HERCULEAN UPGRADE: Lockheed Martin Corp. said Oct. 16 that it signed a $110 million contract to upgrade C-130J Super Hercules transports flown by the United Kingdom, Australia, Italy and Denmark. The company said the deal represented a significant milestone in international cooperation on a major weapon system. Known as Block 6.1, the upgrades to the aircraft systems include a common flight management system, an updated loading ramp and door hydraulics system for high-altitude airdrops and a safe/gunbox/storage unit onboard the aircraft, among other modifications.
NASA is eyeing slips of roughly one month in the launch dates for at least the first three shuttle missions of 2007 as it prepares to launch Discovery on the STS-116 International Space Station (ISS) assembly flight as early as Dec. 7. The schedule changes to next year's missions are related to external tank production scheduling at the NASA/Lockheed Martin Michoud facility in Louisiana that is still recovering from Hurricane Katrina.
BOND OFFERING: SES Global has successfully priced a two-tranche, 800 million euro ($1 billion) three-year bond offering - the second time this year it has ventured into the market to refinance drawn bilateral credit facilities. The bond, which includes a 300 million euro, three-year floating rate note and a 500 million euro fixed-rate note priced at the tight end of price guidance, was oversubscribed 2.6 times.
With funding for astrobiology under threat in NASA's proposed fiscal 2007 budget, the SETI Institute will seek $4-6 million over the next three years to establish an independent money line to assure that its 50 scientists can continue their drive to answer the age-old question, "Are we alone?" The Institute is establishing the Carl Sagan Center for the Study of Life in the Universe to make up for the funding shortfall in the Bush administration's current budget proposal.
ROCKY TRIP: The Globe and Mail in Canada reports that the maiden voyage of the Toronto Port Authority's $5 million ferry to a "controversial downtown airport turned into a public relations fiasco" on Oct. 11 when it slammed into a rocky shore while carrying a boatload of dignitaries. The ferry crossing from the city to Toronto City Center Airport is supposed to take one minute, but this one took 27 minutes as smoke generated by fireworks ignited for the celebration obscured the captain's view.
The British government on Oct. 17 unveiled its defense technology road map, including a recognition that the Defense Ministry and industry need to increase research and technology spending. The Defense Technology Strategy is one of a key number of strands to emerge from the government's Defense Industrial Strategy, made public at the end of 2005. The technology effort is an attempt to provide as much "clarity" as possible to industry and academia of the ministry's future needs, Defense Procurement Minister Paul Drayson says.
SCIENCE APPLICATIONS INTERNATIONAL CORP., San Diego Maj. Gen. Robert H. Latiff (USAF Ret.) has beem appointed chief engineering and technology officer for the company's space and geospatial intelligence business unit.
NEW DIGS: International Space Station controllers at Johnson Space Center have moved into new digs created out of an Apollo-era control room. The new facility, known as Flight Control Room 1, was first used during Apollo 7 in October 1968. It replaces the original station control room opened in 1998, which the station program had outgrown. The remodeled facility also controlled the Skylab missions of the 1970s, and the first space shuttle flight in 1981. It last was used for flight control in March 1996.
LAUNCH EXPECTED: Arianespace expected to launch its fourth Ariane 5 mission of the year on Oct. 13. The launch, initially set for the night of Oct. 12, was delayed 24 hours to verify undisclosed launcher elements. The mission will carry Optus D1, a 2.3 metric ton TV/telecom satellite built for Australia's Optus by Orbital Sciences Corp.; DirecTV 9S, a Ku-/Ka-band spacecraft manufactured by Space Systems/Loral; and a half-scale experimental model of a future large-scale deployable reflector, built by NEC Toshiba Space Systems for Japanese space agency JAXA.
The U.S. Naval Sea Systems Command has awarded Northrop Grumman Corp. a $15.5 million contract modification to continue its work as the mission package integrator for the Littoral Combat Ship (LCS) mission modules program. In January, Northrop Grumman won the long-awaited 10-year contract, which has a potential worth of $159 million (DAILY, Jan. 9). The fiscal 2006 portion of the contract, for $4.5 million, was awarded on Jan. 4.
Pentagon insiders say L-3 Communications' much-anticipated Network Centric Collaborative Targeting (NCCT) system - for instantly identifying and locating enemy emitters - is on its way to operational units. With it comes a little-known capability, mapping and precisely registering the ways in and out of enemy computer and communications networks. "It provides the eyes and ears of the Suter [network invasion and exploitation] capability," says a military official with insight into the program.
BOND OFFERING: SES Global has successfully priced a two-tranche, 800 million euro ($1.04 billion), three-year bond offering - the second time this year it has ventured into the market to refinance drawn bilateral credit facilities. The bond, which includes a 300-million euro, three-year floating rate note and a 500-million euro fixed-rate note priced at the tight end of price guidance, was oversubscribed 2.6 times.
UAV MARKET: Teal Group predicts that worldwide spending on unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) will more than triple over the next decade, going from its current level of $2.7 billion annually to $8.3 billion and totaling nearly $55 billion over the next 10 years. The latest edition of Teal Group's worldwide UAV forecast projects that the United States will account for 77 percent of the worldwide UAV technology development spending during the decade and 64 percent of UAV procurement spending.
DFI GOVERNMENT SERVICES, Washington James Blackwell has been named vice president of defense programs Lt. Gen. James R. Clapper Jr. has been chief operating officer.
ICAP III Block 3: The U.S. Navy has awarded Northrop Grumman Corp. a $2.7 million contract to develop the EA-6B Prowler's Improved Capability (ICAP) III Block 3 software, the company said Oct. 16. ICAP III Block 3 will be delivered in 2007. The company has already delivered 10 Prowler aircraft modified with the new ICAP III system and is producing another lot of aircraft due to be delivered in 2008, all with ICAP III Block 3 software.
