The liftoff of the U.S. Defense Department's experimental TacSat-1 micro-satellite has been delayed from May 13 until mid to late summer because of technical problems with the launch vehicle, according to DOD and industry spokespersons.
The Boeing/Insitu ScanEagle unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) conducted its first fully autonomous launch and recovery from a ship on April 28, Boeing announced May 11. The 40-pound UAV took off autonomously from the Shackleton, a 58-foot fishing boat, via a pneumatic wedge catapult launcher mounted onboard. ScanEagle then flew pre-programmed and operator-directed waypoints over the waters of Puget Sound, Wash., while conducting surveillance with its electro-optical camera.
A team led by Science Applications International Corp. (SAIC) has been awarded a contract to support NATO's Supreme Allied Commander Transformation (SACT) Experimentation Campaign. SAIC's partner is European Aeronautic Defence and Space Company (EADS) North America. The industry team will provide engineering and technical services in the areas of concept definition, research, analysis and assessment for alternative transformation resolution, SAIC said May 11.
SIX-PACK: The Russian-Ukrainian Kosmotras launch service company on May 12 signed an agreement with Bigelow Aerospace, Las Vegas, Nev., for six satellite launches using Dnepr's decommissioned SS-18 Mod.3 Satan launch vehicles. The contract signed in Berlin during the ILA airshow includes six Dnepr launches from 2006 to 2008. Each launch is capable of transporting 3.7 metric tons to low Earth orbit. According to Kosmotras sources, Bigelow Aerospace will need U.S. Department of State approval to proceed with the project.
Former Boeing employee Larry Satchell was charged May 11 with two separate conspiracies involving theft of trade secrets from rival Lockheed Martin Corp., which was competing with Boeing to secure an Air Force contract, said the U.S. Attorney's office of the Central District of California. This is the third former Boeing employee to be charged in connection with the theft of sensitive materials from Lockheed Martin during a 1998 competition for a $1.88 billion Evolved Expendable Launch Vehicle (EELV) satellite launching contract.
Syracuse Research Corp. has won an Army contract to develop the foliage-penetrating radar for the unmanned A-160 Hummingbird helicopter. The helicopter is seen as an element of the Future Combat System. SRC won the contract May 7, at which time it got $10.3 million of a $13.3 million total, according to a May 10 Pentagon announcement. The effort will be carried out in North Syracuse, N.Y., the announcement said.
In preparation for future long-duration space flights, NASA is sponsoring the development of new emergency medical training for astronauts that uses realistic mannequins to simulate the physiological responses of the human body after it's been in space for several months.
With Armor Holdings' recent $16.6 million contract award from the Army to supply additional fully up-armored High Mobility Multipurpose Wheeled Vehicles (Humvee), the company plans to achieve 350 units per month by July. The recent award also includes up-armored Humvees for the Air Force for delivery in early 2005, the company said May 10. "There's a good chance the Army will ramp up to 450 a month as early as November," Bob Mecredy, president of Armor Holdings aerospace and defense group, told The DAILY.
CPI AEROSTRUCTURES of Edgewood, N.Y., will deliver C-5 Galaxy aircraft components under a U.S. Air Force order that could be worth up to $215 million over seven years, the company said. Under the terms of the contract, the government can order components at any time, the company said. The first order, worth $5.2 million, is for wing tips, spoilers and panel assemblies.
GOODRICH CORP. will provide the electrically actuated braking system for Northrop Grumman's unmanned reconnaissance vehicle, the Global Hawk, Goodrich announced May 7. Goodrich designed the system, which uses its electric actuators and control. After flight tests that will begin in summer of 2005, production is set for the company's Troy, Ohio, plant beginning in late 2005. Officials said electric braking is superior to hydraulic braking because hydraulic lines are eliminated, reliability is improved and maintenance is reduced.
The release of findings of a congressionally mandated commission charged with assessing the vulnerability of aircraft and satellites to a high-altitude nuclear detonation has been slowed by delays in declassifying the material it wants to include in its report, according to a Capitol Hill aide.
Iunctus Geomatics has agreed to purchase a receiving station and telemetry from SPOT Image Corp. of Chantilly, Va. The station will be located in Lethbridge, Alberta, Canada and will serve customers in the United States and Canada. The receiving station includes a dish antenna and a SPOT 5 terminal to automate operations and reception from the SPOT 2, SPOT 4 and SPOT 5 satellites. SPOT IMAGE Corp. is a subsidiary of the SPOT Image Group, Toulouse France.
SURMET CORP. of Burlington, Mass., has received government contracts totaling $2 million for products using its High Performance ALON Optical Ceramic material, the company said. Surmet is delivering scanner windows, missile domes, infrared windows and transparent armor prototypes, the company said. "ALON brings significant cost and performance advantages over other conventional optical ceramics," Timothy C. Davis, the company's president and CEO, said in a statement.
GENERAL DYNAMICS ARMAMENT AND TECHNICAL PRODUCTS will provide 60 enhanced-capability reactive armor sets for the Bradley Fighting Vehicle under a $17 million order from the U.S. Army, the company said. The armor is better able to withstand direct hits from a variety of anti-armor munitions, including rocket-propelled grenades, the company said. The work is to be completed by July 2005.
TIMKEN CO. will develop special surface coatings to extend the life of bearings used in gas-turbine aircraft engines under a $2.7 million order from the U.S. Air Force, the company said. The order was placed under an existing $20 million Air Force contract for bearing development, the Canton, Ohio-based company said.
EDO CORP. and ATLAS ELEKTRONIK, a subsidiary of BAE Systems, will cooperate in the field of mine countermeasures (MCM), the companies said. "Our complementary products and market strengths present a unique base from which to provide comprehensive MCM system solutions," James M. Smith, EDO's CEO, said in a statement. EDO's expertise is in minesweeping systems, and Atlas has been the prime contractor for the modernization of the German navy's MCM fleet.
The three teams competing to develop the Battle Management Command and Control (BMC2) system for the U.S. Air Force's E-10A Multi-sensor Command and Control Aircraft (MC2A) have been told to submit their final proposals this month.
The European Space Agency's European Space Research and Technology Centre (ESA-ESTEC) has selected LMS International's Virtual.Lab Motion for dynamic multibody simulation. ESTEC engineers in Noordwijk, The Netherlands, will use the modeling software to simulate orbit sequences for the design and development of launcher, satellite and lander assemblies, the Belgium-based LMS International said in a statement.
Honeywell will provide the U.S. Geological Survey with spacecraft flight operations and ground system engineering for the Landsat-7 satellite, the company announced May 5. The company already provides those services, and a new contract extends the term through the final eight years of the satellite's expected life. The operations will be conducted by Honeywell Technology Solutions Inc. at its DataLynx control center in Columbia, Md.
United Solar Ovonic Corp. will provide lightweight solar cells deposited on thin stainless steel to power an experimental satellite for the Air Force Research Laboratory in Kirtland Air Force Base, New Mexico, the company announced. The Deployable Structures Experiment (DSX) satellite is scheduled for launch in late 2008. The DSX is designed to make advances in satellite power, aperture and operability in medium earth orbit and improve space-based radar, communications, orbit transfer and space capability protection.
BAE SYSTEMS will deliver 160 auxiliary fuel management systems (AFMS) for UH-60 Black Hawk helicopters, including ones used in Iraq and Afghanistan, under a $3.7 million U.S. Army contract. The contract also calls for 60 auxiliary fuel management panels that will be installed on Black Hawk helicopters.
QUANTUM3D, which builds computer equipment for simulations, will provide its AAgility Image Generation product to Camber Corp. of Dallas for use in a U.S. Navy P-3C Orion aircraft training program. Camber Corp. will integrate the AAgility generator into the 14B58 Reconfigurable Electronic Warfare Trainer at Naval Air Station Jacksonville, Fla., the company said
