James Kenyon, acting associate director of aerospace technology in the Office of the Deputy Under Secretary of Defense for Science and Technology, has put out another call for white papers supporting the nation's aeronautics research and development (R&D) policy.
EFV AWARD: U.S. Marine Corps Systems Command is contracting $6.2 million more to General Dynamics Land Systems for the embattled Expeditionary Fighting Vehicle (EFV) program. The contract modification is for sustaining program management, as well as technical and engineering support for EFV drive train components. The work will be performed in Indianapolis, Ind., and should be completed by September 2008, according to a July 31 announcement from the Pentagon.
F-119 DEFINITIZED: The U.S. Air Force has definitized the F-119 engine multiyear contract with Pratt & Whitney, the Pentagon said July 31. The company is being awarded a fixed-price with economic price adjustment and firm-fixed-price contract modification for almost $1.3 billion. Already, $367.6 million has been obligated. The work runs through February 2011. The company's F-119 powers the F-22, which is budgeted for at least 180 aircraft - if not far more eventually given Air Force requirements and certain desires to sell the fighter abroad (DAILY, July 31).
The creation of the Pentagon's new Africa Command will not lead to a standing U.S. operational force on the continent, a Defense Department official told a Senate hearing Aug.1. There is "no intention of basing troops or forces on the African continent," Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense Theresa Whelan said during a hearing before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. The Bush administration announced in February that it was creating an Africa Command in response to national security, humanitarian and diplomatic concerns.
Within the next few weeks, NASA's Dryden Flight Research Center in California expects to have finalized an agreement to transfer two of the oldest U.S. Air Force Global Hawk unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) over to NASA ownership. The two UAVs, which currently are parked outside a hangar at nearby Edwards Air Force Base, are expected to be transported to Dryden in October, according to Dryden spokesman Alan Brown. Produced in the program's advanced concept technology demonstration (ACTD) configuration, they are Global Hawks #1 and #6.
NASA's nuclear-powered Cassini probe may dip to within 30 kilometers (19 miles) of Saturn's moon Enceladus next March to collect data in situ on the mysterious geysers that erupt from trenches on the tiny moon and spew hundreds of kilometers into space.
U.S. Army commanders and troops have come to view the Army's Guided Multiple Launch Rocket System (GMLRS) as their "70-kilometer sniper rifle," but enemy forces in Iraq see the weapon in a starker light. "The enemy is calling it the 'Hand of Allah,'" said Col. David Rice, Army program manager - Precision Fires Rockets & Missile Systems. For enemy forces, the rockets seemingly come from nowhere, Rice said Aug. 1 during a press briefing on the program.
The F-35 Joint Strike Fighter (JSF) F-35 will have to undergo three more production blocks before reaching the capability of the F/A-18, according to Boeing Integrated Defense Systems Vice President and F/A-18 Program Manager Robert Grover.
President Bush's choice to be the next chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff said July 31 that he favors deploying ballistic missile defense system (BMDS) components "as soon as they become available." In written answers to questions from the Senate Armed Services Committee, U.S. Navy Adm. Michael Mullen said "the threats we face today" make it important to get those components deployed, even if they are deployed before they are completely operationally effective.
Workers at the Sea Launch homeport facility in Long Beach, Calif., expect to take delivery in mid-August of a new flame deflector to install in the launch services provider's Sea Launch Odyssey floating launch pad. Russia's Design Bureau for Transport Machinery has completed the massive replacement part for the Zenit 3SL launch infrastructure on Odyssey, which was destroyed by an on-pad launcher explosion Jan. 30 (DAILY, Feb. 2).
ENGINES: The Pentagon has awarded Pratt & Whitney a $1 billion contract for an unspecified number of F117-PW-100 engines, the powerplants that drive the C-17 Globemaster. Solicitations were issued in August 2006, negotiations wrapped up in June, and work on the engines will be completed by 2012. The U.S. Air Force first awarded Pratt & Whitney $1.4 billion in 2003 for the manufacture of 240 C-17 engines.
John S. Malanowski has been named vice president of human resources. James R. McCoy has been appointed vice president and chief information officer of the Intelligence and Information Systems business.
Over the past 10 years, NASA has reported $94 million in lost equipment, due primarily to a "weak internal control environment," a recent Government Accountability (GAO) report says.
Capitol Hill lawmakers are clashing over the C-17 and C-5 as the House and Senate process fiscal 2008 defense authorization and appropriations bills. The House has authorized $2.4 billion for 10 unrequested C-17s next fiscal year and appropriators there are expected to provide the funds. But success in the Senate is far less certain.
The Pentagon has awarded Northrop Grumman Space Technology a $4.2 billion contract for the modification and restructuring of the National Polar-orbiting Operational Environmental Satellite System (NPOESS), establishing a new baseline for the program and enabling operations to continue through 2016.
Dr. Wanda M. Austin has been named president and chief executive officer effective Jan. 1. Steven M. Leontis has been appointed principal director of the Space Tracking and Surveillance System Block 06/08 Directorate. Patricia A. Maloney has been appointed principal engineer in the Enterprise Systems and Technology Directorate in the Chantilly, Va. office. Dr. Dean C. Marvin has been named principal director of the Research and Program Development Office.
Richard A Hauser has been named senior attorney in Washington, D.C. Gen. James L. Jones (USMC Ret.) has been elected to the board or directors. Jeff Trauberman has been appointed vice president of business development for Network and Space Systems.
