Several U.S. Navy ships, 22 helicopters and a Marine Corps expeditionary unit are taking part in relief efforts following a devastating Feb. 17 mudslide in the Philippines, the Defense Department said.
GALILEO DEBRIS: The spent inertial upper stage that first sent NASA's Galileo spacecraft on its way to Jupiter in 1989 re-entered Earth's atmosphere at 3:53 a.m. on Feb. 20 and landed in the ocean off the west coast of South Africa, according to NASA. A significant portion of the 11-foot long cylinder's 1.5 tons was expected to survive re-entry because the stage contained an inner cylinder made of titanium. Galileo was deployed by the space shuttle on STS-34 in October 1989.
ARMY AM General L.L.C., South Bend, Ind., was awarded on Feb. 10, 2006, a $75,731,226 modification to a firm-fixed-price contract for production of M1152 High Mobility Multipurpose Wheeled Vehicles. The work will be performed in South Bend and is expected to be completed by Dec. 31, 2007. Contract funds will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. This was a sole source contract initiated on July 17, 2000. The Army Tank-automotive and Armaments Command, Warren, Mich., is the contracting activity (DAAE07-01-C-S001).
Northrop Grumman Corp. and other defense contractors are set to benefit from a White House request for more spending related to Navy shipbuilding and other defense procurement ostensibly affected by last year's hurricanes. In a Feb. 16 request, the White House asked Congress for $1.05 billion to replace destroyed or damaged equipment for Navy ships and to fund related work force costs at Gulf Coast shipyards.
The U.S. Air Force has awarded Boeing a $148 million contract to begin work on the fourth satellite in the Wideband Gapfiller Satellite system, the company announced. The contract covers nonrecurring engineering and advanced procurement for the spacecraft, known as WGS F4, which will be based on Boeing's 702 satellite bus. Boeing also is building the first three satellites in the WGS constellation.
LAUNCHERS: Lockheed Martin Corp. has been awarded a $51.5 million contract modification to provide U.S. Marine Corps missile launchers and support equipment, the Defense Department said Feb. 21. The work will be done in Grand Prairie, Texas, and East Camden, Ark. It is expected to be finished by Feb. 28, 2008. The contract was awarded by the U.S. Army Aviation and Missile Command, Redstone Arsenal, Ala.
ARMY Smith and Wesson Corp., Springfield, Mass., was awarded on Feb. 15, 2006, a $14,946,139 firm-fixed-price contract for SW9VE 9mm pistols, level 2 duty holsters, and gun oil. The work will be performed in Springfield, Mass., and is expected to be completed by Oct. 30, 2006. Contract funds will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. This was a sole source contract initiated on Jan. 25, 2006. The Army Tank-automotive and Armaments Command, Rock Island, Ill., is the contracting activity (W52H09-06-C-0088).
About 600,000 missiles worth $103.7 billion are expected to be built globally from 2006-2015, a Teal Group production forecast says. The forecast was released at Asian Aerospace 2006, an international aerospace exhibition being held Feb. 21-26 in Singapore. The largest number of missile types expected to be sold are air defense missiles, the forecast said. The 48,194 missiles represent 23.4 percent of the total market and are worth $24.3 billion.
The Chinese government will boost spending on overall research and development to 2.5 percent of its gross domestic product over the next 15 years, a key factor for future Chinese military and space system development. In an announcement, China said the 2.5 percent figure equates to a doubling in R&D spending over current levels and a tripling over 1999 levels when China spent 0.83 percent of its GDP on research and development.
'INSURANCE': Marine Corps Gen. Peter Pace, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, says maintaining most major legacy acquisitions -- as the Quadrennial Defense Review and fiscal 2007 budget request do -- is providing "insurance" against future adversarial countries. "You do need high-end capacity," the chairman says. There are near-peer competitors, and we "want to keep it that way." Many critics have said recent defense planning didn't match acquisitions to the Pentagon's transformation rhetoric.
SPACE CONFERENCE: The Air Force is holding an executive forum for space acquisition leaders to discuss policies, trends and lessons learned at Los Angeles Air Force Base on Feb. 22-23. The inaugural National Security Space Program Manager's Conference "may be the first time we've actually gotten all the [space] program managers together to share ideas across programs and identify best practices," Air Force Undersecretary Ron Sega says.
HELOS CRASH: Two Marine Corps CH53E helicopters crashed Feb. 17 off the coast of Djibouti in the Horn of Africa, according to wire service reports. The fate of the crews was uncertain. The helicopters were based at a French military base, Camp Lemonier, used as the headquarters of Task Force Horn of Africa, which tries to prevent the infiltration of terrorist groups.
The White House late Feb. 16 submitted its expected supplemental request to Congress, which among dozens of provisions would provide $389.9 million to fund the replacement of U.S. Air Force MC-130H aircraft, Predator drones, C-17 spares and various other items. A total of $65.3 billion of the new $72.4 billion request is for the Defense Department, while $2.9 billion is for intelligence community and classified programs supporting global antiterrorist operations, the White House Office of Management and Budget said.
An F-15K aircraft built by Boeing for South Korea's air force recently dropped three Mk-82 Joint Direct Attack Munitions (JDAMs) at the same time and scored three direct hits on ground targets during testing, the company says. They were the first guided releases of JDAMs from an F-15K.
The fate of NASA's troubled SOFIA observatory program will be decided following an "intensive" review due to conclude in April, according to agency officials. NASA chose to cancel the $57.1 million fiscal 2007 budget funding request for the airborne observatory following a two-year schedule slip and cost growth due to technical problems.
NASA continues to hold to May as the launch date for the space shuttle's second return-to-flight mission, STS-121, which will further verify safety procedures and equipment developed in response to the 2003 Columbia accident. But the agency is not rushing any steps to ensure it makes the window, according to STS-121 Commander Steve Lindsey.
SHIP ON WAY: A U.S. Navy ship is on its way to an island in the Philippines to help with disaster relief after a Feb. 17 mudslide killed at least 200 people and left more than 1,000 missing, the Defense Department says. The Philippine Red Cross has also asked the U.S. for helicopter support. The mudslide took place in the village of Guinsaugon on Leyte Island. The Navy ship, which was not identified, was taking part in Exercise Balikatan '06 at Subic Bay, which is less than 621 miles from Leyte Island.
JDAMS TESTED: An F-15K aircraft built by Boeing for South Korea's air force recently dropped three Mk-82 Joint Direct Attack Munitions (JDAMs) at the same time and scored three direct hits on ground targets during testing, the company says. They were the first guided releases of JDAMs from an F-15K. The testing took place at Eglin Air Force Base, Fla. The JDAMs were released at Mach 0.9 from about 20,000 feet and hit their targets within an average of 2.1 meters.
CAPITAL FUND: NASA is preparing a public/private investment fund -- patterned on the In-Q-Tel fund that Administrator Michael Griffin once ran for the CIA -- to back companies with technology that might aid the lunar exploration effort. Funded at $11 million in the current fiscal year, NASA says its Red Planet Capital fund could grow to $20 million a year. NASA tells potential fund managers in a request for information published Feb.
Representatives of the Boeing Co. proposing the HH-47 helicopter for the Air Force's Combat Search and Rescue (CSAR-X) aircraft competition are seizing a recent revision to the program's plans to re-emphasize supposed cost savings they are proposing. The revision, in which the Defense Department has asked how bidders would spend $849 million outlined in the defense budget (DAILY, Feb. 15), allows Boeing to highlight its proposal to incorporate Block 10 aircraft in the production line and retrofit fewer Block 0 helicopters than previously thought.
