FT. CAMPBELL, KY. U.S. Army special operations forces believe that Afghanistan’s high mountains and rough terrain could have thwarted several missions without the small force of MH-47Es to call on. But now senior Army officials have to wrestle with how to replenish and upgrade the special purpose helicopters that have come under heavy enemy fire in recent months.

WASHINGTON Aerospace analysts have scoffed at the idea that EADS/Airbus can capture part of the U.S. Air Force “smart tanker” competition or that the service would operate a mixed fleet of aircraft. But top USAF officials insist that Boeing does not have a lock on the tanker business and contend that continued EADS competition is critical to the program’s success.

PARIS SES Global, Gilat Satellite Networks and Alcatel Space will team to provide two-way satellite broadband services in Europe, giving new impetus to the sputtering broadband market. The three companies agreed last week to invest more than 200 million euros ($175 million) in an as-yet unnamed joint venture, to be based in Luxembourg, to serve residential, small business and corporate customers not served by high-speed cable or digital subscriber lines (DSLs).

COLORADO SPRINGS NASA and the U.S. Air Force are preparing to develop reusable launch vehicle (RLV) technology in tandem, abandoning the Clinton-era policy that restricted the military to expendable launcher development in favor of cooperation on dual-use RLV technology work alongside separate efforts to meet unique NASA and military requirements.

WASHINGTON U.S. Army officials believe the shortage of UAVs contributed to a lack of intelligence for a mission during the war in Afghanistan that resulted in the death of seven special operations personnel. The U.S. had good intelligence about A1 Qaeda and Taliban troops massing that led to Operation Anaconda.

COLORADO SPRINGS Legacy space systems and warfighter ingenuity have been vital ingredients of successful U.S. operations in the ongoing war on terrorism. But, as the enemy switches to more sophisticated methods, countering or preventing additional attacks will depend on the strength of national commitment—backed by money—to develop and integrate advanced technology into existing and future space resources.