THROUGH WALLS: The U.S. Air Force's only Emissions Security flight (of the 346th Test Squadron), part of the service's Information Operation Center, has teams that can intrude into computer networks by collecting emissions from computer monitors that are inside a building they cannot enter. A properly programmed computer can turn that radiated energy into a live feed on one of the flight's laptops just as if they have plugged a monitor into the computer. That type of invasion can be done to computers, telephones, radios or data links, Air Force officials say.
With 99 percent of its F-15A-D fleet inspected for a recently uncovered structural defect, nearly half of the air-to-air fighters have been returned to flight status, according to Air Combat Command (ACC).
AERO DIRECTOR: As expected, Jaiwon Shin will serve as the new associate administrator for NASA's Aeronautics Research Mission Directorate in Washington, following the departure of former aeronautics chief Lisa Porter. Before coming to NASA headquarters in 2004, Shin served as chief of the aeronautics projects office at NASA's Glenn Research Center in Cleveland. Prior to that, he was the deputy director of aeronautics at Glenn.
Inconsistent inspections of U.S. Army equipment being refurbished after wartime use are causing delays in getting the gear back into service, according to the DOD Inspector General (IG). As a result of the IG's investigation, detailed in a Jan. 18 report, the service is establishing more consistent inspection policies, the IG says.
INDUSTRY AGENDA: U.S. defense trade representatives will push Congress this year to boost the federal acquisition workforce's size and skills, facilitate more and quicker security clearances for industry workers, and underpin government-sponsored science and technology efforts, according to the National Defense Industrial Association (NDIA).
CAN DO: Lockheed Martin presented its Canadian Advanced Command and Control System (CanACCS-9LV) to the Canadian Navy Jan.16 in Montreal. The demonstration was part of Lockheed's bid to lead the combat systems integration element of the Canadian Navy's Halifax Class Modernization program, which will update the nation's 12 multi-mission frigates. The proposed Saab-Lockheed CanACCS-9LV system will provide the Canadian Navy's Halifax fleet with advanced capabilities, including Enhanced Sea Sparrow Missile anti-ship missile defense capabilities.
JTAMDO REBORN: Generals at the Pentagon are reviewing a plan to revamp the Joint Theater and Missile Defense Organization (JTAMDO). JTAMDO is responsible for organizing the operational concepts for air and missile defense for the U.S. military. JTAMDO will not, as some expected, be integrated into the Missile Defense Agency. The organization is, however, expected to get a new name and charter. The new Joint Integrated Air and Missile Defense Organization's (JIAMDO) role will expand beyond theater defenses to look at a globally integrated solution for U.S. forces.
NAVAL RAILGUN: On Jan. 31, the Office of Naval Research (ONR) will test-fire its electromagnetic railgun (EMRG) at a record-setting muzzle energy launch of 10 megajoules (MJ). That energy level will be achieved by launching a 3.2-kg projectile to a speed of 2,500 meters per second (5,600 miles per hour). Once the EMRG is operational, the goal is for the gun to fire projectiles at ranges in excess of 200 nautical miles.
To list an event, send information in calendar format to Donna Thomas at [email protected] Jan. 22 -- Midlands Aerospace Alliance's Reach Information Event: "Complying with Chemical Regulations." Rolls-Royce Learning & Career Development Center, Derby, England. For more information call +44 (845) 225-0503, fax +44 (845) 225-0504 or go to www.midlandaerospace.org.uk
The U.S. Air Force is promoting technical standards for operationally responsive space (ORS) payloads and satellite buses, with an eye toward enabling quick and cost-effective block purchases of small military satellites. The standards effort began in the former Office of Force Transformation (OFT). In December, it transitioned to the Joint ORS office at Kirtland Air Force Base, N.M.
EFV AWARD: U.S. Marine Corps Systems Command is awarding General Dynamics Land Systems an $11.96 million modification to a previously awarded contract for the advanced procurement of long-lead materials for Systems Development and Demonstration (SDD) phase 2 of the Expeditionary Fighting Vehicle program. Work is expected to be complete by November 2009.
SHIFTING FOCUS: Democrats in the House of Representatives are shifting their attention - along with their Republican colleagues and President Bush - from the war in Iraq to the sagging U.S. economy. Although swept into power on a tide of voter angst about the war in 2006, Democrats last year failed to get Bush to curtail the number of troops in Iraq. Now, prodded by presidential primary and exit poll results reflecting voters economic worries, lawmakers on both sides of the aisle are looking for a way to fix things.
SILVER LINING: According to Defense Secretary Robert Gates, the Bush administration's fiscal 2009 defense budget request is not going to include grand spending expansions like last year's record requests did, but the armed services appear to be winning some converts within the Office of the Secretary of Defense for some equipment-related desires nonetheless. The Air Force is a step closer to getting some more Lockheed Martin F-22 Raptors that the service has been clamoring for this decade (DAILY, Jan. 18).
Welding problems discovered on Virginia-class submarines built at Northrop Grumman's Newport News facility were not entirely the fault of the company, according to U.S. Naval Sea Systems Command (NAVSEA) chief Vice Admiral Paul Sullivan, who says the government shares some of the blame. "The government was complicit," Sullivan told reporters at the Surface Navy symposium in Arlington, Virginia, Jan. 17. "We used the same procedures on our Los Angeles-class subs...not realizing we were opening ourselves up" to problems.
AL QAEDA: A high-tempo information war is underway between the U.S. and Al Qaeda. "Al Qaeda and insurgents distribute videos every day via non-traditional media operations," says Central Command air forces chief Lt. Gen. Gary North. "We're every day and attacking them ... to shut them down." For future wars involving more discovering these outlets traditional military foes, a new electronic attack and information warfare roadmap is being constructed. "I see the capacity to shift that capacity to our Predator and Reaper [unmanned aircraft]," he says.
Iraq's security forces actually expect to take responsibility for their own internal security between the first quarter of 2009 and 2012 - later than some earlier Iraqi statements targeting early 2009 - and progress will take years and depend on the war-torn country's ability to build up military equipment, a coalition commander said Jan. 17.
The fiscal 2008 defense authorization bill, stripped of language that prompted a presidential veto the first time around, was passed again by the House Jan. 16 and is now on its way to the Senate.
The Pentagon is investing significantly less in science and technology (S&T) supporting space programs than on S&T supporting nonspace programs, and that trend is likely to continue, a recent Congressional Budget Office (CBO) report says.
The U.S. Air Force has asked the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) to reconsider its ruling that the Air Force mishandled a $1.2 billion contract with Boeing for depot maintenance of KC-135 refueling aircraft. The GAO is due to rule on the request by April 16, but a decision could come earlier. Protest
NEW DELHI - Six Indian Su-30MKIs and six South Korean F-15K Eagles will take part in the Red Flag exercise at Nellis Air Force Base, Nev., in August. But the Indian fighters, which will be deployed to the United States despite the disapproval of communists who support the government, will not use their Bars radars during Red Flag.
The U.S. Air Force is one step closer to getting the additional number of Lockheed Martin F-22 Raptors the service has been clamoring for throughout the decade, with Deputy Defense Secretary Gordon England requesting money to keep the production line open. The Pentagon wants to use so-called global war on terror (GWOT) money to buy more F-22s to replace aircraft lost during current military conflicts - a move that would likely extend the production line for the Raptor beyond the early part of the coming decade.
