(Editor's note: The following is excerpted from written responses provided by Gwendolyn Brown, nominated to be NASA's chief financial officer, to questions from the Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee in September. She was confirmed by the Senate Nov. 7.) Q: Why do you wish to serve in the position for which you have been nominated?
RAPTOR PROCUREMENT: Acting Pentagon acquisition chief Michael Wynne has released a memorandum authorizing the Air Force to buy 22 Lockheed Martin F/A-22 Raptors for Lot 4 in fiscal 2004. The memorandum also approves advance procurement for F/A-22s the Air Force wants to procure for Lot 5 in FY '05.
Lockheed Martin has won a $2.5 million end-to-end architecture study contract for the Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite (GOES-R) program from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), the company announced Nov. 13. The contract covers four areas: space and launch; command, control, communications (C3); product generation and distribution; and end-to-end integration. NOAA's goal is to increase GOES-R's weather and environmental forecasting capabilities and reduce mission cost, according to Lockheed Martin.
NATO countries have made "substantial progress" in improving their military readiness, according to NATO Secretary General Lord George Robertson. "People are waking up very quickly, not just from my exhortations, but to the realities facing them as well," he said Nov. 13 at a Defense Writers Group breakfast. Robertson pointed to efforts initiated by the Czech Republic, Norway, the Netherlands and Denmark to improve troop readiness and reduce inefficiencies.
Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) asked a top Pentagon official Nov. 13 to quickly clarify how the Air Force plans to implement newly passed legislation authorizing it to acquire 100 Boeing KC-767A tankers.
Lockheed Martin Corp. briefed South Korean officials on the U.S. Defense Department's F-35 Joint Strike Fighter, a step that could pave the way for the Asian country to buy the aircraft. Lockheed Martin Corp. conducted the information-sharing sessions in South Korea earlier this month for representatives of the South Korean air force and Ministry of National Defense, a company spokesman told The DAILY Nov. 13.
The Missile Defense Agency's efforts to develop a space-based interceptor missile have suffered another blow, as the agency has decided against spending any money on the new initiative in the current fiscal year. Amid budget constraints and political resistance to space-based weapons, MDA has dropped plans to spend $14 million on research and concept definition for the space-based Kinetic Energy Interceptor (KEI) in fiscal 2004, according to sources and documents. Any spending on space KEI will not take place until FY '05 at the earliest.
Leaders of the House Science Committee have stepped up their resistance to NASA's new Orbital Space Plane (OSP) program, proposing that an appropriations measure defer the spacecraft's development until the U.S. government comes up with a vision for space exploration.
PRAGUE, Czech Republic - The 14 used F-16 aircraft that the U.S. government is offering to the Czech Republic in a five-nation bidding contest will have an operational life of at least 20 years, according to a senior Lockheed Martin official. David Potts, Lockheed Martin's international senior director for Central Europe, told journalists here Nov. 12 that the Block 15 F-16As offered would be equipped with new Pratt & Whitney engines and undergo two structural upgrades to ensure maximum operational capability.
Herley Industries will supply identification friend or foe (IFF) interrogators and transponder systems to the Republic of Korea navy for use on KDX II Batch III destroyers, the company said Nov. 12. The work will be done under $4 million in contract awards. "We are very pleased with these recent, additional contracts to provide communications systems for this multi-ship, multi-year program," President John M. Kelley said in a statement.
DEFENSE BILL: The Senate Nov. 12 approved the fiscal 2004 defense authorization conference report by a 95-3 vote. The legislation, which the House passed Nov. 7 (DAILY, Nov. 10), now heads to President Bush for his expected signature. The $401 billion measure authorizes $74 billion for procurement and $63 billion for research and development. It allows the Air Force to acquire 100 new Boeing KC-767A tanker aircraft by leasing 20 and buying the rest (DAILY, Nov. 7).
SpaceDev of Poway, Calif., is auctioning off a private space mission aboard a microsatellite that would be based on the company's Maneuvering and orbital Transfer Vehicle (MTV). The auction is open on eBay (www.ebay.com) until Nov. 20. The minimum opening bid is $250,000, although the reserve - the price below which the sale won't be accepted - is considerably higher than that. A potential buyer also has the option of bypassing the auction and purchasing the mission outright for $9.5 million. At presstime there were no bids posted.
Asian-Pacific countries could be the biggest buyers of small and medium-sized warships over the next six to seven years, according to several U.S. naval analysts. In a report released Nov. 12 in Singapore, naval analysts with AMI International of Bremerton, Wash., said new warship procurement in the Asia-Pacific region could grow from $7 billion in 2003 to $14 billion by 2009. Alan Garwood, a senior export official in the British Ministry of Defence, told the Reuters news agency that the Asia-Pacific market could become "enormous.
JUNKERS AWARD: Jens Flottau, the Munich, Germany, correspondent for Aerospace Daily affiliate Aviation Daily, has been awarded the Hugo Junkers Award by the German Aviation Writers Association. The award is given annually for outstanding journalistic work in aviation and aerospace. Flottau received the award for his coverage of the demise of Fairchild Dornier, a regional aircraft manufacturer, a story he had followed since 1996.
The Compact Kinetic Energy Missile (CKEM), built by Lockheed Martin Missiles & Fire Control, has successfully completed its first controlled flight test, according to company officials. CKEM is a next-generation hypervelocity anti-tank missile that builds on technology used in the Army's Line-of-Sight Anti-Tank (LOSAT) missile, which still is in development. CKEM is being designed for direct-fire, close-in engagements of about 219 yards (200 meters) and ranges that exceed those of LOSAT.
ALVEY SYSTEMS George Reyher has been appointed account manager for Latin America. BOEING-SIKORSKY, Bridgeport, Conn. Mike Blake has been appointed Comanche program director, replacing Charles "Chuck" Allen, who has been selected as vice president and program manager for Boeing's Orbital Space Program, headquartered in Huntsville, Ala. DRS TECHNOLOGIES, Parsippany, N.J. Patrick R. Marion has joined the company as vice president and general manager of the DRS Laurel Technologies unit in Johnstown, Pa.
THE EUROPEAN SPACE AGENCY (ESA) signed a deal with Rosaviakosmos, the Russian aviation and space agency, for two unmanned Foton capsule flights, ESA said. The Foton-M2 and Foton-M3 missions will carry 660 kilograms (1,455 pounds) of scientific payloads scheduled for launch in May 2005 and late 2006. The flights are replacements for science missions lost in the launch failure of Foton-M1 on Oct. 15, 2002, and the space shuttle Columbia accident in February. Two Russian companies, KBOM of Moscow and TsSKB-Progress of Samara, will partner with Rosaviakosmos.
The General Accounting Office (GAO) endorsed the Department of Defense's new weapons acquisition policy in a new report, but recommended that the defense secretary strengthen the policy by requiring additional controls over managers when their programs reach crucial milestones.
Northrop Grumman Corp. is continuing efforts to slim its directed infrared countermeasures (DIRCM) system, with its most compact version slated to become available for use in a year or so, company officials said Nov. 11. The Guardian system, which Northrop Grumman is developing with its own money, will weigh about 115 pounds. That's about 10 pounds less than a predecessor device, the Small Transmitter Laser System, which is used to protect Air Force C-17 transports and other large military aircraft against surface-to-air missiles.
The Boeing Co. has created an office to monitor the company's ethics, financials, export compliance and other aspects of internal governance, it announced Nov. 11. Effective immediately, the Office of Internal Governance consolidates internal monitoring functions -- previously performed by different organizations within the company -- under a single unit that reports directly to Boeing Chairman and CEO Phil Condit, according to spokesman John Dern.
The first launch of the Advanced Polar System (APS) satellites in DOD's Transformational Communications MILSATCOM (TCM) program has slipped two years to fiscal 2013, according to the Air Force. Following a $100 million congressional budget cut, the Air Force told contractors not to perform work on the APS spacecraft in the next phase of the TCM effort (DAILY, Oct. 22). However, the polar satellites have not been dropped, according to the Air Force.
