From: skunk-works-digest-owner@mail.orst.edu To: skunk-works-digest@mail.orst.edu Subject: Skunk Works Digest V5 #444 Reply-To: skunk-works-digest@mail.orst.edu Errors-To: skunk-works-digest-owner@mail.orst.edu Precedence: bulk Skunk Works Digest Tuesday, 3 October 1995 Volume 05 : Number 444 In this issue: AW&ST Oct. 2, 1995 See the end of the digest for information on subscribing to the skunk-works or skunk-works-digest mailing lists and on how to retrieve back issues. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- From: Kathryn & Andreas Gehrs-Pahl Date: Tue, 3 Oct 1995 01:27:35 -0400 (EDT) Subject: AW&ST Oct. 2, 1995 INDUSTRY OUTLOOK, page 13: ========================== "SMALL PACKAGE, BIG BANG: Small bombs with low-observable coatings, enhanced explosives and rocket boosters for standoff and penetration of hard targets may be part of a new product line for Lockheed Martin. The bombs are being designed to increase the firepower of small-payload stealth aircraft such as the F-22 and Joint Advanced Strike Technology aircraft. The weapons could be as small as 250 lb. and 6 in. in diameter with enhanced explosives and smart fuzes for finding underground rooms. The company has begun to consolidate its advanced weapons researchers and programs in a new smart munitions center of excellence at Orlando, Fla." "BUNKER BUSTER FOR B-2: The weapons potential for the B-2 has increased with a Northrop Grumman plan to adapt the deep bunker-busting, 4,700-lb. GBU-28 for use on the stealth bomber's rotary launchers. The 202-in.-long bomb has been modified with a mid-body fin assembly that allows it to fly in a nose-up attitude for longer range and GPS guidance. When the weapon nears the target, it will roll and dive at a steep angle. The bomb bodies will still be made from 8-in. artillery barrels with four fitted to each launcher for a total of eight per aircraft. The bombs can penetrate at least 100 ft. of earth." NEWS BREAKS, page 17: ===================== "Impressed by performance of the General Atomics Tier 2 Predator unmanned aerial vehicle over Bosnia, U.S. House-Senate appropriations conferees have increased the program's budget to $45 million, $25 million more than the Administration's request." WASHINGTON OUTLOOK, page 19: ============================ "TARGETS LOCKED ON: Adm. Bill Owens and the Joint Requirements Oversight Council are trying to muscle programmatic decisions away from their civilian Defense Dept. counterparts, most recently by calling for fewer unmanned aerial vehicle programs. In their sights are the TRW/IAI Hunter and Maneuver variant UAVs in the short range category -- and the big-payload Teledyne Ryan Tier 2+ and stealthy, Lockheed Martin/Boeing DarkStar UAVs in the endurance category. To make its candidate more attractive, Lockheed is pitching a larger, more expensive version of its UAV to senior military officials. The idea is to increase the DarkStar's payload to carry at least two sensors at a time and thus sidetrack the Pentagon strategy of buying two types of $10- million UAVs -- one for large payloads and one for stealth. But the larger aircraft could cost $20-40 million a copy, plus $200-250 million for development. Pentagon UAV specialists would prefer to see both Tier 2+ and DarkStar perform in flight before making such a decision." "A LITTLE TOO SECRET: The National Reconnaissance Office is in the Congressional doghouse again. Last year, lawmakers cited the NRO for a misdemeanor -- spending bundles on a palatial suburban office building. Now, it looks like the "super secret" agency had squirreled away at least $1- billion in unspent reserves. In a town where everybody is in a fiscal vise, saving too much money is a high crime. So appropriators quickly stripped an estimated $1 billion from the NRO's Fiscal 1996 budget. But Sen. Bob Kerry (D.-Neb.) defended the NRO, noting its satellite work is high risk. "It didn't buy any $500 toilet seats," he said." Three other articles may also be of interest: FLEXIBLE SUPERCONDUCTORS SHOW COMMERCIAL PROMISE, pages 40-41: ============================================================== OSC'S NEW VENTURE AWAITS IMPROVED LAUNCH RELIABILITY, pages 42-46: ================================================================== OSC SEEKS LARGER REMOTE-SENSING ROLE, pages 46-47: ================================================== - -- Andreas - --- --- Andreas & Kathryn Gehrs-Pahl E-Mail: schnars@ais.org 313 West Court St. #305 or: gpahl@raptor.csc.flint.umich.edu Flint, MI 48502-1239 Tel: (810) 238-8469 WWW URL: http://www.umcc.umich.edu/~schnars/ - --- --- ------------------------------ End of Skunk Works Digest V5 #444 ********************************* To subscribe to skunk-works-digest, send the command: subscribe skunk-works-digest in the body of a message to "majordomo@mail.orst.edu". 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