By putting out what amounts to a new request for proposals (RFP) - limited as it is to the current competitors - for the combat, search and rescue (CSAR-X) helicopter purchase, the U.S. Air Force should be on track to repair its tarnished acquisition reputation, according to industry analysts. The new RFP also could change the outcome of the service's decision, at least one analyst says. And while the move will delay a final contract decision, the service appears to be adamant about sticking to its desired delivery schedules.
JSC AWARD: Johnson Space Center has awarded a five-year, $120 million extension of its cooperative agreement with the National Space Biomedical Research Institute (NSBRI) of Houston covering biomedical research in support of a long-term human presence in space, according to NASA. It is the second five-year extension to the agreement, which began in April 1997 with a value of $93.6 million. This new option extends the agreement through September 2012 and brings its total value to $362 million.
The U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) is recommending that the Defense Department make data on enemy-initiated attacks in Iraq available to Congress and the public on a monthly basis. "Enemy-initiated attacks data are a key indicator of progress in improving Iraq's security situation, an important condition that, according to the administration, must be met before the United States can reduce its military presence in Iraq," GAO says in a letter to Congress dated Sept. 28. Aggregated data
HYDERABAD, India - China plans to land a 1,300-kilogram (2,900-pound) lander on the moon in 2015-17 that also would serve as a testbed for a sample-return lander to follow by 2020, one of the China National Space Administration engineers working on the project said here Sept. 28.
To list an event, send information in calendar format to Donna Thomas at [email protected] Oct. 2 - 3 -- AVIATIONWEEK Management Forums, Lean & Six Sigma for MRO, San Francisco, Calif. For more information call (212) 904-2997, http://www.aviationweek.com/forums. Oct. 8 - 11 -- Aeronautical Radio Inc.: 13th Annual Flight Simulator Engineering & Maintenance Conference, Montreal, PQ, Canada. For more information call Samuel Buckwalter, ARINC, at (410) 266-2915.
WING-LAUNCHED: The Pentagon's search for innovation continues with the award of a $25 million contract to Defense Technologies to research a "wing and bomb bay launched unmanned air vehicle." The goal is to provide for development and support of a net-ready, modular, command and control station for unmanned systems. Work is to be completed in 2012. Perhaps related is Progeny Systems' $25 million contract for an open architecture tactical control system.
TRACKING WMD: "There are always indications the North Koreans are doing something they shouldn't," says Vice Adm. Robert Murrett, director of the National Geospatial-intelligence Agency (NGA), in response to a question about the shipment of nuclear materials from North Korea to Syria, which was subsequently bombed by the Israeli Air Force. "They are a high priority. We work as a key element ...
ASSURED BUSINESS: Senators and military leaders are pushing to authorize the Defense Department to guarantee a higher minimum level of "peacetime" - presumably meaning no declaration of war by Congress - business for Civil Reserve Airlift Fleet (CRAF) participants. The "Assured Business" provision in the Senate's pending version of the fiscal 2008 defense authorization bill also would cap the level at 80 percent of the annual average expenditures of airlift for the previous five-year period.
DEFENDING ISRAEL: The Israeli Defense Force plans to keep more manned aircraft in its inventory and keep them longer than planned to increase the resilience of its forces in the wake of a nuclear or electronic attack. The manned platforms will help Israeli defense forces immediately create local area networks for gathering intelligence and launching retaliatory missions.
NASA will accelerate missions featuring space nuclear power, marking a major milestone for robotic exploration but a controversial move among groups that oppose the technology because of launch safety concerns.
THINK SMALLER: A new study sponsored by the respected International Academy of Astronautics (IAA) is proposing a new emphasis on space missions to explore small bodies and asteroids as even a potential alternative to a return to expensive manned lunar operations. The IAA sees this as a way to develop technologies for future manned Mars exploration without development of a lunar base, while also doing something exciting and truly new.
PROMPT STUDY: The U.S. Air Force-led Prompt Global Strike Analysis of Alternatives will be complete next spring, according to Gen. Kevin Chilton, the next likely head of U.S. Strategic Command (STRATCOM). The analysis is exploring military concepts proposed by the armed services and industry to identify the concepts best suited to close what STRATCOM has deemed a prompt global strike capability gap.
Northrop Grumman says its directed infrared technology counter measures (DIRCM) technology is ready for testing if the Defense Department begins studying missile defense systems for the Civil Reserve Air Fleet (CRAF).
Lockheed Martin has successfully completed the Paveway II Dual Mode Laser Guided Bomb (DMLGB) first article test program for the U.S. Navy and Marine Corps, the company announced Sept. 27. The test program wrapped up in March 2007 at the China Lake Test Range in California. Twenty-five DMLGBs were released from AV-8B and F/A-18 aircraft under various release conditions, successfully demonstrating terminal impact control against horizontal and vertical targets, the company said.
SUCCESSFUL DESTRUCTION: A ground-based midcourse ballistic intercept missile launched from Vandenberg Air Force base, Calif., successfully hit a target missile launched from Kodiak Island, Alaska, missile proponents declared Sept. 28. "The remarkable technical feat demonstrated today for the seventh time clearly gives our country security and reassurance that the current 23 ground-based interceptors deployed in California and Alaska can and will protect our public from long-range ballistic missiles," the Missile Defense Advocacy Alliance said.
The U.S. Army is going to need an extra $13 billion or so a year to replace war-related equipment losses until about three years after the Iraq war winds down, and thereafter will require a bigger piece of the defense budget, according to Army Secretary and former Texas politician Pete Geren.
A new front in Washington's airlifter war opened up Sept. 27 with the Air Force declaring Lockheed Martin's C-5 Reliability Enhancement and Re-engining (RERP) program in violation of Nunn-McCurdy cost triggers, but Lockheed and its supporters on Capitol Hill challenging the Air Force's cost estimates for the program. Lockheed Martin argues that the RERP program's cost will grow at rates below the Nunn-McCurdy threshold notification requirement and that the RERP program will fit within current long-term budgets, but the Air Force disagrees on both points.
AFRICAN MICROSATS: Four African nations plan to set up a micro-satellite-based earth observation system to monitor land/water use, agriculture, forestry and other environmental parameters. The African Resource Management system, sponsored by the African Union, will include space and ground assets from Nigeria, Algeria, South Africa and Kenya. Nigerian and Algerian systems are already in place.
