The U.S. Air Force will continue to implement plans to reduce its manpower to 316,000 airmen, says Lt. Gen. Roger Brady, the service's deputy chief of staff for personnel. Brady says the force number decreases are needed to pay for procurement of fighters, jets and cargo aircraft and to recapitalize an increasingly aging materiel force. "Can we still do this? Well, yes we can," Brady told a small audience at a Capitol Hill breakfast Nov. 7. "Given where we are, it is what we've got to do."
The recent grounding of the U.S. Air Force stalwart F-15 fleet is raising a service call for the Pentagon to commit to more F-22s - a maneuver, analysts say, that also could help hedge against other combat jet development programs. The issue, though, is whether the Pentagon will kill the cap for Raptors - and whether the Bush Administration will take notice of the graying Air Force fleet. More likely, analysts say, the focus will remain on stretching out the current fleet's life.
A nearly five-month strike by about 500 union workers for United Space Alliance (USA) is over at Kennedy Space Center, making those workers available for launch processing of the Atlantis STS-122 vehicle. The strike, by the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers Local 2061, was a bitter one. The union posted pickets at gates leading into KSC and daily posted the names of union workers who did not honor the picket lines.
BAE Systems declared Nov. 5 that it has received an $18.5 million, 30-month contract from the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) to develop a new class of intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (ISR) systems and capabilities. DARPA's Autonomous Real-Time Ground Ubiquitous Surveillance Imaging System is eyed for the Defense Department's unmanned and manned surveillance platforms.
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) would get $60 million through fiscal 2010 to prepare for the threat of improvised explosive devices (IEDs) coming to the U.S. under the National Bomb Prevention Act, introduced by Sens. Joseph Lieberman (Conn.-I) and Susan Collins (R-Maine) Nov. 1.
Space shuttle Discovery's fiery re-entry across the central U.S. may be visible in Southern states even thought it will be daylight, says Bryan Lunney, shuttle re-entry flight director. The re-entry burn to Kennedy Space Center for the first landing opportunity will occur over the central Pacific Ocean on orbit 238 at 12 p.m. EST, with a landing at Kennedy at 1 p.m. EST.
NASA's Ames Research Center in Moffett Field, Calif., will advance key technologies to meet NASA's critical needs through four projects recently chosen by the agency for funding under its NASA Innovative Partnerships Program Seed Fund. The fund addresses technology barriers with cost-shared joint development programs, NASA says.
Democrats are finalizing their regular $459.3 billion fiscal 2008 defense appropriations pitch to President Bush, not including off-budget supplemental funds for ongoing combat operations but with some significant changes to the administration's request. In a conference agreement between House and Senate appropriators announced Nov. 6, Democratic-led lawmakers cut $85 million from Bush's proposed Czech Republic radar and Polish ground-based midcourse ballistic missile interceptor requests.
U.S. Navy scientists and engineers successfully tested a new underwater missile launching system eyed for submarine-launched missiles and Special Forces.
The U.S. General Services Administration has granted XTAR, the Loral Space & Communications and Hisdesat joint venture, a contract useable by any U.S. federal, state or local agency for X-band transponders. XTAR Chief Operating Officer Denis Curtin, who has been trying to interest the U.S. armed forces in XTAR since its launch in 2005, called the award "significant," noting he expects military, homeland and border security agencies badly in need of added bandwidth to be the most likely users.
Lawmakers will keep their microscopes trained on intelligence funding and acquisitions - especially on Pentagon operations, satellite costs and overall integration efforts, a recent Congressional Research Service report (CRS) says. "The role of the Defense Department and the Under Secretary of Defense for Intelligence are also likely to be a congressional concern," said the report, "Intelligence Issues for Congress," released last month.
Thales Alenia Space says it has transferred the Rascom-1 telecom satellite to Kourou, French Guiana, where it is to be launched with Intelsat/JSAT Horizons-2 in Arianespace's sixth and final 2007 Ariane 5 mission in December.
ARMOR MARKET: More than $8 billion of material will be required to meet Defense Department armor procurement rates for military ground vehicles between 2007 and 2013, a Vector Strategy report recently projected. The company believes the material market for armor for military ground vehicles will decline slightly in the 2010 to 2011 timeframe, but experience a resurgence by 2013 due to Joint Light Tactical Vehicle (JLTV) armor and a transition from lower-cost metallic armor solutions to higher cost non-metallic armor solutions.
Asian satcom startup ProtoStar says it has signed up PlanetSky of Cyprus as the initial anchor for its first satellite, targeted at underserved direct-to-home broadcasting markets in Asia. PlanetSky will lease five 36 MHz-equivalent C-band transponders on ProtoStar-1, to be launched next May by Arianespace, allowing the spacecraft to extend service to Europe, North Africa and the Middle East. Other anchor agreements are under discussion, ProtoStar officials say.
LUNAR PROBE: China's Chang'e lunar probe is well on its way to its operational orbit after a successful injection burn Nov. 5 and a subsequent burn Nov. 6 to begin circularizing its orbit. A third burn scheduled Nov. 7 is intended to place the 5,200-pound spacecraft in a circular polar orbit about 120 miles above the lunar surface, orbiting every 127 minutes. China launched the spacecraft on Sept. 14 on a Long March 3A with a cryogenic upper stage.
Thales has completed a campaign of flight-tests intended to show the capability of its TopOwl H-helmet mounted sight/display in a military transport night vision environment. The company says it has sold more than 1,500 units to forces in 15 nations, including the U.S. Marine Corps, which is installing them on AH-1Z Cobras and UH-1Y Hueys.
ANTI-IED CHIEF: The war against improvised explosive devices (IEDs) has a new leader. U.S. Army Lt. Gen. Thomas Metz has been appointed director of the Joint IED Defeat Organization, which is headquartered in Arlington, Va. Metz has been deputy commanding general/chief of staff of U.S. Army Training and Doctrine Command.
The Discovery STS-120 astronauts are preparing for landing at Kennedy Space Center Nov. 7 after a re-entry that will sweep from north-to-south across the central U.S. The unusual hypersonic ground track across the U.S. heartland is required to enable mission commander U.S. Air Force Col. (ret.) Pam Melroy to land the orbiter in daylight instead of the night landing planned before launch.
BAE Systems San Diego Ship Repair, San Diego, Calif., is being awarded a $30,982,483 cost-plus-award-fee contract for maintenance, repair and alterations for the USS Bunker Hill (CG 52) Depot Modernization Period. The work will be performed in San Diego, Calif., and is expected to be completed in February 2009. Contract funds in the amount of $21,931,255, will expire at the end of the current fiscal year. The contract was competitively procured and advertised via the Internet, with two proposals received.
