HUNTSVILLE, Ala. — Lockheed Martin officials are adding some small Huntsville companies to their team that aims to capture at least $3 billion worth of Missile Defense Agency work sustaining the Ground-Based Midcourse Defense (GMD) program over at least the next five years. Among the teammates is Dynetics, Inc., which will handle support training and systems engineering here. QuantiTech, Inc., is also joining the team, providing expertise in disposal of the system when parts reach the end of their service lives.
The United States and Israel are looking at separate technology paths for missile defense. Israel is developing specialized ground-based defenses such as Iron Dome that can deal with hundreds of short-range ballistic missiles. The U.S. is looking at combination solid-state and gas lasers and advanced air-to-air missiles that could be carried by unmanned aircraft.
KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, Fla. — U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson, a Florida Democrat, wants to spur commercial space projects with tax breaks and other incentives. Nelson plans to introduce legislation creating up to five enterprise zones in the United States to serve as “magnets” for commercial space ventures. He made the announcement Aug. 17 at a press conference at Kennedy Space Center (KSC) in Florida, which presumably would be one of the commercial space districts.
LONDON — Lower sales in unmanned aircraft and radios led Elbit Systems to suffer a 17% second-quarter revenue drop, but the company is taking heart from improving order intake that is now causing the backlog to grow again.
DEATH PENALTY: Singapore will now impose the death penalty or life imprisonment on hostage takers acting against governments of international organizations. The city-state’s new anti-terrorism law also strengthens the hand of authorities trying to stop ransoms being paid, giving them the power to freeze bank accounts. Murder, including killing a hostage, is already punishable by death in Singapore.
The U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) has denied a protest filed by ITT Corp. against the awarding of a Joint Tactical Radio System (JTRS) software contract to The Boeing Co. ITT Corp. originally claimed Boeing enjoyed “unequal access to information,” which GAO found to be untrue. The “record shows that [the] protestor had access to the same information, and, in any case, the information was properly provided to the awardee by virtue of the agency’s contractual right to use the information.”
CANES COMING: Northrop Grumman says it is looking forward to the critical design review of the U.S. Navy’s Consolidated Afloat Networks and Enterprise Services (Canes) program later this year and planned shipboard installation of the first system in Fiscal 2012. The company’s team for the competition just completed a preliminary design review at its Canes office in San Diego.
HUNTSVILLE, Ala. — International partners funding the Lockheed Martin-led Medium Extended Air Defense System (Meads) are expected to meet in October to determine the fate of the effort just as Pentagon cost estimators plan to complete a sweeping study of the price of the air and missile defense system, according to Maj. Gen. Genaro Dellarocco, program executive officer of missiles and space for the U.S. Army.
The U.S. Defense Department’s latest annual report on Chinese military power notes the continued increase in the capability and reach of the People’s Liberation Army (PLA).
SIGNAL SENT: U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates indicated via news report Aug. 16 that he would like to leave office next year, before the presidential election dominates Washington discourse in 2012. In a Foreign Policy article confirmed by other reports, Gates — who took office in late 2006 — indicated a 2011 departure goal. Last week, in announcing his latest slate of dramatic reforms, Gates made light of the fact that he once planned to leave with the previous administration.
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AIR FORCE Raytheon Co., Missile Systems, Tucson, Ariz., was awarded a $450,827,357 contract to provide the engineering and manufacturing development phase of the Small Diameter Bomb Increment II (SDB II) program (nomenclature, Guided Bomb Unit-53/B). SDB II is a joint Air Force and Navy program. The SDB II will initially be integrated on the F-15E, F-35B and F-35C aircraft. At this time, $23,500,000 has been obligated. Miniature Munitions, AAC/EBMK, Eglin Air Force Base, Fla., is the contracting activity (FA8672-10-C-0002).
September 29-30, 2010 ExCeL, London, UK Learn to maintain military assets longer; sustain aircraft beyond forecast; recover from budget cuts, delays and program cancellations, and develop new strategies required to deliver and support equipment. Learn more at www.aviationweek.com/events
BENGALURU, India — India’s Defense Bioengineering and Electromedical Laboratory (Debel) has developed an “oxygen life-support system for helicopter pilots operating at high altitudes.”
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — The first spacecraft in the U.S. Air Force’s Advanced Extremely High Frequency (AEHF) satellite network reached geosynchronous transfer orbit on Aug. 14, capping a nine-year effort to develop a successor to the existing Milstar II communications spacecraft.
BENGALURU, India — The Indian defense ministry intends to shift the Army Service Corps Center North out of Gaya in Bihar and merge it with the ASC Center South at Bengaluru in Karnataka. The ASC will be relocated within a year, Indian army chief Gen. V.K. Singh said on Aug. 12.
Israel Aerospace Industries was able to boost its half-year profits, despite currency headwind and increased program-related research and development (R&D) expenses. IAI reported a half-year net profit of $55 million, up 49% on the half-year result in 2009, on $1.6 billion in first-half sales. Yair Shamir, the company’s chairman, notes that in addition to strong military sales, the civilian market “is beginning to recover from the global crisis.” IAI also had to offset a 7% currency revaluation of the shekel.
ARMY AM General LLC, South Bend, Ind., was awarded on July 30 a firm-fixed-price contract with the estimated face value of $618,974,038. The purpose of the contract is to purchase 2,526 M1152A1B2 High Mobility Multipurpose Wheeled Vehicles with area troop enclosures for the Afghanistan police force and Afghanistan National Guard. The work is to be performed in South Bend, with an estimated completion date of Dec. 31, 2013. One bid was solicited with one bid received. TACOM, Warren, CCTA-ATA-A, Warren, Mich., is the contracting activity (W56HZV-10-C-0405).
HOUSTON — Expedition 24 flight engineers Doug Wheelock and Tracy Caldwell Dyson finished repairs to the crippled cooling system aboard the International Space Station on Aug. 16, completing their third spacewalk devoted to the task in 10 days. During a seven-hr. excursion, they installed a new pump module assembly and re-mated five electrical cables and four cooling lines without any signs of the leaking ammonia that interrupted the first outing.
