Japan has requested 40 Standard Missile-2 (SM-2) Block IIIBs, with MK 13 MOD 0 canisters, the Defense Security Cooperation Agency notified Congress June 6. The sale of the missiles, canisters and related equipment could be worth as much as $104 million if approved, DSCA said. The missiles would be used to defend "critical sea-lanes of communication," DSCA said, and would be installed on ships with the Japanese maritime self-defense force. Principal contractors would be Raytheon Missile Systems Co. and United Defense LP.
The Senate Armed Services Committee's version of the fiscal 2006 defense authorization bill would prohibit the Air Force from retiring 86 aircraft in 2006 at a cost of $460 million, the Congressional Budget Office has reported. Section 132 of the bill (S. 1042) would bar the Air Force from retiring any KC-135E tanker aircraft in 2006, when current service plans called for 49 of these planes to be mothballed.
General Atomics' unmanned aerial vehicle maker unit, Aeronautical Systems, has merged with the company's Reconnaissance Systems, which makes sensor systems. "The seamless integration of aircraft with sensor and weapon systems is crucial to providing comprehensive and timely solutions for the warfighter," Neal Blue, chairman and CEO of the combined enterprise, said in a statement.
NASA's Mars Exploration Rover (MER) team has managed to free the Opportunity rover from a sand trap in which it had been stuck for more than a month, NASA announced June 6. The rover drove into a small dune of windblown dust and sand on April 26, where its six wheels became partially buried. The rover had to churn 629 feet worth of wheel rotations before gaining enough traction to move three feet and escape the trap. The rover team at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif., directed the drives in small increments from May 13 through June 4.
AURORA, Colo. - Raytheon Co.'s proposal for the TSAT Mission Operations System will be different from those of its competitors because it has paid close attention to the "dynamic nature" of the challenge, according to Chuck Corwin, the company's TMOS infrastructure manager. The purpose of TMOS is to manage communications over the Pentagon's projected multibillion-dollar Transformational Satellite network, a complex and difficult task that focuses on allowing warfighters to do what they can't easily do today - communicate on the move.
BRIDGE BOATS: The U.S. Marine Corps Systems Command has awarded Aluminum Chambered Boats Inc. of Bellingham, Wash., an $8.4 million contract modification for 31 bridge erection boats (BEB), associated trailers, warranties and training. A total of 54 out of a maximum 66 BEBs have been ordered under the contract. The contract work will be performed in Bellingham and should be finished by June 2006.
ARMY DRS Optronics Inc., Palm Bay, Fla., was awarded on May 31, 2005, a $13,600,000 firm-fixed-price contract for visual module assemblies for the Bradley Missile weapon system. Work will be performed in Palm Bay, Fla., and is expected to be completed by April 6, 2008. Contract funds will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. There were three bids solicited on July 9, 2004, and one bid was received. The U.S. Army Aviation and Missile Command, Redstone Arsenal, Ala., is the contracting activity (W31P4Q-05-C-0129).
LONDON - Pakistan has been quietly developing a comprehensive nuclear command and control system, amid concerns over the security of its deterrent stockpile, given the country's role in the global war on terror and the popularity of some radical Islamist elements within its borders.
SMALLER NET: U.S. Navy efforts to network its disparate platforms will focus on a "small number" of weapons and sensor-surveillance systems, including the F/A-18 aircraft, the E-2 and the DDG destroyer. ForceNet, the Navy's part of the Defense Department's Global Information Grid, is trying to prove its value in a matter of years instead of decades, says Capt. Rick Brennan, who spoke at the Navy Program Executive Office for Strike Weapons and Unmanned Aviation's industry day on June 3 in California, Md.
SPACE FINDINGS: Scientists using NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory to study the source of X-ray flare on Saturn say the ringed planet, and the even larger Jupiter, may act as mirrors reflecting explosive activity from the sun. "The bigger the planet and nearer to the sun, the more solar photons it will intercept, resulting in more reflected X-rays," says Anil Bhardwaj, a planetary scientist who led the study team. "These results imply we could use giant planets like Jupiter and Saturn as remote-sensing tools.
DENVER - Lockheed Martin has mapped out an evolutionary development plan for its Atlas launch vehicle that would steadily increase performance to ultimately exceed that of the Apollo program's Saturn V, a company official said. Just as today's Atlas V has its roots in the Atlas ICBM of the 1950s, the "future Atlas evolution" will proceed in a logical manner, with each new phase providing simple and reliable vehicles, according to George Sowers of Lockheed Martin Space Systems Co. here.
The U.S. Navy is planning for a vertical takeoff and landing unmanned aerial vehicle (VUAV), now called the Marine VUAV, to follow the Pioneer UAV, according to Capt. Paul Morgan, program manager for U.S. Navy unmanned aerial vehicles. However, the Pioneer program will have to be sustained for the Marine Corps until 2012 or even 2015, a plan Morgan said he expects top defense officials to approve over the next month. Morgan spoke June 3 at the Navy Program Executive Office for Strike Weapons and Unmanned Aviation's industry day in California, Md.
MORE WORK: Orbit International Corp. expects its new Tulip Development Labs subsidiary to pick up more work under a new contract to deliver keypanels to the Towed Artillery Digitation's digital fire control system. Orbit acquired the Quakertown, Pa.-based Tulip in April, and reported the $575,000 contract June 3. "Follow-on orders of significant magnitude are likely," Orbit says. The fire control system is intended to improve the accuracy and reaction times of the new M777 Lightweight Towed Howitzer.
COOPERATING: The European Space Agency and the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts have agreed to long-term cooperation, strengthening the use of ESA's space-based Earth observation program, the agency says. "ECMWF has established a worldwide reputation for its extensive use of satellite data in the field of numerical weather prediction," says Dominique Marbouty, director of the forecast center.
NEW HOME: NASA's DC-8 "suborbital laboratory" jet aircraft will be operated by the University of North Dakota, Grand Forks, under a plan to create a National Suborbital Education and Research Center at the school. The aircraft likely will be transferred this fall, NASA said June 2, and will be housed at Grand Forks Air Force Base.
FIRST FLIGHT: The second of two RQ-4A Global Hawk unmanned aerial vehicles built for the U.S. Navy tentatively is scheduled to take its first flight June 7-10, according to a spokeswoman for prime contractor Northrop Grumman. The UAV, named N-2, is slated to fly from Northrop Grumman's production site in Palmdale, Calif., to Edwards Air Force Base, Calif. The first of the Navy's RQ-4As took its first voyage in October. The two Global Hawks eventually will be used in a maritime demonstration to help the Navy determine how to use UAVs for reconnaissance.
The House Armed Services Committee's projection forces subcommittee will host a public hearing on the U.S. Navy's nuclear submarine force in Groton, Conn., on June 13. The lawmakers will hear from Adm. Kirkland H. Donald, director of the Naval Nuclear Propulsion Program, and Vice Adm. Charles L. Munns, commander of Naval Submarine Forces.
SKY ROAD MAP: The Defense Department will post its new 2005-2030 road map for unmanned air systems online over the next 30 to 60 days, according to Charles Riechers, a special assistant in the Office of the Secretary of Defense. Speaking to industry representatives at the Navy Program Executive Office for Strike Weapons and Unmanned Aviation's industry day on June 3 in California, Md., Riechers says the new road map will look quite different from the previous version of two years ago.
June 5 - 7 -- SATS 2005: A Transformation in Air Travel, "Demonstration of the capabilities of the Small Aircraft Transportation System project," Danville Regional Airport, Danville, Va. For more information contact September Moon Productions at 248-355-3700, email [email protected] or go to www.sats2005.com.
Defense contractor L-3 Communications has agreed to buy security information technology company Titan Corp. in a deal worth about $2.65 billion, Titan Corp. said June 3.
U.S. Navy officials should release the concept of operations for the proposed Multi-mission Maritime Aircraft (MMA) by the fall, said James Lackey of the Naval Air Systems Command's Maritime Surveillance Aircraft Program. Currently, the officials are moving from a systems function review to a preliminary design review, slated for September. Lackey told attendees of the Navy Program Executive Office for Strike Weapons and Unmanned Aviation's industry day on June 3 that the program is on schedule and within budget.
JSF MATING: The aft fuselage for the first F-35 Joint Strike Fighter flight-test jet is scheduled to be mated to the rest of the fuselage June 9 in Fort Worth, Texas, according to JSF prime contractor Lockheed Martin. The aft fuselage, built by BAE Systems in Samlesbury, England, arrived in Fort Worth on May 31 (DAILY, June 2). The Lockheed Martin forward fuselage, Northrop Grumman center fuselage and Lockheed Martin wing were united in May. The aircraft's BAE Systems tails are to begin arriving in Fort Worth within the next few weeks.
