Johns Hopkins Lab Plans Reconnaissance Airship Demo
Defense Daily:
By Amy Butler
The once nonexistent market for high-altitude airships designed to collect intelligence out of reach of enemy missiles is likely to get more crowded.
The Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory has embarked on a demonstration project to build the High Altitude Reconnaissance Vehicle (HARVe, pronounced "Harvey"), according to retired Air Force Maj. Gen. Robert Behler, general manager for precision engagement and assistant department head for the power projection department at the lab.
Officials there hope to conduct a low-altitude demonstration of the air vehicle within eight months, Behler told reporters Nov. 15 during the Defense News Media Group's annual Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance Integration conference in Arlington, Va.
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FAA Issues New Safety Goals - NTSB Says Existing Risks Not Being Reduced
Air Safety Week:
'To make an intractable problem go away - redefine it.' - Anonymous
The plan to provide a stable vision of progress toward a higher level of safety is itself unstable, with some measures of safety performance dropped and others likely to be modified significantly to put the best face on an expected increase in near mid-air collisions. The document in question is the Federal Aviation Administration's (FAA) Flight Plan 2005-2009. The plan, now in its second year of publication, lays out the agency's goals for the next five years.
The latest edition drops the prototype safety index that was such a prominent feature of last year's plan and, with an anticipated increase in air traffic control operational errors, FAA officials said statistics will be revised to feature rates instead of absolute numbers.
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MEMS and Atomic Clocks
Avionics Magazine:
Atomic clocks small enough to fit on a computer chip will make a difference to future GPS, communications and radar systems. A defense research program has produced promising results.
By Kathleen Kocks
The atomic clock is the ultimate stable timepiece. A U.S. defense agency has taken on the challenge of developing an atomic clock that will fit on a computer chip. The result could benefit avionics in several ways.
This past August, scientists at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) unveiled a development that could deliver a thousand-fold performance improvement over the quartz crystal clocks used in many communication products. Priority applications for avionics include GPS, secure communications and radar. Avionics test equipment also would benefit.
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ACS 'Honeymoon' Over Soon As Program Kicks Into High Gear, Official Says
C4I News:
By Lorenzo Cortes
The "honeymoon" phase for the Army's Aerial Common Sensor (ACS) program will end late this month as the program delves deeper into the systems development and demonstration (SDD) phase, according to a top Army official.
"Although we're only 75 days under this particular [SDD] contract, they're probably some of the most crucial days," Edward Bair, program executive officer (PEO) for Integrated Electronic Warfare and Sensors (IEW&S), said recently during a media briefing at the Association of the U.S. Army (AUSA) convention in Washington, D.C. This includes codifying relationships with subcontractors. By the end of November, he added, the "honeymoon would be over for everybody," as the program gets into the details, demonstration and building process.
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Europe's Money Better Spent on Airlift Than Galileo, EUCOM Deputy Says
Defense Daily International:
By Amy Butler
A U.S. European Command official this week said the roughly $10 billion being spent by Europe on a peer constellation to the Air Force's GPS could be better spent purchasing airlift for the NATO.
"I look at Europe, for example, and the fact that they are now moving toward purchasing a Galileo GPS system. And, you have to ask yourself when there is already an existing GPS system...and Europe is going to invest almost $10 billion on a GPS system called Galileo," Air Force Gen. Charles Wald, deputy commander of EUCOM, told the Defense Writers Group on Tuesday. "My question would be why aren't they putting that money into airlift instead of Galileo," he continued, adding that was his "personal opinion."
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