CHINA COBRA: Naval researchers looking to arm small unmanned aircraft are toying with two Raytheon Cobra unmanned aerial systems (UAS) at Naval Air Weapons Station China Lake, Calif. The Unmanned Systems Technical Project Office at China Lake "inaugurated" a new 2,200 x 50-foot asphalt airstrip located at Armitage Field when two Cobras lifted off and flew tests Dec. 13. The group is working to arm small drones already in existence, and to provide standards for technologies related to arming future unmanned aircraft, Navy officials say.
LEAKY STEALTH: Details about China's new stealthy, air-launched DH-10 cruise missile are coming out of the indictment of a former Northrop Grumman official. Noshir Gowadia is accused of working with a Chinese agent to supply stealth missile technology during 2003-2005. In particular, the case involves the transfer of data about advanced propulsion and low observability. There also is indication that the information may involve the DH-10 missile. An air-launched version is being tested on H-6 bomber aircraft.
RAPTOR REBIRTH: It's been a good month for the F-22 Raptor. Air Combat Command declared full, worldwide operational capability for the 40 F-22s of Langley Air Force Base's integrated 1st Fighter Wing and Air National Guard 92nd Fighter Wing. The two units have 80 trained pilots. Meanwhile, 50 lawmakers have written to Defense Secretary Robert Gates to press for continued production of the F-22 beyond the 183 currently approved (DAILY, Dec. 14). Meanwhile, manufacturer Lockheed Martin will sustain the aircraft's weapon system under a $512 million contract announced Dec.
The U.S. Air Force says it changed the deployability key performance parameter (KPP) for its combat, search and rescue (CSAR-X) helicopter as a result of its own "market research," as well as to allay confusion among the competitors, according to a service briefing made to members of a House Armed Services subcommittee.
U.K. EXPORTS: Most of the functions of the U.K.'s Defense Export and Services Organization (DESO) will be transferred to the U.K. Trade and Investment (UKTI) department, while export licensing will remain within the Defense Ministry. The new organization will take over from DESO at the beginning of April 2008. It has been given the working title of the UKTI Defense and Security Group. Prime Minister Gordon Brown announced shortly after he took office that DESO was to be scrapped.
JTRS WNW: The Joint Tactical Radio System (JTRS) program office will deliver version 3.0 of its Wideband Networking Waveform (WNW) radios in the February/March 2008 timeframe, DOD officials say. The WNW, currently in version 2.0, already meets throughput requirements, officials add, and the next step is to have it upgraded to an ACAT I-level acquisition program.
KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, Fla. -- The space shuttle program is essentially grounded, at least temporarily, because of engine cutoff (ECO) sensor problems. NASA has slipped the launch target for Atlantis and the European Columbus module from an earlier target of Jan. 2 to no earlier than Jan. 10. But the change has far more to do with granting NASA government and contractor personnel time off during the holidays than an actual date to fly the mission.
Starsem launched the Radarsat-2 satellite for MacDonald, Dettwiler and Associates (MDA) Ltd., at 7:17 p.m. local time Dec. 14 from Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. The rocket's Fregat upper stage accurately injected the Radarsat-2 satellite into its targeted low Earth orbit at 798 kilometers (496 miles) altitude, according to Starsem. The Fregat was ignited twice to place the satellite into orbit 53 minutes after launch. Satellite acquisition and health status will be confirmed independently by MDA.
PEACE EAGLE: Boeing announced Dec. 12 that it has conducted a successful first mission system flight-test of a 737 Airborne Early Warning and Control (AEW&C) aircraft for Turkey's Peace Eagle program. Boeing and Turkish industry engineers tested the aircraft's communications system during the flight from Boeing Field in Seattle, Wash. The team established links with the ground-based Boeing system integration lab and local air traffic control towers using UHF, VHF and HF radios.
REPORT APPROVED: The Senate on Dec. 14 approved the conference report on the fiscal 2008 defense authorization bill. The compromise worked out by Senate and House negotiators, and already approved by the House, now heads to President Bush's desk. The measure authorizes $4.2 billion for Army aircraft procurement, $12.4 billion for Navy aircraft and $12.1 billion for Air Force aircraft procurement.
DOD announced it will fund 29 new-start defense acquisition challenge (DAC) and foreign comparative testing (FCT) programs this fiscal year under the congressionally mandated program designed to introduce innovation into the defense acquisition process. The Comparative Testing Office evaluated more than 85 projects nominated by the services for funding consideration. "Each proposed project was carefully reviewed... to ensure the innovative, mature equipment or technology addressed valid warfighter needs," DOD said Dec. 13.
HELO TRAINING: ERA Helicopters will open a new flight training facility in Lake Charles, La., in the first quarter of 2008. The operation will include two flight training devices for the Eurocopter AS350B2 and EC135, built by simulator manufacturer Frasca International.
ROTARY RUSSIA: Andrey Shibitov, general director of the Moscow Mil helicopter plant, says work is underway on a next-generation combat helicopter to meet Russian air force requirements. He declines to give any program details, but adds that the company also is studying the concept design of an advanced Mi-XX strike helicopter intended for the export market.
It took almost two years and a handover of Congress to the opposition party, but Rep. Roscoe Bartlett (R-Md.) has succeeded in passing legislation that will try to direct the Navy toward nuclear propulsion across its fleet, starting with a futuristic cruiser planned next decade.
EADS North America is gearing up to deliver three UH-72A Lakota light utility helicopters per month to the U.S. Army starting in February 2008 and could be producing four or five per month eventually in the 10-year, $2 billion acquisition program for up to 345 aircraft. The helicopters will provide the Army with utility lift capability, replacing Huey and OH-58 Kiowa helicopters. The program also will free up UH-60 Black Hawks for deployment to Iraq and Afghanistan.
Lockheed Martin conducted a double flight of the F-35A Lightning II Joint Strike Fighter and the Boeing 737-based Cooperative Avionics Test Bed (CATBird) on Dec. 7, marking entry into the next phase of demonstration and development for the fighter and its array of mission systems.
More than two dozen senators, led by Lockheed Martin allies, have written Defense Secretary Robert Gates to promote greater F-22 Raptor production. A bipartisan group of 28 senators led by Saxby Chambliss (R-Ga.), a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, sent a letter Dec. 12 to Gates urging the Pentagon to continue buying F-22As following completion of the multiyear procurement contract.
NASA's Discovery Program will fund the launch in 2011 of a pair of gravity probes to measure the structure of the moon from lunar orbit. Like the twin Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment (GRACE) spacecraft orbiting Earth, the two Gravity Recovery and Interior Laboratory (GRAIL) orbiters will monitor variations in the gravity field below by measuring the distance between them with great precision.
AMAZONAS-2: Arianespace will launch the Amazonas-2 communications satellite for Spanish operator Hispasat in the summer of 2009 from its launch site in Kourou, French Guiana, under a contract signed Dec. 13. Based on Astrium's Eurostar E3000 spacecraft bus, Amazonas-2 will weigh 5,400 kilograms (11,900 pounds) at launch and features 54 Ku-band transponders and 10 C-band transponders. From its geostationary orbital position at 61 degrees West, it will provide communications services for Brazil, as well as North America and South America in general.
The U.S. does not have enough human intelligence assets in the Middle East region, the senior Republican on the House Intelligence Committee says. "We can only get so much information from intercepts, satellite imagery and technical collection means," says Rep. Peter Hoekstra (R-Mich.).
