PROTON LAUNCH: A Russian Proton Breeze M rocket placed the DirecTV 8 satellite in an elliptical geosynchronous transfer orbit after lifting off from Baikonur Cosmodrome, Kazakhstan on May 22. Over the next week the satellite will maneuver into a circular orbit 36,000 kilometers (22,300 miles) above the equator. Built by Space Systems/Loral, DirecTV 8 carries Ku-band and Ka-band transponders. International Launch Services managed the launch.
NEW COMPLEX: Northrop Grumman Corp. said May 23 that it will build a new five-building complex in Huntsville, Ala., to accommodate its growing presence in the area. The company will consolidate most of its 1,200 area employees, currently located in more than 20 facilities, in the new complex. "We project even more growth in the years ahead, with Huntsville supporting or managing several major programs and new contract wins," Daniel L. Montgomery, the company's vice president and corporate lead executive for the Huntsville region, said in a statement.
Raytheon Co. said it has won a competition to provide a sensor payload for the Army's Extended Range/Multi-Purpose (ER/MP) unmanned aerial vehicle. A $16.5 million contract for the Electro-Optic/Infrared/Laser Designator (EO/IR/LD) payload was awarded to Raytheon's Space and Airborne Systems (SAS) unit, the company said May 23. The payload will be manufactured by the unit's Precision Attack and Surveillance Systems (PASS) business area in McKinney, Texas.
ANTI-TERRORISM AWARD: Applied Marine Technology Inc. of Virginia Beach, Va., has been awarded a small business set-aside contract worth up to $271.8 million over five years for anti-terrorism support. The Navy announced late May 20 that the company would provide engineering, analytical, technical and programmatic support services for systems and projects under a joint effort in support of the U.S. Army Prophet/Cobra Project Office. The work is to be finished by May 2006.
The U.S. Navy and Coast Guard should become far more integrated, their ship acquisition plans scrutinized for affordability and interoperability, and Congress should oversee their collaboration, according to an analyst writing for the Heritage Foundation. "Despite great commonality in how both services conduct maritime security operations, the Navy and Coast Guard are headed in different directions to provide this capability," said Bruce B. Stubbs, a retired Coast Guard officer and Reagan Administration National Security Council staff member.
MINING SONAR: The Defense Department said May 19 that Northrop Grumman Corp.'s Electronic Sensors and Systems/Oceanic and Naval Systems, Annapolis, Md., was awarded a $7.4 million contract to develop sonar for high-resolution bottom mine detection and classification for use in unmanned undersea vehicle applications. The work will be done in Annapolis and should be finished by February 2007.
A chart on major programs from the fiscal year 2006 defense authorization bill, in the May 20 issue of The DAILY, contained mistakes due to errors in the original.
NASA conducted a second fueling test of the shuttle Discovery at Kennedy Space Center, Fla., on May 20, once again encountering an anomaly with a pressurization relief valve that opens and closes to ensure that the shuttle's liquid hydrogen fuel remains at the right temperature. During both the prior test on April 14 and the May 20 test, the valve cycled 13 times, compared with a more normal eight or nine times. Thirteen cycles does not violate the shuttle's launch commit criteria, but it is "out of family," according to shuttle officials.
After several delays, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's NOAA-N satellite was launched May 20 on a Boeing Delta II rocket from Vandenberg Air Force Base, Calif. Following a 65-minute flight, the spacecraft was placed in a circular orbit, Boeing said.
GMD OVERSIGHT: Although a similar effort failed last week during the House Armed Services Committee's markup of the fiscal 2006 defense authorization bill, the Senate Armed Services Committee has written language into its version to give the Pentagon's director of operational test and evaluation more authority over the Missile Defense Agency's Ground-based Midcourse Defense system. It also would call for the director's "characterization" of operational effectiveness. Rep.
ORBITAL EXPRESS: NASA expects to fill in any gaps in its experience left by last month's early abort of the Demonstration of Autonomous Rendezvous Technology (DART) mission when it flies Orbital Express in 2006, according to Associate Administrator for Exploration Rear Adm. Craig Steidle. A joint effort with the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), Orbital Express will launch two spacecraft mated together that will separate in orbit before beginning their mission (DAILY, July 15, 2004).
May 24 - 25 -- Military Satellites, "Ensuring Optimal Secure Satellite Communications," Hilton Silver Spring, Silver Spring, Md. For more information call 1-800-882-8684 or go to www.idga.org. May 24 - 25 -- McGraw-Hill's Homeland Security Summit, Ronald Reagan Building & International Trade Center, Washington, D.C. For more information go to http://www.aviationnow.com.conferences.
A self-appointed industry task force is recommending that federal acquisition rules be changed so that outsourced services are placed on an equal footing with item procurement such as weapons systems, as well as tweaking government-wide contracts and multiagency schedules to better reflect the growing importance of services contracting.
HIGH-TECH DEMS: Democratic Sens. Ben Nelson (Neb.) and Maria Cantwell (Wash.) are leading a group of 20 other Senate Democrats under the self-named High-Tech Working Group to push for federal investments, accelerating widespread deployment of "affordable" broadband networks, meeting industry's education and training needs, increasing exports and moving from a paper-based to an electronic health care system. Caucus members include Sen. Harry Reid (Nev.), the Senate minority leader, and Democratic Whip Sen. Richard Durbin (Ill.).
Starting May 25 in New York, the Office of Naval Research's "Afloat Lab" will show off the Reconnaissance, Surveillance and Targeting Vehicle (RST-V). The RST-V is designed to be a highly mobile, survivable, long-range ground reconnaissance vehicle that can be transported in a V-22 Osprey for the Marine Corps. It will be displayed at the South Street Seaport during Fleet Week.
STATION ARTS: The European Space Agency has tapped London-based independent arts organization Arts Catalyst to study future "cultural utilization" of the International Space Station (ISS), particularly the station's European components. The ISS is a cutting-edge research facility, but ESA "believes strongly that the cultural world too should have a say in the future of space exploration," says Daniel Sacotte, ESA's director of human spaceflight, microgravity and exploration.
India is expected to formally launch a fighter jet competition within months, according to a U.S. general who closely follows the process. "We believe that they are going to issue a firm request for proposals [RFP] in the next few months," said U.S. Air Force Lt. Gen. Jeffrey Kohler, director of the U.S. Defense Security Cooperation Agency (DSCA). "Whether that's two months or four months, I don't know."
Apollo 9 astronaut Rusty Schweickart is calling on the U.S. government to verify his calculation that a recently discovered asteroid has a remote chance of striking the Pacific Ocean in 2036 and creating a tidal wave that could devastate the California coast.
HEADS UP: A new visual warning system that uses red and green lights to alert pilots that they are flying in restricted airspace was to become operational May 21 around Washington. Pilots targeted by the lights are to immediately contact air traffic control and exit the airspace. The system is being fielded by U.S. North American Aerospace Command, the FAA and the Air Force Rapid Capabilities Office.
MDA OVERSIGHT: The U.S. Defense Department's proposal to move most of the Missile Defense Agency from Washington, D.C.-area office buildings to Redstone Arsenal, Ala., (DAILY, May 16) is raising concerns in some congressional quarters that it could become a bit harder to oversee an agency that would no longer be a short drive from Capitol Hill. The oversight challenge is seen as an unintentional result of a broader DOD effort to move thousands of northern Virginia defense workers to more secure locations.
The international market for self-propelled artillery is dominated by South Korea's Samsung Techwin, and it is likely to remain the leader for most of the next decade, according to a new report. The company's production of the K9 Thunder for the Republic of Korea Army, as well as licensed production of another system for Turkey, gives it about 25% of the world's production and 33% of the value of the market, said Dean Lockwood, a weapons systems analyst at Forecast International of Newtown, Conn.
