AIR INTERCEPT: Two Massachusetts Air National Guard F-15 fighter jets scrambled Aug. 16 to escort Washington-bound United Airlines flight 923 to Boston's Logan National Airport instead, the North American Aerospace Defense Command said. A "disruptive" passenger with hand cream and matches triggered an emergency landing, according to the Transportation Security Agency. Since Operation Noble Eagle began after Sept. 11, 2001, NORAD has flown more than 42,000 sorties - 70 percent by National Guard crews - and scrambled or diverted aircraft more than 2,100 times.
ROBOTIC CONTROL: The Defense Department's Joint Robotics Office has awarded Lockheed Martin Corp. a $1.9-million, three-year contract to mentor AnthroTronix Inc., a small, privately held, woman-owned business in developing a Joint Architecture for Unmanned Systems-compliant robot control system, Lockheed said Aug. 16. The Multi-Purpose Autonomous Teaming Control of Heterogeneous Robots will control heterogeneous teams of robots performing diverse sets of force-protection tasks for the Air Force Research Laboratory.
Kenneth A. Paladino has been elected president, chief executive officer and director. Timothy J. Roach was replaced by Paladino. Roach retired Aug. 14.
The first EA-18G Growler, known as aircraft EA-1, successfully completed its maiden flight Aug. 15 from Lambert International Airport in St. Louis, about one month ahead of schedule, prime contractor Boeing said. The EA-1 is the first of two test aircraft built under a system development and demonstration contract that Boeing signed with the Navy on Dec. 29, 2003.
Jack Harrington has been appointed vice president, command and control systems, for the network centric systems unit. Brian McKeon was replaced by Harrington. McKeon has joined Raytheon Systems Limited in the United Kingdom as president and managing director. Richard B. Johnston has been appointed vice president for corporate operations.
Bob Kramer has been named senior vice president of marketing and strategic development. Dennis J. Reed has been named vice president for operations of the space and airborne systems business.
MINE SONAR: Raytheon Co. and the U.S. Naval Sea Systems Command have finalized an $11 million contract modification for the company's AN/AQS-20A mine hunting sonar systems, Raytheon announced Aug. 16. The modification brings the total value of the contract, awarded last September, to $104.9 million (DAILY, Sept. 19, 2005). Raytheon Integrated Defense Systems (IDS) will manufacture, test and deliver 11 new AQS-20A sets and associated support equipment and engineering services. The contract includes an option for 11 more systems, services and support equipment for 2007.
BAE Systems and Rafael Armament Development Authority Ltd. on Aug. 16 touted the Protector unmanned surface vehicle (USV) - as well as a new teaming with Lockheed Martin Corp. BAE officials noted last spring that they hope to get the USV into future iterations of the U.S. Navy's Littoral Combat Ship mission packages (DAILY, April 4). The companies said Aug. 16 that they will demonstrate its force protection capabilities to the Navy, Coast Guard and other agencies in Little Creek, Va., San Diego and Washington in coming months.
NAVAL GUN: BAE Systems said Aug. 16 that Lockheed Martin Corp. has contracted for a second 57mm Mk 110 Naval Gun system for the third Littoral Combat Ship (LCS 3). The first system was delivered in March for the U.S. Navy's first LCS, Freedom (LCS 1). BAE said it will deliver the second system in the first quarter of 2008. BAE has two contracts for a total of three gun systems for the LCS program - split between Lockheed and General Dynamics Corp. - and an additional three gun systems for the U.S. Coast Guard's Deepwater program, run by Lockheed and Northrop Grumman Corp.
Lockheed Martin is developing a software tool that the company says will allow a single operator to control multiple, differing unmanned systems and integrate them with manned platforms. Developed with internal research and development funds, the Generic Unmanned Supervisory Segment (GUSS) has been tested at the company's Center for Innovation in Suffolk, Va., and in a U.K. laboratory, according to the company.
A new congressionally mandated study by RAND Corp. affirms the U.S. Air Force's Evolved Expendable Launch Vehicle (EELV) as the likely best solution for the nation's military space launch needs through 2020, and recommends greater service involvement to secure the program's future. With a string of successful launches, Lockheed Martin's Atlas V and Boeing's Delta IV EELVs "are a true success and are critical to national security," the study says. "The Air Force must rigorously protect this capability with resources adequate to sustain these programs."
A coalition of trade associations in Washington has sounded an alarm concerning an acquisition advisory panel's recommendations to change federal contracting for commercial products and services. The trade groups, including the Aerospace Industries Association and the National Defense Industrial Association, called the expert-derived, congressionally mandated recommendations "counterproductive" and said they were based on "incomplete, unsupported or inaccurate" findings.
The U.S. Army's Future Combat Systems (FCS) program has held its week-long initial preliminary design review (IPDR), clearing the way for the platform-level PDRs that will begin later this year. FCS is developing 18 new manned and unmanned systems that will support the Army's future brigade. With almost 1,000 industry and government personnel in attendance last week in St. Louis, the IPDR was the program's most important technical milestone to date and its biggest review of the year, according to FCS Lead Systems Integrators Boeing and SAIC.
WATCHING BORDER: U.S. military forces are monitoring the border between Iraq and Iran to make sure no weapons, or materials that can be used for weapons, are being smuggled into Iraq, Pentagon spokesman Bryan Whitman said Aug. 15. In the past, Iran has smuggled troops, weapons, or items that can be used to make weapons, like improvised explosive device parts, into Iraq, he said.
