PROGRESS REPORT: Since it was created four years ago, the Department of Homeland Security has made only moderate progress in five areas, including aviation and border security, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) says. In border security, GAO says DHS has not achieved expectations in seven of 12 areas including leveraging technology, personnel and information to secure the border. DHS challenges GAO methodology and disputes 42 of auditors' 171 department-wide performance assessments.
TIMELY R&D: The U.S. Naval Surface Warfare Center Dahlgren Division and Northrop Grumman plan to marry the Navy's accurate system timing and precision platform self-location capabilities with Northrop's electronic surveillance enhancement to the surface ship AN/SLQ-32(V) electronic warfare system, under the terms of a new cooperative research and development agreement (CRADA).
TERRORIST THREATS: What kind of terror threats does the U.S. face six years after the 9/11 attacks? Most of the nation's top intelligence leaders will be discussing that and the latest National Intelligence Estimate at a Senate hearing Sept. 10. The Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee will be taking testimony from Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff, Director of National Intelligence J. Michael McConnell; FBI Director Robert Mueller and John Scott Redd, the director of the National Counterterrorism Center.
DEEPWATER MISSIONIZATION: The first U.S. Coast Guard C-130J to be fully missionized for long-range surveillance will begin flight testing later this year. The first aircraft's mission system installation, performed by Lockheed Martin, is 90 percent complete. The second of six such C-130Js to be missionized began the process last month, with all six scheduled to be done by late 2008.
AIRBORNE PEEPING: BAE Systems announced Sept. 7 that it has received a $49 million U.S. Navy contract to develop a system that can rapidly identify and track camouflaged or concealed objects and targets.
NASA & NIH: NASA and the National Institutes of Health (NIH) will sign a memorandum of understanding Sept. 12 for cooperation in space-related health research aboard the International Space Station (ISS). NASA Administrator Michael Griffin and NIH Director Elias A. Zerhouni will sign the agreement in the U.S. Capitol building, with Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison (R-Texas) also in attendance. The NIH agreement is part of an effort to expand research possibilities aboard the ISS by using its U.S.
Subcontracts awarded and funded with federal funds will "eventually" be disclosed to the public in a single, searchable website - but information reported under an upcoming pilot program will not be disclosed, according to a Sept. 5 notice in the Federal Register. The reprieve for industry, especially large contractors, from having to publicize subcontracting data could last through 2008.
Commenting on the Joint Cargo Aircraft (JCA), U.S. Army Maj. Gen. Ross Thompson says, "We've been through source selection, we don't need any more studies, we just need to get on with it."
MSS SPACECRAFT: TerreStar, a U.S. mobile satellite service startup, has issued an Authorization to Proceed (ATP) to EADS Astrium for an S-band Mobile Satellite Services spacecraft to serve the European market. The ATP - which is short of a full contract - reflects the fact that TerreStar has yet to complete licensing or financing arrangements for the hybrid satellite/terrestrial system, targeted for a 2011 startup. The company already has acquired two units from Space Systems/Loral for a U.S.-Canadian service expected to begin operations in December 2008.
Capitol Hill testimony on the issue of preflight alcohol abuse by astronauts Sept. 6 didn't resolve conflicting accounts that have grown up around the charges. Top NASA managers, including Administrator Michael Griffin and chief safety officer Bryan O'Connor, repeated to the House Science Space and Aeronautics subcommittee that they were "unable to verify" the incidents reported by the NASA Astronaut Health Care System Review Committee (DAILY, July 27).
The Defense Information Systems Agency (DISA) is working with Deloitte and Touche to improve its financial recordkeeping and account for its inventory around the world in preparation for DOD audits, according to DISA Director Air Force Lt. Gen. Charles Croom.
SPACECRAFT BUY: U.K. broadband startup Avanti will acquire three spacecraft over the next six months to supplement a single unit already on order. One of the units, to be launched by 2010-12, will be used to expand service to Africa, the Middle East and Asia. The others are for backup. Avanti's first spacecraft, being built by Astrium, is to be orbited in early 2009.
SPACECRAFT RFP: SES Astra will issue a request for proposals in 2008-09 for two large telecom spacecraft to replace four older Astra 2 units at Astra's 28.2 degrees East orbital position. The satellites were launched in 1998-2001.
AMX UPGRADE: The Brazilian air force has handed the first of its AMX ground attack aircraft to Embraer to initiate a major upgrade of the fleet. The service is trying to ensure the 53 AMX aircraft (designated A-1 in Brazil) can remain in service another two decades. The oldest A-1 is about 18 years old, while the last were produced in 2000. The rework will add new avionics, weapons and other equipment.
The Bush administration and the agencies leading the National Polar-orbiting Operational Environmental Satellite System (NPOESS) program are considering adding the OMPS-Limb sensor back onto the first operational NPOESS spacecraft, set for launch in late 2012 or early 2013. The U.S. Air Force, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and NASA jointly manage the civil/military NPOESS weather satellite program.
The failure of a 1.5 million-pound Russian Proton booster carrying a 4.5-ton Japanese communications satellite has International Launch Services (ILS) concerned about holding onto its $1 billion customer backlog, while JSAT Corp. in Tokyo is assessing the impact of the $275 million accident on its long-term satcom business plan.
The U.S. Marine Corps' component of U.S. Special Operations Command (USSOCOM) still needs some tweaking to make sure Marine special operators can work together smoothly with those of other services, a recent U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) report says. GAO recommends that the Marine Corps conduct an analysis of the critical skills and competencies required of personnel in its special operations command and that USSOCOM establish a basis to ensure they are trained to be fully interoperable with DOD's special operations forces.
C-/KU-BAND SAT RFP: Asia Broadcast Satellite of Hong Kong plans to issue a request for proposals for a new C-/Ku-band satellite next month. A purchase decision is expected at year's end, followed by launch around 2010. The company says it is interested in 40 of the 66 planned transponders so far, but the actual size of the buy will depend on the market.
Congressional mandates to rein in seemingly improper contracting by the Defense Department over commercial items and services are making their way into federal regulations. DOD has adopted the final version of a new regulation that codified Section 803 of the fiscal 2006 defense authorization act, which limits acquisition of a major weapon system as a commercial item, according to a Sept. 6 notice in the Federal Register.
Manned and unmanned aircraft will be needed to protect maritime interests from terrorist attacks as the government gears up its new joint maritime domain awareness (MDA) office, the agency's head said Sept. 5. "No threat comes through a single domain, so air, land, sea all have to be linked, otherwise we create another set of stovepipes," said Navy Rear Adm. Lee Metcalf, the first director of the Joint, Inter Agency National Office of Global Maritime Situational Awareness (GMSA).
ORBITAL POSITIONS: Telesat Canada and SES's new Canadian affiliate, Ciel, both indicate they plan to fill all of the new orbital positions allocated by Canada this summer. Telesat received five slots, including one for Ka-band, and Ciel was given seven. Several of Ciel's slots are likely to be brought into service through outsourcing deals with other operators like EchoStar. Details of the two projects have yet to be worked out, but the Canadian authorities want the slots in use by 2010.
