NASA Announces Lunar Lander Analog Competition Agreement

Posted at: Fri May 5th, 2006

NASA's Deputy Administrator Shana Dale announced Friday the agency's Centennial Challenges program has signed an agreement with the X PRIZE Foundation to conduct the $2 million Lunar Lander Analog Challenge. "NASA's Centennial Challenge program is using the tool of prize competitions...

Rutan: NASA's crew exploration vehicle doesn't make sense

Posted at: Fri May 5th, 2006

LOS ANGELES - Maverick aerospace designer Burt Rutan on Thursday criticized NASA's decision to use an Apollo-style capsule to return to the moon, saying it "doesn't make any sense" to build a new generation of space vehicles using old technology.

Science Groups Protest Proposed NASA Science Cuts

Posted at: Fri May 5th, 2006

Major scientific organizations say next year's proposed budget for the US space agency NASA contains cuts that threaten the agency's research mission. The Planetary Society, a private space support group, is one of the organizations that is mobilizing to protest the cuts.

Air Force, Army still working out details of UAV agreement

Posted at: Fri May 5th, 2006

The Air Force and Army continue to work out the details of how they will coordinate their activities in the acquisition and operation of their respective Predator and Warrior unmanned aerial systems, officials from both services said yesterday.

Stealth spending at the Pentagon

Posted at: Fri May 5th, 2006

The Air Force wants to expand its fleet of F-22 Raptors. But at $130 million apiece, these stealthy planes from Lockheed Martin Corp. are the most expensive fighters ever. So the Pentagon is proposing to buy its next 20 Raptors piecemeal: sections of the fuselage in fiscal 2007, much of the innards ...

Funding for alternative strike fighter engine restored

Posted at: Fri May 5th, 2006

Rolls-Royce appeared to win a major victory on Thursday after two congressional committees restored money in the 2007 defence budget for an alternative engine for the Joint Strike Fighter programme. The Pentagon earlier this year recommended cancelling the alternate $2.4bn engine, whi...

F-35 Ground-Vibration Testing Finished Ahead of Schedule

Posted at: Fri May 5th, 2006

FORT WORTH, Texas, May 5 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Ground-vibration testing for the first Lockheed Martin F-35 Joint Strike Fighter finished early on April 30, continuing a string of testing milestones completed ahead of schedule.

CENTAF releases airpower summary

Posted at: Fri May 5th, 2006

5/4/2006 - SOUTHWEST ASIA (AFPN) -- U.S. Central Command Air Forces officials released today's airpower summary. Coalition aircraft flew 50 close-air-support missions May 3 for Operation Iraqi Freedom. These missions included support to coalition troops, infrastructure protection, rec...

Boeing Phantom Works to Lead Research on X-48B Blended Wing Body Concept

Posted at: Fri May 5th, 2006

HAMPTON, Va., May 04, 2006 -- In cooperation with NASA and the U.S. Air Force Research Laboratory, the Phantom Works organization of Boeing [NYSE: BA] is taking another step toward exploring and validating the structural, aerodynamic and operational advantages of a futuristic aircraft design called ...

Lockheed Acquires RFID Supplier

Posted at: Fri May 5th, 2006

Bethesda, Md., May 4, 2006 -- Lockheed Martin Corporation [NYSE:LMT] today announced it has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Savi Technology, Inc.(Savi), a provider of active radio frequency identification (RFID) solutions. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed.