LONDON - British Defense Minister Des Browne has acknowledged that operational pressure on the Royal Air Force (RAF) has meant the service's performance against a key personnel guideline has worsened over the past 12 months. While the army's figures have improved over the previous year and the navy's "remained steady," Browne told the British Parliament last week that the figure had deteriorated for the RAF. According to the British Secretary of State for Defense, "6.7 percent [of RAF personnel are] breaching harmony compared with 2.9 percent a year ago."
Poland receives more military assistance from the U.S. than any other European nation, according to the Defense Department, and Polish Defense Minister Bogdan Klich began two days of talks with Defense Secretary Robert Gates at the Pentagon Jan. 15. U.S. plans to place ballistic missile interceptors in Poland took up the bulk of the conversation, said Pentagon spokesman Geoff Morrell. He called the talks "frank but productive."
NEXT STEP: NASA is looking for a few good lunar lander ideas. A formal "broad area announcement" issued Jan. 11 seeks concepts from industry and the science community on the agency's planned "Altair" lunar surface access module, which will carry as many as four astronauts to the moon's surface as early as 2020.
The top officer commanding U.S. air forces in Iraq says he's "not concerned" about the Pentagon's proposal to send precision guided munitions, including penetrators, to Saudi Arabia. But his comments came as a bevy of legislators on Capitol Hill announced their opposition to the deal, raising expectations that the Democratic-led Congress could block the Bush administration's move.
LOCKHEED BEAMS: Lockheed Martin says it successfully demonstrated digital beamforming (DBF) capability to locate and track live targets with its Scalable Solid-State S-band Radar (S4R) engineering development model. DBF is an advanced approach to phased-array antenna pattern control. Lockheed says the capability has a number of advantages over conventional analog beamforming techniques.,
French armaments agency DGA has contracted with Thales and Sabca of Belgium to perform a partial avionics modernization on 20 Alphajets operated by France's advanced fighter training school. The first of the modernized Alphajets is supposed to be ready by mid-2009. The upgrade is intended to enable pilots at the school, which serves the French and Belgian air forces, to transition more easily to the front-line fighters such as the Rafale until Europe can agree on a new advanced trainer.
CORPORATE REALIGNMENT: Northrop Grumman announced Jan. 14 a strategic realignment of its two shipbuilding sectors and its missile business, along with the promotion of two internal candidates to lead the new divisions. Newport News and Ship Systems will be realigned into a single sector called Northrop Grumman Shipbuilding, effective Jan. 28, with C. Michael Petters at the helm. Northrop's missile business will move from the Mission Systems sector to the Space Technology Sector on July 1.
PARIS - European Space Agency (ESA) head Jean-Jacques Dordain says the agency is talking with China about using the Shenzhou capsule to carry its microgravity experiments. Europe already uses Russian Foton capsules, but even the arrival of ESA's Columbus orbital facility, expected to be launched to the International Space Station on Feb. 7, will not be sufficient to meet demand, scientists say.
As the U.S. Air Force tanker battle enters what competitor Northrop Grumman calls the "last 30 days," the lead company executive for the program says the service's handling of the selection thus far would make it difficult to lodge a protest. But Northrop Grumman Integrated Systems Air Mobility Systems Vice President Paul Meyer also said that the competitors have to be prepared for the possibility. Calling the program selection board "thorough," Meyer said, "We have been given full access and insight."
Sea Launch successfully launched Boeing's Thuraya-3 communications satellite in a much-anticipated return to flight of the Zenit 3-SL rocket after a pad explosion last year. The rocket lifted off the Odyssey Launch Platform at 3:49 a.m. Pacific Time Jan. 15. The mission ended with the upper stage separating from the Thuraya-3 Geo-mobile satellite, placing it into geosynchronous transfer orbit. Communications were established with a ground station in Fillmore, Calif., about 1 hour and 51 minutes after liftoff.
The Joint Readiness Training Center (JRTC) and similar intensive training grounds meant to prepare troops for Iraq and other combat zones have increasing vacancies in key jobs and the Army must better prepare to address such shortages, a recent Inspector General (IG) report says. "Training for ground forces could be negatively impacted by this restructuring if Observer/Controller positions are not staffed near full-strength in FY 2009," said the IG report, released Dec. 28
NAVAL AIR STATION PATUXENT RIVER, Md. - The U.S. Navy expects to issue a request for proposals in March for a contract to convert its laser-guided and precision-guided munitions into dual-mode weapons. The program is called the Direct Attack Moving Target Capability (DAMTC), and it has grown out of an immediate need to destroy moving targets in all types of weather, especially in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Amidst President Bush's Middle East trip to bolster allies against Iran and to tout stability efforts in the region, administration officials are again highlighting foreign military sales to Arab allies unveiled last summer.
The source-selection authority impaneled by the U.S. Air Force to help it choose the provider of the next fleet of aerial refueling tankers "must have a pretty good idea which team is going to prevail," according to well-connected defense analyst Loren Thompson of the Lexington Institute.
AIR FORCE Northrop Grumman Mission Systems of Clearfield, Utah, is being awarded a contract option for $31,786,171. The action will provide Minuteman III Safety Enhanced Re-entry Vehicle Full Rate Production, option 3, FY08 120 each. At this time all funds have been obligated. 526 ICBMSW/PKE, Hill Air Force Base, Utah, is the contracting activity (F42610-98-C-0001).
JAPANESE AEGIS: Lockheed Martin's installation of its Aegis Ballistic Missile Defense weapon system aboard a second Japanese destroyer, the JS Chokai, is under way in Nagasaki, Japan, while the company has announced a $40.4 million contract modification to provide the sea-based anti-missile system to the JS Myoko. Myoko is the third of four Japanese destroyers that will sport the Aegis BMD weapon system. Kongo, which successfully intercepted a ballistic missile with its weapon system in a December 2007 test (DAILY, Dec.
The U.S. Air Force appears to be making headway in its attempt to ensure the KC-X refueler competition is more transparent and auditable than past procurements. Sue Payton, the service's acquisition czar, says the source selection has taken months longer than planned to ensure there is a clear trail of accountability in the event of a protest to the decision, which is expected in the next couple of months and could be worth up to $40 billion. Boeing's 767-based design and a Northrop Grumman/EADS North America A330-based option are vying for the deal.
Boeing Satellite Systems Inc. of El Segundo, Calif., is being awarded a $75,000,000 contract modification extension. The modification extends the Transformational Communication Satellite (TSAT) Space Segment Risk Reduction and System Definition (RR&SD) contract for six months from Jan. 7, 2008 to July 7, 2008. The contractor shall continue to perform all efforts in accordance with the existing statement of work.
Lockheed Martin has been developing its mine-hunting systems at a quick clip in response to the U.S. Navy's July 2007 release of its Unmanned Surface Vehicle (USV) master plan, which designated an entire class of USVs targeted at mine countermeasures missions (MCM).
The U.S. Navy's acquisition of the $1.5 billion Consolidated Afloat Networks Enterprise Services (CANES), a communication infrastructure and network, is slowly ramping up, Lockheed Martin officials said Jan. 14.
