Lockheed Gets Hybrid Launch Vehicle Work: Lockheed Martin officials say the Air Force has given the company a $2.5 million contract to participate in the Hybrid Launch Vehicle studies and analysis program, which is part of the Operationally Responsive Space initiative. The service already has enlisted Northrop Grumman in this effort to produce an HLV that would provide an affordable and reliably responsive means to launch small spacecraft. In a separate procurement, the Air Force will select two teams to design subscale HLV demonstrators, scheduled to begin work in Fiscal 2007.
The emphasis on speed in the Pentagon’s newly unveiled slate of acquisition reforms may come with increased near-term cost increases, analysts say. But according to U.S. defense officials, the new weapons-buying construct provides the military with enough flexibility to prevent runaway budget overruns in major programs.
