SPACE ROAD MAP: China has published a new white paper setting out a space road map for the next five years. One priority of the plan - China's second - will involve developing and operating a high-resolution Earth observation system, a polar and geostationary weather satellite network and a system of small disaster protection spacecraft, along with associated satellite, launcher, ground production and operating facilities.
KENYAN BOATS: The United States is selling six boats to the Kenyan navy to help patrol the African ally's waters against arms and drug traffickers. "This is particularly important in view of the deteriorating situation within Somalia, about which the Kenyan and U.S. governments share similar concerns," the State Department said Oct. 5. The $3 million deal covers 25-foot Defender boats and one 42-foot Arch-angel boat, as well as additional equipment, supplies and training. Naval intelligence, otherwise called Maritime Domain Awareness, is a major post-Sept.
JOINT VENTURE: Japan's Mitsui & Co. and Israel Aircraft Industries are expected to join a 50:50 joint venture in January to perform 767-300 conversions, according to the Nikkei business news service. IAI's Bedak unit is a major aircraft modification and conversion center but does not hold licenses from Boeing for such work. The announcement came as Boeing chose Italy's Alenia Aeronavali as its partner for the 767-300 Boeing Converted Freighter Program.
SLIRBM DEMO: GenCorp Inc.'s Aerojet announced Oct. 16 a $4.96 million contract award from the U.S. Navy's Strategic Systems Programs office to provide a boost motor demonstrator for the Submarine-Launched Intermediate Range Ballistic Missile (SLIRBM) concept. During the 12-month program, Aerojet will design, develop and test an advanced boost motor that remains affordable (DAILY, Jan. 11).
CIT GROUP INC., New York, N.Y. David A. Davis has been appointed senior vice president and general manager of CIT Aerospace, Business Aircraft division.
AIR FORCE General Atomics, San Diego, Calif., is being awarded a $5,845,134 cost-plus-fixed fee contract modification. This action will provide for continuation of the work completed on the base effort. The goal of the proposed activity is to develop reactor systems for recovering energy from the Department of Defense solid and liquid waste. At this time, $1,500,000 has been obligated. The work will be complete June 2009. Air Force Research Laboratories, Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio, is the contracting activity. (FA8651-04-C-0158/P00005)
International Launch Services has scheduled its next Proton M launch - the second since the booster returned to service and the first since the withdrawal of Lockheed Martin - for Nov. 9. The payload will be Badr-4 (Arabsat 4B), the first of two fourth-generation satellites to be put in operation by Arab Satellite Communications Organization (Arabsat).
ARMY RESET: In fiscal 2007 alone, the Army will reset 666 aircraft, 8,787 missiles, more than 4,000 tracked vehicles and 11,500 wheeled vehicles, 3,700 generators and 17,000 small arms, says Gen. Benjamin Griffin, commander of Army Materiel Command (AMC). Griffin said during the Association of the U.S. Army's annual symposium that AMC priorities are now determined by Army decisions on which units go where and when.
SON OF ACS?: It sounds like a typical movie preview for a sequel: You though it was over, but it's back. The Aerial Common Sensor, a terminated Army intelligence aircraft program, could make a renewed appearance this Halloween. On Oct. 31, the Army's program executive office for intelligence, electronic warfare and sensors will hold its first post-termination industry day to begin to address questions about developing a system to succeed the RC-12 Guardrail.
Oct. 17 - 18 -- Ninth Annual New Zealand Defense Industry Association Seminar, Te Papa, Wellington. For more information email [email protected] or go to www.defencetech.co.nz. Oct. 17 - 19 -- Joint Air Power Competence Center Conference 2006, "The Transformation of Joint Air and Space Power: The Exploration of Unmanned Aerospace Capabilities," Kleve, Germany. For more information call +49 (282) 490-2225 or go to www.japcc.de.
SALES PITCH: The Air Force is overselling its F-22 Raptor and neglecting electronic warfare support to ground troops, a Navy official says. "The Air Force will sell its soul, your soul, my soul, to get F-22s," the official says. "Publicly they will make claims of the F-22 ability to conduct a lot of the ancillary EW mission," such as signals and communications intelligence gathering and electronic attack.
LONDON -- Senior Pentagon and British defense ministry officials will hold vital meetings in the coming weeks crucial to London's planned purchase of the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter. U.S. Defense Department acquisition czar Kenneth J. Kreig will meet with his British counterpart, Peter Spencer, to try to finally nail down assurances on technology access issues. Meetings are likely to take place on both sides of the Atlantic.
The U.S. Navy on Oct. 13 finished at-sea experiments off the coast of Norfolk, Va., for the Maritime Prepositioning Force (Future) (MPF(F)) program. The demonstrations used a heavy lift, or float-on/float-off, ship and a Large, Medium-Speed, Roll-on/roll-off (LMSR) ship to simulate the future planned Mobile Landing Platform (MLP) and LMSR "skin-to-skin" cargo transfer. The event also tested automated stowage and retrieval systems in the at-sea environment, as well as initial experiments with "dynamic positioning" up to middle seastate 4 conditions.
DOD IG: Rep. Joel Hefley, chairman of the House Armed Services readiness subcommittee, is urging the Senate to confirm David Laufman as the Defense Department's inspector general. "The Pentagon needs David Laufman to provide oversight," the Colorado Republican says. "He's needed to investigate personnel and the more than $400 billion a year budget we have allocated." President Bush nominated Laufman five months ago and Senate defense authorizers hosted a nomination hearing July 18.
In an odd twist, a recent RAND Corp. report says intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance aircraft and other border security equipment are needed to keep insurgents from leaving Iraq, as well as from entering the country. The report, released in October, says the insurgents have become so proficient that they could export insurgency and must be kept from leaving Iraqi war zones. "The ongoing insurgency in Iraq has introduced a new variation on the problem of border control," says the report, "Air Power in the New
A Boeing team has begun flight-testing the modified U.S. Air Force C-130H gunship that next year will be outfitted with a chemical oxygen/iodine laser (COIL) for the Advanced Tactical Laser (ATL) program. ATL is a $200 million advanced concept technology demonstration (ACTD) that began in 2001 and is scheduled to wrap up next fall. The kilowatt-class COIL for ATL is intended to destroy or disable ground targets such as trucks or other vehicles. The program's fiscal 2007 budget is $45 million. Began Oct. 10
Alenia Aermacchi is exploring the possibility of selling its newest trainer aircraft, the M-346, in the United States. Giuseppe Giordo, Alenia North America's president and chief executive officer, says he's gauging interest with top officers of various U.S. companies for a position as prime contractor on the project. The option of forming a joint venture to lead the sales effort is also on the table, Giordo said in an Oct. 10 interview.
OTHER NEEDS: Opponents of the $276 billion Joint Strike Fighter like to point out that the one American military service that seems to want the aircraft the most -- the Marine Corps -- has apparently delayed buying the planes in the service's long-term funding scheme. But Marine officials say the delay has nothing to do with their desire for the JSF. The service's budget was cut before more money was restored, but only in discreet chunks that made it impossible to put funding toward the aircraft. The Marines had to use the money for other needs.
APS TESTING: The next major testing milestone for the Active Protection System (APS) being developed for manned Future Combat Systems (FCS) vehicles will be a live-fire test from a moving vehicle, which should happen some time next year, says Maj. Gen. Charles Cartwright, the U.S. Army's FCS program manager. Dubbed Quick Kill, the APS system is being developed by Raytheon to protect vehicles against incoming rocket-propelled grenades, mortars or other projectiles.
