NAVY NUKES: Bechtel Bettis Inc. is receiving a $450.7 million cost-plus-fixed-fee modification to previously awarded contract for Naval Nuclear Propulsion work at the Bettis Atomic Power Laboratory. Work will be performed in West Mifflin, Pa. Contract funds in the amount of $242.2 million will expire at the end of the current fiscal year. U.S. Naval Sea Systems Command in Washington, D.C., is the contracting activity.
LAUNCH RECOVERY: When Lockheed Martin's first Littoral Combat Ship (LCS) finally launches, it will have fully automated stern doors, an articulating stern ramp and side launch doors, each of which are key elements of the ship's unique launch and recovery system. The stern ramp will provide the capability to launch and recover large, hard-bottom vehicles such as 11-meter rigid hull inflatable boats (RHIBs) or the special operations forces high-speed boat while the ship is underway.
WITHHELD: The Information Technology Association of America (ITAA) applauded the House of Representatives for passing a tax bill that, among other provisions, would delay implementation of a new 3 percent tax withholding on all payments made by any federal, state or local governments for goods and services. The looming withholding requirement, long feared and criticized by industry, has prompted vocal complaints from a chorus of trade lobbyists in Washington who bemoan it as an unfair budgetary gimmick by a Congress hungry for funds (DAILY, Oct. 2).
A recent Rand Corporation report urges the U.S. Army to adopt "niche capabilities" to promote interoperability with non-allied armies. The recommendations are part of a larger project entitled "A Capabilities Based Strategy for Army Security Cooperation," that supports the Army's efforts to bolster multinational force compatibility (MFC) with varied armies. The niche-based approach is geared toward identifying shortfalls or gaps within the U.S. Army and then filling those holes with the capabilities of other armies.
SMALL ADVANCE: Congressional auditors are recommending that the Defense and Homeland Security departments and the General Services Administration reinvigorate their reporting regarding government practices favoring small businesses. "To ensure compliance with federal contracting regulations and more transparently disclose the availability of subcontracting opportunities for small businesses," the biggest-spending federal agencies should issue guidance, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) said.
On Oct. 12 Japan's Selene lunar orbiter released its second 50-kilogram (110-pound) daughter satellite, the Very Long Baseline Interferometer (VRAD), positioning it in an orbit about 800 kilometers (500 miles) above the moon. Separation was confirmed through images onboard the main spacecraft, dubbed Kaguya following a poll of the Japanese public. The probe will work with VRAD and a twin microsatellite -- Rstar -- to produce the first global gravity map of the moon. Rstar was released Oct. 8 (DAILY, Oct. 9).
OMAHA, Neb. -- The loss of a classified satellite after only 7 seconds on orbit prompted the review of software and processors that has caused the most recent delay and a potential $1 billion overrun in Lockheed Martin's Space-Based Infrared System (SBIRS), says Gary Payton, deputy under secretary of the Air Force for space programs.
BANG FOR BUCK: President Bush is asking for a "baseline" Pentagon budget for fiscal 2008 of $481.4 billion, but altogether the national security budget requests he has submitted amount to $802.9 billion, according to Washington watchdog Center for Defense Information (CDI). A new for-sale publication by the group portrays how as defense budgets have increased in recent years to historic highs in dollar amounts, U.S. military forces have been shrinking.
RDT&E SQUEEZE: Changes to the Defense Department's budget are "inevitable and potentially significant" considering elections for control of the White House and Capitol Hill next year, the Aerospace and Defense group at consultancy Frost & Sullivan says. "There is a good likelihood that successful [research, development, testing and evaluation] efforts will receive continued, although reduced, funding in the out-years.
EGYPTIAN MISSILES: The U.S. Navy will sell $125 million worth of Raytheon missiles and related services to Egypt under a Foreign Military Sale (FMS), according to a notice to Congress. The deal involves 139 RIM 116B Block 1A Rolling Airframe Missiles (RAMs) with MK-44 Guided Missile Round Packs and related contractor logistics, material and support. The RAMs and packs provide the weapons used by the MK-31 RAM Guided Missile Weapons System as part of the Egyptian Fast Missile Craft (FMC), which VT Halter Marine is building for the Middle Eastern ally (DAILY, Nov.
A dispute among engineers over the safety of some of the reinforced carbon carbon (RCC) panels on the wing leading edges of the space shuttle Discovery could delay the upcoming International Space Station (ISS) assembly mission significantly - perhaps stalling it until next year.
International Launch Services (ILS) hopes to have its Proton launch vehicle back in operation before the end of the year, following the release of Russian government findings into a Sept. 6 accident that sidelined the heavy lifter. In a report issued Oct. 11, the Russian State Commission investigating the mishap attributed the failure to a damaged pyro firing cable on the interstage truss that prevented the activation of pyro bolts, preventing the separation of the first and second stages of the rocket (DAILY, Sept. 7).
AERO RESEARCH: NASA's aeronautics directorate is looking for research proposals that address the "Integration of Advanced Concepts and Vehicles into the Next Generation Air Transportation System," known as NextGen. The agency wants to explore issues associated with deploying new, advanced vehicles by assessing the tradeoffs among procedures, vehicle characteristics and overall NextGen performance. The research announcement can be found at nspires.nasaprs.com.
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. - The National Security Space Institute (NSSI) will find out on Dec. 4 whether it will move from under Air Force Space Command (AFSPC) to the Air Education and Training Command (AETC). The potential realignment raises funding and advocacy concerns for NSSI. The school, which provides continuing education and training to space professionals in all the services, currently enjoys the dedicated funding and attention of outgoing Air Force Space Command chief Gen. Kevin Chilton. Priority
U.S. military outlays were $530 billion in fiscal 2007, below previous Bush administration forecasts, the White House announced Oct. 11. Outlays for military personnel, operations and maintenance and procurement all were lower than expected. The administration said the "late" passage of the second, record-setting FY '07 off-budget supplemental bill in May forced the Defense Department to restrain spending and delay planned activities.
The technology mismatch between the U.S. and its allies is growing, particularly in the area of C4 systems, according to Gen. David McKiernan, commander of U.S. Army forces in Europe. "There's a growing concern that they are technologically mismatched with us," McKiernan said during a breakfast with defense reporters in Washington Oct. 11. "I think that's something that NATO has to pay attention to."
OMAHA, Neb. - President Bush issued a classified memo to various government agencies in July including at least nine taskings for departments to improve U.S. space situational awareness (SSA), according to industry sources.
Building relationships will be just as important as building specially armored vehicles in saving U.S. troops from improvised explosive devices (IEDs), Defense Secretary Robert Gates said Oct. 10.
The U.S. Coast Guard is eyeing a two-year effort to find and evaluate land-based unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) and the bevy of ground-oriented military sensor systems that have emerged for ongoing Iraq and Afghanistan operations before settling on a UAV system for maritime patrolling, officers told Aerospace Daily.
CARRIER CHIEF: Capt. Brian Antonio, formerly chief of staff to the deputy assistant secretary of the Navy for ship programs, has taken over the massive CVN 21 aircraft carrier program. Capt. Michael Schwartz retired from the Navy after three years as program manager. Congressional auditors expect the futuristic flattop to breach Navy budgets (DAILY, Sept. 25). "I have no misconceptions about the importance and magnitude of this program as we transition from largely a design effort to a production effort," Antonio said.
Controllers are moving the first Wideband Global Satcom (WGS) military communications satellite into position over the Pacific after an Oct. 10 launch on Lockheed Martin's Atlas V Evolved Expendable Launch Vehicle. The Atlas V 423 configuration performed as planned, placing the spacecraft into its transfer orbit without the shortfall it suffered on a classified National Reconnaissance Office mission in June. That problem, attributed to a leaky hydrogen-fuel valve in the cryogenic RL10 upper stage engine, apparently has been resolved (DAILY, Aug. 17).
The USS Bunker Hill (CG-52), a Ticonderoga-class guided missile cruiser, will be the first U.S. Navy ship to undergo modernization of its Aegis system in February 2008.
