Exostar's Export Control Working Group is attempting to infuse greater automation into its customers' collaborative business tools to help them avoid export control violations. Exostar hosts a number of secure collaborative computer applications through which its 34,000 aerospace and defense clients do business and share information, much of which is subject to U.S. State Department restrictions.
U.S. Joint Forces Command (JFCOM) and Northrop Grumman have made a three-year cooperative research agreement aimed at identifying ways of shortening the time it takes to collect and distribute intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) information. Northrop Grumman will offer up its Cyber Warfare Integration Network (CWIN), which can generate a virtual battlefield for running simulations.
Despite spending tens of billions of dollars on wartime expenses such as fuel, logistics and new or upgraded trucks, the Pentagon still is investing heavily in operating and upgrading its aircraft fleet and is likely to continue doing so well into this century, defense and military budget analysts say. The U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) agrees -- but in a report released this month GAO says the Pentagon needs to change the way it spends its aircraft funds to keep from wasting money (DAILY, April 4).
The Pentagon needs to take decisive actions to shorten cycle times in developing and delivering new weapon systems in general, and specifically to develop an integrated and affordable enterprise-level investment strategy for tactical air forces, the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) has recommended.
Input, the Reston, Va., based market analysis company, expects federal government spending on information technology (IT) contracts to rise at 5.5 percent annually through 2012, in part because the Defense Department IT budget is forecast to grow again after taking a hit this fiscal year. Congressional scrutiny Input's five-year Federal IT market forecast calls for federal spending on IT contracts to rise from $65.5 billion a year now to more than $80 billion in 2012 (see charts p. 5).
KILLER BEE: Northrop Grumman has quietly ended the Killer Bee unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) program. The effort was terminated about six months ago, company officials revealed during a briefing in Washington April 2. The company was developing the Killer Bee as a multimission, joint-service family of scalable UAVs for surveillance and force protection.
MIXED RESULTS: The U.K. Ministry of Defense has received a mixed review from the government. While generally positive in tone, there were some key criticisms, though couched in diplomatic language. Certain aspects of leadership within the Defense Ministry need to be urgently addressed, while the ministry should also be proactive in engaging with other government departments, the review said.
Delays with the U.S. Navy's Littoral Combat Ship (LCS) program are not expected to slow the introduction of the MQ-8B Fire Scout unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV), according to manufacturer Northrop Grumman. Cost growth recently spurred the Navy to issue a stop-work order to Lockheed Martin for its LCS prototype. General Dynamics also is working on a version of LCS.
COASTAL SURVEILLANCE: Elbit Systems will provide radar and electro optical systems for coastal surveillance to Lithuania under a $10 million European Union project. The systems will provide border control against smuggling and other illegal activities.
DIRECTED ENERGY: The U.S. Air Force Research Laboratory is awarding Advanced Information Engineering Services Inc. a $24.9 million contract for directed energy bio-effects research. The effort includes conducting research to identify the benefits, risks and capabilities for a wide range of military radio frequency and high-power microwave radiation systems, the Defense Department said in its March 29 contract announcement.
Continuing his push for more far-reaching acquisition reform, U.S. Navy Secretary Donald Winter said April 3 he would like to see changes to the source selection process currently used by the service and other Pentagon entities. With the current system, he said during a briefing at the Navy League Sea Air Space 2007 Conference in Washington, the Navy or any other customer is tied down by source selection to a specific contractor and its accompanying set list of subcontractors, designs, components and subsystems.
GLOBEMASTER SUPPORT: The U.S. Air Force has awarded Boeing's McDonnell Douglas Corp. a $248.3 million firm-fixed and cost-plus-incentive-fee price contract modification funding the fiscal 2007 third-quarter option for the ongoing Globemaster III Sustainment Partnership. The option maintains support for the C-17 sustainment-labor/engines CLS (contractor logistics support) and material, the Defense Department said March 29.
About 10 percent of simulated North Korean missiles hit Japan in an exercise held this year, a Japanese newspaper has reported. The Japanese-U.S. Keen Edge command exercise in late January and early February simulated the launch of about 150 enemy missiles over several days, the Yomiuri Shimbun newspaper said. The paper didn't say what defensive weapons were used in the simulation.
SATCOM BUY: The European Commission has approved the acquisition of Nera Satcom of Norway by Danish-based Thrane & Thrane. Nera, a maker of terminals and Earth stations for mobile satellite systems, will expand Thrane & Thrane's portfolio of land-based, maritime and aeronautical satellite communications systems, chiefly linked to Inmarsat. The merger had been referred to the EC by the Office of Fair Trade in the U.K., where Inmarsat is based.
Shuttle managers will decide as early as next week whether Atlantis will be launched in late May or further delayed until early June as a result of the hail damage done to its external tank. If tank repairs go well, a launch could be set by no later than about May 23. But if repair options begin to overlap with the launch availability of a new tank set to arrive at Kennedy Space Center by mid-April, managers may delay liftoff to a window that opens around the second week of June.
The U.S. Navy would like enhanced satellite communication capability and ship identification abilities for its improved MH-60 helicopter fleet. "We have satcom. We don't have satcom data links. We are considering it," said Capt. Paul Grosklags, Navy program manager for multimission helicopters. Grosklags spoke during an April 3 interview at the Navy League Sea Air Space 2007 conference in Washington.
STRAIT SUPPORT: ATA Aerospace, Schafer Corp. and Jackson and Tull are all being awarded a $48.5 million indefinite delivery/indefinite quantity with cost-plus-fixed-fee-task orders contract for the Space Technology Research, Analysis, Integration and Test (STRAIT) program, the Defense Department said March 29. STRAIT will provide the Air Force Research Laboratory's Space Vehicles Directorate with required engineering, technician, program management and administrative services to perform space-based technology research, analysis, integration and testing.
MH-60S contractors Lockheed Martin and Sikorsky are in the process of integrating Northrop Grumman's first production unit of the Airborne Laser Mine Detection System (ALMDS) on the helicopter. The system was delivered to Lockheed Martin in Owego, N.Y., in late January. A second system will be delivered this month. Following integration, the U.S. Navy will begin its own testing with the system on the MH-60S in May.
PARIS - French space officials warn that Europe risks falling further behind in space business applications unless it comes up with a new model for funding and orienting such endeavors.
