FINAL REPORT: The release of the final report of the President's Commission on Implementation of U.S. Space Exploration Policy, known as the "Moon, Mars and Beyond" commission, has been rescheduled for June 16. Commission Chairman E.C. "Pete" Aldridge Jr. and NASA Administrator Sean O'Keefe plan to deliver the 60-page report to the White House, and it will be posted to the commission website (www.moontomars.org) at noon. Originally scheduled for release June 10, the report was delayed by the White House in response to the death of former President Ronald Reagan.
A NASA-developed system for automatically alerting pilots to potentially dangerous turbulence will make its first evaluation flights on a commercial airliner this summer, NASA announced June 8. The Turbulence Prediction and Warning System (TPAWS) airborne radar is designed to give flight crews enough advance warning to avoid turbulence or advise passengers to sit down and buckle up to avoid injury.
Titan Corp. shareholders voted in favor of the proposed acquisition by Lockheed Martin Corp. June 7, which was one of the conditions of the merger. "The votes in favor were 98.4 percent, which represents 65.8 percent of the Titan's outstanding shares," a Titan spokesman told The DAILY.
A communications network between platforms will be the most important requirement for U.S Transportation Command (USTRANSCOM) as it begins to assess what it will need when the Navy's long-term vision of sea basing becomes a reality, according to a command official. "Because the concept is being driven by the reality in the world, we are trying to figure out now ... what kind of interfaces are going to be required," Rear Adm. Marc L. Purcell, director of strategy, plans, policy, and programs for USTRANSCOM, told The DAILY.
U.S. Joint Forces Command (JFCOM) and the Army's Communications Electronics Research, Development and Engineering Center (CERDEC) are engaged in an initiative to improve combat identification for vehicles, infantry and close-air support. The commands are testing the battlefield target identification device (BTID) and radio based combat ID (RBCI) in a joint exercise from June 5 - 10 at Camp Lejeune, N.C.
The U.S. Defense Department has given the Navy the go-ahead to develop the Multi-mission Maritime Aircraft (MMA), clearing the way for the selection of a prime contractor as early as this week.
Argon Engineering Associates and Sensytech Inc. have agreed to merge, the companies said June 7. The merger will create a "unique" command, control, communications, computers, intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (C4ISR) company, Sensytech said in a statement. The board of directors for both companies have approved the deal, which is expected to close in September. Argon Engineering's shareholders will own about 66 percent of the company, and will receive two shares of Sensytech stock for each existing share of Argon stock.
The U.S. Department of Defense should develop a database that identifies available training resources and capabilities and limitations caused by encroachment as a way to address congressional reporting requirements, according to a report by the General Accounting Office. The GAO criticized a Pentagon report on the implementation of the Department of Defense Training Range Comprehensive Plan. The GAO said that while the report addresses some of the mandatory requirements, it does not fully assess current and future training range requirements.
Two Boeing X-45A unmanned aircraft performed coordinated maneuvers on the runway at NASA's Dryden Flight Research Center in California May 27, in preparation for multi-vehicle flights this summer, Boeing announced June 7. A single operator directed both of the X-45A air vehicles through a series of maneuvers, including 90-degree turns and turnarounds at speeds of up to 20 knots. The two aircraft autonomously maintained their positions relative to each other through an inter-vehicle communication link.
POSTPONED: Due to the death of former President Ronald Reagan, the White House is postponing the release of the "Moon, Mars and Beyond" commission's final report until next week. The report, which cannot be released to the public until it's delivered to the president, was due for release June 10.
The U.S. Air Force will expand a review of its aerial refueling modernization options to include the possibility of hiring private firms to perform refueling, according to the Defense Department. DOD revealed plans to widen the scope of the study, or analysis of alternatives (AOA), in response to a draft report by the General Accounting Office, which recommended that the AOA consider whether contractor-provided refueling could meet some of the Air Force's needs. The GAO's final report came out June 4.
NASA's Office of Exploration Systems has selected Florida's Institute for Human and Machine Cognition (IHMC) to lead an independent study of the agency's research and development (R&D) portfolio to determine which efforts best support the nation's emerging vision for space exploration. The initiatives to be examined will come from the Advanced Space Technology Program (ASTP), which contains most of the medium- and long-term R&D work acquired by the exploration office following its establishment earlier this year.
NET-CENTRIC NATO: NATO is become net-centric, a new area for the alliance, according to two military officials involved with NATO transformation. The NATO Network Enabled Capability (NATO), stood up in June 2003, will activate a Joint Forces Training Center in Poland this month and plans an industry day in Berlin in September to encourage interoperable capability, says Canadian Forces Lt. Gen. Michel Maisonneuve, chief of staff at NATO's Office of Transformation. The NATO Response Force is another focus for NNEC, he says.
Boeing's Standoff Land Attack Missile Expanded Response (SLAM-ER) successfully demonstrated its new retargeting capability in a recent test, the company said last week. An F/A-18C Hornet, operating from the USS John C. Stennis at Point Mugu, Calif., launched a SLAM-ER to destroy a simulated radar site on San Nicolas island in the Pacific, Boeing said.
BUYING AUVs: Most major navies are planning to buy autonomous underwater vehicles (AUVs) to cut manpower and large vessel expenses, according to a forecast from technology and market consultant Frost & Sullivan. Until recently, technical barriers restrained the development of maritime applications for unmanned vehicles, the report says, but shrinking fleet budgets in the post-Cold War environment will drive navies to shift to commercial-off-the-shelf AUV platforms with versatile payloads. For example, the U.S.
An effort by the Navy's Strategic Systems Programs unit to define a conventionally armed, submarine-launched intermediate range ballistic missile is now focusing on cost, a Navy spokeswoman said. When the effort started last summer, she said, the concentration was on the feasibility of such a system. "Now that they know what's feasible, they have to know how much it costs," said Lt. Amy Gililland.
June 7 - 10 -- AHS International 60th Annual Forum and Technology Display, "Vertical Flight Transformation," Baltimore Convention Center, Baltimore, Md. For information go to www.vtol.org. June 11 -- NASA's Glenn Research Center Technology Showcase, Cleveland, Ohio. For more information go to www.grc.nasa.gov. June 14 - 16 -- International Armaments Technology Symposium & Exhibition, "Armaments Technology in Support of Current and Future Joint Military Operations," Hilton Parsippany, Parsippany, N.J. For information go to www.ndia.org.
RESERVE FUND: The Senate has approved the $25 billion reserve fund President Bush requested for ongoing military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan (DAILY, May 6), including $3 billion that would go to research and development, testing and evaluation, Coast Guard operating expenses, personnel and classified accounts. The fund also would provide $14 billion for the Army, $1 billion for the Navy, $2 billion for the Marine Corps and $1 billion for the Air Force. The measure was approved 95-0 as the Senate continued work on the fiscal 2005 defense authorization bill.
NORWEGIAN AEGIS: The Fridtjof Nansen, the first of five Norwegian navy frigates equipped with the Aegis Integrated Weapon System (IWS), was launched last week, Lockheed Martin said June 4. The company provided the IWS, which is based on the Aegis Weapon System developed for the U.S. Navy. The frigate also carries the SPY-1F radar, a scaled version of the AN/SPY-1D radar, the company said.
FINAL REPORT: The final report of the President's Commission on Implementation of U.S. Space Exploration Policy, known as the "Moon, Mars and Beyond" commission, will be delivered to President Bush the morning of June 10 and published later that day on the commission's website (www.moontomars.org). Commission Chairman E.C. "Pete" Aldridge Jr. and NASA Administrator Sean O'Keefe will deliver the 60-page report to the White House. The commission was formed to advise the president and NASA on the implementation of the country's new vision for space exploration (DAILY, Feb.
The U.S. Defense Department is struggling to determine when the military services should take control of anti-missile systems that the U.S. Missile Defense Agency has developed for them to use, according to the head of MDA.
