SEAL VEHICLES: Upgrades to U.S. Navy SEAL Delivery Vehicles (SDVs) entailed modernizing 40 percent of the so-called wet submarines and adding increased diver air capacity, installation of an onboard Windows-based computer, improved diver communications, addition of satellite communication capability, reduction of Global Positioning System signal acquisition time and improved electronics performance and reliability.
Three of the six Discovery-class mission proposals NASA wants studied in depth would use scientific spacecraft already launched that have completed their primary missions. Two of the "missions of opportunity" picked for $250,000 concept studies would use the Deep Impact mother ship that blasted a hole in the comet Tempel 1 with a copper projectile, while a third would use the Stardust comet sample return spacecraft to take another look into that hole.
CYBERSPACE SYSTEMS: Lt. Gen. Robert Elder, Jr., 8th Air Force commander, is planning to craft a strategy by February for the Air Force to organize its assets and possibly buy new systems for its burgeoning defensive and offensive cyberspace role. Air Force Secretary Michael Wynne announced Nov. 2 that 8th Air Force, which traditionally oversees the service's strategic bombers and intelligence aircraft, is assuming authority over cyberspace assets as well.
The U.S. Army's Warrior Extended Range/Multipurpose (ER/MP) unmanned aerial vehicle completed its critical design review (CDR) Oct. 27 in San Diego, clearing the program to enter engineering development and pre-production testing.
ARC ARRIVAL: A new type of aircraft arresting gear control system called the Advanced Recovery Control System (ARC) will be installed on the aircraft carrier USS Ronald Reagan in 2007 during the ship's next scheduled maintenance period, according to the Naval Air Systems Command. The ARC replaces the mechanical systems and their associated controls used today with state-of-the-art arresting gear digital control system technology.
CANADIAN BORDER UAV: Grand Forks, N.D., could be the home base next year for the first U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) unmanned aerial vehicle to regularly patrol along the Canadian border. Gen. Michael Kostelnik (USAF Ret.), the head of CBP's Air and Marine unit, says "operationally, it would make sense" to locate the agency's fourth working MQ-9 Predator B at the North Dakota air branch, which is scheduled to stand up in 2007. CBP's first Predator crashed in April and the second began patrolling the U.S.-Mexican border last week, flying out of Ft.
The future USS New Orleans (LPD 18) should be commissioned on March 10, 2007, in the Crescent City before sailing to her homeport in San Diego. The second of the LPD 17 class of amphibious transport dock ships, New Orleans went to sea last month to conduct regular "builder's trials" where Northrop Grumman Ship Systems (NGSS) and government officials checked for problems from construction.
The Navy needs to stop criticizing Air Force electronic warfare plans and bring its EW capabilities to the joint fight, says Air Force Gen. Ronald Keys, Air Combat Command (ACC) commander. Navy officials have been criticizing Air Force plans to use modified B-52 aircraft for certain electronic warfare needs. Not only would the plan take twice as long as the five years the Air Force said it would, Navy officials say, but the B-52 system would still have EW gaps.
The story "NASA flies Altair UAV over California forest fires" (Nov. 2) contained an error. The second flight marked the first time FAA has granted an emergency certificate of authorization (COA), but the first flight over Yosemite was not the first COA ever granted to a civil UAV to fly in the national airspace.
Nov. 5 - 7 -- SpeedNews 11th Annual Regional & Corporate Aviation Industry Suppliers Conference, Hyatt Grand Champions Resort and Spa, Indian Wells, Calif. For more information call (310) 203-9603 or go to www.speednews.com/Conferences/regionalconference.html. Nov. 6 -- The Aerospace Corp.'s Space Systems Software Reliability Workshop, Sheraton Raleigh Hotel, Raleigh, N.C. For more information call (310) 336-5000 or go to www.aero.org/conferences/sssrw/.
OFFICIAL USE ONLY: The Pentagon is making the undersecretary of Defense for intelligence (USDI) responsible for deciding how to label information "For Official Use Only" -- a restriction that exempts unclassified documents from mandatory release under Freedom of Information Act requests. In a Federal Register notice, the department says it "removes...and reserves" non-USDI guidance on marking unclassified material as FOUO. The reason: to "eliminate confusion" over who and what guidance to follow.
Military aviation experts are starting to question the use-and-lose mentality for unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs). One of the selling points through this decade as UAV use became more prevalent is that the aircraft could do jobs that may be too dangerous for people, and that losing UAVs could be an acceptable loss. But as UAVs rise in cost and importance, their loss is becoming less acceptable, experts say.
To make airborne operations more efficient and affordable, the Pentagon and industry are looking at forward-thinking technology and old-style nature. A study by Boeing shows that the Pentagon could reduce fuel costs significantly by employing a flying-wing design on many of its aircraft, said David Whelan, Boeing vice president of enterprise strategic growth.
IRAN EXERCISE: Echoing North Korea's flurry of July 4th missile launches, Iran fired at least seven ballistic weapons Nov. 2, including the country's longest range Shahab-3 and the shorter-range Shahab-2. The firings, part of a 10-day exercise dubbed "Great Prophet," came in response to naval exercises - some as little as 20-miles outside Iran's territorial waters - by two dozen countries. They were practicing intercepting and searching vessels suspected of carrying materials for nuclear, chemical or biological weapons.
Sea Launch has successfully orbited XM Radio's XM-4 digital audio radio system satellite, marking its fifth mission of the year. Built by Boeing with a payload supplied by Alcatel Alenia Space, XM-4 was launched on Oct. 26. It is intended to replace two ailing spacecraft - XM-1 and 2. Those spacecraft, dubbed Rock and Roll by the satellite radio operator, were orbited in 2001 but are expected to reach their expected end of life around the first quarter of 2008. They will become in-orbit spares for as long as they last after that.
The Pentagon on Nov. 1 announced two contracts related to damaged or lost equipment from combat operations in Iraq and Afghanistan, a burgeoning segment of defense spending. On Oct. 30, the Army Aviation and Missile Command awarded Boeing's McDonnell Douglas Helicopter Co. a $151.96 million contract modification for "war-replacement" AH-64D Apache Longbows by Nov. 30, 2009.
JCA TEST: The Raytheon/EADS CASA North America team has completed demonstrations of its C-295 airlifter for the Early User Survey (EUS) of the Joint Cargo Aircraft (JCA) program, the companies announced Nov. 2. The JCA program office evaluated the aircraft's flight performance and handling qualities, reconfiguration, short field performance, defense suite, and air drop and austere field operations, according to Raytheon. The team is competing with an L-3 Communications/Alenia North America/Boeing team offering the C-27J Spartan. JCA is a U.S.
The ranking Democrat on the House Armed Services terrorism and unconventional threats and capabilities subcommittee - a vocal advocate for Massachusetts businesses - has called on Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld to convene a special task force to address what he said was the growing threat of insurgent snipers in Iraq.
The aerospace and defense industry can expect a hotter, yet largely ineffectual spotlight on defense spending and acquisition regardless of the outcome of Nov. 7 elections, analysts and trade representatives continue to say. Federal procurement is under a more powerful microscope than ever before, said a report released Nov. 2 by the Professional Services Council (PSC), a major national trade association for the government professional and technical services industry.
The Bush administration should respond to Taiwan's request for pricing and acquisition data for the F-16C/D, the follow-on to the F-16 A/B, on a one-to-one replacement basis while continuing to promote Taiwan's current defense acquisition package, according to Heritage Foundation analysts.
NASA is working out the procedures it will need if it has to conduct a "launch on need" rescue mission to retrieve the crew of shuttle Discovery when it performs the final Hubble servicing mission in the spring of 2008.
