LONDON - The looming NATO summit in April is increasingly focusing attention on some of the thornier issues the alliance will face in Bucharest, Romania - not least of all being Georgia's enthusiasm for joining the organization.
The wave of reform sweeping through the defense and intelligence channels is bound to smack into the National Reconnaissance Organization (NRO), the Lexington Institute says in a new briefing.
A recent U.S. Air Force briefing on Capitol Hill about its $15 billion Combat, Search and Rescue helicopter replacement (CSAR-X) program appears to be at odds with the service's own acquisition documents and comments. In its Dec. 5 briefing with the House Armed Services Committee Air and Land Subcommittee on CSAR-X, the service said it had used "input" from program competitor Lockheed Martin to make a substantive key performance parameter (KPP) change for the deployability requirement for the aircraft (DAILY, Dec. 17, 2007).
PATROL BOATS: In the latest round of an ongoing dispute between the outbound Northrop Grumman-Lockheed Martin industry partnership Integrated Coast Guard Systems (ICGS) and the U.S. Coast Guard over failed 123-foot patrol boats, the Coast Guard issued a letter addressing Northrop Grumman's defective ships with an eye toward eventual accountability for the errors. The service said a Department of Justice inquiry, opened in December 2006, is ongoing and "fully supported" by the service.
AIA BOARD: The Aerospace Industries Association's board of governors has elected Clayton Jones of Rockwell Collins to serve as its chairman for 2008, the trade group said Jan. 7. Robert Stevens, Lockheed Martin's chief executive, was elected vice chairman. Marion Blakey also was formally elected AIA's president and chief executive officer.
ARMY RQ Construction Inc., Bonsall, Calif., was awarded on Dec. 28, 2007, a $40,521,000 firm-fixed-price contract for a satellite control facility. The work will be performed at Vandenberg Air Force Base, Calif., and is expected to be completed by April 30, 2008. Contract funds will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. Web bids were solicited on June 22, 2007, and three bids were received. U.S. Army Engineer District, Los Angeles, Calif., is the contracting activity W912PL-08-C-0004.
Iridium officials say that a recent International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) stamp of approval for use of the company's satellite communications system in flight safety situations may help spur more airlines to install Iridium avionics.
McDonnell Douglas Corp., a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Boeing Co., Long Beach, Calif., is being awarded an indefinite delivery/indefinite quantity contract for $1,300,000,000. This contract is a follow-on contract to the PE/PI contract awarded in January, 2001. The contract is for continued efforts associated with the analysis, study, plan, design, development and qualification/test and kit prototype of enhancements and improvements to the C-17 weapon system. This is an indefinite delivery/indefinite quantity contract with a five-year ordering period.
OUT OF TOUCH: Controllers at the Korea Aerospace Research Institute (KARI) have lost touch with the Arirang 1 Earth-observation spacecraft, apparently as a result of the spacecraft's failure to maintain a lock on the sun for power generation. "Our efforts to restore communication with the Arirang 1 satellite have been unsuccessful," says a KARI official, according to press reports from Seoul. Launched in 1999, the spacecraft carries a camera with a resolution of 6.6 meters. Arirang 2, launched in 2006, continues to function with its 1-meter-resolution camera.
TESTING SCOUT: Northrop Grumman has conducted its first demonstration in a new phase of testing for the MQ-8B Fire Scout unmanned rotorcraft in preparation for flight trials of the system next year. During a Dec. 15 test, the Fire Scout flew with a test and training control segment that contains the same console and equipment that is slated for use on the Littoral Combat Ship (LCS). Though the LCS is expected to provide the first deck for the Fire Scout, the Navy is exploring options for using other host ships because of continued delays in the LCS production program.
The Defense Department plans to spend about $12 million for vehicles such as Future Combat Systems platforms, tactical trucks, Humvees, Expeditionary Fighting Vehicles, Bradley sustainment, Strykers and Abrams modifications this fiscal year, a consultancy says. The trend reflects the Pentagon's return to "old-fashioned soldiering and foot patrolling" to combat terrorism and insurgencies.
The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) has concluded that carrying out the Pentagon's Future Years Defense Program (FYDP) will result in increased growth in both planned and unforeseen spending. In a December 2007 long-term projection regarding DOD's budget, CBO predicts that between 2014 and 2025 defense resources will total about $521 billion annually, 8 percent more than requested by the Bush administration for 2008 (See charts pp. 5-7).
NEW DELHI - Northrop Grumman's Ship Systems division is planning to pursue opportunities in India and arrangements should be announced this year, Aerospace Daily has learned. The Ship Systems division will follow the lead of Northrop's Integrated Defense Systems and Electronics divisions in tapping opportunities in India. The Indian navy plans to induct 120 warships and 12 submarines over the next decade to protect its maritime interests and expand its influence in the Indian Ocean region.
The U.S. Air Force and Navy blend air operations better than before, but the services still can better integrate their air fleets, a recent Rand report says. "By the candid admission of key leaders in both services, this process of integration in air warfare still has further headway to make before it will have realized its fullest potential," says the report, "Combat Pair: The Evolution of Air Force-Navy Integration in Strike Warfare," released at the end of 2007.
BOEING BIDS: Boeing submitted its revised proposal for the U.S. Air Force Combat, Search and Rescue (CSAR-X) helicopter. Originally awarded to a derivative of Boeing's Chinook HH-47 helicopter in November 2006, the $10 billion - $15 billion program was re-opened for bidding following two successful protests by losing bidders Lockheed Martin and Sikorsky. Both have raised issues about Chinook deployability (DAILY, Nov. 20, 2007).
The DOD Inspector General (IG) has audited the Defense Security Service (DSS) to determine whether the service incorrectly used appropriated funds. In a Jan. 3 report, the IG said that although DSS "has taken steps to improve its financial management functions, [it has] experienced difficulties," particularly in the years from fiscal 2002 and 2007. As a result, the IG requests that the DSS "initiate a preliminary review to determine whether" it misused appropriated funds.
IRANIAN UPGRADE: Iran says Russia is going to supply it with S-300 air defense missiles, although Russia's technology export agency is denying any such sale, or even deliberations to sell. The missile, designated SA-10 and SA-20 by NATO depending on the variant, is considered the most potent of currently fielded, high-altitude surface-to-air missiles (SAMs). Ranges of some spinoff designs extend 250 miles or more. Sale of the expensive missile has been rumored for years.
The recent groundings of the U.S. Air Force's stalwart F-15 Eagle fleet, coupled with December's declaration of the F-22 Raptors as being fully operational, is leading defense analysts to speculate that the service may get the additional F-22s it's been pining for. The Air Force has been forced to ground F-15s because of structural concerns that could affect the whole fleet, the analysts say. "This is a crisis," said one familiar with the F-15 (DAILY, Nov. 7, 2007).
