The fiscal 2008 defense authorization measure lined up for final congressional ratification includes several measures that boost the National Guard's prominence, from its leadership to its equipment. According to House and Senate Armed Services committee aides and lawmakers, the compromise bill elevates the chief of the National Guard Bureau to a four-star general, reinforces many of the recommendations of the Commission on National Guard and Reserve Corps, and requires at least one deputy commander of U.S. Northern Command be a Guard officer.
BRADLEY RESET: BAE Systems Land and Armaments of York, Pa., has been awarded a $709.3 million contract for the reset of U.S. Army Bradley Fighting Vehicles, the Defense Department said Dec. 11. The work will be performed in York and is expected to be completed by Dec. 31, 2009. The Tank, Automotive and Armaments Command, Warren, Mich., is the contracting activity.
NASA has approved a hydrogen fuel "tanking test" with the space shuttle Atlantis external tank on the launch pad no earlier than Dec. 18 to help solve engine cutoff (ECO) sensor problems that have grounded the next International Space Station assembly mission until early January (DAILY, Dec. 10).
In its most recent evaluation of the global market for unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), consulting firm Teal Group predicts the U.S. will account for 73 percent of worldwide UAV research, development, testing and evaluation (RDT&E) spending and 59 percent of procurement over the next decade. "The most significant catalyst to this market has been the enormous growth of interest in UAVs by the U.S. military," says the Nov. 29 report. "UAVs are a key element in the [net-centric and information warfare] revolution."
Congress is authorizing additional, officially unrequested Boeing C-17 cargo aircraft for the U.S. Air Force, but is also calling for another independent assessment of what the U.S. military needs regarding airlifters. The moves, prescribed months ago, come amidst a fierce debate on Capitol Hill and in the Pentagon over C-17s versus Lockheed Martin C-5s, as well as a contentious program for aerial refueling tankers and new plans expected early next year for intratheater airlift.
LANDING SYSTEM: BAE Systems has completed the first test of an autonomous landing system intended for large mobility and transport aircraft. The Dec. 6 test demonstrated the system's ability to enhance pilot vision in a simulated zero-visibility landing scenario. The Autonomous Approach and Landing Capability (AALC) system was tested at Edwards Air Force Base, Calif., on a C-130H aircraft. AALC technology fuses millimeter-wave radar and infrared imaging, enabling pilots to see the runway and detect obstacles in a variety of low-visibility conditions.
A Boeing A160T Hummingbird unmanned rotorcraft crashed Dec. 10 during flight-tests near Victorville, Calif. The crash, which is the first for the autonomous vertical takeoff and landing unmanned air system (VUAS) program, is believed to have happened in an area of rough desert terrain to the north of the former George Air Force Base, which Boeing is using for A160T flight-test operations.
Due to a lack of fiscal controls and oversight, the Iraq Security Forces were shortchanged of services and equipment, a recent Pentagon Inspector General (IG) report says. Part of the reason for the oversight problems was because violence in Iraq made it difficult, military officials reported, the IG said.
Rising cost estimates and a longer timeline than originally proposed by the 2005 Base Realignment and Closure (BRAC) Commission will result in less net savings overall, a Government Accountability Office (GAO) report says.
The first Space Based Space Surveillance (SBSS) system satellite remains on track for a December 2008 launch with some margin to spare, according to prime contractor Boeing. Boeing and Ball Aerospace are developing the SBSS Block 10 spacecraft, while Boeing is working with Harris Corp. and MIT Lincoln Labs on the SBSS operations center. Sixty percent of flight hardware and software for Block 10 has been completed over the past year, according to Todd Citron, Boeing's program director for space superiority and special missions.
AIR FORCE Northrop Grumman Mission Systems of San Jose, Calif., is being awarded a contract for $54,900,000. The purpose of the action was to procure MQ-1 Unmanned Aerial System ASIP-1C scaled sensor for the Predator Unmanned Aerial System. At this time $16,678,757 has been obligated. USAF/AFMC, Wright-Patterson Air Force Base Ohio, is the contracting activity (FA8620-08-C-3004).
ARMY LOGISTICS: Northrop Grumman said Dec. 10 it was awarded a U.S. Army logistics contract worth up to $600 million over seven years to help the far-flung land war service try to keep track of its equipment and parts. Under the Global Combat Support System-Army (Field/Tactical) program (GCSS-Army) contract, Northrop Grumman's Mission System sector will implement an enterprise system capable of providing the current status of all Army equipment and assets, the company declared.
NAVY Bechtel Plant Machinery Inc., Pittsburgh, Pa., is being awarded a $165,678,110 modification to previously awarded contract (N00024-07-C-2100) for Naval Nuclear Propulsion Components. The work will be performed in Pittsburgh, Pa. (74 percent), and Schenectady, N.Y. (26 percent). Contract funds will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. No completion date or additional information is provided on Naval Nuclear Propulsion Program contracts. The Naval Sea Systems Command, Washington Navy Yard, D.C., is the contracting activity.
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. - A secret National Reconnaissance Office (NRO) spacecraft was launched Dec. 10 from Cape Canaveral onboard a U.S. Air Force/United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket.
AIR FORCE The Northrop Grumman Systems Corp., San Diego, Calif., is being awarded a contract for $19,615,786. The action will provide engineering, manufacturing and development activities in support of the Global Hawk Program. At this time all funds have been obligated. 303 AESG/PK, Wright-Patterson Air Force Base Ohio is the contracting activity (F33657-01-C-4600, P00229). ARMY
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) awarded BAE Systems and American Airlines a $29 million contract to test laser jammer technology on scheduled commercial airline flights as a defense against shoulder-fired surface-to-air missile attacks, the department confirmed Dec. 10. The contract calls for installing BAE's JetEye infrared laser jamming device on project partner American Airlines aircraft making scheduled flights across the U.S. The contract runs through April 2009.
Boeing installed a high-energy chemical laser aboard a C-130H aircraft Dec. 4 as part of its Advanced Tactical Laser (ATL) advanced concept technology demonstration program. The laser, including its major subsystem - a 12,000-pound integrated laser module - was moved into place aboard the aircraft and aligned with the previously installed beam control system, which will direct the laser to its target. A series of tests will follow, leading to an in-flight demonstration in 2008.
When the Pentagon picked three companies Dec. 7 to develop a new generation of electronic bomb-jamming devices, incumbent contractor EDO Corp. was left out in the cold. Or was it?
A plan has emerged on Capitol Hill to provide more funds to the Defense Department for Iraq operations, as well as the rest of the federal government now operating under a continuing resolution, but the outcome is far from certain. The House on Dec. 11 is expected to take up a convoluted appropriations bill essentially covering all non-DOD discretionary spending - including NASA - and worth more than $500 billion. Using the annual foreign operations spending measure as its vehicle, lawmakers would amend or peg other legislative language to it.
Northrop Grumman demonstrated its new high-energy laser (HEL) bomber concept Sept. 26-27 in a wargame exercise that evaluated advanced capabilities and concepts for the next-generation long-range bomber.
The U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) has denied ITT Industries Space Systems' protest of Ball Aerospace's win of the contract to develop the primary instrument for NASA's Landsat Data Continuity Mission (LDCM).
