U.S. success with the Orbital Express test bed appears to be rekindling commercial satellite operator interest in orbital servicing. Under an agreement announced Sept. 3, Arabsat will help develop and validate an in-orbit refueling system marketed by Kosmas Geo-Ring Services of Germany and Greece. Arabsat will investigate all types of service Geo-Ring can offer, including extending the service lives of existing and future satellites, and restoring inoperative satellites to operation, according to Kosmas CEO Charis Kosmas.
Senate appropriators Sept. 12 complained about committee changes to fiscal 2008 defense appropriations for the Littoral Combat Ship (LCS), Reliable Replacement Warhead (RRW) and Joint Strike Fighter alternative engine programs, but the panel nonetheless approved its markup without significant changes from the day before.
DANISH RAVENS: The Danish army has placed a $2.4 million order with AeroVironment for 12 of its Raven B small unmanned aircraft systems (UAS). Each Raven B system consists of three aircraft, a hand-held ground control station, a remote viewing terminal, systems spares and related services. Three of the UAS will go to the Danish army special forces, with the remainder designated for deployed units at the Danish army's Artillery Training Center. The Raven is a 4.2-pound, backpackable, hand-launched aircraft used by the U.S. Army Special Operations Command and the U.S.
Senate defense appropriators offered a peek into their fiscal 2008 spending package Sept. 11, including efforts to fully fund the Army's Future Combat Systems (FCS) and significantly encourage quicker dual annual production of Virginia-class submarines. But the panel, whose subcommittee markup comes before the full Senate Appropriations Committee Sept. 12, also sliced into the Bush administration's missile defense request, especially for proposed facilities for an Eastern European branch of the ground-based midcourse missile interceptor system.
Satellite operators are confident they can round up enough support at the upcoming World Radio Conference (WRC) to defeat efforts by broadband wireless operators to encroach on the C-band spectrum. But they are worried the European agency responsible for allocating the spectrum, the European Conference of Postal and Telecommunications Administrations (CEPT), may be caving in to terrestrial operator pressure that is not likely to stop with WRC '07.
NSC PROGRESS: The Coast Guard's National Security Cutter (NSC) Bertholf is more than 90 percent complete and the stern assembly was erected onto the second cutter, Waesche (WMSL 751), last week, industry representatives said Sept. 11. Waesche is one-third complete, according to Integrated Coast Guard Systems (ICGS), a joint venture of Lockheed Martin and Northrop Grumman. Later this month, the Northrop-led construction team will erect three of the five remaining lifts necessary to complete Waesche's structure.
A new poll of the population of the Czech Republic shows modest growth in support of U.S. plans to base a ground-based midcourse defense (GMD) X-band radar in the Brdy region of the country, according to the Missile Defense Advocacy Alliance (MDAA).
The U.S. Air Force awarded Boeing a 10-year, $1.1 billion contract to continue programmed depot maintenance (PDM) on the U.S. fleet of KC-135 tankers, dealing a significant blow to Pemco Aviation Group, which was counting heavily on landing the contract.
Russia is set to launch the Foton-M3 biological research spacecraft aboard a Soyuz-U rocket from Baikonur Cosmodrome, Kazakhstan on Sept. 14, according to NASA. NASA scientists are participating in several of the mission's experiments, which will research the effects of space on genetics, cell proliferation and tissue regeneration, as well as the physiological effects of microgravity.
THREAT ASSESSMENT: The Threat Reduction Advisory Committee will meet at Fort Belvoir, Va., at the end of November to advise defense officials on technology security, combating weapons of mass destruction (WMD), chemical and biological defense, transformation of the nuclear weapons stockpile, and other matters related to the Defense Threat Reduction Agency's mission. The panel will receive summaries of current activities related to combating WMD as well as nuclear deterrent transformation activities from the Pentagon's acquisition chief and the DTRA director.
The Japanese Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) is delaying the launch of the SELENE (SELenological and ENgineering Explorer) lunar orbiter, nicknamed "Kaguya," on an H-IIA launch vehicle, at least a day from its original target of Sept. 13, due to weather conditions at the Tanegashima launch site. JAXA is expected to make a decision on the launch date Sept. 12. Selene's launch window extends until Sept. 21.
Future lunar explorers may set out from their base at one of the moon's poles for long-distance surface sorties in pressurized rovers hardened against the galactic cosmic radiation that makes extravehicular activity (EVA) dangerous to their health in the long run.
U.S. Pacific Command Headquarters (PACOM) is tightening the use of some of its purchase cards following a report by the Defense Department Inspector General's (IG) Office. "For most of the purchase card transactions we examined, PACOM personnel complied with regulations," says the Aug. 29 report, "U.S. Pacific Command Headquarters Government Purchase Card Controls." But, the IG says, PACOM "risks abuse" in the use of its purchase cards. 2,086 transactions
Raytheon has finished development work for now on the Active Denial System (ADS) nonlethal weapon following the recent delivery of its ADS 2 system to the U.S. Air Force, and is now awaiting production orders from the services that the company hopes will materialize by fiscal 2009.
Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Michael Chertoff told the Senate Homeland Security Committee Sept. 10 that in case a nuclear or dirty bomb attack on the U.S. succeeds, his agency has created a nuclear forensic office to investigate it rapidly and prevent further attacks. The heads of four U.S. counterterrorism agencies warned the panel that the U.S. still faces a terrorist threat from al Qaeda and other extremist groups that could include attacks using small boats, small aircraft or nuclear weapons.
HONEYWELL LAB: Honeywell announced Sept. 10 that it has opened the $35 million Aerospace Mexicali Research and Technology Center in Mexico. The 100,000 square-foot, state-of-the-art facility will house engineers and technicians working on research and development for next-generation narrow-body aircraft like the Boeing 737 and the Airbus A320. Honeywell hopes to test and integrate technologies at the center to reduce aircraft fuel consumption and increase reliability.
SBIRS MATING: Lockheed Martin said Sept. 10 that it successfully mated the spacecraft bus and the payload for the first Space-Based Infrared System (SBIRS) geosynchronous orbit (GEO-1) satellite. "We are on track to sustain our momentum in the remaining integration and test work ahead and look forward to the ultimate deployment of this first-of-its-kind satellite," said Mark Crowley, Lockheed Martin's SBIRS vice president. Northrop Grumman last month delivered the payload for the first SBIRS early missile warning sensor package.
The commander of coalition forces in Iraq, U.S. Army Gen. David Petraeus, said U.S. ground forces there could be cut back to a pre-"surge" level of about 130,000 in about a year, although the forecast is leading to greater concerns over the U.S. military's ability to respond to other potential crises.
The U.S. Navy, Army, Marine Corps and Northrop Grumman have jointly conducted the first aerial transport of a Navy MQ-8B Fire Scout Vertical Takeoff and Landing Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (VTUAV) on a Marine KC-130T, the company announced Sept. 10. A second VTUAV, an Army MQ-8B Future Combat System (FCS) Class IV UAV also was loaded on the aircraft, but only to demonstrate that a tandem load of two VTUAVs is possible. Only the Navy Fire Scout was airlifted--from Moss Point, Miss., to Naval Air Station Patuxent River for flight test operations.
NASA is proposing to the White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB) that the space shuttle program be terminated six months early, in March 2010 instead of by Sept. 31, 2010, Shuttle Launch Director Mike Leinbach says. The web site NASASpaceFlight.com first revealed the plan last week. NASA's Office of Public Affairs labeled the report as incorrect.
