A Jan. 9 story on the National Reconnaissance Office (NRO) contained a typo. The story should have said the "'disparate intelligence collections' are managed by NSA (National Security Agency) and NGA (National Geospatial-Imagery Agency), since the 'production' end of the business is not the NRO's."
C-5 RERP: The Pentagon has not yet issued its decision to Congress on whether to proceed with the C-5 Reliability Enhancement and Re-engining Program (RERP). The decision was due Jan. 14 to close the issue of a Nunn McCurdy cost breach to the program, whose projected costs have soared from $11 billion to $17.8 billion. A Pentagon spokeswoman says the correspondence to Congress is awaiting key signatures and should be sent shortly.
Congressional referees have rejected Recon Optical's (ROI) contracting bid protest over the U.S. Army's award for Common Remotely Operated Weapon Stations (CROWS) to rival Kongsberg Defence & Aerospace, according to the Government Accountability Office (GAO).
COLUMBIA, Md. - Planetary scientists at the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory cheered Jan. 14 as the MErcury Surface, Space ENvironment, GEochemistry, and Ranging (Messenger) orbiter flew within about 125 miles of the surface of Mercury, the first spacecraft to fly by the innermost planet in the solar system since Mariner 10's final visit on March 16, 1975.
Construction is scheduled to begin this month at Balad Air Base in Iraq on a facility to house the state-of-the-art battlefield command and control system that will integrate air traffic management over Iraqi skies, the 332nd Air Expeditionary Wing says.
The "tanker war" between Boeing and the partnership of Airbus and Northrop Grumman will heat up some more Jan. 15 with the expected announcement by the Airbus/Northrop group that its proposed Alabama facility would do commercial aircraft work as well. Worth about $40 billion for an initial set of 179 tankers - and long-term maintenance work worth another $100 billion - the Air Force contract itself is quite a prize.
The Department of Energy (DOE) has painted too rosy a picture of its nuclear Initiatives for Proliferation Program (IPP), and the agency needs to take another look at it, the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) says. "GAO recommends DOE assess the continuing need for the IPP program with input from other federal agencies, including State and the intelligence community," says GAO's report, released Jan. 11.
U.S. Army Vice Chief of Staff Gen. Richard Cody, frustrated with the slow pace of fielding valuable systems to the warfighter, is asking industry to help speed up the process. Cody spoke to a group at the Association of the U.S. Army (AUSA) Aviation Expo in Arlington, Va., Jan. 11. "We don't have the element of time," he said. "I'm still waiting for the ATIRCM [Advanced Threat Infrared Countermeasures]. I'm still waiting to get the ARH [Advanced Reconnaissance Helicopter] off and running...I'm still waiting for the common ground station."
LONDON - AgustaWestland is re-entering the fray for the U.K.'s future search and rescue helicopter (SAR-H) requirement as a partner in the U.K. Air Rescue team. The Anglo-Italian helicopter manufacturer had initially been bidding as a prime contractor on the U.K. Defense Ministry's SAR-H private finance initiative program. However it pulled out of acting as a prime for the competition last year, saying only that the decision had been made for "commercial reasons".
TWO SEATERS: Researchers in high-tech firms are betting on computers with fast processing and advanced algorithms to drive the military back to single-seat fighter aircraft designs. "No man is going to be able to engage in network warfare [from the cockpit]," says a top cyber warfare specialist. "He's not fast enough, he's in the wrong place and he doesn't have the proper know-how." The design of choice is an unmanned aircraft that can be run remotely and rigged for stealth to get nearer the target emitters for better payload support, futurists say.
NEW DELHI - The soon-to-be-formed Thales India is part of the company's strategy to consolidate all its activities in India under one roof. Francois Dupont, currently the country director, will be chairman of the new company. Thales has been awarded some high-profile contracts in India, including a roughly $3 billion contract for six Scorpene submarines under a technology transfer agreement. Delivery of the first sub, to be built at the state-owned Mazagon Dockyard in Mumbai, is set for 2012, Dupont said.
EAGLE TRAINING: Boeing has opened a new F-15E Mission Training Center at Seymour Johnson Air Force Base, N.C. It offers two high-fidelity, dual-cockpit F-15E simulators with 360-degree visibility. They have been upgraded with head-tracked, area-of-interest visual display systems that can be linked to provide four-ship training, which in future will be linked with two medium-fidelity manned combat stations. The site soon will be connected into the Air Force's distributed mission operations training network. Boeing also will open an F-15E site at RAF Lakenheath.
U.K. MILSPACE: British space industry executives will be looking to the government's upcoming space strategy for hints as to whether the U.K. is actually going to pursue the development of a military space reconnaissance capability. The strategy document is expected to be made public in February. A revised version of the Labour Government's Defense Industrial Strategy had been due for release in December, and was widely touted to include a chapter on military space. Its publication, however, has been delayed until April.
To ensure that lost, stolen or exported weapons systems are not reverse-engineered or tampered with, the Pentagon needs to issue department-wide directives to avoid a piecemeal approach, a congressional study concludes. In an update of a 2004 report on Defense Department anti-tamper policy, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) says progress has been made - including development of a Web site with anti-tamper information, online learning and research.
FLATTOP WORK: U.S. Naval Sea Systems Command has awarded Northrop Grumman Newport News a $596 million contract modification for more CVN 78-class aircraft carrier design, long-lead-time material procurement and non-nuclear advance construction for the lead ship of the class, Gerald R. Ford (CVN 78). The award includes system development, engineering services and feasibility studies for the Future Aircraft Carrier Program.
NEW BOSS: Anatloy Belov is to become general director of Russia's MiG fighter manufacturer. Belov was formerly employed by Irkut, where he held a senior post in the development of the Su-30MKI version of the Sukhoi Su-27 Flanker. Belov takes over the role from Sergei Tsivilev. Belov is a Hindi speaker, according to Russian press reports. MiG is offering India the MiG-35 development of the MiG-29 Fulcrum to meet its multi-role combat aircraft competition.
Historical experience and current public perception show the U.S. government will have some rough seas to navigate in establishing democracies in Iraq and Afghanistan, a recent Congressional Research Service (CRS) report says. "The high military and opportunity cost of some activities currently associated with democracy promotion is criticized by many observers, especially when democracy is imposed by outsiders rather than initiated by local citizens," the Dec. 26 report says.
To list an event, send information in calendar format to Donna Thomas at [email protected] Jan. 14 - 17 -- Advanced Airlift Tactics Training Center's 27th Annual Tactics Symposium, "Revolutionary Integration." St. Joseph, Mo. For more information go to www.aattc.org Jan. 14 - 18 -- Cranfield (England) University Short Course: "Airport Operations and Safety Management." For more information call +44 (123) 475-4192, fax +44 (123) 475-4193 or go to www.cranfield.ac.uk
CARRIER DELAY?: With the British Defense Ministry's equipment planning round now entering its final stages, there is increasing nervousness within industry concerning its outcome. There is renewed speculation the ministry is trying to eke out some savings on its next-generation carrier program, possibly by delaying the project up to 18 months according to a story in the British Financial Times. A Defense Ministry official says: "There is no suggestion that the program will not go ahead.
NEED FOR CHANGE: The final report of the Commission on the National Guard and Reserves will be delivered to Congress and the Secretary of Defense and released publicly on Jan. 31. The independent commission has spent two years developing recommendations for changes in laws and policies to allow the National Guard and Reserves to fulfill their missions more effectively. Commissioners say their review has unearthed "overwhelming evidence of the need for change," as U.S. troops try to fight the global war on terror and secure the U.S. homeland.
