Iraq War GEOINT
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TASC Corp. in Andover, MA received a ceiling priced $43.5 million firm-fixed-priced, indefinite-delivery/ indefinite-quantity contract to provide sustainment, systems engineering, integration, production, fielding and logistics support for the U.S. Marine Corps’s Topographic Production Capability (TPC) [PDF] system. The TPC system is a transportable, highly mobile, modularized network of systems that allows the commander to exercise near real-time control, coordination, and direction of Marine Air Ground Task Force (MAGTF)’s geospatial intelligence (GEOINT).

DID has more on the Marine Corps’ TPC…

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Satellite with FAST
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Boeing Satellite Systems in El Segundo, CA won a $13.8 million cost-plus-fixed-fee contract from the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) for Phase 2 of the Fast Access Spacecraft Testbed (FAST) satellite power generation and propulsion program. The objective of the FAST program is the development and demonstration of a high power generation and propulsion system for mobile satellites.

DARPA’s FAST program is a multiphase effort to design and develop a ground test prototype of a new High Power Generation Subsystem (HPGS) for mobile satellites. DID has more on the FAST program…

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SBIRS-High
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The Space Based Infrared System (SBIRS) High satellite program is a key component of the USA’s future missile alert system, designed to give maximum warning and monitoring of ballistic missile launches anywhere in the world. The new satellites will replace the existing Defense Support Program (DSP) fleet. Their infared sensors have 2 times the revisit rate and 3 times the sensitivity of DSP, while providing better persistent coverage.

Unfortunately, the program has been beset by massive cost overruns, technical challenges that continue to present problems, and uncertain performance. Despite its problems, the U.S. Air Force is proceeding with the program, awarding a cost-plus-fixed-fee contract of up to $1.49 billion to prime contractor Lockheed Martin Space Systems in Sunnyvale, CA for production of the 3rd SBIRS-High satellite (GEO-3, a geosynchronous orbit design), the 3rd payload (HEO-3, a Highly Elliptical Orbit design), and modification of the SBIRS ground systems to accommodate the operation of 3 payloads at the same time.

Are there more SBIRS High contracts in the works?

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Bruce Willis missed…
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Kirkland AFB, NM recently entered into a cooperative effort with the University of Hawaii of Honolulu, Hawaii under the Panoramic Survey Telescope and Rapid Response System (PanSTARRS) multi-year program.

PanSTARRS will address numerous science applications ranging from the structure of the Solar System to the properties of the Universe of the largest scales. It will also be able to detect and catalog large numbers of earth-orbit crossing asteroids, or near earth objects (NEO) that present a potential threat to mankind. That last component to the mission is especially intriguing, as there is a long history of partial efforts in this direction within the US and elsewhere. So, where does this award fit in?

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The proliferation of micro-satellites is just the start. USAF journals like High Frontier [5/1, PDF] are already talking about nano-satellites, or in civilian parlance “CubeSats.” Their effects could be profound, and will be felt in many ways. San Jose’s Good Morning Silicon Valley covers an Institute for the Future project called The Signtific Lab. The premise, which you’re invited to discuss and build on, is:

”...in 2019, cubesats – space satellites smaller than a shoebox – have become very cheap and very popular. For $100, anyone can put a customized personal satellite into low-earth orbit. And space data transfer protocols developed by the Interstellar Internet Project provide a basic relay backbone linking low-powered cubesats with ground stations, and with each other. Space is open…. What will you do when space is as cheap and accessible as the Web is today?”

DID’s readers have far more background than most in these areas, and are welcome to participate. The exercise is open until end of day on Match 12/09, and readers can sign up to play “positive imagination” [see example] or “dark imagination” [see example] cards, or supplement existing cards with an “antagonism” card (disagree), a “momentum” card (and then what?), an “adaptation” card (introduce a twist), or an “investigation” card (follow-up questions). Remember, as the IFTF reminds participants, “Your forecasts don’t have to be probable. They just have to be possible.”

Bernard M. “Barney” Oliver was HP’s director of research for 3 decades, from 1952 to 1981. His list of patents, engineering achievements, and science awards was bogglingly large, and included many of the most prestigious awards in these fields. He was also a stickler for the proper use of English; and for clear communication that could move people by answering the “why?” questions, even as it informed them by answering the “what and how?”. That talent was one of many things that set him apart from his peers.

His most lasting achievement is related to that talent. The 1971 Project Cyclops report [PDF format, 14.5 MB | Print version] laid out the basis for theories of intelligent life in the universe, and was instrumental in the creation of NASA’s famous SETI (Search for Extra-Terrestrial Intelligence) project.

Time may tell us how many of SETI’s premises turn out to be true. Until those verdicts are rendered, Dr. Oliver’s work is offered as a fascinating read – and a gold standard for excellent written communication in the aerospace, engineering, and technical policy fields.

A team led by ITT Corporation recently announced a 5-7 year contract to perform telemetry, tracking and command services for near-Earth missions under NASA Goddard Space Flight Center’s Space Communications Network Services (SCNS) contract. The contract has a base period of performance of 5 years and 3 months, with 2 one-year option periods, and a maximum potential value of $1.26 billion if all options are exercised.

FALCON HTVs
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The path toward a hypersonic space plane has been a slow one, filled with twists and turns one would expect given the technological leap involved. Speeds of Mach 8+ place tremendous heat and resistance stresses on a craft. Building a vehicle that is both light enough to achieve the speeds desired at reasonable cost, and robust enough to survive those speeds, is no easy task.

The famous SR-71 Blackbird, which cruised at “only” Mach 3, made heavy use of titanium and had to use slip fits instead of rivets in many places, so that the plane wouldn’t tear itself apart when 800-900 degree surface temperatures made it expand. On the ground, and when being refueled shortly after takeoff, the plane would reportedly leak like a sieve until speed and heat had given the airframe its requisite fit. While the state of the art has advanced since then, so have the desired speeds – and the accompanying challenges.

Despite the considerable engineering challenges ahead, the potential of a truly hypersonic aircraft for reconnaissance, global strike/ transport, and low-cost access to near-space and space make DARPA’s FALCON HTV program a compelling goal to work toward on both engineering and military grounds. The question, as always, will be balancing the need for funding to prove out new designs and concepts, and risk management that ensures limited exposure if it becomes clear that the challenge is still too great for the nonce.

DID covers its ongoing developments below – including a development on the contractor side that may render contract competition plans moot.

• The FALCON Hypersonic Vehicle: Program & Challenges [updated]
• The FALCON Hypersonic Vehicle: Industrial Teams [new]
• FALCON Hypersonic Vehicle: Contracts & Key Events [updated]
• Additional Readings & Sources

Eros-A pic,
Cape Canaveral
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In 2005, issues regarding Israeli weapons exports boiled over between Israel and the USA. Israel’s status as an observer in the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter program was suspended until a resolution in 2006 resulted in the USA assuming de facto veto power over all Israeli exports – even those that do not use American technologies, and fall outside of ITAR as non-military items, but could have potential security implications.

Israel’s canceled $100 million deal to upgrade Venezuela’s F-16s at a time when America was still shipping spare parts is often touted as the first example of that covenant in action. A more recent illustration of that covenant’s effects was recently provided when China sought to purchase time-share use of an Eros-B satellite from the ImageSat International (ISI) joint venture. IAI’s Eros series is derived from Israel’s Ofek-5 military satellite, and provides sub-1.8m imaging similar to France’s Spot satellites, and Space Imaging’s IKONOS. Although the Eros is not classified as a military item, the ISI Satellite Operating Partner (SOP) program allows images to be streamed directly to a customer’s ground stations, and it was submitted for review – a review that may yet scupper the deal…

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Militaries around the world are moving to modernize and transform themselves to meet the challenges of the 21st century. Our mission is to deliver a monthly cross-section of relevant, on-target stories, news, and analysis that will help experts and interested laypeople alike stay up to speed on key military developments and issues as we head into the USA’s Memorial Day weekend. Stories are broken down by military category and presented as fast bullet points that orient you quickly, with accompanying links if you wish to pursue more in-depth treatments.

This monthly briefing comes from a team a team that includes professional publications Defense Industry Daily and Aviation Week & Space Technology, with Winds of Change.NET acting as the briefing’s “neutral ground.”

Some of This Month’s Targets of Opportunity Include: Upgraded A-10s; Orbital Express; Hypersonics; Pod people; nEUROns; AARGMs, Spikes, & MOPs; Project Sandblaster; Compound helicopters; Stealth going mainstream; Routers in space; UAV swarms; Land Warrior RIP, Counter-sniper systems; Mine-protected vehicles go big; Trophy ready in Israel – or how about a net instead; Border robots with guns; Non-lethal weapons; UCAVs from carriers; the ASDS fiasco; Firing NEMO; Virginia’s new nose; Intercontinental cans of whup-ass; Paying for jets, not parts; EFP land mines – and the response; Inventory outsourcing in US military; Medical research; Bulgarian telemedicine; Privatized air tankers? Afghanistan doctrine; Canada’s tank lesson in Afghanistan; 6-Day Satellites; Transformation & Air Power; Lebanon post-mortems; Medals for UAV crews? And much, much more…!

• Air & Space Sector
• C4SI Dimension
• Land Sector
• Maritime Sector
• Strategic Weapons & Missile Defense
• Supply & Support
• Transformation: Policy & Doctrine
  
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