ROMEO AVIONICS: U.S. Naval Air Systems Command has definitized with Lockheed Martin Systems Integration-Owego a $951.7 million contract modification for 139 MH-60R Mission Avionics Systems. This multiyear award is for MH-60R FY '07 Lot V through FY '11 Lot IX. Work will be performed in Owego, N.Y., and is expected to be completed in December 2013, the Defense Department said Aug. 15.
Boeing says it plans in the coming months to demonstrate a 1-kilowatt laser-equipped Agile Multi-Role Weapon System, a Humvee-based system against unexploded ordnance and improvised explosive devices. Later, the company plans to experiment with the system's ability to lase on the move. The low wattage requires the operator to focus the energy on a target for up to 40 minutes, company officials said at the annual Space and Missile Defense Conference in Huntsville, Ala. Planned upgrade
NCADE TEST: Raytheon is planning to flight-test its Network Centric Airborne Defense Element (NCADE), a boost- and ascent-phase anti-missile system based on the company's Advanced Medium-Range Air-to-Air Missile (AMRAAM) platform (DAILY, May 15). The weapon uses an AMRAAM first stage and a new second stage built by Aerojet that uses a hydroxylammonium nitrate fuel and a divert and attitude control system for maneuvering. Having ground-tested the second stage, the company is now turning to flight-test the seeker.
Launch of Japan's Selene lunar orbiter mission is now targeted for a window opening at 9:35 a.m. EDT Sept. 12, or 10:35 a.m. Sept. 13 local time at the Tanegashima launch site. The window will extend until Sept. 21 in Japan. An August launch date was cancelled after engineers realized two condensers had been installed upside down in the 110-pound VRAD and Relay satellites, which could have caused a short circuit and knocked out radio equipment needed to measure the moon's gravitational field (DAILY, July 23).
As part of a promised multimedia public relations effort to shore up support at home and abroad for its proposed European site, the U.S. Missile Defense Agency (MDA) has produced a color brochure making the case for the site's necessity. "We have learned from experience that decoupling our defenses from Europe is very much against the interests of the United States and our European allies," the brochure says. "If Europe is not secure, the United States is not secure."
The F/A-18 E/F is still fighting to keep up its proposed fleet size against U.S. Navy cuts and newer aircraft, both manned and unmanned, a recent Congressional Research Service (CRS) report says.
SEARAM SOUGHT: U.S. Naval Sea Systems Command is awarding Raytheon a $5.8 million contract modification for fabrication, test and delivery of one MK 15 MOD 31 PHALANX SeaRAM Close-In Weapon System (CIWS). SeaRAM combines aspects of both the PHALANX CIWS and the Rolling Airframe Missile Guided Missile Launcher System, the Pentagon explained in its Aug. 15 announcement. Raytheon's work will be performed in Louisville, Ky., and should finish by September 2009.
NASA mission managers worked into the evening on Aug. 16 going over computational fluid dynamics (CFD) analysis and arc-jet data to support a decision on whether to try to repair a gouge in the thermal protection tiles on the belly of the space shuttle Endeavour.
JPMS DECISION: BAE Systems said Aug. 13 that it expects the final award for the Joint Mission Planning System (JMPS) in February when the Air Force will select one contractor for full implementation of the JMPS framework enhancement. A BAE Systems-led team is one of two competitors selected for the next phase to enhance mission planning in U.S. Navy, Air Force, and Marine Corps fixed-wing aircraft operations. The Air Force awarded the team - including Boeing, Sparta, Ogden Air Logistics Center, ESRI and DCS Inc.
NASA has announced the winners of its Personal Air Vehicle competition, one of the seven NASA Centennial Challenges, a program that may disappear in a few years for lack of funding and support. The House appropriations committee recently approved President Bush's budget request for $4 million per year through 2012, but the Senate has not yet made a decision. "We're totally dependent on what [the Senate does]," says Ken Davidian, program manager of Centennial Challenges. "If they go to omnibus funding, then who knows."
Ground controllers ordered space shuttle Endeavour spacewalker Rick Mastracchio back into the airlock on the International Space Station Aug. 15 after he spotted minor damage on the thumb of his left glove, but not before he and ISS flight engineer Clay Anderson got things set up outside for a major station reconfiguration later on. Mastracchio returned to the U.S.-built Quest airlock after 4 hours, 17 minutes outside on his third extravehicular activity (EVA) of the ongoing STS-118/13A.1 station-assembly mission.
Deputy Space Shuttle Program Manager John Shannon says a review of space shuttle flight history has found that the particular piece of foam that damaged Endeavour during its launch Aug. 8 has "liberated" during ascent with greater frequency since the 2003 Columbia accident than before. Following the accident, managers extended the countdown for an hour after the tank that holds liquid oxygen and liquid hydrogen propellant is filled to give the ice-inspection team more time to find dangerous ice buildups.
SHORT FUZE: Kaman Dayron has been awarded a $6.9 million contract modification, providing for nine foreign military sale countries currently employing the Joint Programmable Fuze (JPF) system to meet their munitions requirements. The JPF is used with precision weapon systems like the Joint Direct Attack Munition (JDAM). Solicitations began in November 2006, negotiations were completed in August 2007, and the work will be completed by June 2009.
Bank of America financial analysts predict the fiscal 2008 supplemental war budget will be inflated up to $40 billion more and finalize between $165 billion - $180 billion due to extra funds to pay for the U.S. ground troop increase in Iraq and new Mine Resistant Ambush Protected (MRAP) vehicles.
The European Ariane 5 ECA rocket has completed its third of six planned launches this year, and its 19th successful firing in a row. The Aug. 14 mission from the European space port in Kourou, French Guiana, carried two commercial satellites, Spaceway 3 and BSAT-3a. The rocket took off at 8:44 p.m. local time, carrying around 8,840 kilograms (19,500 pounds) of payload into geostationary transfer orbit - including the Sylda 5 deployment system used on Ariane 5s to allow dual-launches.
HUNTSVILLE, Ala. - Terse rhetoric from Venezuela's President Hugo Chavez has apparently gotten the attention of technical experts at the Missiles and Space Intelligence Center (MSIC). During an Aug. 14 briefing here at the Army's Space and Missile Defense Command's annual conference, Pam McCue, director of the MSIC, added the oil-rich nation of Venezuela to an oft-recited watch list of nations possessing, selling or seeking weapons technology that could threaten the United States or its allies if proliferated.
BATTLE MANAGEMENT: MEADS International, prime contractor for the joint-U.S.-Germany-Italy Medium Extended Air Defense System (MEADS), has revealed its battle management tactical operations center (TOC) for the system. Battle management decisions will be made in the TOC shelter, which will couple engagement operations and force operations with intrasystem and intersystem interoperability networks.
The U.S. Air Force has completed final preparation for transitioning its Global Positioning System (GPS) ground segment to the new Architecture Evolution Plan (AEP). The modernization plan has been slowly evolving over the past few years, with a targeted early- to mid-September 2007 transition date.
Lockheed Martin officials have no comment on having missed major milestones in the development of the VH-71, resulting in its being denied a bonus by the U.S. Navy. The award fee "was dependent upon successful completion of key design milestones during the first year of the program," says Naval Air Systems Command spokeswoman Stephanie Vendrasco in a statement. "While these milestones were achieved, it was subsequent to the contracted dates."
The Anniston Army Depot, in conjunction with Honeywell International, completed the first set of durability AGT 1500 turbine engines as part of the Army's Total Integrated Engine Revitalization (TIGER) program. Testing on the four engines and upgraded transmissions was conducted at Yuma Proving Ground, Ariz., in July, where the powerpack was mated and tested on the M1 Abrams tank.
The Defense Department will soon award a master freight contract for the shipping of military-related goods throughout the United States. The Defense Transportation Coordination Initiative (DTCI) contract would be worth about $1.5 billion and run over a seven-year period, according to U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) and Pentagon reports. Recently released DOD documents show the Pentagon plans to award a contract in the third quarter of this year and possibly this month.
OSPREY ADDED: Bell-Boeing's joint program office has been awarded an $82.4 million U.S. Naval Air Systems Command contract add-on to begin production of an additional U.S. Air Force CV-22 Osprey special operations tilt-rotor aircraft. The contract modification runs through December 2010.
