Weather permitting, adventurer Steve Fossett was to try again at dawn Feb. 8 to take off from the Kennedy Space Center, Fla., in the Scaled Composites/GlobalFlyer for a record around-the-world flight. Takeoffs with the 22,000-pound aircraft loaded with 18,000 pounds of JP-4 are always dangerous. A fuel leak in the modified vent system of the aircraft forced cancellation of a planned takeoff Feb. 7 for the 26,000-mile flight.
The Homeland Security Department's Information Technology Acquisition Center plans to establish $45 billion worth of department-wide contracts for IT support services under a program name Eagle, according to federal IT consultancy Federal Sources Inc. Contractors would support infrastructure engineering design, development, implementation and integration; operations and maintenance; independent test, validation, verification and evaluation; software development; and management support services.
A question of interest is how the U.S. Air Force will determine acquisition requirements for a fleet of tankers. George Muellner, Boeing's Air Force Systems vice president and general manager, says one factor in this decision may be whether the Air Force emphasizes employment or deployment in its specifications.
A surplus Russian spacesuit recycled as an amateur radio satellite continued to send weak signals, at least intermittently, through the weekend after the International Space Station (ISS) crew deployed it late Feb. 3 by pitching it over the side. Although NASA initially reported that "Suitsat" died after about two orbits, apparently because its standard-issue ISS batteries had gotten too cold, amateur radio operators later reported it continued to transmit a weak signal on Feb. 5.
CENTER RECOVERS: Northrop Grumman Corp.'s Sperry Marine North American Support Center in New Orleans is now operating at 100 percent capacity after damage was repaired from Hurricane Katrina, the company said Feb. 6. The center overhauls MK37 gyrocompasses, LCD monitors, radars, autopilots, and speed logs. It also holds new and refurbished spare parts and houses a worldwide service control center. The office suffered heavy exterior and interior damage from the hurricane.
The U.S. Army's topline budget request for fiscal 2007 is $110.4 billion, which includes $3.566 billion for aircraft purchases and $3.311 billion for the Future Combat Systems program. The topline request is scheduled to rise steadily over the next few years, reaching $123.4 billion in FY '11, according to service officials.
Northrop Grumman announced at the Air Force Association's Air Warfare Symposium in Orlando, Fla., last week a successful live test of a B-2 bomber dropping a 5,000-pound bomb with a new warhead and an improved Raytheon guidance system.
BUFFALO VEHICLES: Force Protection Inc. of Ladson, S.C., said Feb. 6 that it has been awarded a contract to provide the U.S. Army with about 19 Buffalo mine clearance vehicles along with training and field support. Financial details and first deliveries of the vehicles are expected within a month. The contract also includes an option for 27 more Buffalos that can be purchased in 2006. The contract was awarded by the Army's Tank-automotive and Armaments Command, Warren, Mich.
The U.S. Coast Guard is requesting $934.4 million for its Deepwater recapitalization program, according to a Homeland Security Department statement - roughly equivalent to the $933.1 million that the service received for FY '06. Still, the 25-year, $24 billion effort was previously eyeing just $752 million for FY '07, according to an industry representative - and that was dependent on FY '06 appropriations of $966 million, which was requested for the current fiscal year after a tussle with the White House Office of Management and Budget (DAILY, Jan. 17).
The U.S. Air Force wants $2 billion more in RDT&E money and $500 million less for procurement in fiscal 2007, and rolled out a budget request that reshuffles spending to emphasize long-range strike and reconnaissance and promises industry-style cost-cutting to free money for new systems and hardware.
The U.S. Navy is proposing to spend an average of $15.5 billion every year on new ship construction to boost its naval fleet from 285 ships now to 304 by fiscal 2011 -- although officials are requesting only $11.2 billion for seven new ships in FY '07.
The defense ministers from France and Luxembourg have agreed to study how countries that lack a domestic surveillance satellite capability can share data for European Union peacekeeping and humanitarian missions. Data sharing is a growing concern as Europe ratchets up its overseas military and security presence (Aviation Week & Space Technology, Jan. 30). The need to support out-of-theater military operations also lies behind a trend toward increased government reliance on commercially funded satellite communications capacity.
Singapore's defense ministry said Feb. 6 that it has deployed the Landing Ship Tank RSS Endeavour to Iraq to aid in reconstruction. The ship and its crew of 180 will be deployed for three months, during which it will provide logistics support for coalition vessels and helicopters, protect the waters around key oil terminals, and conduct patrols and boarding operations. Singapore had earlier deployed to Iraq a C-130 transport aircraft, two KC-135 tanker aircraft and two LSTs.
SNIPER COMPOSITE: Lockheed Martin is evaluating the use of epoxy/carbon fiber composite in the housing for the Sniper Advanced Targeting Pod (ATP). The current housing, 94 inches long and about 12 inches in diameter, is made of stainless steel and aluminum with a sapphire window. During a Feb. 1 tour of Lockheed's Missiles and Fire Control plant prior to the Air Force Association's Air Warfare Symposium in Orlando, Fla., a spokesman said converting the housing to composite would reduce the cost of manufacturing the ATP.
NASA's fiscal year 2007 spending request uses science funds to pay down a $3-5 billion shortfall in space shuttle accounts and begin work in earnest on a shuttle replacement, allowing the agency to plan for at least 16 more space shuttle flights to assemble the International Space Station. That should be enough to orbit and attach all of the station hardware provided by NASA's international partners on the project -- a European laboratory module and a pressurized lab, exposed experiment facility and logistics module supplied by Japan.
The U.S. Navy and small businesses are developing safer, more efficient energy sources for unmanned undersea vehicles (UUVs). During 2004, the Navy awarded two SBIR Phase I contracts, worth $70,000 each, to develop improved battery technology for UUVs. The Advanced Pressure-Tolerant UUV Batteries for Fleet Use project is focused developing high-energy density, renewable, air-independent submarine-safe power sources.
The Missile Defense Agency's Airborne Laser (ABL) program has been scaled back to a demonstration program in the Defense Department's $439.3 billion fiscal 2007 budget request, Pentagon officials said Feb. 6. ABL, a modified Boeing 747-400 freighter equipped with a high-energy chemical laser to shoot down ballistic missiles during their boost phase "will have more of a demo program" in the department's budget request, Vice Adm. Evan "Marty" Chanik said.
