military command of the Atlantic Alliance as part of the country’s first major strategic shift since the end of the Cold War. President Nicolas Sarkozy confirmed June 17 that Paris will fully reintegrate the NATO command structure, ending a four-decade estrangement dating back to Gen. Charles de Gaulle and cementing a return to normality at higher operational echelons initiated by his predecessor Jacques Chirac.
JOHNSON SPACE CENTER – Engineers on NASA’s Orion crew exploration vehicle project are filling in the details on a backup airbag system to protect astronauts if the capsule is forced to return to Earth on dry land instead of in the ocean near California. While the nominal Orion landing would come in the Pacific near San Clemente Island, northwest of San Diego, the Orion project has devised a system of pop-out airbags in the “toe” of the capsule that would cushion the crew in a heads-up position in what is known as a “contingency land landing.”
TEJAS FLIES: Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd. (HAL) has flown the second of eight limited series-production (LSP) Tejas Light Combat Aircraft (LCA). LSP-2 is the first to be powered by the General Electric F404-IN20 engine planned for the initial production batch of indigenous multirole fighters for the Indian air force. The aircraft completed a 43-minute flight from HAL’s Bangalore plant on June 17, reaching Mach 1.1. Compared with the F404-N2J3 powering previous LCAs, the F404-IN20 has full-authority digital engine control and increased thrust and life.
NASA BILL: On June 18 the House of Representatives passed NASA’s fiscal 2009 authorization bill by a vote of 409 to 15. H.R. 6063 was introduced May 15 by House Space and Aeronautics Subcommittee Chairman Mark Udall (D-Colo.) and passed the House Science and Technology Committee on June 4. The legislation authorizes $20.21 billion for FY ‘09, which includes a baseline authorization of $19.21 billion plus $1 billion to accelerate the development of the Orion and Ares vehicles.
ILLEGAL EXPORTS: Federal prosecutors said June 17 that Parthasarathy Sudarshan was sentenced to 35 months in prison for his role in a conspiracy to illegally export controlled electronic components to government entities in India that participate in the development of ballistic missiles, space launch vehicles and fighter jets. Sudarshan, of Simpsonville, S.C., did business as Cirrus Electronics. Recipients of U.S.
CHIEF REQUIREMENT: The chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, the top U.S. military officer, wants more high-level military “understanding” of requirements cited for pending and future defense acquisition programs. “We must contain the requirements. That would be a huge step toward containing costs and we don’t have much of an appetite for containing that,” Navy Adm. Mike Mullen says. “Clearly we’ve got way too many major programs whose costs have gone sky high and we cannot continue to engender the confidence of the American people if we don’t contain those costs.”
HELLFIRE DEVELOPMENT: The U.K. Defense Ministry is working on an upgrade program for the AGM-114 Hellfire missile. Lockheed Martin is the likely lead for the U.K. project, which includes an insensitive munition motor. The U.K. uses variants of the missile on its WAH-64 Apache attack helicopter and MQ-9 Reaper unmanned aerial vehicle. The upgraded missile may also be offered back into the U.S.
COMBATSS READY: Lockheed Martin has successfully integrated its core combat management system (COMBATSS-21) onto the U.S. Navy’s first Littoral Combat Ship (LCS), the Freedom. Key components of the system include the radar, gun weapon system, missile launcher, decoy launcher and electronic warfare system. In a separate but parallel milestone, Lockheed Martin established the Mission Package Computing Environment infrastructure and commenced integration activities aboard Freedom with the ship’s consoles and equipment cabinets.
VEHICLE DISPLAYS: The U.S. Army’s Future Combat Systems (FCS) Manned Ground Vehicles (MGV) will sport Rockwell Collins Common Crew Station Displays under an $8 million contract awarded by BAE Systems. There are eight planned variants of the MGV, all with a common chassis. Rockwell Collins’ Common Crew Station Displays will be produced in conjunction with its Head Down Display Center, which has previously created more than 45 high performance display designs for use in air and ground applications, the company says. The contract includes delivery of 252 displays.
BAE CHOSEN: The U.S. Air Force’s Electronic Systems Center at Hanscom Air Force Base, Mass., has selected BAE Systems for the Joint Mission Planning System (JMPS), the company said June 16. The $43 million award follows a seven-month downselect that was to “refine” requirements and improve the current JMPS framework’s architecture, according to BAE. JPMS is supposed to provide automated mission planning support for Air Force, Navy and Marine Corps fixed-wing aircraft.
MUCH OBLIGED: The Government Accountability Office (GAO) has found DOD’s monthly reports on war costs to be of “questionable reliability.” The Supplemental and Cost of War Execution report is a monthly compilation of cumulative incremental obligations incurred in support of the Global War on Terror (GWOT). The report is used to inform Congress on war costs and to formulate future budget requests.
VULCAN POWER: Industry has been briefed on U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency plans to ground test a propulsion system capable of accelerating a full-scale hypersonic vehicle from rest to Mach 4+. The Vulcan engine will integrate a current production turbine engine into a “constant volume combustion” (CVC) engine. CVC candidates include pulsed detonation engines, continuous detonation engines and other architectures using unsteady combustion. The turbine engine – an F100-229, F110-129, F119 or F414 – and CVC engine would share a common inlet and nozzle.
TOKYO – The Japanese government has approved a new space law framework that could create a major structural change in its space program. The new law, which allows for the development of non-offensive satellites designed to provide “national security,” replaces a 1969 law that confined space development to strictly peaceful purposes. The new space law was recently approved by Japan’s House of Councilors and will be in force by the end of August at the latest.
FREE TRADE: U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates has highlighted potential future information sharing with Mexico and Canada of data derived from sensors or unmanned aircraft. In a June 16 speech at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce’s North American Forum, the Pentagon chief further spotlighted homeland vulnerabilities exploited by drug smugglers and called on the three nations to better cooperate over emergency planning and response, security and prosperity initiatives, and counter-drug efforts.
An Israeli air force team is in Washington this week to continue hammering a deal to buy at least 25 Lockheed Martin-led F-35s under what could be the first potential foreign military sale (FMS) of the Joint Strike Fighter (JSF). The team is receiving the first, formal capabilities briefing on the F-35. This will allow them to determine what gaps, if any, exist between the F-35’s capabilities and Israel’s specific requirements, says U.S. Marine Corps Brig. Gen. David Heinz, deputy JSF program director.
