NAVY Raytheon Co., Tucson, Ariz., is being awarded a $53,495,405 modification to a previously awarded firm-fixed-price contract (N00019-04-C-0569) for the fiscal year 2007 procurement of 111 Tomahawk composite capsule launching system (CCLS) capsules and 220 SSGN/SSN CCLS retrofit kits. Work will be performed in Tucson, Ariz., and is expected to be completed in April 2009. Contract funds will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. The Naval Air Systems Command, Patuxent River, Md. is the contracting activity.
HOTBIRD SCARE: Eutelsat officials say their Hot Bird 2 satellite, which was forced to transfer all traffic to Hot Bird 8 on March 14 when it was hit by a solar flare, has suffered no apparent damage. Despite an anomaly observed in the satellite's power subsystem, the spacecraft appears to be in a healthy configuration, officials said. But as a precaution, traffic will probably not be transferred back to Hot Bird 2 until the next equinox.
A March 19 story on the U.S. Air Force's tanker replacement program incorrectly listed EADS as a partner in the VXX presidential helicopter replacement. That effort is led by Lockheed Martin and AgustaWestland. Aerospace Daily regrets the error.
Flooding from torrential rains last summer damaged a "significant portion" of the U.S. Missile Defense Agency's (MDA) Ground-based Midcourse Defense (GMD) system capability, a private sector watchdog group claimed March 26. The Project on Government Oversight (POGO) said it has learned from "insiders" that ground-based interceptor silos were flooded by as much as 63 feet of water during a three-week period in late June and early July 2006 when Fort Greely, Alaska received several inches of rain.
The former head of the British army, Gen. Mike Jackson, is suggesting it may soon be time for the U.K. to hold a full-blown defense review. "People shouldn't be frightened of a defense review...The Strategic Defense Review (SDR), and the new chapter, were good works, but it's now a decade on. Force structures are predicated on the SDR, and we ought to test that proposition."
AIRLIFTER DOWNED: A Transaviaexport cargo aircraft, likely an Ilyushin-76, was shot down over Mogadishu, Somalia, by a missile, wire reports said March 23. The aircraft, which was taking off, was believed to be carrying 11 passengers and crew. On March 9, another Transaviaexport flight in Somalia also was hit by a ground-fired missile but landed safely. According to State Department estimates, shoulder-fired missiles have downed at least 25 airplanes and killed more than 600 people since the 1970s.
U.S. Air Force Gen. Norton Schwartz, commander of U.S. Transportation Command, reiterated his service's perennial request for more authority to retire aircraft during testimony before the House Armed Services Committee last week. "It is very challenging for the Air Force to manage the fleet in a way that optimizes their support of my mission," Schwartz said March 21, referring to congressional limitations on the retirement of older aircraft such as the KC-135 and C-5. 'Excessing old platforms'
INTEL TAKEOVER: Iraqi troops and security forces are within two to three months of taking over full intelligence gathering operations in certain parts of the country, says U.S. Army Col. Stephen M. Twitty, commander of the 4th Brigade, 1st Cavalry Division. The Iraqis already have been conducting some of those missions and acting on the intelligence they obtain to find weapons caches, Twitty said March 23 during a Pentagon briefing. But in many cases, Iraqi and U.S. forces work in tandem. U.S. personnel are training the Iraqis to do the missions on their own.
WRIGHT-PATTERSON AIR FORCE BASE, Ohio - The Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) is getting ready to launch a new planning process that should provide combatant commanders and other Pentagon strategists a better idea of the capabilities likely to be fielded in the future.
Ronald Sega, undersecretary of the U.S. Air Force and the Pentagon's executive agent for space, promised the House Armed Services strategic forces subcommittee on March 23 that none of the Defense Department's space programs should incur new Nunn-McCurdy cost or schedule breaches in the near term. Sega attributed the supposed new program stability to space officials' "back-to-basics" development and acquisition effort started more than a year ago as Congress sliced requested funds from ballooning space programs.
EW LOSING OUT: Airborne electronic warfare (EW) equipment and operations are getting shunted aside in favor of immediate and near-term funding plans because of rising war costs and the price of recapitalizing and modernizing other assets, EW industry and military sources say. Other urgent wartime needs are eating into any interest in further developing or deploying the airborne EW capabilities, the sources say. The U.S. Air Force still has no concrete plan for airborne EW. The main airborne EW thrust is being borne by the U.S.
ANTI-MORTAR TECH: NATO is going to take a close look at possible anti-mortar technologies this week. The alliance has been highlighting various different technologies in recent months under its Defence Against Terrorism (DAT) technology effort. The Defense Against Mortar Attacks road show, to take place March 27-28 in Germany, is the latest of these. Although set in Germany, the activities are actually led by the Netherlands and involve a dozen countries. Military operations in Afghanistan, where NATO forces have been mortared, and the experience of the U.S.
NOT BOLD: The Pentagon's Mobility Capabilities Study was not "bold," says U.S. Air Force Gen. Norton Schwartz, commander of U.S. Transportation Command. Rather than providing a wide range for large airlifter requirements, "it would have been more satisfying, I think, to all of us, had the study given us an objective," Schwartz says. He believes that roughly 300 large airlifters is the right target, along with 400 C-130-class aircraft, and a tanker fleet in the neighborhood of 400-500 aircraft.
GPS MISSILES: South Korea plans to develop Global Positioning System-guided missiles by 2012 with a 43 billion won ($45 million) investment, the Korea Overseas Information Service says. Currently-used fighter jet missiles would be equipped with the system, according to the Defense Acquisition Program Administration. South Korea also plans to produce 18 additional sets of K-9 155mm howitzers by 2009. The K-9 howitzer is the country's chief arms export.
JSF PROPOSAL: Rep. Gene Taylor (D-Miss.) thinks he has a possible solution to the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter (JSF) alternative engine dilemma. Taylor, chairman of the House Armed Services' seapower subcommittee, suggests the government form a competition, select the better of the two engines, and put the engine's manufacture out to bid because it "owns the specifications and plans for that engine" by way of R&D funding with taxpayer dollars. The Pentagon says it can save $1.8 billion using only Pratt & Whitney's F-135 engine.
JPDO CHALLENGES: Although the Joint Planning and Development Office (JDPO) that has been charged with crafting America's next-generation air transportation system has made "substantial progress," several challenges remain, according to the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO). These include "institutionalizing the interagency collaboration that is so central to its mission, developing a comprehensive cost estimate, and addressing potential gaps in research and development," GAO says.
The House passed a contentious $124 billion supplemental spending bill March 23 by a 218-212 margin, providing around $100 billion for combat operations and other defense requests but setting up a showdown with the White House over an Iraq withdrawal timeline.
AIRCRAFT DEFERRED: Several military aircraft recently struck from the Bush administration's fiscal 2007 supplemental request likely will reappear when the White House updates its FY '08 supplemental request. Deferments include $389 million for two Joint Strike Fighters, $388 million for five C-130J aircraft, $146 million for one CV-22 tiltrotor aircraft and $375 million for five EA-18G aircraft. On March 9 the aircraft were removed from the original Feb.
March 27 - 29 -- Aerospace Testing Expo Europe 2007, New Munich Trade Fair Center, Munich, Germany. For more information call +44 13 674-3744 or go to www.aerospacetesting-expo.com. April 2 - 3 -- 2007 Search & Rescue The Americas Conference & Exhibition, "Today's SAR Requirements: Dedication, Ingenuity & Commitment," Ritz Carlton, Tysons Corner, Washington, D.C. For more information go to www.shephard.co.uk/sar.
