SHIP MAINTENANCE: Todd Pacific Shipyards Corp. said Aug. 15 that it has been awarded a $4.6 million contract modification by the U.S. Navy to perform alterations, repairs and pier side maintenance on the USS Ford (FFG-54). The work is set to be done at Naval Station Everett, Wash., from Sept. 20 to Dec. 6. The Navy first awarded a five-year contract to Todd Pacific in 2000. A five-year modification was added in 2005.
STOCK WATCH: MoneyandMarkets.com analyst John Burke said several defense-related stock prices are poised to move sharply higher due to new terror threats on airlines, armed conflicts in the Middle East, the showdown over Iran's nuclear ambitions, and the North Korean missile crisis. "While spreading geopolitical strife does not bode well for the broad market, it is greatly boosting demand for both conventional and anti-terrorist military hardware and technology," Burke said.
COUNTER-MANPADS: BAE Systems has received its contract to enter Phase III of the Department of Homeland Security's (DHS) program to protect commercial airliners from shoulder-fired heat-seeking missiles, also known as Man Portable Air Defense Systems (MANPADS). The contract, including options, is valued at more than $50 million. In Phase III, BAE will continue to refine its military-derived JetEye airliner protection system, which uses a low-power laser to blind the seekers of incoming missiles. JetEye flew on an American Airlines Boeing 767 in late 2005.
A Pentagon reprieve for the C-17 production line appears to be anything but likely, according to Defense Department officials. Boeing reiterated last week that unless it gets some kind of commitment from the U.S. Air Force or other foreign air forces for another 10 aircraft, or about $2 billion in work, it will start shutting down the line. But Pentagon spokesman Bryan Whitman said Aug. 15 there's little chance the Defense Department will come through with an order or commitment on other planes.
Lockheed Martin is appealing the U.S. Army's decision to reject the C-130J as a potential competitor for the service's Joint Cargo Aircraft (JCA) plane, saying the Army ignores Air Force certification approvals. By ignoring its sister service's certifications, the Army is de-emphasizing the "joint" designation of the JCA program, which is supposed to be one of the driving features of the fleet, according to the Pentagon's Quadrennial Review (QDR).
RADIO GROUP: Harris Corp. of Rochester, N.Y., has been awarded a $5.4 million delivery order to provide the U.S. Navy one AN/URC-131H (V) high frequency radio group and a related installation kit, the Defense Department said Aug. 14. The work will be done in Rochester, N.Y., and is expected to be finished by July 2008. The contract was awarded by Space and Naval Warfare Systems, San Diego, Calif.
The U.S. Coast Guard on Sept. 25 will take over the rotary wing air intercept mission handled by Customs and Border Protection and defend against low, slow-flying aircraft penetrating the National Capital Region's (NCR) airspace. Coast Guard crews based at Air Station Atlantic City, N.J., will fly HH-65 "Dolphin" short-range recovery helicopters and operate under both Title 10 (military service classification) and Title 14 (law enforcement) authorities.
Thomas Reiter of Germany, the first European Space Agency astronaut to join a long-duration expedition on the International Space Station, has set a new European space-endurance record. On Aug. 4, the 30 days he had spent on the ISS, plus the time he spent in 1995-96 on Russia's Mir space station, pushed Reiter over the record 209 days, 12 hours, 25 minutes held by Jean-Pierre Haignere, also of ESA. He already holds the distinction of being the first ESA astronaut to conduct an extravehicular activity from the ISS.
Kourou, French Guiana - A vital French military communications satellite and financially important JSAT Corp. broadcast spacecraft are undergoing in-orbit tests before being put into service following their Aug. 11 launch on an Ariane 5 ECA booster.
Intelsat Ltd. reported revenue of $310.5 million and a net loss of $42.7 million for the second quarter of 2006, results that don't reflect the company's acquisition of former rival PanAmSat in July. The net loss for the quarter was down from $53 million lost in the second quarter of 2005, an improvement the company chalks up to higher revenues and reduced operating expenses.
Japanese Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) engineers are in final preparations at the Uchinoura Space Center near Kagoshima for the planned Sept. 22 launch of the Japanese Solar-B spacecraft on an M-5 solid propellant booster. Solar-B is a sophisticated observational satellite equipped with three advanced solar telescopes. Its solar optical telescope is to have unprecedented 0.2 arc sec resolution for the observation of solar magnetic fields. With this capability, it could resolve 50 cm. features if pointed toward Earth instead of the sun.
The need for electronic warfare (EW)-based self-protection systems for aircraft is growing and will likely continue to do so for the rest of the decade, an analyst says. "It's already taken off," said Dave Rockwell, senior electronics analyst for the Teal Group. The U.S. Marine Corps, Air Force and Army are all in various stages of testing systems to save their aircraft from missile threats - especially portable rockets that can be fired by a single person.
NAVY Harris Corp., RF Communications Division, Rochester, N.Y.; is being awarded a $69,174,892 firm-fixed-price blanket purchase agreement order for the procurement of a multiband multimission radio. The work will be performed in Rochester, N.Y., and is expected to be completed by Oct. 25, 2007. Contract funds will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. This contract was competitively procured and two offers received via NECO. The Marine Corps Systems Command, Quantico, Va., is the contracting activity (M67854-06-A-7001).
GLAST INTEGRATION: General Dynamics C4 Systems of Scottsdale, Ariz., will soon begin integrating the two instruments that make up NASA's Gamma-ray Large Area Space Telescope (Glast) into the spacecraft, which will give astronomers their best view yet of the sources that produce the high-energy radiation associated with the collapse of massive stars to form black holes. NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center has delivered the Glast Burst Monitor built in collaboration with Germany's Max Planck Institute for Extraterrestrial Physics.
With a second successful flight-test under its belt, the Joint Air-to-Surface Standoff Missile Extended-Range (JASSM-ER) program is lobbying Senate appropriators to try to stave off a potential $40 million procurement cut in fiscal 2007. The second flight-test for the Lockheed Martin cruise missile took place from a B-1B bomber at White Sands Missile Range, N.M., on Aug. 9. The first flight took place in May. Flight-testing is expected to extend through 2008, when the system will be turned over to the U.S. Air Force.
As the Defense Department prepares its 2008 spending plan for submission this month, the services are basing their investments and cuts on the Pentagon's Strategic Planning Guidance (SPG), which looks more at capabilities than service line items. The SPG outlines the Pentagon plan to best develop the capabilities it said it needed in its 2005 Quadrennial Review (QDR).
NASA tentatively plans an Aug. 18 announcement of its choice of a pair of proposals to pursue its Commercial Orbital Transportation Services (COTS) effort. COTS aims to encourage private industry in developing spacecraft that can deliver cargo and eventually crew to the International Space Station.
Four U.S. universities will share $100 million in NASA funds to develop payloads for a planned 2012 NASA mission to study near-Earth space radiation, an investigation that has also drawn support from the National Reconnaissance Office.
