NEW DELHI - EADS subsidiary Eurocopter is publicly rebutting media allegations about the Indian defense ministry's effort to purchase 197 AS550 Fennecs to replace the Indian army's Cheetah/Chetak light observation helicopters.
AIR WAR RISK: The fiscal 2008 defense authorization measure in final House-Senate negotiations is expected to include an extension of war risk insurance coverage, which covers damages to U.S. commercial airlines and their passengers caused by acts of war, hijackings and terrorism. Industry pushed for the government to back up the sector after the 9/11 terrorist attacks, and the current federal coverage expires in March.
Gen. James Conway, commandant of the U.S. Marine Corps, says that after much discussion with the Joint Chiefs and Secretary of Defense Robert Gates, the Marine Corps has determined that "the timing isn't right to provide additional Marines to Afghanistan," although he wouldn't rule it out in the future.
The Pentagon is a sitting duck for a computer network attack because of its reliance on foreign software and inadequate protection, according to the Defense Science Board (DSB). "Software has become the central ingredient of the information age," DSB says in its "Report of the Defense Science Task Force on Mission Impact of Foreign Influence on DOD Software." "However, as it improves the Department of Defense's (DOD) capability, it increases DOD's dependency," DSB says.
UAV SENSORS: The Pentagon announced Dec. 5 that Northrop Grumman is being awarded a $54.9 million contract to purchase the MQ-1 ASIP-1C Unmanned Aerial System (UAS) scaled sensor for General Atomics' Predator UAS. Currently, $16.67 million already has been obligated, with the U.S. Air Force acting as the contracting authority.
U.S. Air Force leaders working on the nascent cyber command believe there will be a "huge" need for contracted services to support the embryonic effort as it faces personnel, technology and funding headwinds. Still, plans are undetermined and genuine, robust budgets remain years away as officials have until at least next October to identify programs, and until October 2009 before the command must be fully operational (DAILY, Oct. 19).
TOKYO - The Japanese Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) is set to launch what it calls the world's fastest telecommunications satellite this February. The Wideband InterNetworking engineering test and Demonstration Satellite (WINDS), also known as 'Kizuna,' which means 'bonds' or 'ties' in Japanese, is aimed at demonstrating ultra-fast Internet connections at a maximum rate of 1.2 Gbps through direct connection with antennas on the ground.
U.S. Army Chief of Staff General George Casey says the nature of 21st century conflict will be "exponentially different" in complexity, and will require leaders who will not "be cowed by new and strange circumstances."
Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison (R-Texas) is stepping down as ranking member of the Senate space subcommittee to take a similar leadership post on the Senate's aviation subcommittee, officials said Dec. 5. Hutchison will take over the aviation panel's senior Republican post from Sen. Trent Lott (R-Miss.), who is retiring from the Senate later this month. Hutchison previously chaired the aviation panel when Republicans controlled the Senate.
NASA plans to use more than 40 high-altitude balloons to gather data on Earth's Van Allen radiation belts, which can pose hazards to astronauts, satellites and aircraft flying near the poles. NASA's Science Mission Directorate in Washington has awarded $9.3 million to Dartmouth College of Hanover, N.H., for the study, dubbed the Balloon Array for Radiation-belt Relativistic Electron Losses (BARREL). BARREL will fly in 2013 and 2014, collecting data in conjunction with NASA's Radiation Belt Storm Probes satellites, due to launch in 2011.
The U.S. Marine Corps is sharply reducing the number of Mine Resistant Ambush Protected (MRAP) vehicles it plans to order, from 3,700 to 2,300. The news came the same day that Force Protection, a major MRAP supplier, opened a manufacturing facility in Roxboro, N.C., for production of its Cheetah MRAP. The Marine Corps is Force Protection's largest MRAP customer. The 43,000-square-foot, $31 million facility is expected to employ 270 workers when it reaches full capacity, the Charleston, S.C.-based defense contractor said Nov. 30.
Thales, Finmeccanica and naval systems specialist DCNS have agreed to create three joint ventures intended to reinforce their cooperation in underwater systems. One, owned 51 percent by Finmeccanica and 49 percent by DCNS - in which Thales is a major shareholder - will be responsible for designing, developing and marketing heavy and light torpedo and anti-torpedo systems.
EADS North America says it is addressing what it considers unfair criticisms raised in a July Pentagon report that called its UH-72A Lakota light utility helicopter (LUH) "not operationally suitable."
LAUNCHER CONTRACT: The U.S. Army has awarded Lockheed Martin a $51.3 million contract to supply an additional 430 helicopter-mounted missile launchers and 376 launcher electronic assemblies for U.S. and international forces, the company announced Dec. 4. The order, from the Aviation and Missile Command at the Redstone Arsenal, Ala., includes 402 M299 launcher units for the U.S. armed services and 28 units for foreign military customers. Deliveries are scheduled to run through the third quarter of 2011.
IDAHO IRIDIUM: World Communications Center (WCC) recently won an award from the state of Idaho to provide Iridium satellite voice and data products and services for government agencies throughout the state. WCC was awarded a three-year contract in March 2007 to be the exclusive supplier of Iridium satellite products and services for 15 Western states. The contract will run through May 2010, with provisions for three one-year renewal options.
A National Academies "midterm review" of NASA's progress in implementing the recommendations of the National Research Council's (NRC) 2003-2013 solar system exploration decadal survey gives the agency passing marks for now, but projects it will fail to meet the survey's goals if current trends continue.
Boeing is ready to continue the competition for the U.S. Air Force's combat, search and rescue (CSAR-X) helicopter replacement fleet without the planned service debriefing the company says would have leveled the playing field against competitors Lockheed Martin and Sikorsky, according Rick Lemaster, Boeing's HH-47 program manager.
The U.S. Air Force is facing an aging fleet and operational stress as it plans upgrades and replacements for its mobility aircraft, according to a new Lexington Institute report released Dec. 3. "The tankers are a disaster waiting to happen, with 90 percent of the 600-plane fleet consisting of Eisenhower-era aircraft that will reach an average age of 50 years in this decade," author Loren Thompson says in the report.
Some African nations undergoing political changes and flush with oil revenue are looking to recapitalize their military and security forces, potentially creating major opportunities for western defense enterprises, according to consultancy Forecast International.
PARIS - The U.K.'s Surrey Satellite Technology Ltd. and OHB of Germany have confirmed that they will team up to compete for 26 operational satellites in the so-called Full Operational Capability (FOC) phase and subsequent replenishment stages of the Galileo satellite navigation system program.
