The Japanese Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) has announced that the Selene spacecraft successfully achieved lunar orbit injection on Oct. 4. The satellite entered an elliptical orbit with a perigee of 101 kilometers (63 miles) and an apogee of 11,741 kilometers (7,295.5 miles) by 6:20 a.m. Japanese Standard Time.
NAVY CORROSION: Three companies will help the U.S. Navy battle corrosion under research, development, test and evaluation (RDT&E) contracts announced Oct. 4. BAE Systems will receive $14 million (with options the contract could reach $69 million), Science and Engineering Technologies has been awarded $11 million and Science Applications has a $5 million contract for research, development, testing and evaluation in Corrosion Science.
U.S. Air Force acquisition chief Sue Payton says she's not yet sold on Lockheed Martin's $83 million flyway cost proposal for the C-5 Reliability Enhancement and Re-engining Program (RERP). "Even though it sounds good, it feels bad," she says.
JDRADM CONTRACT: Boeing will develop the Seeker Integrated Target Endgame Sensor (SITES) to help advance Joint Dual Role Air Dominance Missile (JDRADM) technology under a $600,000 contract from the U.S. Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL). Under the Task1 contract, Boeing will study and establish the SITES program requirements baseline, ultimately leading to a system architecture.
ZUMWALT ANTENNA: The U.S. Navy has taken delivery of an engineering development model antenna for the Volume Search component of Raytheon's Dual Band Radar for the new Zumwalt-class destroyers (DDG 1000). The X and S-band, 3-D surveillance radar is specialized for tracking missiles, aircraft and unmanned aerial vehicles at long range.
ADDING BACK: NASA hopes that by carefully watching the Orion Crew Exploration Vehicle's weight throughout the design process, leftover mass margin can be used for adding new systems and capabilities, as was done during the Apollo program. By the time of the last three Apollo lunar missions, "they were able to turn what used to be management reserve into capability," Constellation Program Manager Jeff Hanley says.
SAUDI VEHICLES: Saudi Arabia may be next in line to receive light armored vehicles and high mobility multi-purpose wheeled vehicles in a $631 million deal proposed to Congress by the Defense Security Cooperation Agency. The announcement follows a similar notification of equipment sales to Iraq, valued at $2.257 billion (DAILY, Oct. 5). Saudi Arabia has requested a possible sale of 37 light armored vehicles and 25 High Mobility Multi-purpose Wheeled Vehicles, along with associated equipment and services.
The Senate's recent duo of fiscal 2008 defense bills contain provisions promoting unmanned ground vehicles (UGVs), reflecting ongoing desires to aid and supplement ground troops with robotic devices. But the provisions, in the regular defense authorization and appropriations bills passed last week, come as the Army's embattled Future Combat Systems (FCS) program faces a challenging goal: by 2015, one-third of the operational ground combat vehicles acquired through FCS are supposed to be unmanned.
A last-minute bid by the U.S. to sell Lockheed Marin F-16s to Morocco appears to have destroyed French hopes of making that country the first export customer for the new-generation Dassault Aviation Rafale fighter. Sources close to the deal say the U.S. offer to sell up to 24 new-build F-16s for $2.1 billion, or a like number of second-hand aircraft for $1.6 billion, seem to have received the nod over Dassault's 2 billion euro ($2.8 billion) proposal for 18 Rafales.
REMANUFACTURED APACHES: Boeing is aiming to deliver Block III Apache Longbow helicopter to the U.S. Army at the beginning of 2011. The first AH-64D built under the extended Block II contract was delivered to the service at the beginning of October. Boeing is remanufacturing 96 A-model Apaches for the Army under the Block II contract and continues to produce new-build wartime replacement Apaches as it prepares for Block III deliveries.
NUCLEAR KNOWLEDGE: The threats posed by nuclear proliferation and radiological terrorist weapons are the focus of attention at two events this week in Washington. On Oct. 8, at the Brookings Institution, a D.C. think tank, Sen. Richard Lugar (R-Ind.) discusses his recent trip to Russia and the upcoming Moscow meeting between Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, Defense Secretary Robert Gates and their Russian counterparts. With then-Sen.
The Senate on Oct. 4 passed an amendment to the fiscal 2008 Commerce, Justice, Science (CJS) appropriations bill spearheaded by Sen. Barbara Mikulski (D-Md.) that would provide NASA an additional $1 billion to compensate the agency for costs related to the 2003 Columbia accident and Hurricane Katrina. However, the Bush administration is threatening to veto the entire CJS appropriation because Senate lawmakers have included $3.2 billion in additional spending above the White House request (DAILY, Oct. 5).
DAB MEETINGS: The end of October and beginning of November will be a busy time for the Defense Acquisition Board (DAB), which has scheduled meetings on several important programs. The group meets on Oct. 30th to discuss the restructure of the Armed Reconnaissance Helicopter (ARH) program; a Nov. 1st gathering will review Milestone III of the Stryker Nuclear Biological Chemical Reconnaissance Vehicle; and the following day the DAB will discuss the restructure of the VH-71 Presidential helicopter upgrade.
STRIKING STATEMENT: The Bush administration opposes several changes to its non-war defense appropriations requests made by the Senate but will not veto the recently passed bill, according to a White House statement. Topping the list, the administration "strongly" criticized an $85 million cut to proposed ballistic missile defense facilities in Europe, saying it would slow the U.S. capability to counter "emerging" Iranian threats.
The Bush administration is threatening to veto the Senate's fiscal 2008 Commerce, Justice, Science appropriations bill, which includes the budgets for NASA and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), because the overall bill contains $3.2 billion in funding above the White House's request.
The Defense Security Cooperation Agency (DSCA) notified Congress recently of a possible foreign military sale to Iraq of various vehicles, small arms ammunition, explosives and communications equipment as well as associated equipment and services in a deal that could total $2.257 billion if all options are exercised.
BAMS SLIPS: The U.S. Navy's selection of a contractor to develop the Broad Area Maritime Surveillance (BAMS) system has slipped until February. It was slated for award this month. Competitors include a Northrop Grumman Global Hawk proposal, a Lockheed Martin/General Atomics Predator-based proposal and a Boeing/Gulfstream option.
John Young, the acting and likely next formal Pentagon acquisition chief, gave no indications of major shake-ups to defense acquisition programs during his confirmation hearing Oct. 4, but the longtime Defense Department procurement official hinted at a new level of oversight and performance expectations.
Arianespace is counting down to the Oct. 5 dual-launch of the Intelsat-11 and Optus D2 communications satellites aboard an Ariane 5 GS rocket from the company's spaceport in Kourou, French Guiana. Both satellites have passed prelaunch checks, according to Arianespace. Liftoff is slated for a window running from 6:28 p.m. to 7:13 p.m. local time (5:28 p.m. to 6:13 p.m. EDT). The flight will be Arianespace's fourth mission of 2007.
U.S. Air Force Secretary Michael Wynne has notified the Pentagon's leadership of a new cost overrun that could potentially reach $1 billion on the troubled Space-Based Infrared System (SBIRS).
