LOCKHEED WINS $14.6 MILLION DEAL.

Byline: JIM SKEEN Staff Writer

PALMDALE -- Lockheed Martin Aeronautics Co. - Palmdale has received a $14.6 million contract to develop conceptual designs for a reusable, hypersonic aircraft as part of a Pentagon effort to develop a weapons system capable of reaching targets 9,000 miles away in less than two hours.

The contract continues the company's work for a project called Force Application and Launch from the Continental U.S., dubbed Falcon for short. The project is a joint effort by the Air Force and the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, the same agency that launched the F-117 stealth fighter and the unmanned Global Hawk programs.

Ultimately, the Pentagon wants to develop an unmanned aircraft capable of taking off from conventional runways and carrying 12,000 pounds over a distance of 9,000 miles in less than two hours. Upon return, the aircraft would be capable of quickly being readied for another mission.

To get to that goal, the Pentagon is looking at a flight testing a series of test aircraft called hypersonic technology vehicles. Each of the unmanned aircraft will be capable of flying at speeds greater than 10,000 mph.

Design work is already in progress on two of the test aircraft, dubbed HTV-1 and HTV-2. Those two aircraft will end their flights by crashing into the Pacific Ocean.

The new contract is for a third vehicle, HTV-3, that can be recovered.

``We are looking to take it to the next level and make it reusable,'' said Lockheed Martin spokeswoman Dianne Knippel.

Work under the contract is slated to be completed by September 2008. It will not add any additional jobs to Lockheed Martin's Palmdale site, Knippel said.

The technologies required by the program include developing high- temperature materials, thermal protection systems, and guidance, navigation and control systems.

The Antelope Valley is also involved in a second aspect of the Falcon program -- the Small Launch Vehicle. The goal is to create a launch system capable of putting a 1,000-pound satellite into orbit within 24 hours of getting an order and to do it for a cost under $5 million.

Now it costs about $20 million to launch a satellite of that size and it can take months to prepare a launch.

AirLaunch LLC, a Washington state company, is using Edwards Air Force Base to test a launch vehicle it calls the QuickReach rocket. The company is looking at using a C-17 transport to carry aloft a space booster rocket, which would be rolled out the plane's back end during launches.

The company has conducted a series of dummy rocket drops. The last test, conducted in July, involved a full-size QuickReach replica, 66 feet long and weighing 72,000 pounds.

The company is looking to launch a live QuickReach rocket in 2008.

james.skeen(at)dailynews

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