Stephen M. Bryant has been appointed vice president of combat avionics programs. Ann Fortenberry has been named vice president of trades management, training and development. Edmond E. Hughes Jr. has been appointed vice president of human resources and administration. Gen. Richard B. Myers (USAF Ret.) has been named to the board of directors. Myers is a former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
International Space Station Flight Engineer Valery Tokarev was scheduled to undock the Soyuz vehicle that brought him and ISS Expedition 12 Commander Bill McArthur and move it to a new port this week, clearing the way for the next station crew to arrive March 31. Tokarev will shift the Soyuz from the nadir docking port on the Zarya module to the aft docking port on the Zvezda service module in a 35-minute flight that was scheduled to begin at 1 a.m. Eastern time March 20. For safety's sake, McArthur will go along for the ride.
Edwin C. Humphreys III has been named senior vice president and director of the Professional Services Solutions Sector. Dr. Brian Jones and Ron Lee have been promoted to vice president. Jones is Air Forces Group technical and strategy director. Lee is director of the engineering solutions division. Robert D. Shuey III has been appointed senior vice president and director of the Legacy Systems Solutions Sector.
Facing a looming trust fund shortfall, the U.S. Defense Security Cooperation Agency is boosting what it charges contractors for Foreign Military Sales cases by nearly a third, and adding a new minimum $15,000 charge for smaller sales. It's the first rate change in seven years. Without it, the agency said March 15, the FMS Trust Fund Administrative account "would effectively become insolvent sometime in" fiscal 2009.
TACAIR INTEGRATION: Top Navy and Marine Corps officers are still committed to integrating their tactical air fleets, although specifics have yet to be laid out and both services are aware of "limits," the chief of naval operations told The DAILY. "We're going to have to set what our priorities are as we move forward," Adm. Mike Mullen said. He hopes to figure out more details this year as the Navy identifies changes to its aircraft programs (DAILY, March 15). The first road map was drawn up three years ago and "the world has changed since 2003," Mullen said.
An online survey commissioned by a major U.S. advertising agency has ranked military and weaponry inventiveness and space exploration second and third, respectively, to medical science in the minds of those polled to judge the country's current standing. But they are far from what pollsters said the nation wants as its inventive priorities.
Sen. Ted Stevens (R-Alaska), chairman of the Senate Appropriations defense subcommittee, criticized Pentagon leaders March 15 for seemingly devolving unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) efforts, such as turning over the Joint Unmanned Combat Air System (J-UCAS) to the Navy while the Coast Guard and other border patrol groups could use UAVs, too.
C-BAND COMPLEMENT: The Canadian Space Agency has awarded McDonald, Dettwiler Associates a contract worth $7 million Canadian dollars ($6.7 million) to carry out conceptual design and definition for a fleet of small satellites to complement the existing Radarsat C-band radar imaging family early in the next decade. The next Radarsat spacecraft, Radarsat-2, is set to be orbited in December from Baikonur.
The U.S. Air Force might someday reconsider its decision to split off from the Navy in developing a Joint Unmanned Combat Air System (J-UCAS), Air Force Secretary Michael Wynne indicated March 15.
Astronomers are coming to believe that different types of stars form different types of solar systems, based in part on the discovery of a large rocky planet orbiting a distant red dwarf star at about the same position that the gas giant Jupiter occupies in our Solar System.
Louis Chenevert has been elected president and chief operating officer and a director. Steve Finger has been appointed president of Pratt & Whitney. Jeff Pico has been named president of Sikorsky Aircraft. VERSAR INC., Springfield, Va. Gina Foringer has been appointed senior vice president. VIRTRA SYSTEMS INC., Arlington, Texas J. David Rogers has been named chief financial officer.
NASA has given up on making the space shuttle's May launch window and is focused now on launching Discovery in July, Program Manager Wayne Hale announced March 14. The decision to shoot for the July 1-19 window for mission STS-121 followed a two-day meeting on the external fuel tank's engine cutoff (ECO) sensors, one of which is showing warning signs that it may be developing a problem (DAILY, March 9).
Alliant Techsystems has announced the resignation of its CFO and said it will re-align its business into three core units. The weapons and space systems contractor said March 14 that it will re-align its operations on April 1 under three groups: Mission Systems, Launch Systems and Ammunition Systems. The company, which has 15,000 employees and more than $3 billion in annual revenues, said the move is aimed at improving operating efficiencies and more closely aligning its businesses with markets.
F-22 WORK: Lockheed Martin Corp. has been awarded a $383.5 million contract modification to perform long lead, logistics support, and aircraft structural integrity work for the U.S. Air Force in the production of F-22 Raptors, the Defense Department said March 14. The work is set to be completed in December 2006. The contract was awarded by the Headquarters Aeronautical Systems Center, Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio.
Britain has raised the stakes on Joint Strike Fighter participation, issuing a stark warning on March 14 that unless its technology access needs are met, it will quit the program. British Minister for Defense Procurement Paul Drayson, appearing before the Senate Armed Services Committee in his first visit to Washington, said the U.K. must be provided with "operational sovereignty" on its JSF aircraft or London would pull out.
The industry teams competing for the Advanced Precision Kill Weapon System (APKWS) II effort expect the winner to be chosen in mid- to late April, kicking off a program whose total lifetime value is estimated at $2 billion. Teams led by Lockheed Martin, Raytheon, and BAE Systems/Northrop Grumman are vying for APKWS II, a revamped version of the canceled APKWS program led by General Dynamics. APKWS II is adding a laser seeker to the unguided Hydra 70mm (2.75-inch) rocket for use against lightly armored vehicles and buildings.
The Navy's priorities in rebalancing its air forces will start with building up its Boeing P-8A Multimission Aircraft (MMA) fleet and retiring its aging P-3s, as well as getting the Lockheed Martin-led Joint Strike Fighter program "on line," according to the chief of naval operations. The CNO, speaking to defense reporters in Washington, said the age of naval air forces is the service's primary aircraft challenge. Meanwhile, maritime patrol requirements are significant, which is why the MMA is so important, Adm. Mike Mullen said.
U.S. Northern Command's missile defense is "robust and significant" Northcom commander Adm. Timothy Keating told Congress March 14, but he conceded there hasn't been a successful test of the entire system yet. At a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing, Sen. Evan Bayh (D-Ind.) asked Keating to characterize the efficacy of the missile defense system in terms of the success rate for taking down a single ballistic missile launched against the Western U.S. The Pentagon estimates 26 countries have some form of ballistic missile capability (DAILY, March 13).
BRADLEY REPAIRS: The U.S. Army's Tank-automotive and Armaments Command (TACOM) has awarded BAE Systems a $227 million contract modification to repair and overhaul 361 Bradley Fighting Vehicles returning from Iraq, the company announced March 14. Disassembly and component overhaul work will be performed at Red River Army Depot, Texas, and BAE Systems in Fayette County, Pa. Final assembly, integration and test will be conducted at the company's York, Pa., facility
