The Pentagon's decision to cancel the Joint Strike Fighter's alternate engine program was a budget-driven decision and was not derived from comprehensive analysis, congressional investigators have told House and Senate defense authorizers.
MH-60R AVIONICS: Lockheed Martin Corp. announced May 22 that it received two production contracts from the U.S. Navy to complete the integration of sensor and avionics systems on 12 MH-60R multimission helicopters, and to begin integration work on 25 others. An award for $76.5 million goes to finish 12 MH-60Rs, which will be delivered by late 2008. Lockheed Martin received $31 million in 2005 to order major systems from suppliers.
The intelligence official responsible for coordinating information sharing among the gaggle of organizations responsible for fighting terrorism has ranked handling "sensitive but unclassified" (SBU) information right up with ensuring the privacy rights of the public in his priority list.
The space shuttle orbiter Discovery is undergoing processing on Launch Complex 39B at Kennedy Space Center this week following rollout to the pad May 19. The vehicle has received an initial clean bill of health for launch as early as July 1 with its modified external tank, but additional reviews remain.
PRODUCTION TOOLING: Sukhoi Civil Aircraft Co. has issued contracts with a pair of German firms to supply production tooling for the Russian Regional Jet. Fooke GmbH will supply portal milling machines for aluminum profiles, while Brotje Automation will provide CNC-controlled assembly stations for fuselage and wing assembly.
AIR FORCE Comtech Systems Inc., Orlando, Fla., is being awarded a $28,673,088 firm fixed price contract. This provides for the purchase of 184 troposcatter modem upgrade kits to support the Air Force, Army, and Marine Corps requirements. At this time, $5,401,890 has been obligated. Solicitations began in March 2006 and negotiations were complete in May 2006. The work will be complete by July 2007. Headquarters Warner Robins Air Logistics Center, Robins Air Force Base, Ga., is the contracting activity (FA8539-06-C-0004).
ARMY Datapath Inc., Duluth, Ga., was awarded on May 12, 2006, a $72,995,911 firm-fixed-price contract for equipment and support services for portions of the joint network node network. Work will be performed in Duluth, Ga., and is expected to be completed by Aug. 31, 2007. Contract funds will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. This was a sole source contract initiated on April 5, 2006. The Army Communications-Electronics Command, Fort Monmouth, N.J., is the contracting activity (W15P7T-06-C-G205). NAVY
Shares in aircraft interiors supplier B/E Aerospace staged a slight recovery on May 22, but investors remained jittery over CEO Amin Khoury's connection to another company that has drawn attention for questionable stock option grants.
FINAL FLIGHT: The Virgin Atlantic/Scaled Composites GlobalFlyer is poised to make its final flight as early as May 23 when Steve Fossett will pilot the aircraft from its base at Salina, Kansas, to Dulles International Airport, Va. for induction into the National Air and Space Museum's Udvar-Hazy Center. May 24 is a backup date if weather conditions force postponement of the May 23 flight. A flyover of the new museum facility and the Dulles area is planned for about 1:15 p.m. Eastern time before Fossett lands and turns the aircraft over to the Smithsonian Institution.
CONTRACTOR COUNT: More than three years into Iraq operations, the U.S. government has launched an effort trying to take a headcount of defense contractors working in Iraq. A May 16 memorandum from the White House's procurement policymaking office unveiled an effort by the U.S. Central Command and the U.S.-led Multinational Force-Iraq to "ascertain a full accounting of contractors" who essentially live in Iraq and work under a Defense Department contract.
RADAR RUMBA: Cracks are beginning to emerge in NATO's plans to buy the TCAR multinational radar for its Allied Ground Surveillance (AGS) aircraft system. That radar may be augmented by the U.S. Multi-Platform Radar Technology Insertion Program sensor, a sophisticated active electronically scanned array radar built by a Northrop Grumman-Raytheon team. Already, NATO is limiting TCAR's application to the A321 platform while an off-the-shelf alternative may be proposed for the unmanned Global Hawk adjunct. The U.S.
SEARCH AND RESCUE: The Russian civil defense ministry has agreed to set up a joint emergency response unit with Germany to provide search and rescue services using the new Beriev Be-200 jet-powered amphibian. The unit will be supported by EADS, which has a 10 percent stake in Be-200 developer Irkut.
CBP PREDATORS: Customs and Border Protection's unmanned aircraft efforts are set to get a dramatic boost under new attention to border security. But the Homeland Security Department agency first may have to convince lawmakers that its Predator B system is reliable. The White House is asking Congress for $95 million for two additional unmanned aircraft in its supplemental spending request this month, and the Bush administration already requested $10.3 million for the General Atomics Predator program in fiscal 2007.
THINK INTERNATIONAL: Rear Adm. Jeff Wieringa, head of the Navy's international program office, encourages prospective contractors to "think international" as they craft their bids for the Broad Area Maritime Surveillance (BAMS) unmanned aerial vehicle program. "There is a lot of interest internationally in this program," Wieringa says, and the Navy might sign an initial bilateral memorandum of understanding (MOU) for international cooperation on BAMS by this summer.
COLLISION AVOIDANCE: Donald Rumsfeld, diplomat. The Defense secretary declines to be dragged into a dispute about whether the FAA is impeding application of UAVs to homeland security missions. When Sen. Pete Domenici (R-N.M.) asks Rumsfeld if he agrees that UAVs "are not given a fair chance to participate within the National Airspace System" and that "the FAA holds things up," Rumsfeld abstains.
HAA BAMS: A high-altitude airship (HAA) is the best platform to provide persistent broad-area maritime surveillance, according to David Kier, Lockheed Martin Corp. vice president and managing director of missile defense. At $2 per pound per operational hour, an HAA is twice as cost-effective as an unmanned aircraft and four-times better than a space-based system, says the former National Reconnaissance Office deputy director and Air Force principal deputy assistant secretary for space.
SOUNDING UNIT: Eumetsat officials say they have been ensured that a problem affecting an advanced microwave sounding unit (AMSU) intended for the organization's first polar orbiting satellite, Metop-1, has been resolved, and should not prevent a scheduled launch atop a Starsem Soyuz Fregat booster on July 17. The problem, related to lubrication in the ball bearings, resulted in the hardware being removed from the spacecraft, currently awaiting launch in Baikonur, Kazakhstan, and shipped back to supplier Northrop Grumman for modification.
NGATS GAP?: The Government Accountability Office is studying whether NASA's reorientation of its aeronautics program toward fundamental research will leave a gap between the agency's work on key technologies for NGATS, the next-generation air transportation system, and the level of development industry will need to finish the job. The FAA's Research, Engineering and Development Advisory Committee estimates that gearing up for the FAA to fill the gap would add five years to the NGATS program.
