JAPAN AND ABL: Japan is "very interested" in becoming part of the Missile Defense Agency's Airborne Laser (ABL) program, according to prime contractor Boeing. A study is under way to determine to what extent Japanese industry might participate in the program, says Boeing ABL Program Director Greg Hyslop. ABL is modifying a 747-400 freighter to carry a high-power chemical laser capable of destroying enemy missiles in their boost phase out to ranges of hundreds of kilometers.
COTS CASH: NASA says it's pleased with the number of bids it received March 3 from a variety of sources for its $500 million Commercial Orbital Transportation Services (COTS) demonstration program. But the space agency doesn't plan to announce any winners until this summer, and some industry insiders won't be surprised to find only familiar - and big - corporate names on that list. The COTS program was designed to spur private investment by space entrepreneurs willing to take some risks hauling cargo and eventually crew to the International Space Station.
FINANCING: The United States is well on the way to providing $15 million in C-130 parts to the Indonesian air force through the Foreign Military Sales system to help Indonesia improve its airlift capacity, particularly important in responding to natural disasters, according to Navy Adm. William Fallon, head of Pacific Command. Officials also plan to use $1 million in Foreign Military Financing to support critical improvement to the Indonesian navy maritime security infrastructure. Additional funding in fiscal 2007 would allow U.S.
The U.S. Coast Guard expects to start up its National Capital Region Air Defense program in midsummer after shifting helicopters among its fleet's missions, while the Homeland Security Department's armed service is moving to take on airlifting of federal leaders to safety in emergencies, the Coast Guard commandant told House homeland security appropriators March 9.
LOS ANGELES - Declaring that launcher reliability is too important to be left to the commercial market, the Air Force and its partner the National Reconnaissance Office (NRO) have fully taken back the reins of the Evolved Expendable Launch Vehicle program, returning it to the cost-plus contracts with full government technical oversight that have made up most of the history of the military space program.
LOS ANGELES - Scientists have known that Saturn's ice moon Enceladus sprays out plumes of water vapor and ice particles, but now after a period of studying observations by the Cassini spacecraft they have a better sense of where it might originate.
Observations from the NASA/ESA Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO) spacecraft have helped researchers develop a way of seeing through the sun and mapping its far side. The sun is filled with many kinds of sound waves caused by the convective motion of gas in its surface layers. The new observation method uses SOHO's Michelson Doppler Imager (MDI) instrument to trace sound waves reverberating through the sun to build a picture of the other side.
Wisconsin-based Oshkosh Truck Corp. said March 6 that it would build Bushmaster armored vehicles under a licensing agreement with its developer, ADI Limited of Australia. The trucks will be sold to North American customers and foreign countries under the Foreign Military Sales agreement. The accord was signed last month.
WING SECTIONS: Northrop Grumman Corp. has been awarded a $12.9 million contract to install wing center sections on seven U.S. Navy EA-6B aircraft and conduct a maintenance inspection on one of the installed sections, the Defense Department said March 9. The contract also provides for additional maintenance. The work will be done in St. Augustine, Fla., and is expected to be finished in November 2007. The contract was awarded by the Naval Air Systems Command, Patuxent River, Md.
Rep. Neil Abercrombie (D-Hawaii) grilled Defense Department witnesses on the testing schedule for the VH-71 presidential helicopter during a hearing on Capitol Hill March 9, saying he remains concerned that the schedule is being accelerated at the expense of safety.
The fiscal 2007 Navy budget request provides $26.4 million for the development of the Navy's previously delayed Broad Area Maritime Surveillance (BAMS) unmanned aircraft acquisition program, whose initial operating capability still is expected in FY '13, Navy Secretary Donald Winter has testified on Capitol Hill.
LEAN TIMES: The Army on March 6 ordered the Lean Six Sigma business principles to be applied service-wide to try to free up money for the operational Army. It wants to fund the Future Combat Systems while fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan and trying to recapitalize, as well as speed up equipment delivery to soldiers. During fiscal 2005, the Army Materiel Command salvaged $110 million through new business practices. The Letterkenny Army Depot, Pa., has been the frontrunner by reducing costs $11.9 million in Patriot air defense missile system recapitalization.
KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, Fla. - The modified external tank for the next shuttle mission is starting a "zero margin" processing flow here while engineers assess issues, such as those with engine cutoff (ECO) sensors, that could affect NASA's May launch target for Discovery. The external tank (ET) arrived at Kennedy March 1, a week earlier than envisioned. This followed a Herculean effort to complete the tank by the Michoud, La., Lockheed Martin/NASA work force, most of whom continue to suffer personal hardship from Hurricane Katrina.
The MQ-5B Hunter unmanned aerial vehicle will be able to carry heavier payloads thanks to a study by the University of California, San Diego and Northrop Grumman Corp., the company said. Conducted by the university's Structural Engineering department and Northrop Grumman's Integrated Systems sector, the three-month study showed that the Hunter's wing structure can withstand a higher amount of stress. This will allow the UAV to take off with additional payloads.
During a hearing on Capitol Hill March 8, Rep. Jim Saxton (R-N.J.) said he "cannot think of a higher priority for funding anywhere in the federal government" than the budget for U.S. Special Operations Command (SOCOM). "SOCOM has concentrated and performed magnificently in Iraq and Afghanistan, but has had to neglect to some degree other critical areas of the world to execute its urgent combat missions," Saxton said during a hearing of the House Armed Services Subcommittee on Terrorism, Unconventional Threats and Capabilities, which he chairs.
Rep. Martin Olav Sabo (Minn.), the ranking Democrat on the House Appropriations homeland security subcommittee, said March 8 that he will try to add $200 million for Customs and Border Protection air assets and $100 million for Coast Guard operations to the Bush administration's fiscal 2007 budget request. Meanwhile, the Coast Guard has a $70 million energy shortage, and the additional funds are needed so maintenance of ships, airplanes and helicopters is not sacrificed.
Construction of the lead ship CVN-21 aircraft carrier, the CVN 78, now is expected to cost $10.5 billion, of which $2.4 billion is nonrecurring, Navy Secretary Donald Winter is telling lawmakers on Capitol Hill. The figure is $4 billion below previous estimates for the first in the newest class of flattop (DAILY, Nov. 3, 2005). Advanced procurement funding of $784 million is requested in fiscal 2007 for CVN 78 and CVN 79, Winter said in prepared testimony for the House Armed Services Committee.
