SCRATCH NIGERIA: U.S. Africa Command (AFRICOM) headquarters is not welcome in Nigeria. President Umaru Yar'Adua says he will not allow his country, Africa's most populous, to be used as a U.S. base. The Nigerian leader also opposes locating AFRICOM in the region around his country. Created by President Bush in February, the new command, consisting mostly of a small headquarters staff, is currently based in Stuttgart, Germany. AFRICOM is slated to be fully operational no later than Oct. 1, 2008, with headquarters somewhere in Africa.
PRECISION STRIKE: Raytheon declared Nov. 19 that it won the majority share of U.S. Air Force competitive contracts for Paveway II laser-guided bomb components for fiscal 2007. It said a recent $36.1 million award made for the third consecutive Air Force majority share award for Raytheon. The company has been locked in publicity, patent and contracting battles with rival Lockheed Martin over selling the munitions (DAILY, May 27).
BEIJING - China's third space mission, to be launched next year as Shenzhou 7, will have three crew members, one more than the first manned flight by the country. The China Academy of Space Technology says one of the crew members of Shenzhou 7 will go as far as 5 meters (16 feet) from the capsule during a spacewalk, plans for which have been previously announced.
SAUDI CONCERN: Dozens of U.S. lawmakers from both parties have expressed concerns with potential U.S. military sales to Saudi Arabia, particularly involving Joint Direct Attack Munitions (JDAMs). Many legislators seek guarantees from President Bush that the weapons could not be used against Israel. The Defense Department on Nov. 13 provided Congress with an informal notification of its intent to move forward with a proposed $20 billion sale of high-technology armaments to Saudi Arabia under Bush administration plans to arm Middle East allies against Iran.
NEW DELHI - The fifth-generation fighter aircraft Russia and India have jointly agreed to develop could begin test flights before 2015, according to Russian officials quoted here. The two partners signed an intergovernmental agreement in Moscow on Oct. 18 during a visit by Defense Minister A.K. Antony on joint development and production of a new generation of fighter.
BEIJING - South Korea plans to send a spacecraft to the moon with a locally developed two-stage rocket by 2020, joining the Asian space race with Japan, China and India. A South Korean lunar lander will follow in 2025 if the first probe is successful, the Ministry of Science and Technology says. The rocket design will be based on that of the KSLV 1 launcher, itself now in development, with a first stage based on the Russian Angara launcher. The KSLV 2 will be much larger than its predecessor, with a first flight planned for 2017.
Completion of another spacewalk at the International Space Station (ISS) Nov. 20 leaves only two more hurdles before space shuttle Atlantis can deliver the European Space Agency's long-awaited Columbus laboratory module to orbit. Derek Hassmann, ISS flight director for the Expedition 16 increment, said completion of the extravehicular activity (EVA 11) kept the Expedition 16 crew on track to recover time lost to the emergency solar array repair during the STS-120/10A assembly mission on shuttle Discovery earlier this month.
SEA LAUNCH: Sea Launch has again delayed launch of the Thuraya-3 mobile communications satellite due to bad weather at the Odyssey launch platform's equatorial launch location. Liftoff is now set for 10:25 a.m. EST Nov. 21. The mission will mark the Zenit 3-SL rocket's return to flight following the Jan. 30 rocket explosion that damaged the Odyssey platform and destroyed SES New Skies' NSS-8 satellite (DAILY, Feb. 1, June 15).
Think tank and Wall Street analysts increasingly don't expect the long-predicted downturn in U.S. defense spending until around fiscal 2010-11, when a new presidential administration and a financially pinched Congress adjust to postwar federal budget constraints. Forecast International said Nov. 19 that it expects U.S. defense spending to remain high in the coming years, especially accounting for the "skyrocketing" costs of combat operations in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Leading House Democratic appropriators vowed Nov. 20 not to bless off-budget supplemental appropriations that President Bush requested for Iraq, Afghanistan and elsewhere until he compromises and agrees to conditions that have already garnered a veto threat.
Lockheed Martin has delivered the core propulsion module for the second satellite in the Advanced Extremely High Frequency (AEHF) military communications constellation to the company's facilities in Sunnyvale, Calif. Developed and tested at Lockheed Martin's Mississippi Space & Technology Center at NASA's Stennis Space Center in Mississippi, the core propulsion module contains the integrated propulsion system as well as panels and other components that serve as the structural foundation of the satellite, the company said Nov. 20.
New details have emerged concerning Israel's attack on Syria that suggest the U.S. had knowledge of the event and perhaps some back-channel involvement, Aviation Week has learned. The Pentagon was monitoring the electronic emissions coming from Syria during Israel's Sept. 6 attack (DAILY, Nov. 2), and while there was no active Pentagon engagement in the operation, there was advice provided, according to military and aerospace industry officials.
SUB OPTION: A U.S. Navy contract with Northrop Grumman to support the Los Angeles, Ohio, Seawolf and Virginia-class submarines is now $248 million, the company said Nov. 20. Work includes planning, engineering and logistics support for new, operational, conversion and decommissioning submarines. Examples include maintaining and altering ship-class drawings, maintenance analysis and modernization and repair services. Northrop Grumman's Newport News recently received an option valued at $85 million to continue the contract, which was awarded in 2006.
U.S. Air Force acquisition chief Sue Payton says she wants to keep both the C-17 production line open and the costly C-5 re-engining project afloat for as long as possible to force each provider - Boeing with the C-17 and Lockheed Martin with the C-5 - to remain competitive.
JLTV TEAMING: The U.S. Army is expected to release a formal request for proposals for technology development of the Joint Light Tactical Vehicle (JLTV) in early 2008, according to a major bidder for the Humvee replacement. Lockheed Martin also said Nov. 19 that its Systems Integration unit, which already is teamed with BAE Mobility and Protection Systems (formerly Armor Holdings), will add Alcoa Defense to its team to supply materials expertise, design services and aluminum components.
A Russian Proton launch vehicle successfully orbited the Sirius 4 satellite Nov. 18, marking the fourth mission of the year for International Launch Services (ILS) and the second since the Proton's return to flight following the September launch failure that destroyed Japan's JCSAT-11 spacecraft.
The U.S. Air Force released its latest revised request for proposals (RFP) for its combat search and rescue replacement (CSAR-X) helicopter fleet last week - apparently with no surprises for bidders - and also defended the program's requirements process, which has recently come under fire.
Gallium nitride (GaN), a highly promising new material in radar, will be ready for incorporation into advanced systems within the next few years, Raytheon officials told Aerospace Daily. "We're entering the homestretch of the [wideband gap semiconductors (WBGS)] program," said Joe Smolko, GaN project manager at Raytheon. "Over the next four to six months we'll be verifying its performance and reliability."
MCM EMNS: Lockheed Martin said Nov. 19 it was awarded an $11 million U.S. Navy system development and demonstration contract to develop and integrate the new Expendable Mine Neutralization System (EMNS) for the Navy's 14 Mine Counter Measures (MCM-1) Avenger-class ships. Lockheed's Undersea Systems facility in Syracuse, N.Y., will deliver two EMNS engineering development models to the Navy for developmental and operational testing and evaluation.
