HTS MOTORS: American Superconductor Corp. announced Oct. 25 that it signed a cost-plus-fee contract valued at $5.3 million with the U.S. Naval Sea Systems Command for the design and optimization of high-temperature superconductor (HTS) ship propulsion motors and power electronic drives. The first $1.9 million will focus on motor, drive and electrical system options for possible system integration into later versions of planned DDG-1000 and proposed CG(X) surface warships, and should be completed in the next six months.
In regard to the story "With JSTARS, MP-RTIP getting axed, Northrop Grumman fights for radar" (Oct. 25), the Joint STARS system has completed production and is carried on the E-8C, not the E-10A. The E-10A is a platform for the wide-area surveillance Multi-Platform Radar Technology Insertion Program (MP-RTIP) sensor, and both have been canceled under internal Air Force budget drafts for fiscal 2008, although Northrop Grumman is promoting a Global Hawk variant of the radar.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) is slated to unveil the latest model of its Predator B unmanned aircraft system (UAS) at an Oct. 30 ceremony at Libby Army Airfield in Sierra Vista, Ariz., officials said Oct. 25. The aircraft, designated CBP-104, is the second UAS to be deployed by the CBP along the southwest border. The first one crashed in the desert in April after nine months of service and nearly 1,000 flight hours.
IRAQ ACQUISITION: Building up Iraqi security forces' logistics, intelligence, engineering, communications and medical support capabilities is the goal for next year, says U.S. Army Gen. George Casey Jr., coalition commander there. Making the forces independent will be the thrust of efforts in 2007, he said. U.S. officials have started lining up larger military equipment for Iraqi forces such as helicopters, vehicles and weapons, as well as logistics support, worth up to $500 million (DAILY, Sept. 21).
Congress may want to rethink the FAA's dual role in both regulating the safety of space tourism and promoting its growth to avoid a potential conflict of interest, according to the Government Accountability Office (GAO).
AVIATION WEEK this week launched MRO Prospector, a Web-based suite of data and tools for business development, benchmarking and forecasting in the commercial aviation maintenance, repair and overhaul industry. Built through a partnership with TeamSAI and Ascend, MRO Prospector contains exclusive, up-to-date MRO industry data and tools that let users forecast maintenance business by aircraft, engine and operator, track fleet changes and establish benchmarks for work on aircraft, engines and components, worldwide. Inside North America, call 866-857-0148.
MINE WARFARE: EDO Corp. said Oct. 25 that it has received a U.S. Navy contract for engineering and technical support to develop and demonstrate a Very-Shallow-Water (VSW) Mine-Neutralizer system. The indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity award is worth up to $9.6 million over five years. EDO must design a console and launcher for the neutralizer system that will allow integration with unmanned surface-vehicle applications based on the Navy's new Littoral Combat Ship. EDO further will test the system's effectiveness and help evaluate test results.
NASA Exploration Launch Program Manager Steve Cook says that the shuttle-derived Ares rockets should be both the most capable and safest human space flight vehicles in history. "It's a much simpler architecture than what we're flying today with the space shuttle orbiter combination that we've got," Cook said during a Space Transportation Association breakfast in Washington on Oct. 24.
Lockheed Martin Corp. is looking toward the potentially $13 billion Combat, Search and Rescue Replacement (CSAR-X) helicopter, the expected $5 billion Global Positioning System III and the $5-10 billion Joint Light Tactical Vehicle (JLTV) programs as near-term new business opportunities, executives said Oct. 24. Moreover, the defense contracting giant expects at least half of its total 2006 sales for Patriot Advanced Capability-3 missiles to come in the final quarter of this year, they told Wall Street analysts.
INVESTIGATIONS: Rep. Ike Skelton (D-Mo.), who is in line to chair the House Armed Services Committee should Democrats take control of the House in next month's elections, said he would like to re-establish a formal investigations subcommittee. Skelton reiterated his priorities Oct. 20, although he has called for another HASC investigations panel since at least the summer.
The U.S. Marine Corps Systems Command in Quantico, Va., has selected a small defense engineering firm in Dayton, Ohio, to supply an off-the-shelf concept demonstrator for the service's planned division/regiment-level Tier II unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV). MTC Technologies Inc. bid the little-known T-16 UAV, built by Arcturus UAV of Rohnert Park, Calif. It edged out the Skylynx UAV proposed by BAE Systems and the ScanEagle offered by Boeing. The companies had submitted their bids on May 11. The selection was made Oct. 18.
The Air Force in its internal fiscal 2008 budget plan has dropped both the E-10 Joint Surveillance Target Attack Radar System ground surveillance aircraft and its related Multi-Platform Radar Technology Insertion Program (MP-RTIP) sensor, although Northrop Grumman Corp. said Oct. 24 that the Global Hawk-version of MP-RTIP could continue.
The Air Force's plan to better marry military and civilian radar networks and develop a permanent system at major service command centers to prevent terrorists from again flying hijacked jetliners on suicide missions in U.S. airspace is running nearly two years behind schedule and could cost more than three times the initial budget, according to Air Force documents.
The Government Accountability Office has denied protests from both MD Helicopters and AgustaWestland - the losing bidders on the Army's $1.7 billion contract for Light Utility Helicopters.
Launch from Cape Canaveral of the twin spacecraft NASA/European "Stereo" Solar Terrestrial Relations Observatory flight is set for late Oct. 25 on a mission aimed at the first 3D imaging of the sun. Liftoff of the Boeing Delta II from Launch Complex 17B is planned at 8:38 p.m. Eastern time at the opening of a 15-minute window dictated by the orbit of the moon. Both spacecraft will make lunar swing-bys to fling one millions of miles ahead of the Earth, and the other far behind Earth to achieve 3D viewing angles of both the Earth and sun.
PRESIDENTIAL PLAY: A VH-71 presidential replacement helicopter test model will land on the White House lawn next month to show off the embattled Lockheed Martin-led program, a company executive said Oct. 24. All test vehicles in the program are ahead of schedule, and the program is slated for a critical design review (CDR) with top defense officials during the first quarter of 2007. Contractors recently completed a successful preliminary CDR, Lockheed's Chris Kubarik said.
Dr. Charles Elachi, director of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif., is being honored as one of "America's Best Leaders" by U.S. News & World Report in collaboration with the Center for Public Leadership at Harvard University's John F. Kennedy School of Government.
Russia launched a Progress resupply vehicle to the International Space Station Oct. 23 bearing food, oxygen, fuel and spare parts for the station's balky Russian oxygen generator.
BAE Systems will manufacture another 20 Iraqi Light Armored Vehicles (ILAVs) under a $7.8 million Foreign Military Sales contract modification from U.S. Army Tank-automotive and Armaments Command (TACOM), the company announced Oct. 23. Used to transport allied troops in theater, the 4x4 ILAV includes a V-shaped hull designed to deflect the force of explosions away from passengers. The contract modification follows an initial order for 378 vehicles issued in May. The first ILAV's were delivered to Iraq 90 days after the contract award.
