NONKINETIC EFFECTS: U.S. Navy Capt. Scott Stearney, commander of Carrier Air Group Seven, which just returned from duty in the Middle East, says that his recent deployment was the first in which nonkinetic effects were emphasized during operations. Kinetic and nonkinetic effects such as electronic warfare were "equally important" during recent ops, he said during the Precision Strike Association's recent symposium.
BRAZILIAN BLACK HAWKS: The U.S. Army is moving to sell six UH-60L Black Hawk helicopters, 12 T-700-GE-701C engines and two spares, as well as related services, logistics support and equipment. The potential $300 million deal would serve U.S. interests by boosting a South American ally that has played an "important" role in providing political stability and economic progress there, according to a DOD notice to Congress published in the Federal Register. The deal, for Sikorsky Aircraft helos and GE engines, does not involve offsets.
HORNET PODS: The U.S. Navy awarded Raytheon an $18.5 million contract modification to provide an infrared marker upgrade on Hornet and Super Hornet targeting pods to add to F/A-18 ground operations capabilities. The upgrade will affect Lots 4 and 5 of the Advanced Targeting Forward- Looking Infrared (ATFLIR) program, the company said July 12. Raytheon has delivered more than 190 pods to the Navy, and the program is currently in Lot 3 full-rate production. The company expects to begin building Lot 4 pods in December.
ISR FUNDING: While huge amounts of money are going to the U.S. Air Force's strike systems, including the F-22 and F-35 Joint Strike Fighter, not enough attention is being placed on developing appropriate intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) capabilities to support them, says Air Force Maj. Gen. (ret.) Tim Peppe, a top business development official at Northrop Grumman. "There is not a whole hell of a lot of money realistically" going into ISR, he told an audience at the Precision Strike Association's annual summer symposium in Virginia Beach. Va.
Military buyers caused unnecessary delays in the deliveries of initial mine-resistant, ambush-protected (MRAP) vehicles and similar equipment because they failed to properly follow Pentagon acquisition guidelines, a recently released DOD Inspector General (IG) report says.
NASA will pay Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne (PWR) a total of $1.2 billion through the end of 2012 to develop and deliver eight J2-X rocket engines for the U.S. aerospace agency's planned Ares family of launch vehicles. Jeff Hanley, who heads NASA's Constellation Program that is building the vehicles necessary for a human return to the moon, said the schedule covered by the contract signed July 16 will support the current program target that sees the engine flying its first humans to space in September 2013.
In a reversal of fortune for Alcoa, the dominant aluminum supplier to the aerospace industry withdrew its $29 billion offer to buy Alcan after the Canadian company struck a more lucrative $38 billion deal to sell itself to a different suitor. Alcan agreed on July 12 to be acquired instead by Rio Tinto, a major mining company based in the United Kingdom and Australia. If the deal goes through, the new Rio Tinto subsidiary called Rio Tinto Alcan would then aim to be a major player in the global aluminum industry.
The U.S. has formally approached the Indian government to re-examine its choice of Eurocopter's AS 550 C3 Fennec over Bell's 407 in a recent competition to provide helicopters to the Indian army on the grounds that Bell wasn't given a "fair opportunity" to bid for the deal. The 197 medium-lift helicopters are to replace the army's 1970s Chetak and Cheetah helicopters. The initial five contenders in the fray were Eurocopter, Bell, Agusta, Kamov and Kazan. Extensive trials
WEBB PARTNERS: NASA Deputy Administrator Shana Dale and Canadian Space Agency (CSA) President and Chief Executive Officer Laurier J. Boisvert signed an official agreement July 16 at NASA headquarters in Washington that defines the terms of the agencies' cooperation on the James Webb Space Telescope. NASA will build and operate the spacecraft and telescope, while CSA plans to provide the fine guidance sensor instrument used for locating and maintaining a fixed pointing on a guide star and ensuring the observatory's stability.
In its annual analysis of light-tracked vehicles, Forecast International's (FI) Weapons Group projects that the market will produce over 13,600 such vehicles, worth nearly $28.308 billion, through 2016. While new production of the top two high-end vehicles -- the U.S. Marine Corps Expeditionary Fighting Vehicle (EFV) and the Igel/Puma -- will account for only 9.34 percent of all production during the forecast period, they will provide 62.45 percent of the total value of the light tracked vehicle market.
Thales Alenia Space is exploring possible space-related activities in India. "We are monitoring development in the launch market as a user," said Pascalle Sourisse, senior vice president, president and CEO of Thales Alenia Space. She added the relationship could also be a two-way one, with India supplying products to Thales Alenia.
U.S. Coast Guard engineers had identified and warned of the fatigue problems -- years ago -- that were recently acknowledged with the Deepwater program's security cutters, said Rear. Adm. Gary Blore. The engineers made the warnings two to three years ago, Blore said, but the comments failed to have the effects they should have because of internal communications problems with the Coast Guard.
U.S. military planners are increasingly interested in buying electro-optical scene-matching capability for some weapons that would allow them to discriminate and confirm targets using previously captured imagery.
A team of European scientists has discovered the first presence of water vapor on an extrasolar planet. The discovery, using data from NASA's Spitzer space telescope, was made by studying infrared bands as the planet HD 189733b transited in front of its parent star, located in the constellation Vulpecula.
NASA may shift seed money for private-rocket development to another company under its Commercial Orbital Transportation System (COTS) program if Rocketplane Kistler (RpK) can't meet its financial milestones, according to Scott Horowitz, the agency's outgoing exploration systems chief.
To list an event, send information in calendar format to Donna Thomas at [email protected] July 30 - Aug. 2 -- 2007 Naval S&T Partnership Conference, "The Navy After Next... Powered by Naval Research II -- Power & Energy for the Fleet and Force," Marriott Wardman Park, Washington, D.C. For more information go to www.ndia.org/meetings/7200. Aug. 6 - 9 -- AUVSI's Unmmaned Systems North America 2007, Washington Convention Center, Washington, D.C. For more information go to www.auvsi.org.
FCS RENAMING: The U.S. Army is going to rename its number-one development and acquisition program, the Future Combat Systems (FCS), says Lt. Gen. David Melcher, military deputy for budget, assistant secretary of the Army for financial management and comptroller. "It's not the 'future' any more," Melcher says. "It's happening today." The service is already using unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), robotics and other systems generally associated with FCS, he says, adding that "spin-outs" of FCS technology to the current force are expected soon.
COMING HOME: Jack Bell, deputy undersecretary of defense for logistics and materiel readiness, says there is "extensive" planning under way inside the Defense Department to make sure it brings home the right equipment and troops at the right time from Iraq. Planning is occurring in the Pentagon and in the Central Command in the Persian Gulf for how U.S. forces will return major forces from the region, whenever that occurs. Air Force Gen.
