SWEDISH C-130s: Boeing and the U.S. Air Force have signed a $19.8 million contract for the modernization of the first Swedish Air Force C-130 aircraft, the company announced Aug. 10. The award, which falls under the Air Force's C-130 Avionics Modernization Program, is a prelude to a foreign military sales contract between the service and Boeing for Swedish C-130s expected to be finalized in October.
While Northrop Grumman awaits the U.S. Air Force decision on whether to keep its advanced E-10 radar and put it on the E-8 Joint Surveillance Target Attack Radar System (JSTARS) fleet, top industry analysts say the radar will be cut because of budget priorities. Those cuts are a harbinger of a trend - cut technology to fund legacy equipment for current combat needs, analysts say.
SMALL BIZ: At least 30 percent of the U.S. Navy Aging Aircraft team's business of seeking increasingly obsolete replacement parts goes to small businesses, a level well above the federal government's goal of 23 percent, according to Naval Air Systems Command (NAVAIR). The team realized that most of the "truly innovative solutions" come from small businesses, which are able to specialize in specific technological areas of interest, NAVAIR says.
Absent some type of commitment within about a week from the U.S. Air Force or another foreign air service for the purchase of 10 C-17 aircraft worth about $2 billion, Boeing plans to make good on its threat to start shutting down the line, company Vice President Dave Bowman said Aug. 10.
Competing industry teams have submitted their proposals for NATO's missile defense Systems Engineering and Integration (SE&I) program, in anticipation of a contract award in mid- to late September. Boeing submitted its proposal in July a month ahead of the deadline, according to the company, and a Northrop Grumman/EADS Defence & Security Systems team handed theirs in this week. A team led by Science Applications International Corp. (SAIC) also is proposing.
Congress is being told to prepare to provide $110 billion in off-budget supplemental funding for fiscal 2007 military operations abroad and other Defense Department requests. The White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB), in its required mid-session review submitted last month, told Capitol Hill to expect a roughly $60 billion request later in FY '07, which lawmakers expect next spring.
U.S. intelligence agency analysts are using imagery from the eight to nine largest National Reconnaissance Office imaging spacecraft to keep an especially close watch on the several hundred miles of Iranian coastline along the Persian Gulf, the Strait of Hormuz and the Gulf of Oman.
While Northrop Grumman is hoping the recent Hezbollah missile attacks on Israel will create interest in its Skyguard chemically powered high-energy laser weapon system either abroad or for American homeland security, it's clear that the U.S. Army wants to wait for a more tactical and mobile system. While more mobile and cheaper than earlier planned high-energy laser (HEL) proposals, Skyguard lacks the mobility of solid-state high energy systems the Army would rather have, according to Northrop and Army officials.
Iran has "hundreds" of technical advisors in Lebanon that have trained -- and continue to support -- Hezbollah forces in the use of sophisticated anti-ship and anti-tank missiles and unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV), Aviation Week & Space Technology is reporting in its Aug. 14 edition. While no evidence has yet emerged publicly that Iranians are operating weaponry in combat or even trained Hezbollah insurgents, the magazine quotes a U.S. intelligence official as saying, "It's not just a matter of turning weapons over to Hezbollah."
The Air Force Research Laboratory's (AFRL) Directed Energy Directorate at Kirtland Air Force Base, N.M., is embarking on a follow-on to its recently demonstrated Aerospace Relay Mirror System (ARMS) in an effort to prove that laser relay mirrors can be made deployable and operationally effective. 'Not our decision' AFRL's future vision is for a system small enough to be carried on an airship that could relay and redirect high-energy laser beams fired from other platforms to destroy mortars, missiles or other targets.
The Block III Apache helicopters will have net-centric communications and unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) control capabilities that should make the aircraft the technological templates for U.S. Army air power development, Army and Boeing officials said Aug. 9. The communications and UAV control will be the foundation for future Apache and Army aviation success, the officials said.
SUPPORTING STENNIS: NASA's Stennis Space Center in Mississippi has exercised the first $42.4 million option of a six-year contract with Sverdrup Technology Inc. of Tullahoma, Tenn., to support propulsion test operations at Stennis and Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala. Stennis also has awarded Mississippi Space Services a one-year contract extension to provide facility operating services at Stennis. The extension is valued at $61.6 million. Mississippi Space Services is a joint venture of Computer Sciences Corp.
APACHE HELOS: U.S. Army and Boeing officials acknowledge that Israel is using Block A and Block D Longbow Apache helicopters against Hezbollah forces in Lebanon. The Longbow's digital control system, advanced cockpit and battlefield connectivity to ground and other air platforms should make it ideal for such battles, officials said. Israel also has developed its own internal communications network for use in its Apaches, the officials said.
A U.S. Navy Tomahawk Block III cruise missile was launched Aug. 8 from an Arleigh Burke-class destroyer underway in the Pacific Ocean off the coast of southern California. The Navy said the vertically launched Tomahawk missile transitioned to cruise flight and flew a fully guided 560-nautical mile test flight using Global Positioning Satellite and digital scene-matching area correlator navigation to a target on a Naval Air Systems Command land range.
The U.S. Navy has awarded General Dynamics Corp.'s Bath Iron Works (BIW) a $115.8 million contract to start DDG-1000 destroyer detail design and procurement of vendor-furnished information (VFI) to support it. The total value of the detail design effort is $336.26 million, with $78.54 million funded at contract award for advanced zone detail design, the Defense Department said late Aug. 8. The remaining detail design is included in a priced option valued at $257.72 million.
Raytheon Co. and the U.S. Naval Sea Systems Command have finalized a $95.4 million contract modification for lightweight and heavyweight torpedo hardware, engineering and support services, the company said Aug. 9. The result boosts fiscal 2006 procurement quantities to the consolidated torpedo contract awarded to Raytheon in 2004. Also awarded was a $5 million modification for torpedo spares, production engineering and technical support for fleet operational requirements for the U.S. and Royal Australian Navy's light- and heavyweight torpedoes.
Lockheed Martin Corp. and Alliant Techsystems said Aug. 8 that they successfully test fired a second-stage booster motor under the Submarine-Launched Intermediate Range Ballistic Missile Booster system demonstration for the U.S. Navy. It was the second static test firing conducted this summer under the 16-month, $9.2 million demonstration effort (DAILY, July 18).
DRS Technologies Inc. announced Aug. 8 that General Dynamics Corp. selected it for a new $186 million contract, including options, to design and produce sets of "Integrated Fight Through Power" systems for the U.S. Navy's planned DDG-1000 destroyers, formerly known as the DD(X) class. DRS will provide detailed design, development, qualification and production of advanced-power conversion modules for the DDG-1000 Ship Service Distribution System through March 2016.
The U.S. Department of Homeland Security on Aug. 8 awarded Northrop Grumman $55.4 million for the third and final phase of the government's program to assess the feasibility of installing infrared countermeasures on commercial airliners.
Under a new management plan finalized by the Pentagon, the military's proposed Joint Tactical Radio System (JTRS) will have centralized funding, engineering and program development authority, which defense officials say should ease tensions between the Defense Department and prime contractor Boeing. Approved by Defense Deputy Secretary Ken Krieg, the plan consolidates authority, direction and control of JTRS by the joint program executive officer through the Navy. The Pentagon released details of the new arrangement on Aug. 8.
