LASER AWARDS: BAE Systems is touting a $347 million award and Northrop Grumman a $393 million award over five years to provide hundreds of new laser target locator modules (LTLM) for the U.S. Army every month. The devices provide 24-hour imaging capabilities, as well as accurate target location for shooters and surveillance and are major pieces of equipment in ground combat overseas.
ENGINE MARKET: Aerospace and defense consultants at Connecticut-based Forecast International expect the global turbine engine market to remain essentially stagnant through 2012, then rebound starting in 2013. In total, the world turbofan engine market is projected to generate $292 billion in revenue now through 2018 via production of 66,273 engines, according to the group’s analysis Oct. 5. The business aircraft segment has been hit with a double whammy between the worldwide credit freeze and the negative U.S. publicity of corporate business jets and executive largesse.
AIR FORCE Centauri Solution LLC of Alexandria, Va., was awarded an $11,750,000 contract which will demonstrate the operational feasibility and military effectiveness of integrating an advanced lightweight high definition electro-infrared sensor with an unintentional electromagnetic emissions sensor system on an autonomous vertical take-off and landing unmanned aerial vehicle. At this time the entire amount has been obligated. AFRL/RIKD, Rome, N.Y. is the contracting activity (FA8750-09-C-0211).
The success of the U.S. Army Light Utility Helicopter (LUH) program is leading the service to look for opportunities to expand it. The Army has committed to buying 345 EADS-built UH-72A Lakotas, 210 of which are destined for National Guard duty. Already, 86 aircraft have been delivered, according to Col. Neil Thurgood, the Army’s Utility Helicopter program manager, who detailed the program for an audience at the Association of the U.S. Army show Oct. 5.
Not much has changed since U.S. Army aviation leaders announced a plan last spring for an analysis of alternatives to address the capabilities gap opened by its cancellation of the Armed Reconnaissance Helicopter program. At the Association of the U.S. Army show Oct. 5, the four big Army aviation chiefs, fondly referred to as the Four Horsemen, reiterated their commitment to determining the future of their branch.
The rapidly expanding U.S. military demand for intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) and its ascendency as a warfighting centerpiece has hit a snag following last week’s closed-session, four-star summit to review the Air Force ISR enterprise. The summit concluded that an initiative for elevating the ISR agency to a major command is on hold for an indefinite period (Aerospace DAILY, Sept. 17).
WAESCHE UNDER WAY: The National Security Cutter (NSC) Waesche, built by Northrop Grumman, will be delivered to the U.S. Coast Guard in November. Acceptance trials, completed Oct. 1 in the Gulf of Mexico, were the final test prior to delivery. During the acceptance trials, Waesche conducted extensive testing of propulsion, electrical, damage control and combat systems. Waesche is the second NSC.
AIR FORCE United Launch Alliance of Littleton, Colo., was awarded a $927,720,071 contract to provide the Fiscal Year 2010 Evolved Expendable Launch Vehicle Launch Capability effort for the Delta IV and Atlas V families to launch vehicles. At this time, $16,000,000 has been obligated. SMC/LRSW, El Segundo, Calif., is the contracting activity. (FA8816-06-C-0001, FA8816-06-C-0002, P00149). NAVY
PARIS — The European Commission says the Egnos Global Positioning System (GPS) augmentation system’s open service is now operational and available to all users equipped with Egnos-compatible GPS receivers.
After a blistering floor speech on alleged waste, fraud and abuse by the U.S. aerospace and defense industry — particularly top Pentagon contractors Lockheed Martin, Boeing and Northrop Grumman — the Senate has agreed to push for a Defense Department study to calculate how much DOD pays companies that have committed fraud.
ARMY Alliant Techsystems Inc., Independence, Mo., was awarded on Sept. 25, 2009, a $105,820,739 firm-fixed-price based with options contract for nonstandard ammunition for the government of Afghanistan and U.S. forces. The work is to be performed in Independence, Mo., with an estimated completion date of Sept. 30, 2012. Bids were solicited on the World Wide Web with three received. Army Contracting Command (ACC) Rock Island Contracting Center, Rock Island, Ill., is the contracting activity (W52P1J-09-C-0060). NAVY
DAMAGE CONTROL: High-ranking U.S. national security leaders are tamping down perceived outspoken efforts recently by the commanding general of coalition forces in Afghanistan, reminding him and the public that military advice is best served up the chain of command. Speaking Oct. 5 at the Association of the U.S. Army convention in Washington, U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates went out of his way to tell the audience that those in the White House and the Pentagon should “provide our opinions candidly, but privately” to the president.
60T IOC: The U.S. Coast Guard celebrated Initial Operational Capability (IOC) of its MH-60T at an Oct. 1 ribbon cutting ceremony at Coast Guard Air Station Elizabeth City, N.C. The air station received its third MH-60T in September. The MH-60T project was developed to upgrade the HH-60 by providing improved reliability and mission performance. New capabilities include an Electro-optical/Infrared Sensing System and Airborne Use of Force packages as well as a new Common Avionics Architecture Systems cockpit.
Boeing is preparing for a November limited user test (LUT) of its new AH-64 Apache Block III aircraft equipped with a new avionics suite. “This is the first time Army operators will be flying an aircraft with Level Four UAV [unmanned aerial vehicle] control,” said Al Winn, Boeing’s vice president of Apache programs, during the Association of the U.S. Army symposium Oct. 5.
COMBAT UAS: The U.S. Army is testing its Extended Range/Multi-Purpose (ER/MP) MQ-1C unmanned aircraft system in Iraq in preparation for near-term use in combat. The aircraft is part of the first Quick Reaction Capability (QRC) MQ-1Cs to be fielded. QRC2 will deploy in the summer of fiscal 2010, and will include an attack capability. When fully deployed, each system will include 12 aircraft, will support 10 Army divisions and be responsive to the lowest level of command for dynamic testing, according to the Army.
FCS PIECES: The U.S. Army said Oct. 5 it has established a major acquisition group, the Program Executive Office (PEO) Integration, to coordinate the armed service’s efforts to develop and acquire future capabilities after the April decision to cancel the Future Combat Systems modernization program.
LITTORAL HAWKS: In preparation to deploy its Littoral Combat Ships (LCS) with the MH-60S Seahawk aboard, the U.S. Navy conducted testing with the MH-60S recently aboard the first LCS, a Lockheed Martin-built hull, which is in competition with General Dynamics’ craft.
The U.S. Army announced Oct. 3 that it has created a new directorate to lead Defense Department efforts to solve issues related to unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) operating in the national airspace. The Unmanned Systems Airspace Integration Concepts (USAIC) product directorate will develop, test and field a ground-based system that will provide UAV operators a sense-and-avoid (SAA) capability during flight. The move is aimed at complying with FAA “see-and-avoid” safety regulations.
Cadets at the U.S. Air Force Academy in Colorado have nearly finished integrating the Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL)-sponsored FalconSAT-5 microsatellite, which soon will undergo system testing before being shipped to Kodiak Launch Complex in Alaska for launch next year. The $11 million FalconSAT-5 will fly as a secondary payload on the Space Test Program’s (STP) S26 mission, which is slated to launch on May 28, 2010, on a Minotaur IV modified ICBM.
Defense Secretary Robert Gates said the U.S. Army has recognized that the network, not the platform, is most important, during remarks at the Association of the U.S. Army symposium in Washington Oct. 5. “We’ve made tremendous advances in intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance that have led to the fusion of intelligence operations on the ground,” Gates said, noting the Army and allies should be able to see each other and communicate, “even through the fog of war.”
NEXT STEP: Led by Sikorsky, the U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency’s Sandblaster program demonstrated that a combination of see-through sensors, synthetic-vision displays and advanced flight controls could overcome the brownout landing threat. Now the U.S.
