BRAC BACKED: The House on Oct. 27 voted down an effort to block the 2005 round of domestic U.S. military base realignment and closures, known as BRAC, allowing the contentious changes to become law. Under law, Congress would have to pass a joint resolution disapproving the BRAC changes within 45 days of when President Bush forwarded an independent commission's decisions to legislators, which was Sept. 15.
The U.S. Air Force, whose Combat Search and Rescue-X (CSAR-X) program hopes to pick a prime contractor next year, has begun hosting flight demonstrations to help it evaluate competing aircraft, sources said Oct. 27.
Updated Pentagon mobility requirements would halt future U.S. buys of Boeing C-17 and Lockheed Martin C-130J airlifters, exposing those production lines to a full shutdown by the end of the decade, DAILY affiliate Aviation Week & Space Technology will report Monday, Oct. 31. The Pentagon's program analysis and evaluation office and the Joint Staff reviewed a draft of the Mobility Capability Study (MCS) this week with a small group of congressional staffers, although the future force structure numbers were classified.
NASA's Stennis Space Center in Mississippi began testing space shuttle main engines again on Oct. 25, marking the first engine test at the facility since Hurricane Katrina hit Stennis in late August. Engineers successfully test-fired an engine for 520 seconds, which is the time it takes a shuttle to reach orbit. Shuttle Discovery is not expected to launch on mission STS-121 until the spring of 2006.
The head of the Air National Guard said Oct. 26 that he hopes to consult with higher-ups in the next few weeks to see if a decision can be made to acquire new engines for the E-8C Joint Surveillance Target Attack Radar System (Joint STARS) aircraft.
The Bush administration has agreed to drop funding for continued research on the Robust Nuclear Earth Penetrator (RNEP) through the Energy Department, Sen. Pete Domenici (R-N.M.) announced late Oct. 25. The result continued to mark a successful march by opponents to strip fiscal 2006 funding for studying an RNEP, also known as the nuclear bunker-buster.
Heeding the request of the aerospace industry, the House late Oct. 25 passed a bill calling for a government-wide task force to craft a national strategy for aerospace work force recruitment, training and cultivation.
The Department of Homeland Security has begun flying missions with the Predator B unmanned aerial vehicle over Arizona's border with Mexico and so far credits the aircraft with 87 arrests of illegal border crossers. The flights began Oct. 4 and are taking place out of Ft. Huachuca, Ariz., according to Rowdy Adams, senior associate chief at the Office of Border Patrol. DHS purchased one General Atomics Predator B and one ground control station in late August, choosing the system over competitor Northrop Grumman's Hunter II.
The United States and British militaries are continuing to provide humanitarian aid to Pakistan in the wake of the country's devastating Oct. 8 earthquake that killed thousands. The U.S. Army planned to send six more CH-47 Chinook helicopters to the country between Oct. 24-26 to help airlift supplies from Chaklala Air Base near Islamabad to stricken remote areas, the U.S. Defense Department said.
Boeing said Oct. 26 that its third quarter profits doubled to more than $1 billion including a large one-time gain, but even without the unusual items, the company's operating margin grew 2.1 points to 6 percent.
The House was expected as soon as late Oct. 26 to pass a Senate bill that would create an exception for some U.S. payments to Russia in support of the International Space Station, meaning the measure would all but await President Bush's signature to be enacted.
Deborah Alderson has been named president of the System and Network Solutions Group. Mark Hughes is retiring and will be replaced by Alderson. K. Stuart Shea has joined the Intelligence Group as senior vice president and general manager for the Space and Geospatial Intelligence Business Unit.
Australia's air force and army have begun a two-week exercise designed to give flight controllers and pilots realistic training in a real time air defense scenario. The East Coast Air Defense Exercise (ECADEX) will be held from Oct. 26 to Nov. 9, with aircraft flying mostly over the ocean off the central east coast of New South Wales, Australia's defense ministry said. The aircraft will be based at both RAAF Base Williamtown, near Newcastle, New South Wales, and RAAF Base Amberley near Ipswich, Queensland.
The U.S. Navy's Mobile User Objective System program, contracted to Lockheed Martin Corp., successfully completed its preliminary design review (PDR) on schedule, the company said Oct. 26. "The PDR validated the detailed MUOS design to ensure that the system will meet or exceed the warfighter's requirements for the next generation narrowband tactical satellite communications system," a Lockheed Martin statement said.
