The Marine Corps is going to consider acquiring AC-130s to bolster fire support, Marine Corps Commandant Gen. James Jones told a group of defense reporters Nov. 8. "I've recently asked Marine Corps aviation to look into acquiring AC-130s" to bolster fire support, which is a "significant weakness" for the Department of the Navy, he said. Jones said the recent use of AC-130s over Afghanistan gave him the idea, as well as his own experience in Vietnam, where the gunships entered combat.
Lawmakers have agreed to add $30 million to the Bush Administration's fiscal 2002 budget request to revive NASA's Pluto-Kuiper Belt (PKB) mission. The money is contained in the FY '02 VA-HUD-NASA appropriations bill, which a House-Senate conference committee approved Nov. 6 (DAILY, Nov. 7). The legislation was released Nov. 7, and the full House and Senate are expected to vote on it as early as Nov. 8.
Army undersecretary-nominee Les Brownlee opposes the Ballistic Missile Defense Organization's proposal to transfer the Medium Extended Air Defense System (MEADS) program from BMDO to the Army, according to documents released at his Senate confirmation hearing Nov. 8.
Elbit Systems Ltd. of Haifa, Israel, will buy the assets of Elron Telesoft Ltd.'s Defense Systems Division for about $5.7 million in cash, the company announced Nov. 8. The Defense Systems Division of Elron Telesoft develops communications systems, information technology and image intelligence processing for defense and military applications and is based in Petach Tikva, Israel.
NASA BILL: The House and Senate Nov. 8 approved the final version of the fiscal 2002 VA-HUD-NASA appropriations bill, clearing the way for President Bush's signature. The bill, approved in the House by a 401-18 vote and in the Senate by an 87-7 vote, provides $14.8 billion for NASA, a $500 million, or 3.5 percent, increase over FY '01 (DAILY, Nov. 7).
The U.S. Army must transform its organizational structure and operational methods by the end of the decade or risk becoming technically and operationally obsolete, Secretary of the Army Thomas White told a gathering of the Association of the United States Army Nov. 8. To avoid that obsolescence, the Army will soon begin streamlining its overhead command offices, beginning with the offices of the Department of the Army, White said.
The Tactical Control System (TCS) conducted its first launch and recovery of a Shadow 600 unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) at Ft. Huachuca, Arizona Nov. 7, achieving what is known as level five flight control. TCS is designed to provide command and control for several types of UAVs and their sensor payloads from a single ground station. The intended UAVs include the Vertical Takeoff and Landing UAV (VTUAV), the Army Tactical Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (TUAV), and various Air Force medium-altitude UAV systems, including Predator.
The Defense Department has adopted 10 initiatives designed by the Business Initiatives Council to reform military business practices, the Pentagon announced Nov. 7. The Business Initiatives Council (BIC) was created in June by Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld to recommend "good business practices" and to find cost savings that could be channeled into modernization and transformation.
INTEL BILL: The Senate Nov. 8 approved its version of the fiscal 2002 intelligence authorization bill by a 100-0 vote, paving the way for a conference with the House, which passed its version in October (DAILY, Oct. 8).
AIR TRAINING: Cubic Defense Systems Inc. will equip nine U.S. Air Force and Air National Guard facilities with "rangeless" air combat training capability under a $40 million contract, the company announced Nov. 8. Instrumentation pods and deployable ground stations used in the system allow air combat training missions to be conducted in any airspace, without relying on a fixed ground infrastructure.
A group of deputies in the lower chamber of Russia's Duma have introduced legislation to regulate military use of the country's space assets and define the licensing and certification of dual-use space technology and overseas launch facilities. The legislation was presented by 21 deputies, including Alexey Mitrofanov, the deputy chairmen of Vladimir Zhirinovsky's ultra-nationalistic Liberal Democratic Party and head of the Duma committee on geopolitics.
Northrop Grumman Corp. and Newport News Shipbuilding Inc. have signed an agreement for Northrop Grumman to buy the shipbuilder in a $2.1 billion deal, the companies announced Nov. 8. The move takes Northrop Grumman, an aerospace and defense company, from "ground zero as a shipbuilder last April to the largest shipbuilder in the world," said Paul Nisbet, an analyst with aerospace research company JSA Research Inc. Northrop Grumman completed its acquisition of shipbuilder Litton Industries over the summer.
The remote sensing industry should play a key role in enabling first responders to coordinate their efforts in the event of another terrorist attack, according to a panel of industry leaders speaking at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce in Washington Nov. 8. The geospatial information industry stands ready to respond if it is called upon to more fully support the homeland defense effort, according to A. Clay Ancell, senior vice president for strategic corporate development at EarthData International.
India's Technology Experiment Satellite (TES), launched last week on a Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) booster, is capable of sensitive defense surveillance applications, Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) sources said. A panchromatic camera aboard the 1.1-ton TES provides India with satellite surveillance over large land areas, including those beyond Indian borders. A source said TES can be used for land observation operations, and "observing activities of hostile powers ... cannot be ruled out."
SPECTRUM ASTRO has opened a new office in Pasadena, Calif., to support NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory. Spectrum Astro, headquartered in Gilbert, Ariz., has worked with JPL on many projects, including the development of the spacecraft bus for the Deep Space 1 mission. That mission, launched in 1998, recently flew near Comet Borrelly, returning images of the comet's nucleus (DAILY, Sept. 26). Spectrum Astro plans to continue working with JPL on future outerplanetary and deep-space missions, according to the company.
The major impediment to developing a space tourism industry in the U.S. is the lack of access to investment capital, representatives of several space tourism-related companies said during a Nov. 7 conference sponsored by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and the Department of Commerce. The obstacle is not the technology, the panelists said, nor is it the size of the space tourism market, which one panelist predicted could be as high as $1 trillion worldwide.
EMS TECHNOLOGIES INC. of Atlanta will design and manufacture three antennas and a tower support structure for the Eutelsat W3A program under a contract with Astrium of Toulouse, France. The company will provide one Gregorian antenna, which can receive on Ku-band and transmit and receive on Ka-band, and two Dual Gridded Reflector antennas, which can transmit and receive on Ka-band.
If the International Space Station (ISS) is left at a "core complete" state of assembly, it will be an "enormous disappointment," but not a total waste of effort, according to ISS Task Force Chairman A. Thomas Young. The U.S. core complete state, which limits the crew to three persons, omits the Crew Return Vehicle (CRV), Node 3, the Habitation Module and the Propulsion Module, while reducing the research budget by $1 billion. U.S. core complete assembly is scheduled for completion by 2004.
Although many Chinese are convinced that America's missile defense program is aimed primarily at countering China's strategic arsenal, a new arms race is not necessarily inevitable, according to a panel of policy analysts speaking at the Cato Institute in Washington. China currently has a modest strategic nuclear force, including 20 to 24 liquid-fueled CSS4 intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs), according to Cato analyst Charles Pena. Two new types of Chinese ICBMs are also in development, along with a new short-range ballistic missile (SRBM).
BAE SYSTEMS has developed a mobile satellite system for use in humanitarian operations, providing long-distance medical assistance and to support civil disaster relief. The system, designed by the company's Avionics Communications&Defence Infrastructure Division based at Christchurch, United Kingdom, was originally built for the military communications needs of British forces serving in the Balkans.
A White House representative and the House Science Committee chairman Nov. 7 endorsed an independent review panel's recommendation that NASA put off considering enhancements to the International Space Station until it gets control of the core program, but several Science Committee members said the U.S. should commit now to expanding the station so it can handle a six or seven-person crew.
INNOVATIVE SOLUTIONS INTERNATIONAL of Vienna, Va., is conducting a feasibility study to plan and design a satellite-based Communication, Navigation, Surveillance/Air Traffic Management (CNS/ATM) system to be implemented in Venezuela over the next 10-15 years. The study is funded by the U.S. Trade and Development Agency.
The Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO) spacecraft has helped give researchers a clearer picture of the forces that keep sunspots together, NASA reported Nov. 7. Sunspots are planet-sized regions on the sun's surface where magnetic fields become concentrated. Such regions should fly apart as magnetic fields repel each other, but instead they can linger for weeks or more.
Egypt has asked the U.S. to refurbish its 201 M109A2/A3 155 mm self-propelled howitzers, according to a Nov. 6 statement issued by the Defense Security Cooperation Agency (DSCA). "This proposed sale will contribute to the foreign policy and national security of the United States by helping to improve the security of a friendly country which has been and continues to be an important force for political stability and economic progress in the Middle East," says a DSCA statement about the sale.
Any agreement that the U.S. and Russia reach to reduce their strategic nuclear arsenals should be "transparent, predictable and difficult to reverse," according to Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman Carl Levin (D-Mich.). "There is no benefit in creating a situation where we worry that it would be easy and quick for either nation to increase its nuclear forces significantly," Levin said Nov. 5. "We would be better served with an agreement that gives each side confidence that its terms are being met by the other side."
