The American Shipbuilding Association said it will again target the Pentagon's long-term leasing of foreign-built ships, which some U.S. shipbuilders and their supporters see as lost domestic work. "ASA will continue to work with Congress to urge that legislation be passed to limit the practice by the Department of Defense (DOD) of using long-term leases as a de facto means of buying foreign-built ships to meet dedicated military logistics requirements," the group said.
CAE USA said March 30 that it has been awarded contract options worth more than $14 million to design and build a MH-60S helicopter operational flight trainer (OFT) for the U.S. Navy. It will be the fourth simulator that CAE will manufacture for the Navy. The Navy also OK'd CAE to upgrade a fourth P-3C Orion OFT and provide support and spares. The MH-60S OFT is set to be ready for Naval Air Station (NAS) Norfolk in late 2007. The upgraded P-3C OFT is scheduled to be ready for training at NAS Jacksonville in mid-2007.
Leading Air Force officials told senators March 29 that they expect to get permission from the Pentagon's acquisition chief to issue a request for information for aerial refueling tankers "in the very, very near future," which will be followed by a request for proposals in September.
Air Force Secretary Michael Wynne and Gen. Michael Moseley, Air Force chief of staff, told Senate defense appropriators March 29 that the service is progressing on revamping its oversight and quality of military space programs. "We reduced our acquisition force in the space area way too much," Wynne said, hurting engineering quality and causing cost overruns. In turn, the Air Force is trying to increase the "talent pool."
ICO North America has moved ahead on an old idea with its plans to deploy and operate a hybrid space-/terrestrial-based mobile satellite service (MSS). Continuing an effort started by its parent company, ICO Global Communications, ICO North America has picked an International Launch Services Atlas V to launch its first satellite. The ICO-G1 satellite, ordered last year from Space Systems/Loral along with its ancillary terrestrial component (ATC), is to be launched in mid-2007.
The U.S. Air Force has awarded Raytheon Co.'s Imagery and Geospatial Systems unit $9.4 million more for the Joint Environmental Toolkit (JET) program, which will integrate and possibly replace the existing Air Force Weather Weapon System.
NEW COMMANDANT: The Senate has confirmed Vice Adm. Thad Allen, the Coast Guard official whose face became synonymous with the service's much-praised response to Hurricane Katrina, to be the 23rd Coast Guard commandant. The March 28 vote also will promote Allen to a four-star admiral. "He will more than justify the confidence that the president and Senate place in him," Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff said March 29.
SpaceDev Inc. of Poway, Calif., finished 2005 with its 12th consecutive quarter of revenue growth and eighth consecutive quarter of operating profit, company officials said during a conference call March 29. SpaceDev's 2005 revenue was approximately $9 million, an increase of 84 percent compared to approximately $4.9 million in 2004. The increase mostly was due to the company's work with the Missile Defense Agency (MDA) and other smaller government contracts.
The scheduled date of the first flight of a test version of the Joint Strike Fighter has slipped two months, according to the JSF program's director. Rear Adm. Steven Enewold, executive officer of the Joint Strike Fighter Program, says the JSF/F-35 will be tested at Patuxent River Naval Air Station, Md., in October. The test originally was slated for Aug. 28, he told a Senate Armed Services subcommittee on March 28.
PENETRATION: Air Force Secretary Michael Wynne said March 29 that Defense Department efforts toward a new bunker-buster bombing ability now revolves around Earth penetration technology and whether warheads can be designed to achieve the mission. Briefing Senate defense appropriators, Wynne said it's all about physics at this point, and that the former nuclear aspect is not at issue any longer.
UAV ARRIVES: The U.S. Navy's first Global Hawk unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV), N-1, arrived March 28 at Naval Air Station Patuxent River, Md. N-1 is the first of two RQ-4A aircraft the Navy has acquired through the Global Hawk Maritime Demonstration (GHMD) program. It has logged more than 200 flight hours since its first flight in October 2004. The GHMD program will develop concepts of operation for long-duration maritime surveillance UAVs.
Due to an ongoing union dispute with FAA, current air traffic controllers are not participating in the Joint Planning and Development Office's effort to create the Next Generation Air Transportation System (NGATS), a panel of government witnesses told House lawmakers March 29. Testifying before the House Science subcommittee on space and aeronautics, Gerald Dillingham, director of Civil Aviation Issues at the Government Accountability Office (GAO), called the lack of controller input a "serious problem."
VEHICLES: Oshkosh Truck Corp. has been awarded a $169.2 million delivery order to provide the Marine Corps with 536 Medium Tactical Vehicle Replacement (MTVR) cargo vehicles, 190 MTVR tractor vehicles and associated kits, the Defense Department said March 29. The work will be done in Oshkosh, Wis. It is expected to be finished in 2008. The delivery order was awarded by the Marine Corps Systems Command, Quantico, Va.
Federal information technology (IT) spending will grow from $75 billion this fiscal year to $93 billion by FY '11, according to initial findings from a five-year forecast from consultancy firm Input. But defense IT won't steal the spotlight anymore. "Homeland security will get renewed focus but on different priorities, with increased funding for natural disaster relief and preparation," Input said March 28. "The health IT market will also receive a boost with spending projected to increase steadily over the next five years."
NASA's $3 billion slice from its FY '07 science budget has left its high-priority mission to look for life on Jupiter's icy moon Europa in the poorhouse, but agency-backed engineers and astrobiologists are rich in ideas for how to explore Europa if the money ever comes through.
