While the U.S. Army has made strides in developing its Future Combat Systems (FCS), some major technological doubts remain, according to the Pentagon’s Director of Operational Test and Evaluation (DOT&E). “Armor upgrades for the MGVs (Manned Ground Vehicles) are a technical challenge on the FCS program and are critical to the fielding of operationally effective, suitable, and survivable MGVs,” says the most recent annual DOT&E report, released last month.
WIDER APPEAL: Europe is pushing for U.S. participation in development of a 35-ton heavy-lift helicopter to enter service around 2020, if the project gets off the ground. France and Germany are expected to bring the Future Transport Helicopter program to the European Defence Agency (EDA) later this year in a bid to involve other nations in research, development and procurement. Citing the potential for trans-Atlantic cooperation, EDA head Javier Solana says “The market for such an expensive heavy transport helicopter is simply too small in Europe alone.”
A March 4 story on the upcoming launch of the second Wideband Global Satcom spacecraft gave the impression that the flight was delayed because of a prior Atlas V launch anomaly. According to the U.S. Air Force, the mission was pushed back from its original December 2008 target because the service wanted to perform additional environmental testing on the spacecraft.
U.S. SPECIAL OPERATIONS COMMAND ITT Corp. of Roanoke, Va., is being awarded a $11,422,775 firm-fixed-price contract for image intensifier assemblies, 18 MM microchannel wafer high performance tubes, and MX-10160 GS in support of the U.S. Special Operations Command Procurement Division. The work will be performed in Roanoke and is expected to be completed by May 26, 2011. Contract funds will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. The contract was awarded on a competitive basis. The contract number is H92222-09-C-0025.
AIR FORCE The Air Force is modifying a fixed price incentive firm contract with Northrop Grumman Systems Corp. of San Diego, Calif., for an amount not to exceed $107,575,999. The action will provide for long lead items associated with LRIP Lot 8 Global Hawk Block 40 air vehicles. At this time, $25,999,999 has been obligated. 303 AESG/SYK, Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio, is the contracting activity (FA8620-08-C-3001, P00007). DEFENSE LOGISTICS AGENCY
AIR FORCE The Air Force is modifying a cost plus award fee contract with Northrop Grumman Systems Corp. of San Diego, Calif., for $59,608,897. This action will provide engineering, manufacturing and development infrastructure activities in support of the Global Hawk program. At this time, the entire amount has been obligated. 303 AESG/SYK, Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio, is the contracting activity (F33657-01-C-4600, P00295).
NAVY Raytheon Co., Tucson, Ariz., is being awarded a $30,000,000 modification to previously awarded contract (N00024-09-C-5303) for fiscal year 2009 engineering and technical services in support of STANDARD Missile – 2 (SM-2) for Foreign Military Sales requirements. The work will be performed in Tucson, Ariz., and is expected to be completed by March 2010. Contract funds will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. The Naval Sea Systems Command, Washington Navy Yard, D.C., is the contracting activity.
KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, Fla. – Astronauts on the space shuttle Discovery spent March 16 using a 50-foot-long boom to inspect the belly, nose and wing leading edges of their orbiter for any of the sort of damage that doomed the shuttle Columbia.
Despite orders from Congress to evaluate the costs, testing and performance progress in developing a ballistic missile defense system, the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) says it still can’t assess the system’s overall performance. In a report to Congress released March 16, GAO said the Missile Defense Agency (MDA) has had problems establishing baselines for total costs or unit costs – making it nearly impossible for the auditing agency to determine MDA’s actual costs for the sixth straight year. Money spent
W3C CONTRACT: Eutelsat has contracted with Thales Alenia Space to build W3C, a new spacecraft intended to complement W3A at the 7 deg. E. Long. position, which serves the Middle East, Central Asia, Africa and Europe. Eutelsat had initially planned to use W3B at this spot, but after the failure of W2M in January decided to switch this spacecraft, currently under construction, to the operator’s 16 E. neighborhood. To be launched in the third quarter of 2011, W3C will provide much-needed redundancy at 7 deg.
GENOA, Italy – Alenia Aermacchi this year plans to complete deliveries of eight MB-339CM advanced jet trainers to the Royal Malaysian Air Force, which ordered the aircraft in 2006 to replace its current fleet of first-generation MB-339As.
WGS LAUNCH: The U.S. Air Force plans to launch the second Wideband Global Satcom (WGS) satellite aboard a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket at 9:24 p.m. EDT on March 17 from Pad 41 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Fla. The flight originally was slated for March 14, but was bumped to allow the space shuttle Discovery to launch first. The first spacecraft in the WGS military communications constellation was launched in October 2007 and became operational in April 2008. The third spacecraft is slated for launch in August.
AIR FORCE The Air Force is extending a firm fixed price contract with Raytheon Company of Tucson, Ariz., for $11,397,736. The action will extend the period of performance to provide Contractor Logistics Support for CY09. At this time, the entire amount has been obligated. 695 ARSS, Eglin Air Force Base, Fla., is the contracting activity (FA8675-08-C-0064, P00007). NAVY
TAIWAN DEAL: Lockheed Martin is to refurbish and upgrade 12 ex-U.S. Navy P-3C Orions for Taiwan under a $665.6 million foreign military sales contract. The anti-submarine warfare aircraft were included in a U.S. arms package offered to Taiwan in 2001, but repeatedly delayed by political infighting in Taipei and Chinese pressure on Washington. Lockheed Martin will perform depot maintenance, structural life extension and avionics modernization on the P-3s, which replace Taiwan’s Grumman S-2Ts.
READINESS: Aerospace and defense companies are in a much stronger position heading into the commercial aerospace downturn than they were when the last downturn began in 2001, according to a Deloitte report that will be released March 16. Deloitte says strong backlogs, productivity improvements, a better organized supply chain and strong balance sheets have braced the industry to weather tough times.
WINDING DOWN: Merger and acquisition activity in the U.S. aerospace and defense industry is falling off a cliff. Acquisitions declined 57 percent in 2008 to $14.3 billion, virtually drying up in the four quarter as the global economic crisis intensified and companies moved to conserve cash, PricewaterhouseCoopers reports. Private equity deals sank to 17 percent of the total, down from 49 percent in 2007, but European companies’ purchases of North American properties hit a record high as they moved to take advantage of a weak U.S. dollar.
To list an event, send information in calendar format to Donna Thomas at [email protected]. (Bold type indicates new calendar listing.) Mar. 16 - 19 — Performance-Based Logistics 2009, Washington, D.C. For more information call 1-800-882-8684 or go to www.idga.org/us/pbl Mar. 17 — Wichita Aero Club luncheon featuring Pete Bunce, President of General Aviation Manufacturers Association, Airport Hilton Hotel, Wichita, KS. For more information call 316-641-5962, e-mail: [email protected]
Contract work on fuselage assemblies for the U.S. Air Force C-17 and Global Hawk programs helped sustain Vought Aircraft Industries’ profitability in 2008 as strikes by machinists and slow-downs in Boeing’s 787 program dragged down performance. Vought President and CEO Elmer Doty says he sees support for sustaining C-17 production as stronger currently than it was a year ago. But he wasn’t predicting how funding might fare in Congress.
BACK TO WORK: Controllers for NASA’s Mars Odyssey orbiter expect to return to science observations this week following a somewhat risky March 11 reboot of the spacecraft’s main computer. The restart was a strategy devised by engineers to clear out flaws in the computer’s memory accumulated after years of being bombarded with space radiation. Odyssey had not been rebooted in more than five years. As a fringe benefit, the reboot also restored the orbiter’s backup, or “B-side” systems.
FT. WALTON BEACH, Fla. — The developmental Raytheon AIM-120D executed a successful flight test last week, destroying a QF-4 drone target, according to Maj. Gen. David Eidsaune, commander of the U.S. Air Force Air Armaments Center.
UNMANNED OVERHAUL: Ogden Air Logistics Center at Hill Air Force Base in Utah has been selected as the overhaul depot for the U.S. Air Force’s growing fleet of General Atomics MQ-1 Predator and MQ-9 Reaper unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs). Ogden is already the depot for F-16s, A-10s and C-130s. Announcing the decision, Utah Senator Bob Bennet said the proximity of the Utah Test & Training Range “is a big factor” as it will allow the UAVs to be checked out after maintenance.
WARNING SHOT: North Korea has notified some international agencies that it plans on conducting its contentious rocket launch in early April. A State Department representative told reporters March 12 that North Korea informed the International Civil Aviation Organization and the International Maritime Organization that it is eyeing the first week of April to launch an experimental communication satellite. “Our view remains the same,” the State Dept. spokesman continued.
STOVL TESTS: The Joint Strike Fighter’s development program manager, U.S. Navy Capt. Wade Knudson, says the first vertical landing test for the F-35B will take place in “late summer or early fall.” Knudson won’t go into detail about the reasons for the timing, but says that discussions are continuing about what engineering changes will be incorporated into the first STOVL aircraft, BF-1, before the first STOVL tests. However, he says the plan is still to complete operational testing by mid-2014.
