Lockheed Martin workers at eight facilities in the U.S. will vote March 2 on a new contract that was tentatively agreed to Feb. 28 by the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers (IAM). The contract is scheduled to expire March 2. The new three-year agreement offers the best pay package in the history of negotiations with the company for the IAM, improves their pension benefits, and includes a $2,000 signing bonus, the union said.
The chairman of the House subcommittee that oversees the U.S. Marine Corps says he’s concerned that the Bush administration isn’t spending enough on the Marines’ research and development (R&D) projects. Rep. Gene Taylor (D-Miss.), chairman of the seapower and expeditionary forces subcommittee, noted in his opening remarks at a Feb. 27 hearing on the Marines’ fiscal 2009 budget request that the service is seeking only $2.6 billion in procurement and R&D.
COTS SLIP: NASA says that SpaceX is projecting a slip of six to nine months in the first flight of its Falcon 9 rocket under the agency’s Commercial Orbital Transportation Services (COTS) program. The mission, to demonstrate cargo transfer to the space station, is now planned for March 2010. The delay is due to technical issues with the new Merlin 1C engine that were “recently resolved,” as well as launch site preparations at Cape Canaveral, where the mission was shifted from its original site at Kwajalein Atoll in the Marshall Islands.
DWELL TIME: Top U.S. Army officials say that if the number of Army brigades deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan were cut to 15, the service could trim soldiers’ tours by three months to one year to boost their time at home. But they acknowledge that if that target is not achieved – which could happen if two more Army brigades were to step in for Marine Corps units possibly transferred to Afghanistan – then they do not know when the Army could return to its desired dwell time.
PARIS – Europe is mulling greater use of commercially provided logistics support for European Union crisis management operations, in large part to ease a chronic capacity shortage that members suffer.
A team of defense officials looking into how the U.S. armed services will better coordinate theater-level operational command and control of unmanned aircraft is expected to issue a report within a month, according to the Army’s chief of staff.
CROSSROADS: The U.S. nuclear weapons complex is at a “crossroads,” Defense and Energy department officials told the House Armed Services strategic forces subcommittee Feb. 27. Officials said they are shifting their emphasis toward nuclear counterterrorism and nonproliferation efforts, especially securing and boosting the reliability of the U.S. stockpile, as the country continues to respond to post-9/11 concerns. The leaders of U.S.
U.S. Army and Marine Corps officials have made it clear in statements and budget requests that buying the right equipment to transport troops safely in combat zones remains a major priority, and the commitment is being borne out by the Pentagon’s growing investment in ground vehicles.
ARMY BUDGET: A U.S. Army representative told Aerospace DAILY Feb. 27 that the service’s officially requested amount for fiscal 2009 remains $140.7 billion – the White House-approved regular-budget request, which does not include warfighting-supplemental requests. According to Senate Armed Services Committee (SASC) Chairman Carl Levin (D-Mich.), Army officials have told his committee and its staff that they need $260 billion-$270 billion per year to meet all of the Army’s assessed needs (DAILY, Feb. 27). Levin announced as much in a public hearing Feb.
NEW DEHLI –The planned April launch of India’s lunar orbiter Chandrayaan-I has been shifted to June-July, to allow more time for subsystem testing. The 525-kilogram (1,160-pound) lunar orbiter will carry 11 instruments, including two from the U.S. and one each from Britain, Sweden, Germany and Bulgaria. The mission is aimed at understanding the chemistry and mineralogy of the lunar surface.
The Coast Guard is “too small,” the agency’s chief of staff says, but no study has been done to determine how much it needs to grow to perform all the security tasks added to its mission since the 9/11 terror attacks. “I think we all believe we are not big enough,” Vice Adm. Robert Papp told the House Transportation Committee Feb. 26. But he conceded Coast Guard headquarters has concentrated its planning resources on each fiscal year’s budget request rather than determining the optimum size of the agency.
NEW DELHI – India has extended the technical and commercial bid deadline for the Multirole Medium Range Combat Aircraft (MMRCA) from March 3 by two months. As a result, bidders will get more time to prepare their offset proposals, which were to have been submitted in June. While the decision to extend the bid was announced to coincide with the visit of U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates to India, a military source told Aerospace DAILY the extension request came from the Russians (MiG-35) and French (Eurofighter Typhoon).
LOCKHEED MULE: Lockheed Martin’s Multifunction Utility/Logistics and Equipment (MULE) vehicle program completed its System Preliminary Design Review (PDR) Feb. 27, kicking off the detailed design phase. A successful Interim Design Review in the fall will mark the final step toward the detailed design period. The MULE Critical Design Review (CDR) is scheduled for fall 2009, after which prototype vehicles will enter production.
NASA Administrator Michael Griffin offered Senate lawmakers a preview of an upcoming congressionally mandated report on projected center work force levels during testimony on Capitol Hill Feb. 27.
DENVER – NASA’s planned Ares V heavy lift vehicle can’t meet its lunar-mission requirements as currently conceived, and will need beefing up. The agency is studying a variety of options to boost the lift capability of the big new rocket, currently scheduled to begin development before the end of 2010 under the fiscal 2011 federal budget.
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FT. LAUDERDALE, Fla. – Lockheed Martin unveiled its second operational Joint Light Tactical Vehicle (JLTV) prototype at the Association of the U.S. Army (AUSA) winter symposium here Feb. 27, while BAE Systems and Navistar showed off their JLTV prototype. Lockheed Martin’s variant is a Utility Vehicle Light (UVL) Payload Category C, and will be used to carry personnel, general cargo and ammunition. It also can be configured to carry an S250 shelter. When the shelter is removed, the UVL can be used as a utility or prime mover vehicle.
The U.S. Army will need around $265 billion annually through fiscal 2011 to get itself back in shape from prolonged wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, as well as transform its organization and update its equipment and train personnel, the land service’s top two officials told senators Feb. 26. But the armed service may only encounter growing skepticism on Capitol Hill over its budget requests in coming years– especially for the massive Future Combat Systems (FCS) program – if sentiment from members of the Senate Armed Services Committee (SASC) is any indication.
Federal information technology contracting consultancy Forecast International (FI) says Turkey has started a competition for four to five batteries of antiballistic missile systems known as the Turkish Long-Range Air and Missile Defense Systems (or T-LORAMIDS). Meanwhile, Turkey – which has had economic growth of more than 5 percent annually since 2002 – seeks to ensure its strategic superiority over regional rivals and remains a “significant” importer of sophisticated military hardware, FI said.
DENVER – The focus team studying the thrust-oscillation problem that has raised concerns over the development of NASA’s planned Ares I crew launch vehicle is set to brief senior agency managers on its findings next month, with early indications the problem won’t be a showstopper.
