Despite the efforts of the different Pentagon services to address energy concerns – and an acknowledgment in the Defense Department of the importance of energy issues – the DOD still needs a cohesive energy plan, a recent U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) report says.
L-3 Communications said March 14 it will become a subcontractor to Global Linguist Solutions (GLS) for translation and interpretation services in Iraq and will drop a bid protest against GLS’s recent win for the work. The deal comes in the wake of L-3’s stunning loss of a high-profile U.S. Army translation services contract to DynCorp and subsequent Army resistance to an L-3 bid protest.
To list an event, send information in calendar format to Donna Thomas at [email protected]. (Bold type indicates new calendar listing.) March 31 - April 1 — Maritime Security & Domain Awareness, “An Outstanding Conference on the Latest Missions, Plans and Prospects,” Doubletree Hotel Crystal City-National Airport, Washington, D.C. For more information go to www.technologytraining.com
MRAP BUY: International Military and Government LLC of Warrenville, Ill., has been awarded a $410.7 million contract to provide the U.S. Navy with 743 additional Category I Mine Resistance Ambush Protected vehicles, the Defense Department said March 14. The MRAPs are used by the Marine Corps and other joint forces for convoy operations. The work will be performed in WestPoint, Miss., and is expected to be completed by November 2008. The Marine Corps Systems Command, Quantico, Va., is the contracting activity.
JOHNSON SPACE CENTER – Robotics engineers here and in Canada believe a problem powering up the Dextre special purpose dexterous manipulator on the International Space Station can be traced to the design of a temporary cable, and should not have a long-term impact on station operations.
TARGETED CUT: U.S. Air Force Lt. Gen. Michael Hamel is acknowledging a years-long effort to develop the Space Radar, a constellation of sensors designed to track moving air and ground targets from space, is headed for trouble. Perhaps the death knell for the program was the unprecedented collaboration it required between the Air Force and the highly secretive National Reconnaissance Office (NRO); it was to service requirements from both the military and intelligence communities. Furthermore, Congress has repeatedly slowed the effort, citing soaring costs.
The U.S. Army is crafting a supplemental programmatic environmental impact statement for Army growth and force structure realignment in support of burgeoning Pacific theater operations. The March 13 announcement in the Federal Register, which meets legal requirements and starts a public input cycle, kicks off an effort to evaluate relative environmental and socioeconomic impacts of support operations growth in the Pacific as the Army restructures to address existing capabilities “shortfalls” in meeting official national defense and military strategies.
BUILDING ON SUCCESS: Keiji Tachikawa, president of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, hopes the widespread interest JAXA has generated in Japan recently can be translated into more funding for more spaceflight activities.
BUDGET BOOSTER: One of NASA’s leading Democratic overseers in Congress sees the need for a hefty boost in agency spending, and wants to send a signal to the next occupant of the White House to that effect. Rep.
House defense authorizers could try to push the U.S. Navy toward curbing the DDG-1000 destroyer program at just two ships in order to allow its technology efforts to progress, but then invest in more upgraded DDG-51s and the next-generation CG(X) cruiser instead of fulfilling the DDG-1000 acquisitions planned now.
The Pentagon’s vaunted $299 billion Joint Strike Fighter (JSF) program is fending off another scathing government agency review, the second in less than three months.
TOMAHAWK BUY: Raytheon Co. has been awarded a $30.9 million contract modification to provide the U.S. Navy with 68 Tomahawk Composite Capsule Launching System (CCLS) Capsules and 20 SSGN/SSN CCLS Retrofit Kits, the Defense Department said March 13. The work will be performed in Tucson, Ariz., and is expected to be completed by January 2010. The Naval Air Systems Command, Patuxent River, Md., is the contracting activity.
The U.S. Coast Guard’s recent confidence in the delivery schedule of its first National Security Cutter (NSC) is not shared by the Government Accountability Office (GAO), which in a recent report expressed uncertainty about the NSC’s anticipated May delivery date.
New areas of space are of growing interest to the Pentagon, particularly the geostationary belt at 19,000 miles above the equator where the U.S. Air Force is looking to raise its awareness of the local environment.
Senior Thales managers are bullish over the U.K. finally signing finally for its two next-generation aircraft carriers. But they are more circumspect with regard to a second French carrier, based on the U.K. design. Denis Ranque, Thales CEO, and Alex Dorrian, CEO of its U.K. business, are upbeat with regard to the British program. But Ranque suggests there is still a debate in some French circles as to the requirement and for a second carrier to complement the Charles De Gaulle.
The chairmen of the two House panels that oversee the Department of Homeland Security’s funding say the Bush administration’s fiscal 2009 budget request wasn’t big enough and they intend to increase it. Rep. David Price (D-N.C.), chairman of the Appropriations homeland security subcommittee, and Homeland Security Committee Chairman Bennie Thompson (D-Miss.) agree that the White House did not ask for enough money to fund the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) and other DHS agencies.
NEW DELHI — EADS has identified Indian suppliers for the sourcing of engineering products to its five major divisions as part of its plan to include India as a sourcing destination. “India has a highly skilled work force, reasonable labor costs and a safe political environment. We expect to source from IT and engineering but also with manufacturing suppliers for assemblies and production parts worth around $1 billion in the next 10 years,” Hans Mundt, chief procurement officer of EADS, told Aerospace Daily.
JOHNSON SPACE CENTER — Assembly of Canada’s big special purpose dexterous manipulator, a two-armed robot that should ease the need for human extravehicular activities (EVAs) in the future, was to get under way late March 13 despite a glitch powering it up after the space shuttle Endeavour’s crew placed it on the International Space Station late March 12.
Now that U.S. launch operations with the Boeing Delta IV and Lockheed Martin Atlas V rockets have begun without failures, officials at Space and Missiles Systems Center in Los Angeles are beginning to look at what’s next for military launch. The oft-attempted and elusive concept of reusable systems appears to be the only way to get cost efficiencies beyond what is offered by these newest boosters, says Lt. Gen. Michael Hamel, the center’s director. Hamel spoke March 11 to reporters during a Defense Writers’ Group breakfast.
Astrium Services is looking to up its stakes in geospatial information provider SpotImage and milsatcom operator Hisdesat as part of a plan to meld its space-based milsatcom, remote sensing and navigation capabilities into a family of integrated satellite services. The EADS unit already is a global leader in military satellite communications and a pioneer in providing milsatcom capabilities on a service contract basis.
The U.S. Strategic Command will have laid out its requirements for an investment in an offensive cyberwarfare element by the time the 2010 program objective memorandum (POM) rolls around, the StratCom chief said on Capitol Hill.
April 15-16, 2008 Broward County Convention Center Fort Lauderdale, FL Don’t miss this launch event featuring cutting-edge sessions that address the key issues affecting airline interiors executives, vendors, OEMs and even MRO professionals. Including: -- How new all-business class airlines are pushing the envelope in cabin design and materials!
JOHNSON SPACE CENTER – The space shuttle Endeavour was set to go through its back-flip rendezvous pitch maneuver late March 12 before docking with the International Space Station at 11:25 p.m. EDT to begin a long and complex assembly and maintenance mission. Crew members spent late March 11 preparing for the orbital rendezvous, inspecting Endeavour’s thermal protection system (TPS) and setting up spacesuits for the five extravehicular activities (EVAs) planned during the docked portion of the 16-day flight.
