SECOND ATTEMPT: SpaceX could make its second attempt to launch its Falcon 1 vehicle soon, working under a Jan. 21-22 launch window at the U.S. Army's Reagan Test Site on Kwajalein Atoll in the Marshall Islands. The company is seeking a couple of more contingency days, and founder Elon Musk says it could go beyond that "as we work with the upgraded vehicle, pad and procedures." The vehicle cleared its flight readiness review and has been rolled to the pad. A wet-dress rehearsal identified "a number of noncritical issues," but no showstoppers.
NASA's New Horizons Pluto probe is on a shakedown tour of the Jupiter system as it uses the gas giant's gravity to pick up 9,000 mph in speed and hasten the final leg of its journey.
NASA is mounting a low-level in-house technology effort to gauge the utility of composite structures as the pressure vessels and other components of future human spacecraft, including the lander the agency hopes to use to return astronauts to the moon by 2020. Administrator Michael Griffin joined composite-structures experts from across the space agency earlier this month to lay out the project, which will start with a look at how the Orion crew exploration vehicle would have been built had it been designed with composites instead of aluminum.
The number of systems envisioned for the U.S. Army's Future Combat Systems (FCS) program may drop as the service grapples with its current budgetary pressures, according to Assistant Secretary for Acquisition, Technology and Logistics Claude Bolton. The number of systems in FCS - a networked suite of manned and unmanned ground and air platforms - has fluctuated in the past, dipping as low as 12 before settling at 18, Bolton said.
MCNAUGHT CAUGHT: The heliospheric imager on one of NASA's twin Stereo spacecraft captured an image of the Comet McNaught, which is brightening the dawn and dusk skies in the Southern Hemisphere after putting on a show for northern skywatchers before it passed behind the sun on Jan. 12. Taken on Jan. 11, the image clearly shows the near-sun separation of the comet's ion tail and the brighter dust trail above it. The twin tails are formed by the action of the intense sunlight on the comet's dust, and of the solar wind on ionized gas from the comet.
Newly empowered House Armed Services seapower subcommittee Demo-crats are criticizing industrial suppliers for Army and Marine Corps armored personnel vehicles in light of an expected tripling in requirements and an increase in ground forces in Iraq and across the U.S. military.
With the U.S. Marine Corps set to put the V-22 Osprey tiltrotor into actual combat, the Center for Defense Information (CDI) is questioning whether the aircraft is ready for the job. CDI, a Washington-based military watchdog group, is scheduled on Jan. 18 to brief a report - "V-22 Osprey: Wonder Weapon or Widow Maker?" - which cites U.S. military and other government reports as reasons why the V-22 is too dangerous to be used in battle. "This aircraft should not be used in combat," report author Lee Gaillard said in a Jan. 16 interview.
Northrop Grumman last week briefed Israeli officials on the Skyguard laser defense system and expects to hear shortly whether it has been chosen to protect aircraft taking off and landing at Israeli airports from shoulder-fired rockets. Building on the company's Tactical High Energy Laser (THEL) program, Skyguard is a high-energy chemical laser system that would be installed at airports to shoot down man-portable air defense system (MANPADS) rockets out to a range of roughly 12 miles (DAILY, July 13, 2006). 'Very technical' briefing
TANKER REVIEW: Pentagon acquisition czar Kenneth Krieg on Jan. 17 conducted a preliminary review of the Air Force's formal request for proposals (RFP) for the KC-X refueling tanker competition, according to industry and Pentagon sources. Details of the meeting were unavailable, but industry sources suggest an adjustment to the requirements stated in the draft RFP, which was released in September and updated in December, is likely.
"World events" last year like North Korea's multiple, simultaneous missile launches and Hezbollah's small-rocket fusillade against Israel have led Raytheon Co.'s international and Patriot missile configuration executives to become optimistic about future business. All nine current Patriot foreign customers are in talks to upgrade their systems, and potential new clients such as Turkey and South Korea have spoken to Raytheon, they told reporters during a teleconference on Jan. 17. No talks have been held directly with Iraqi officials, they said.
SPARE PARTS CONTRACT: The Royal Saudi Air Force will be the beneficiary of a $36.6-million contract to replenish spare parts for its Fighter Data Link. Data Link Solutions was awarded the contract. The communications, navigation and identification system allows the exchange of surveillance and command and control information among sensor and weapons platforms via a secure, digital and jam-resistant link.
The U.S. military faces a "catastrophic" loss of air power if it doesn't accelerate plans to replace its aging Cold War-era aircraft, according to Loren Thompson, chief operating officer of the Lexington Institute.
TEXAS WORK: The U.S. Navy has awarded the General Dynamics Electric Boat shipbuilding unit a $9.7 million contract modification for additional ship alterations to the Texas (SSN 775), the second submarine of the Virginia class. The post-shakedown availability work - Navy speak for maintenance and repairs needed before the sub is deployable - will be performed in Groton, Conn., and is expected to be finished by February 2008.
U.S. Navy Secretary Donald Winter formally announced Jan. 16 that the Navy will name its first CVN-21 aircraft carrier the USS Gerald R. Ford, meaning the whole class of next-generation flattops will bear the Ford name, a long-rumored distinction that follows the recent tradition of naming the capital ships after presidents.
MIDDLE EAST FORCES: The U.S. Chief of Naval Operations (CNO) Executive Panel of advisors will meet Feb. 2 for the final report on the findings and recommendations of the Middle East Subcommittee to the CNO. The Navy recently ordered a second aircraft carrier, the USS John C. Stennis, into the Persian Gulf, which was largely seen as a bulwark against Iran. The panel's meeting is classified and closed to the public, according to a Jan. 17 notice in the Federal Register.
FIGHTER PAC-3S: Lockheed Martin Corp. said Jan. 16 that it received a $3 million U.S. Missile Defense Agency contract to continue the Air-Launched Hit-to-Kill (ALHTK) initiative, which would enable fighter aircraft to carry and launch Patriot Advanced Capability-3 (PAC-3) missiles to intercept ballistic and possibly cruise missiles. "The new risk-reduction/concept definition program will refine the risk, and further define the concept and expected system performance," the company said.
Announced cost increases and a Pentagon-imposed stop-work order to Lockheed Martin for the Littoral Combat Ship have analysts wondering whether the ship program - and planned Navy fleet-building program - could be in trouble. "We are very concerned," Pentagon spokesman Bryan Whitman said Jan. 16. "The cost overruns are significant. We are reviewing the contract." How significant appears to be the question. So far, Navy officials haven't been talking about that.
