Airbus has just completed the first test of in-trail climb procedures over the North Atlantic using Automatic Dependent Surveillance Broadcast (ADS-B) and aims to certify the technique by 2010 so trans-Atlantic aircraft can reap substantial fuel savings and cut emissions. The use of precise GPS positioning of aircraft is expected to allow airliners and military transports to climb or descend near each other over the North Atlantic, even when starting the maneuver only 15 nautical miles in front of or behind aircraft above or below them.
DIRECT ATTACK: Boeing announced that it has delivered the first Laser Joint Direct Attack Munition (LJDAM) kits to the U.S. Air Force. The Precision Laser Guidance Set (PLGS) kits are being produced to meet Air Force and Navy requirements to engage fast-moving land targets. The First Article Acceptance Testing (FAAT) of production units, conducted by the Air Force at China Lake, Calif., was completed in March. LJDAM is expected to be operational this year.
SCINTILLATING SUCCESS: The U.S. Air Force’s Communication/Navigation Outage Forecasting System (C/NOFS) satellite was launched by an Orbital Sciences Pegasus rocket at 10:02 a.m. Pacific time April 16. The Pegasus’ L-1011 carrier aircraft took off from Kwajalein Atoll in the Ralik Islands and spent about an hour climbing to launch altitude, at which point it released the Pegasus from its belly. The Pegasus booster deployed the 870-pound (395-kilogram) satellite into its targeted elliptical orbit of 205 x 385 nautical miles eight minutes later.
SLIGHT SLIP: The U.S. Air Force’s decision between Lockheed Martin and Boeing designs for the future Global Positioning System III satellite is expected next week. Officials had hoped to announce the winner April 17. The winner will build next-generation GPS spacecraft including antennas capable of projecting spot coverage 100 times the power of today’s signal – a capability designed to counter anti-GPS jamming.
Morocco is expected to sign a €500 million ($750 million) contract with France for a Fremm-type 5,000-metric-ton frigate on April 18, senior government sources in Paris say. The contract is to be formalized during the visit to Rabat by French Prime Minister Francois Fillon.
The $108 billion fiscal 2008 supplemental spending measure being considered by Congress could be the only major appropriations lawmakers send to the White House before the November elections, boosting the likelihood that what are ostensibly warfighting funds could be significantly redirected.
Japan this year will retire F-4EJ Phantoms from one of its three squadrons still operating the old McDonnell Douglas fighters, re-equipping the strike unit with Mitsubishi F-2s. Two interceptor squadrons will continue to operate Phantoms indefinitely while Tokyo searches for a replacement, preferably the Lockheed Martin F-22, which the United States – because of congressional concern over fighter proliferation – is refusing to supply.
INFORMATION ASSURANCE: General Dynamics was awarded a $140 million contract April 17 to develop and integrate the maritime and fixed-site joint tactical radio capabilities and provide information assurance services for the Lockheed Martin Airborne Maritime and Fixed site (AMF) Joint Tactical Radio System (JTRS) team. AMF JTRS will provide secure data, voice and video for on-the-move tactical platforms for joint forces, aircraft, maritime assets and fixed sites worldwide. Work on the program will be performed at General Dynamics’ Scottsdale, Ariz., facility.
ORBITAL RESULTS: Orbital Sciences Corporation announced April 17 its first quarter 2008 revenues increased 30 percent over the first quarter of last year, from $228.2 million to $296 million. Both operating and net incomes increased in the first quarter as well. Operating income rose 23.6 percent over the first quarter of 2007, to $21.6 million. Orbital’s net income in the first quarter improved by 19 percent over 2007, to $13.7 million.
A U.K. program to upgrade its Boeing E-3D fleet is under review as part of the Defense Ministry’s Planning Round 08. The program, dubbed Project Eagle, was due to enter a technology demonstration phase in the second half of 2007, but funding issues have caused delays. The ministry is trying to finalize Planning Round 08, which covers its spending plans for the next two years, with significant savings needed to be made.
NASA’s approach to developing technologies to meet its ambitious human exploration goals could cause problems down the road, blocking progress in the “stepping-stone” strategy outlined in President Bush’s “Vision for Space Exploration” because technology readiness levels could be too low for another step.
The U.S. Missile Defense Agency (MDA) plans to double the missile production rate for the Terminal High-Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) and Aegis ballistic missile defense systems between 2010 and 2015, according to the director of the agency. Air Force Lt. Gen. Henry “Trey” Obering III, who is set to retire this fall, stressed to reporters after testifying at a House Armed Services strategic forces subcommittee hearing April 17 that a final decision would be made under the fiscal 2010 budget-building process, including by his successor.
VIETNAM TELECOM: Lockheed Martin’s Vinasat-1 telecommunications satellite, designed and built for Vietnam Posts and Telecommunications Group (VNPT) of Vietnam, will launch April 18 aboard an Ariane 5-ECA launch vehicle provided by Arianespace. Vinasat-1 is based on Lockheed’s A2100A spacecraft platform and is the first satellite system ever procured by Vietnam. The satellite features 12 operating Ku-band transponders providing coverage over Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia, Thailand and part of Myanmar.
A DOD competition aims to reduce the weight of the heavy packs soldiers carry, with an award of $1 million to the group that creates a wearable system weighing under 4 kilograms with the ability to provide 20 watts of electrical power for 96 hours.
Boeing and other U.S. defense and aerospace contractors may play a key role in France’s ambitious, overarching Scorpion land forces C4I, missiles and armored vehicles transformation program that is expected to be conducted incrementally from 2009 to 2025. U.S. companies, and namely Boeing, are among eight or so firms that have responded to a request for information issued by French defense procurement agency DGA last year, says Col. Jerome Perrin, DGA’s program executive director for armored vehicles.
SIZZLING TARGET: Charles McQueary, the Pentagon’s chief tester, says the Navy is forming a request for proposals to design a target system that would simulate capabilities of the Russian Novator 3M-54, the so-called “sizzler” missile. This cruise missile could fly subsonic, then shift to hypersonic flight to attack ships at sea. McQueary says that testers have discovered they cannot adequately simulate the target using two separate test vehicles emulating the two separate flight speeds.
NAS PATUXENT RIVER, Md. – The VH-71 presidential replacement helicopter is going to bring with it classified capabilities, as well as some slightly more visible semi-secrets.
LONDON – The British experience in Afghanistan and Iraq is reinforcing the need for a broader palette of air-to-surface weapon capabilities and “effects,” as well as underscoring the importance of a flexible and responsive targeting process. While the past two decades have seen a considerable increase in the accuracy of the Royal Air Force’s air-to-ground systems, officials want more. “We have not done enough on weapon effects,” says Air Commodore Graham Wright, from the U.K. Defense Ministry’s directorate of targeting and information operations (DTIO).
The next two years will be “exciting times” in Washington for figuring out the country’s nuclear weaponry strategy in the post-9/11 era, according to the two-star general in charge of the U.S. intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) force.
NASA will not ask Congress for permission to continue buying cargo space on Russian Progress resupply vehicles for the International Space Station (ISS) after 2011, opting instead for an all-commercial approach under its nascent Commercial Orbital Transportation Services (COTS) program.
GOOD TO GO: Production of a second batch of six conventional take-off and landing Lockheed Martin F-35A Joint Strike Fighters (JSFs) has been approved by Pentagon acquisition chief John Young, an industry source says. As expected, approval for the first six production short take-off and vertical landing F-35Bs for the U.S. Marine Corps has been made conditional on a successful first flight, expected by early June. Together the 12 aircraft make up the second JSF low-rate initial production (LRIP) batch. Two F-35As were purchased in the first LRIP batch.
The U.S. Defense Department agency charged with ensuring contractors maintain control of classified information has less than 400 inspectors to oversee more than 8,000 companies, officials say. The Defense Security Service (DSS) issues security clearances for key management personnel at private sector companies that develop or manufacture defense systems so they can access or store classified information. The DSS also evaluates whether a company is subject to any Foreign Ownership Control or Influence (FOCI) that might compromise security.
Northrop Grumman has announced it will delay delivery of LHD-8, the U.S. Navy’s last Wasp-class large-deck amphibious assault ship, by several months while the company swallows a financial charge due to shipbuilding issues.
