The Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association (AOPA) is trying to head-off plans by the Massachusetts Air National Guard to lower the floor of military training airspace near Sugarloaf Mountain, Maine from 7,000 feet to 500 feet. "Placing high speed, low altitude military aircraft into airspace that is regularly occupied by slower moving, less equipped general aviation (GA) aircraft increases the potential for mid-air collisions," wrote Pete Lehmann, AOPA government analyst, in a letter to FAA.
The Pentagon plans to delay a decision on whether to terminate the Joint Air-to-Surface Standoff Missile (JASSM) to the spring of 2008, bringing the total time needed to address a key technical problem in the stealthy cruise missile to one year. Though a senior Air Force official says the missile is "eye watering" when it works, reliability is still a top concern for continuing the program.
SAFRAN DEFENSE: Jean-Paul Herteman has been named head of the company's Safran Defense & Security Div., to replace Jean-Paul Bechat as Chairman/CEO. Herteman will take the reins when Bechat turns 65 on Sept 2. Bechat, who was asked to step down following a crisis in the defense business late last year, had hoped that the company's strong performance since would permit him to stay on until 2008.
Northrop Grumman has added Knight Aerospace Products Inc. of San Antonio, Texas, to its KC-30 Tanker industry team, Northrop said July 18. Knight Aerospace will provide palletized passenger seats for the KC-30 Tanker's passenger and troop carrying capability. The roll-on/roll-off palletized seats will allow airmen to reconfigure the KC-30 quickly to meet a variety of mission requirements when the tanker is used in a transport role.
NEW DELHI - India's defense minister A.K Antony reiterated during a speech at a military symposium that his government's armament deals would be considered purely on the basis of merit. "We have no tilt or bias toward any country in matters of defense relations," he said during the international seminar NavArms 2007. "We are not favoring anybody. We have had arms deals with France, Russia, Israel and lately even with the U.S," Antony said, referring to the increasing opposition from Left parties to India's growing ties with Israel and the U.S.
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's (NOAA) plan in the event the QuikSCAT satellite fails could mitigate the loss of its data "very effectively" and preserve the quality of hurricane forecasting, a NOAA laboratory director told House lawmakers July 19.
Responding to a recent DOD Inspector General report that criticized the Mine Resistant Ambush Protected (MRAP) vehicle acquisition process in its early days (DAILY, July 18), Brig. Gen. Michael Brogan, head of Marine Corps Systems Command, says he agrees with the major findings of the report but still believes the service did the right thing by awarding sole-source contracts to Force Protection Inc. (FPI) in 2004.
Defense Department officials next week will provide Congress with a cost estimate to fund all 7,774 Mine Resistant Ambush Protected (MRAP) vehicles it is requesting through early 2008, and they promised lawmakers a major planning decision for the program's long-term future come September.
The Defense Department has asked Congress for the right to reprogram an additional $1.2 billion in fiscal 2007 funds to build 2,650 more Mine Resistant Ambush Protected (MRAP) vehicles for troops in Iraq and Afghanistan. The new reprogramming, added to $443 million in U.S. Marine Corps procurement money that was already being shifted to MRAP, brings the total FY '07 reprogramming for the vehicles to nearly $1.6 billion.
NASA astronaut Clay Anderson will toss a 1,400-pound ammonia tank off the International Space Station (ISS) July 23 along with another surplus piece of hardware, as he and Expedition 15 Commander Fyodor Yurchikhin conduct a U.S.-side extravehicular activity (EVA) that will mark the first time a Russian cosmonaut operates the station's Canadian-built robotic arm.
VIRGINIA GENERAL: U.S. Naval Sea Systems Command (NAVSEA) has awarded General Dynamics Electric Boat a $116.4 million contract modification for Virginia-class submarine lead-yard services, development studies and design efforts. The company will update and support design drawings and data for each sub, as well as complete studies to over potential technologies for future Virginias. The contract was initially awarded in October 2005 and will be worth $890 million if all options are exercised and funded through September 2009, General Dynamics said July 17.
NATO countries still have not manned and equipped the International Security Assistance Force in Afghanistan to promised levels, the commander of the force said July 18. U.S. Army Gen. Dan K. McNeill said the command is short on "helicopters, maneuver troops, aeromedical evacuation, some medical, and some intelligence apparatus."
Senators from all political angles are pushing efforts to instill new competition, oversight and requirements in federal acquisition, including one proposal for an independent Commission on Wartime Contracting to investigate Iraq and Afghanistan spending.
H-1 RESTRUCTURED: On July 17, Pentagon acquisition chief Kenneth Krieg approved a restructuring of the U.S. Marine Corps' H-1 helicopter upgrade program that will add a fourth low-rate initial production lot in fiscal 2007 and delay full-rate production until FY '08. Led in industry by Bell Helicopter, the H-1 upgrade program will replace the current fleet of AH-1W and UH-1N helos with 180 AH-1Zs and 100 UH-1Ys.
The EA-18G Growler -- the backbone jet for the U.S. Navy's aviation electronic warfare network for decades to come -- officially passed its Milestone C review and was approved by the Pentagon July 17 for low-rate initial production, sources familiar with the program said. The E/A-18G is the Navy's replacement for the EA-6B Prowler Airborne Electronic Attack aircraft. It essentially combines the general F-18 Hornet airframe with an EW sensor package that's based on -- but also and upgrade of -- the Prowler suite.
Senate work on the fiscal 2008 defense authorization bill broke down July 18 after debate over Iraq led to Democratic leaders pulling the legislation from the floor and sending its provisions and amendments into limbo. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) said the showdown this month, which also ensnared the FY '08 homeland security spending bill, has highlighted "stark differences" between Senate Democrats and Republicans for the public.
The Defense Department is accepting risk in its attempt to maximize production of the Mine Resistant Ambush Protected (MRAP) vehicle and ship more vehicles into theater as quickly as possible, according to John Young, director of defense research and engineering and head of the MRAP Task Force. "The program is not being handled in a business-as-usual fashion," Young said at the Pentagon July 18. The production acceleration means DOD will be eschewing some documentation and testing requirements for the sake of expediency, he said.
