UNITED24 - Make a charitable donation in support of Ukraine!

Space


June 2000 Space News

  • The Russians Are Coming 30 June 2000 - Fort Bliss to host Russian-U.S. Theater Missile Defense command post exercise in November or December
  • THE CASE FOR MISSILE DEFENSE Voice of America 30 June 2000 -- On July 7th, the United States will conduct its next test of a national missile defense system. Previous tests have produced mixed results. The information provided by the new test will help President Bill Clinton decide whether to proceed with the preliminary stages of deployment.
  • International Launch Services and Lockheed Martin Provide Mission Success for NASA Satellite Launch Lockheed Martin 30 Jun 2000 -- A Lockheed Martin Atlas IIA rocket lifted off from Complex 36 Pad A this morning, successfully placing the first of the next-generation Tracking and Data Relay Satellites (TDRS) into geosynchronous transfer orbit for NASA. Liftoff occurred at 8:56 a.m. EDT followed by successful spacecraft separation just under 30 minutes later.
  • SENATE-MISSILE DEFENSE Voice of America 29 June 2000 -- The head of the American missile defense program is denying allegations of fraud and rigged test results, in advance of a crucial test next week.
  • NAVY SUCCESSFULLY CONDUCTS FIRST FLIGHT OF AREA TBMD MISSILE June 29, 2000 -- The Navy Area Theater Ballistic Missile Defense (TBMD) Program conducted a successful controlled test flight of the Standard Missile 2 (SM-2), Block IVA TBMD and Anti-Air Warfare multi-role missile. The flight, designated "Control Test Vehicle One" (CTV-1), took place at the White Sands Missile Range, New Mexico.
  • Army Awards Lockheed Martin $4-Billion THAAD EMD Development Contract June 28, 2000 -- The U.S. Army Space and Missile Defense Command, Huntsville, AL, today awarded Lockheed Martin an approximate $4 billion contract to begin the Engineering and Manufacturing Development (EMD) phase of the Theater High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) program.
  • PRESS CONFERENCE BY THE PRESIDENT June 28, 2000 -- It's quite possible that in the next few years, countries not part of the arms control regimes of the last three decades could develop both long-range missile delivery capability and weapons of mass destruction which they could put on warheads, and that none of this would be covered by, essentially, the mutual deterrence structure of the ABM Treaty and all the things we've done since then. I'm also encouraged by the moratorium that the North Koreans have on testing. But they still have a missile program, and so it's still something that the United States has to be mindful of and to prepare to deal with and to keep up with.
  • President May Lose Nuclear Decision By David Wood, Newhouse News Service June 28, 2000 - "In the real world, the human in the loop basically serves as little more than a circuit breaker to prevent the system from going off half- cocked," said John Pike, a space and military policy analyst for the Federation of American Scientists in Washington.
  • Boeing Wins Contract to Launch RADARSAT- 2 in 2003 Boeing 28 Jun 2000 -- The Boeing Company [NYSE: BA] will launch Canada's RADARSAT-2 Earth-observation satellite, with the world's most advanced synthetic aperture radar (SAR) system, on board a Delta II rocket in 2003.
  • U.S. Army awards Lockheed Martin Engineering and Manufacturing Development contract for THAAD program Lockheed Martin 28 Jun 2000 -- The U.S. Army Space and Missile Defense Command, Huntsville, AL, awarded Lockheed Martin an approximate $4 billion contract to begin the Engineering and Manufacturing Development (EMD) phase of the Theater High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) program.
  • Boeing Acquires SVS, Inc. in Bid to Expand Laser and Optics Business Boeing 27 Jun 2000 -- The Boeing Company announced that it is in negotiations to acquire SVS, Inc., of Albuquerque, N.M., a high technology company with nationally-recognized expertise in the electro-optical arena. The announcement was made by Mike Skolnick, vice president and general manager of the Laser & Electro Optical Systems (LEOS) unit of The Boeing Company.
  • ORBITAL'S MDA UNIT RECEIVES TWO MAJOR SPACE ROBOTICS ORDERS FOR SPACE STATION APPLICATIONS Orbital Sciences Corp. 27 Jun 2000 -- Orbital Sciences Corporation (NYSE: ORB) announced that its MacDonald, Dettwiler and Associates Ltd. (MDA) subsidiary was recently awarded two new contracts for its space robotics systems from the Canadian Space Agency (CSA) and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA).
  • National Missile Defense and Strategic Security in the Post-Cold War World By Senator Joseph Biden (Speech to the Cato Institute on June 27) I fear that acting upon our worst fears will only make those fears come true. If we were to deploy the national missile defense proposed by the Pentagon, China would surely increase its nuclear forces.
  • Boeing Consolidates Delta Rocket Production Boeing 26 Jun 2000 -- Boeing officials announced plans to consolidate the majority of Delta rocket production into the company's facilities in Pueblo, Colo., and Decatur, Ala.
  • Boeing Delta IV Solid Rocket Motor Qualification Testing Completed Boeing 23 Jun 2000 -- Technicians in Utah yesterday successfully completed qualification of the solid rocket motors that will be used with the Boeing [NYSE: BA] Delta IV family of launch vehicles.
  • Letter from ASD(C3I) Arthur Money to Ted Postol - June 23, 2000 -- "I regret any confusion surrounding the recent visit of representatives of the Defense Security Service (DSS) to you at your office.... I want to assure you that you are not under investigation..."
  • ATK Completes Development and Qualification of Solid Rocket Motor for Boeing Delta IV Launch Vehicles ATK 22 Jun 2000 -- ATK (Alliant Techsystems)(NYSE: ATK) said Alliant Aerospace Propulsion Company, Magna, Utah, successfully completed the last of three static test firings of a new solid propulsion Graphite Epoxy Motor designated as the GEM-60 for The Boeing Company's Delta IV Medium-plus family of launch vehicles.
  • Rocketdyne / Astrium RS-72 Engine Testing Successfully Completed at White Sands Boeing 22 Jun 2000 -- A team from The Boeing Company and Astrium GmbH (formerly DaimlerChrysler Aerospace AG (Dasa)) has successfully completed hot-fire testing of the RS-72 Pathfinder engine at NASA's White Sands Test Facility in New Mexico.
  • Lockheed Martin Space Systems awarded one of four study contracts for NASA's NPOESS Preparatory Project Lockheed Martin 22 Jun 2000 -- Lockheed Martin Space Systems has been awarded one of four study contracts by the Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC) for the National Polar-orbiting Operational Environmental Satellite System (NPOESS) Preparatory Project (NPP).
  • Letter from Ted Postol to John Podesta - June 21, 2000 -- "I am writing to ask you to explain why three Defense Security Service investigators would arrive unannounced at my M.I.T. office carrying a letter for me to read that was classified SECRET."
  • Special Briefing Regarding the National Missile Defense Program Dr. Jacques Gansler, Undersecretary for Acquisition, Technology & Logistics and Lieutenant General Ronald Kadish, Director, BMDO Tuesday, June 20, 2000 - Mr. Gansler: We would anticipate seeing ICBM-type ranges from North Korea, possibly even Iran, in the 2005 time period. We will have 20 interceptors in the initial deployment. We would assume like five possible launches against it so that we could have four shots at each of those five. The dilemma here is meeting the 2005 date versus if the flight were not totally successful, and then you have to ask yourself the trade, and that's the decision that the president would have to make. It depends, of course, on what caused the failure. But it is very clear that if you don't make a decision now to start to build that radar on Shemya, then you are sacrificing the 2005 date. There is also a law, which the Congress has passed, which says we "shall deploy" the system "as soon as it is technically feasible." And so naturally that's not something we can just ignore, but it's part of the reason for the time-dependence of this program.
  • Briefing Slides - Special Briefing Regarding the National Missile Defense Program Tuesday, June 20, 2000 -
  • Sea Launch Completes Return to Flight Activities Boeing 20 Jun 2000 -- Sea Launch has successfully completed its Return to Flight/Systems Readiness Review. All participants signed a certificate of agreement indicating they are completely satisfied that all corrective actions are being implemented satisfactorily. Preparations for a launch in late July are now underway.
  • DEBATE ESCALATES OVER U-S MISSILE DEFENSEVoice of America 19 June 2000 -- As the date nears for President Clinton to decide whether to begin building a limited nuclear missile defense system for this country, the editorial debate intensifies.
  • STAR WARS II by WILLIAM D. HARTUNG and MICHELLE CIARROCCA The Nation - June 19, 2000 -- As John Pike of the Federation of American Scientists put it, "This is a political decision driven by the need to defend Al Gore from Republicans rather than defend America against missiles."
  • DOE satellite begins research mission 18 June 2000 -- During its three-month checkout period, the MTI satellite collected ground images of a number of U.S. sites.
  • Boeing Delta Rockets to Launch Next-Generation NASA Spacecraft Boeing 16 Jun 2000 -- NASA has awarded a contract to The Boeing Company [NYSE: BA] for its family of Delta rockets to launch the next generation of scientific and technology development payloads into orbit or into deep space.
  • DoD News Briefing Thursday, June 15, 2000 -- North Korea is not the only country we worry about. We worry about Iraq, we worry about Iran, and we worry about other countries that are working on long-range missiles or that already have chemical and biological weapons and would like to have ways to deliver them with long-range missiles. We think a boost-phase defense system offers some fairly daunting technological problems. And you may have seen a briefing that Under Secretary Walter Slocombe gave at NATO, last week, on Thursday, that ran through in considerable detail what some of the technical difficulties are for a boost-phase intercept system.
  • Boeing Identifies Next Delta III Payload Boeing 14 Jun 2000 -- Boeing [NYSE: BA] officials announced the next payload carried aboard the company's Delta III rocket will be a simulated payload that closely matches the last satellite carried by the launch vehicle.
  • DoD News Briefing Tuesday, June 13, 2000 -- General Welch heads the independent review team, which has so far issued two reports on our national missile defense program. The third has recently been published -- and it's classified, of course. He is trying very hard to complete an unclass version and will be -- hopefully have that done, so that we can sit down and discus that with you tomorrow.
  • National Missile Defense Independent Review Team Executive Summary Tuesday, June 13, 2000 - The IRT concluded that the technical capability to develop and field the limited system to meet the defined C1 threat & available. Meeting the 200S I0C schedule goal with required performance remains high risk.
  • The Missile Plan Skeptic By David Abel Boston Globe June 12, 2000 -- ''Ted is evidently in the business of telling the emperor he has no clothes; unfortunately, the facts haven't penetrated Washington circles,'' said John Pike, director of space policy and military analysis at the Federation of American Scientists in Washington. ''It's kind of dreadful to contemplate what's technically possible and politically acceptable.''
  • Laser Air Defense System Still Decade Away for U.S. Air Defense Artillery ADA Magazine 9 June 2000 -- Why is Israeli, already the first nation with a domestic defense--Arrow 2--against ballistic missiles, rather than the United States destined to become the first nation to deploy a laser missile defense system?
  • PRESS BRIEFING BY JOE LOCKHART June 9, 2000 -- The Pentagon was looking at this and would be providing some analysis, and when that's done, I'll be glad to talk about it.
  • Tactical laser destroys rocket in shootdown test (Army News Service, June 9, 2000 -- The Tactical High Energy Laser, known as the THEL demonstrator, successfully tracked and destroyed a single rocket for the first time and during the first attempt June 6 at about 3:45 p.m. EDT.
  • DoD News Briefing June 8, 2000 -- I would say that we don't have a plan to procure that for our own use. We are pursuing other technologies that we would envision to be more appropriate for U.S. forces use, and something of a more mobile system
  • Transcript: Slocombe Briefing in Brussels on NATO, Missile Defense 08 June 2000 -- Most of the reporters' questions dealt with the proposed U.S. missile defense system and a Russian proposal for a cooperative defense program, although as Slocombe pointed out, "no specific details have been provided by the Russian side."
  • Nonproliferation Challenges in Asia, 07 June 2000 -- Statement by Robert J. Einhorn, Assistant Secretary for Nonproliferation, before The Asia Society, Hong Kong
  • U-S / ISRAEL LASER Voice of America 07 June 2000 -- Missile expert John Pike of the Federation of American Scientists says it will be much harder to shoot down long- range ballistic missiles that could carry nuclear weapons and travel much higher, faster and farther.
  • Laser shoots down rocket for first time By Jim Wolf Reuters - June 7, 2000 - The capability to shoot down a target with an experimental airborne laser was first demonstrated by the United States in the late 1970s, said John Pike, director of the space policy project at the Federation of American Scientists.
  • Army's new high-tech laser is right on target By Andrea Stone, USA TODAY June 7, 2000 - John Pike, a weapons analyst at the Federation of American Scientists, said THEL has no foreseeable applications for U.S. forces.
  • TRW Uses World's First Laser Weapon to Shoot Down Operational Rocket June 7, 2000 - The successful intercept and destruction of a Katyusha rocket occurred on June 6 at approximately 3:48 p.m. EDT at the Army's High Energy Laser Systems Test Facility (HELSTF).
  • STRV-2 Launch Is Success JUNE 7, 2000 -- The Ballistic Missile Defense Organization (BMDO) announced today that its Space Technology Research Vehicle-2 (STRV-2) was successfully launched from Vandenberg Air Force Base.
  • ORBITAL'S PEGASUS ROCKET SUCCESSFULLY LAUNCHES U.S. AIR FORCE SATELLITE Orbital Sciences Corp. 07 Jun 2000 -- Orbital Sciences Corporation (NYSE: ORB) announced that its air-launched Pegasus® rocket successfully boosted the U.S. Air Force's Tri-Service Experiments Mission 5 (TSX-5) satellite into its targeted orbit earlier in a mission that originated from Vandenberg Air Force Base (VAFB) in California.
  • Hard fight about the Vardo radar BY INGE SELLEVAG Bergens Tidende 06 June 2000 -- Strong forces in the United States Air Force fought to use the Vardo radar technology in the US national missile defense. The fight continued also after it was announced that the radar was to move to Norway.
  • ORBITAL SET FOR JUNE 7 LAUNCH OF PEGASUS ROCKET WITH COMPANY-BUILT TSX-5 Orbital Sciences Corp. 06 Jun 2000 -- Orbital Sciences Corporation (NYSE: ORB) announced that it is in final preparations to launch the U.S. Air Force's Tri-Service Experiments Mission 5 (TSX-5) satellite aboard its Pegasus rocket.
  • Team ABL Continues Making Progress with Delivery of Two Airborne Laser Steering Mirrors 06 June 2000 -- A team of engineers has delivered two prototype, fast-steering mirrors for the Airborne Laser (ABL) theater-ballistic-missile defense system to Lockheed Martin Space Systems in Sunnyvale, Calif.
  • Hearts and Minds - The NMD's Geopolitical Ripples By Rhee Tong-chin Korea Times 05 June 2000 -- John Pike of the Federation of American Scientists (FAS) argued that the Russian and Chinese objection to the American deployment of the National Missile Defense System concerns the more vigorous and aggressive ``projection of American diplomacy backed up by force.''
  • U.S. National Missile Defense: Looking Past the Headlines Address by Lt. Gen. Ronald Kadish, USAF Director, Ballistic Missile Defense Organization To The Year 2000 Multinational BMD Conference Philadelphia, PA June 5, 2000 -- A growing number of countries can do us harm using ballistic missiles, and their views concerning the use of weapons of mass destruction are different from ours. Missiles are spreading to dangerous states whose leaders we may not be able to deter in every instance. Active defenses are not just about providing basic protection. They also will help preserve our freedom of action and remove a hostile state's capability to coerce U.S. foreign policy or shape national security decisions.
  • Text: Vershbow on National Missile Defense: Political Implications 03 June 2000 -- Ambassador Alexander Vershbow, the U.S. Permanent Representative on the North Atlantic Council, discussed the political and security implications of a limited national missile defense (NMD) deployment at the XVIIth International Workshop on Political-Military Decision-Making in Berlin June 3.
  • Team ABL Continues Making Progress with Delivery of Two Airborne Laser Steering Mirrors Boeing 01 Jun 2000 -- A team of engineers has delivered two prototype, fast-steering mirrors for the Airborne Laser (ABL) theater-ballistic-missile defense system to Lockheed Martin Space Systems in Sunnyvale, Calif.



NEWSLETTER
Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list