A 300-acre special economic zone for the precision engineering of aerospace products is expected to be established in southern India. Called Quest SEZ Pvt Ltd, the zone will be located in Belgaum in the South Indian state of Karnataka. It is set to be approved within a month and be operational by 2008. Four companies plan to set up facilities for landing gear manufacture and engine components by next year.
ROTORCRAFT DEAL: NASA and the Army have formed an aeronautics research partnership covering rotorcraft aeronautics, including flight dynamics and control, vehicle structures, propulsion, avionics, aeromechanics, safety and airspace management. The deal is designed to ensure free exchange of research information while cutting duplication and enhancing long-term research planning for both organizations, NASA and Army officials announced late Sept. 18.
Democrats are spotlighting problems with Iraq-related contracting while the Defense Department is beginning to take action on what even Republican boosters have acknowledged are apparent problems, according to comments made Sept. 20 on Capitol Hill. While the House Armed Services Committee hosted a hearing on contingency contracting concerns, the Senate Democratic Policy Committee announced similar moves and promoted whistleblower protections for employees of federal defense contractors.
SPACEDEV DEAL: Bremen, Germany-based OHB Technology has acquired a 19 percent stake in SpaceDev, a Poway, Calif. manufacturer of space components and systems with annual sales of $30 million. The deal, for $4.4 million in stock, will allow the two companies to increase product penetration in European and U.S. markets. OHB recently acquired German scientific instrument specialist KayserThrede after earlier purchasing a former launcher component company, now called MT Aerospace.
Military services should change the way they account and plan for their resetting costs, say reports released this month by the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) and the Congressional Budget Office (CBO).
A recent memo from John Young, acting Defense Department acting undersecretary of acquisition, technology and logistics, to address program protest prevention is likely aimed at the current protest of the Air Force's combat, search and rescue (CSAR-X) helicopter and the competition for the service's tanker replacement fleet, industry analyst James McAleese said.
LONG BEACH, Calif. - NASA should take advantage of its impending gap in spaceflight to create a leaner operation for its future space program, a Boeing executive told attendees at the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics space conference.
India's controversial decision to float fresh tenders for 155mm .52-caliber howitzers is ruffling many feathers. While Sweden's BAE Systems AB, Israeli Soltam and South Africa's Denel were short listed for the guns after participating in two trials, Denel was blacklisted following allegations of bribery. Trials were conducted for four years between 2002-2006. An India army official says the decision will set back modernization plans by another five years.
Alliant Techsystems announced Sept. 18 that it, too, has been selected to study the U.S. Air Force's proposed conventional intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) prompt global strike (PGS) effort, which will evaluate options for replacing the Minotaur booster. ATK follows Northrop Grumman and Boeing, which also are studying the details for defense officials eager for a worldwide quick-strike capability (DAILY, July 3).
REFOCUS ON SBIRS: The U.S. Air Force is planning to refocus its near-term efforts for space-based missile warning on the Space-Based Infrared System (SBIRS). Amid growing concerns in recent years that SBIRS would successfully deliver a Defense Support Program replacement, the Pentagon established a backup effort called the Alternate Infrared Satellite System (AIRSS).
ITT BUYING EDO: ITT Corp. said Sept. 17 it will buy EDO Corp., another aerospace and defense company, in a deal valued by ITT at $1.7 billion in stock purchases and debt. ITT said the deal positions it to play an important role on some of the U.S. military's "vital transformational" initiatives, such as the Joint Strike Fighter, the Navy's Littoral Combat Ship, counter improvised explosive device programs and the Coast Guard's Deepwater programs.
WORLD OF DIFFERENCE: Cristina Chaplain, the Government Accountability Office's (GAO) director for acquisition and sourcing management, says there is a world of difference between how the commercial realm holds programs accountable and how the defense realm treats the issue. In commercial, it is "very" clear who is accountable on a program and for what. In defense, it is not always clear who is responsible. In commercial programs, senior officials typically are required to stay with them until they are done.
One of the major questions involving the acquisition of the replacement tankers for the Air Force's aging refueling fleet is just how much the service wants to increase the passenger-carrying capability of the new aircraft. The service has made it clear that it wants to boost that capability to help handle increased troop movements in or out of combat theaters.
TRADE ACCUSATIONS: Federal prosecutors and officials say a Dutch aviation services company, its owner, and two other firms have been charged in a federal criminal complaint with illegally exporting aerospace grade aluminum, aircraft components and other equipment from the United States to Iran and the government of Iran in violation of U.S. embargoes.
GWOT ROBOTS: IRobot's Man Transportable Robotic System indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity (IDIQ) contract now could reach a value of $264 million in robots, spare parts, training and repair services while competitor Foster-Miller's similar IDIQ deal could reach $290 million, according to the companies. Under the six-year IDIQs, the two companies provide their robots to various defense agencies through the MTRS, run by the Naval Sea Systems Command. IRobot on Sept.
The national debate over the need for ground-based midcourse defense has shifted to whether testing is comprehensive enough as the program is being built up. Scott Francher, vice president and program director of ground-based midcourse defense missile defense systems (GMD) at Boeing, recently told Aerospace Daily he feels the company has taken a "methodical, disciplined" approach to testing GMD over the past couple of years.
Boeing's Sea-Based X-Band Radar is in the middle of the Pacific Ocean preparing for its next flight-test as part of its journey toward getting plugged into the Ballistic Missile Defense System.
MILES TO GO: Northrop Grumman says it has successfully demonstrated live common data link (CDL) operations using the Modular Integrated Link Electronics System (MILES) at the Naval Air Warfare Center, Patuxent River, Md. The demonstration was conducted using a prototype version of the phased array antennas destined for the DDG-1000 Zumwalt-class destroyer.
