House Coast Guard authorizers will direct the Bush administration and Deepwater recapitalization program industry leaders to ensure a U.S. provider for the service's Fast Response Cutter. A provision of the 2006 Coast Guard authorization bill, unveiled June 20, requires the Coast Guard to use a "competitive contracting procedure among shipyards in the United States" and to manage it or have Integrated Coast Guard Systems (ICGS) do so.
Europe's Meteor rocket-ramjet powered air-to-air missile was successfully test fired on June 20. The firing, the second to be carried out, marks the first fully successful launch. During the first launch, the missile failed to transition to ramjet-powered flight.
The House Appropriations Committee approved a NASA spending bill June 20 that cuts the agencyís topline budget by $83.2 million below the Bush administrationís request, while shifting more money than requested into science and aeronautics. The committee recommended a total of $16.7 billion for NASA in fiscal 2007, which is an increase of $462.4 million from the FY í06 budget, not counting emergency supplemental funding for hurricane recovery.
The U.S. Air Force has awarded the Boeing Co. an estimated $150 million contract, including cost reimbursement, for new weapons integration aboard B-52 bombers, the Defense Department announced June 16. The Smart Weapons Integration Next Generation contract runs for 12 years. It will consist of a development demonstration contract that will modify the aircraft's weapon delivery software as modifications are required to integrate each new weapon onto the B-52.
NASA has decided to proceed with a July 1 shuttle launch after a rigorous Flight Readiness Review in which the agency's chief engineer and lead safety manager noted in writing that although they support the decision, given several risk mitigation measures, they still have reservations. Relative to their more specific oversight responsibilities, without regard to those risk mitigation measures, they recommended against launch given the risk posed by falling debris from the current design of the external tank's ice/frost ramps.
The U.S. Marine Corps is expected to show off its MV-22 Osprey next month at the 2006 Farnborough air show in Britain after flying two of the tilt-rotor aircraft across the North Atlantic. Crews from Marine Tilt-rotor Operational Test and Evaluation Squadron (VMX-22) successfully completed two nonstop, transcontinental flights last week with a pair of Ospreys.
CONTRACTING ISSUES: The value of sole-source and other noncompetitive federal contracts awarded under the Bush administration has increased faster than overall procurement spending, up 115 percent from $67.5 billion in 2000 to $145 billion in 2005, according to a report by House Government Reform Committee Democrats. Almost 40 percent of federal dollars awarded last year were without full and open competition.
H-1 FUNDED: The U.S. Navy awarded Bell Helicopter Textron Inc. of Fort Worth, Texas, a potential three-year, $68.45 million contract for repair of various components of the AH-1W and UH-1N helicopters. The award comes after the company struggled with programmatic issues, but defense officials apparently decided to maintain the acquisition (DAILY, June 5). The contract, carried out in Fort Worth, runs through December 2008.
The U.S. Air Force Research Laboratories awarded Synchrony Inc. a $9.9 million contract through June 2013 for late-stage development of "electric" technologies such as switched reluctance electrical machine technology, magnetic bearing technologies, temperature coil technology and related electronic components.
A British couple claim to have generated profits of 400,000 pounds ($736,000) by selling property on the moon. Francis and Sue Williams of Cornwall are selling lunar property at about $37 an acre, whether it is legal or not. They are also selling property on Mars and Venus, and people are buying to receive certificates of ownership.
House appropriators continue to push the Pentagon to follow through on the Joint Common Missile and are allocating $35 million in unrequested funds to keep the program alive. On schedule, on budget
The House Appropriations Committee, whose fiscal 2007 defense spending bill is expected to be passed by the full chamber as soon as June 20, has criticized and rebuffed Pentagon budget writers for trying to partially fund DD(X) destroyers and F-22A aircraft. The result has been additional pressure on Air Force accounts, appropriators said.
HELOS: Eurocopter has been awarded a $1.47 billion contract to produce 34 MRH 90 helicopters for Australia's military, the country's defense department said June 19. The aircraft will replace the navy's Sea King and army's Black Hawk helos. The aircraft will be built in Brisbane and based at RAAF base Townsville, Holsworthy Barracks in Sydney, and HMAS Albatross in Nowra, as well as a joint training facility at Oakey in Queensland. The Sea Kings will be retired in 2010. The Black Hawks will be phased out from 2011 to 2015.
SHUTTLE CREW: NASA has assigned six crew members to space shuttle flight STS-120, which will launch an Italian-built U.S. module for the International Space Station. Air Force Col. Pamela A. Melroy will be the commander. Marine Corps Col. George D. Zamka will be the pilot. Mission specialists will be Scott E. Parazynski, Army Col. Douglas H. Wheelock, Navy Capt. Michael J. Foreman and Paolo A. Nespoli, a European Space Agency astronaut from Italy.
Officials with the U.S. Army's Future Combat Systems (FCS) program said June 19 that since the program's 2004 restructuring it has been performing on schedule, and currently is running about 1 percent under budget. "We continue to execute on plan and [meet] our schedule commitments," said Dennis Muilenburg, Boeing's FCS program manager. Led by Boeing and Science Applications International Corp. (SAIC), the total FCS industry team now includes 630 suppliers spanning 40 states and 220 congressional districts.
JETTISON: On June 19 the crew of the International Space Station (ISS) will jettison Progress 20, the unmanned Russian resupply vehicle currently attached at the station's Pirs docking compartment port, to make room for the anticipated June 26 arrival of a new Progress stocked with fresh supplies. Old Progress vehicles are filled with trash before they are jettisoned and burn up in the Earth's atmosphere.
