CLUSTER MUNITIONS: Allied aircraft dropped more than 1,500 cluster munitions during Operation Iraqi Freedom, says Gen. Richard Myers, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. Most were precision-guided, he says. About 2 percent of the cluster bombs dropped by U.S. or coalition forces fell within 1,500 feet of civilian areas. "In some cases we hit those targets knowing there was a chance of collateral damage," he says.
LAUNCHES: Orbital Sciences Corp. is scheduled to launch NASA's Galaxy Evolution Explorer (GALEX) spacecraft April 28 from Cape Canaveral, Fla. Arianespace said launch activity for its next Ariane 5 mission, which is to carry two satellites, has begun in Kourou, French Guiana. The mission is scheduled for early June.
The Boeing Co., prime contractor for the Airborne Laser program, has received a 10-year contract worth up to $500 million from the Missile Defense Agency to develop a ground-based test bed for the Airborne Laser (ABL) program. The Iron Bird test bed will support efforts to conduct troubleshooting and wargaming and evaluate advanced technology for the ABL, the Defense Department announced late April 24.
A Defense Information System Agency acquisition program running nearly four years behind schedule points to the hazards of using outdated contracting methods for high-risk technologies, Pentagon auditors say. The Defense Information System Agency (DISA) now plans to field a $34 million deployment planning software tool called the Joint Operation Planning and Execution System 21 (JOPES 21) in March 2004, 46 months after it originally was to be delivered.
AFFORDABLE COSTS: Lockheed Martin's future growth could be hampered unless development costs on key aircraft programs are checked, according to senior aerospace and defense analyst Byron Callan of Merrill Lynch. Next-generation programs like the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter and F/A-22 Raptor play a dominant role in Lockheed Martin's growth outlook, Callan says. But cost growth remains an issue on the F/A-22, and while conditional approval resulted from the F-35's preliminary design review, the aircraft's weight gain was noteworthy, he says.
POLICY REVERSAL: A proposed pilot program to fund energy-saving upgrades for up to 10 weapons programs may be doomed even if the legislation is enacted, the program's supporters say. That's because the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) last month reversed its long-standing accounting policy for Energy Savings Performance Contracts (ESPCs), scoring the deals as new outlays rather than operations and maintenance charges. ESPC supporters say that's a mistake: ESPC-funded upgrades, by law, save more money in fuel bills than the cost of the upgrade.
Three House members are requesting more information about the Air Force F/A-22 Raptor, saying recent Pentagon testimony about the Lockheed Martin aircraft left key questions unanswered. During an April 11 hearing of the House Government Reform Committee's national security subcommittee, Defense Department and Air Force officials estimated that the Air Force could afford to buy 225 to 235 Raptors under the aircraft's congressionally mandated $36.8 billion production cost cap (DAILY, April 14).
The U.S. Army's Tank-Automotive and Armaments Command at Picatinny Arsenal, N.J., has awarded technology development contracts to General Dynamics Corp. and Textron Inc. for the Intelligent Munitions System (IMS) program. General Dynamics Advanced Information Systems, a unit of the company's Information Systems and Technology group, was awarded a $31.5 million contract April 16 to develop and demonstrate key technologies for the IMS program, formerly known as Raptor.
SPACE ROLE: Space systems were a major contributor to the U.S.-led military victory in Iraq, providing early warning, satellite imagery and other services to the warfighter. But space also will play a key role in rebuilding Iraq, says U.S. Army Lt. Gen. Joseph Cosumano, head of Army Space and Missile Defense Command. For instance, satellite imagery could be useful in tracking oil well fires, he says. An Army space support team is assigned to the Pentagon's Office of Reconstruction and Humanitarian Assistance (ORHA) to ensure it gets the space-based products it needs.
MODEST OUTLOOK: Despite recent increases in defense spending, the long-term growth outlook for the U.S. defense industry is modest, says aerospace and defense analyst Robert Friedman of Standard & Poor's. The reason is that Congress is unlikely to approve outsized military spending over the long term, he says.
RIDLEY PARK, Pa. - Boeing and Sikorsky dedicated a new production facility for the companies' RAH-66 Comanche reconnaissance/attack helicopter on April 25 here, where workers already are building the aft section for the first engineering and manufacturing development (EMD) aircraft.
The European Aeronautic Defence and Space Co. (EADS) will push ahead with plans to expand in North America despite the recent transatlantic rift between the U.S. and France and Germany over Iraq, a senior EADS executive said April 25. Ralph Crosby Jr., chairman and CEO of EADS North America, told defense reporters in Washington that EADS plans to expand its manufacturing base in the U.S., primarily through acquisitions but also through partnerships with U.S. prime contractors.
First-quarter net income for Orbital Sciences Corp. jumped 42 percent, largely due to increased missile defense-related work, company officials said April 24. Net income for the quarter rose from a loss of $11.4 million a year ago to a net gain of $3.4 million, despite a $1 million settlement with Orbital Imaging Corp. (Orbimage) and a $1.5 million operating loss posted by the company's Electronic Systems business.
CACI BUY: IT and networking company CACI International said April 24 it plans to acquire Premier Technology Group (PTG), which provides intelligence analysis, information services and other support to the Defense Department and intelligence community. The deal is expected to close in May, CACI said.
Although Congress has given NASA funds to begin developing the Orbital Space Plane (OSP) and next-generation nuclear power and propulsion systems, many lawmakers still have major concerns they want addressed before they will support those programs for the long term, according to a key congressional aide. The fiscal 2003 NASA appropriations act provides more than $100 million for the nuclear program, which recently has been renamed Project Prometheus and is designed to support interplanetary spacecraft (DAILY, Feb. 14).
MOSCOW - A Russian Proton vehicle launched a military satellite, Cosmos 2397, to geostationary orbit from Baikonur Cosmodrome, Kazakhstan, on April 24. The Lavochkin NPO-built satellite is intended to help replenish the country's early warning constellation. The Cosmos 2397 is a Prognoz-2 type and will be part of the Oko constellation, which also includes smaller Prognoz satellites.
The U.S. Army believes it may be on the verge of deploying a system that would reduce substantially the logistical difficulties and dangers of getting equipment and supplies to troops in the field, according to a senior Army official. The system, called Precision and Extended Glide Airdrop System (PEGASYS), is a Global Positioning System-guided parafoil that can be dropped from high altitudes and steered to precise locations on the battlefield at specified times.
The U.S. Defense Department would be free to upgrade some of its weapon systems without going through the appropriations process under a new legislative proposal. Military officials hope to use a proposed pilot program, which was inserted into an already controversial energy policy bill, to help clear a backlog of projects intended to boost the efficiency of aircraft, tanks and ships. But a $100 million spending cap introduced at the last minute may render ineligible an Air Force effort to re-engine the Boeing B-52H fleet.
AMC-9 LAUNCH: International Launch Service (ILS) is scheduled to launch the AMC-9 satellite for SES Americom on April 28 from Baikonur Cosmodrome, Kazakhstan, ILS said April 24. The satellite is intended to expand the company's telecommunications services in North America.
MANASSAS, Va. - Aurora Flight Sciences Corp., which is building what could be the first unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) to fly on another planet, recently received approximately $2.5 million from NASA to perform a second high-altitude prototype demonstration on Earth. Led by NASA Langley Research Center in Hampton, Va., the Aerial Regional-scale Environmental Survey (ARES) mission is one of four finalists competing to go to Mars as part of NASA's 2007 Mars Scout program (DAILY, Dec. 18, 2002). NASA will select the winner in August.
An Army general said April 24 that he would like to accelerate the Theater High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) system and the Medium Extended Air Defense System (MEADS).
