Responding to press reports that the White House is cutting all funding for a proposed fifth servicing mission to the Hubble Space Telescope, outspoken Hubble supporter Sen. Barbara Mikulski (D-Md.) has vowed to "lead the fight" to restore the mission and further extend the observatory's life.
Department of Defense research and development spending is expected to increase by 6% during calendar year 2005, says a Battelle Memorial Institute report due out at the end of January. DOD R&D spending will hit $98 billion in 2005, compared with $92 billion in 2004, the nonprofit R&D organization said. The increase follows a flat period in DOD R&D spending during a time when overall DOD spending has seen a significant growth.
Five Hungarian pilots have arrived in Sweden to begin a year of training to become flight instructors for the Gripen JAS-39 fighter aircraft, Sweden's defense procurement agency said Jan. 21. The pilots will receive theoretical training, simulator training and flight training before returning to Hungary to work as Gripen instructor pilots in the Hungarian air force, the procurement agency said. The pilots will be based at the Swedish air force F 7 Wing at Satenas.
Australia's navy officially named the first of a fleet of new patrol boats "Armidale" during a Jan. 22 ceremony, the Australian Department of Defence said. The 61-yard long, all-aluminum monohull was named by Jana Stone, daughter of Ordinary Seaman Donald Lawson. Lawson served on the original HMAS Armidale during World War II. Construction of the Armidale began in May 2004. It was launched on Jan. 5. The Armidale is set to be delivered to Australia's navy in May 2005 at its home port of Darwin.
Dramatic changes in the types of capacity and services implemented over the United States by the satellite communications industry will lead to changes in the roles and relationships of industry players, according to a new report. "Previous market leaders will fall back while others emerge, often from unusual or unsuspected places," said the report, released Jan. 24 by Futron Corp., a technology management consulting firm based in Bethesda, Md.
MOOG POSTS GAINS: East Aurora, N.Y.-based Moog Inc. posted gains in profits, earnings per share and consolidated sales in the first quarter of 2005 compared with a year earlier, the company said Jan. 24. First-quarter profits were $15 million, compared with $12.7 million in the first quarter of 2004, an 18.3% hike. Earnings per share grew 18.8%, to 57 cents from 48 cents, after adjustment for a stock split in February 2004. Consolidated sales rose $23 million to $249 million, a 10% jump over last year, the company said.
SIMPLIFIED: The United Kingdom Ministry of Defence has begun a new support program for its Joint Force Harrier Fleet based at Royal Air Force Cottesmore, BAE Systems said last week. The effort, which replaces four maintenance lines with two simplified lines, will save 44 million pounds ($82 million) over four years and improve aircraft availability, BAE Systems said. The new maintenance lines are "forward," for flying squadrons, and "depth," for all other maintenance, the company said.
Several upgrade efforts for the U.S. Air Force's A-10 Thunderbolt are nearing key milestones, industry officials said Jan. 24. For the precision engagement (PE) program, which will give the A-10 a precision-weapons capability, Lockheed Martin expects to get the first production contract by March, company officials said. Several more production contracts are due to follow in an effort to equip all 356 Air Force A-10s with the upgrade by 2009.
ARMY Structural Associates Inc., Watertown, N.Y., was awarded on Jan. 13, 2005, a $12,971,600 firm-fixed-price contract for construction of a Constant Pressure Hydrant Fueling System. Work will be performed at Langley Air Force Base, Va., and is expected to be completed by March 15, 2007. Contract funds will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. There were 70 bids solicited on Sept. 9, 2004, and five bids were received. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Norfolk, Va., is the contracting activity (W91236-05-C-0032). NAVY
PLEASED: The U.S. Navy is pleased with its experiments in "sea swapping" and plans to expand the practice to three Norfolk, Va.-based U.S. Navy destroyers later this year, says Vice Adm. Timothy LaFleur, commander of the Pacific Fleet Naval Surface Force. The Navy is finding that the practice of rotating crews to and from a deployed ship instead of returning to port allows for a 50% increase in operational availability of that ship. "You've got to love that," the admiral says. The first phase of the Atlantic Fleet's Sea Swap experiment was completed Oct.
'MOSTLY NOISE': Proposed defense budget cuts will not affect the growing defense aerospace industry through 2005, says Stephens Inc. Investment Bankers. "While we will have a better understanding of the proposed cuts to the fiscal 2006 defense budget and their impact to future procurement and RDT&E account outlays when the budget is submitted to Congress on Feb. 7, we currently see the near- and medium-term impact to the industry and individual companies as mostly noise," the group says.
TRAINING EQUIPMENT: The defense segment of San Diego's Cubic Corp. will provide the U.S. Army with the latest Multiple Integrated Laser Engagement System (MILES) Individual Weapon System (IWS) for live troop training under a five-year, $113 million contract, the company said Jan. 20. The contract was awarded by the Army's Program Executive Office for Simulation, Training and Instrumentation in Orlando, Fla.
AVIONICS DELIVERED: Smiths Aerospace has delivered the first mission systems avionics for installation in the first F-35 Joint Strike Fighter aircraft, the company said Jan. 20. Lockheed Martin Aeronautics in Fort Worth, Texas, received the tactical data equipment avionics from Smiths in preparation for the F-35's first flight, set for September 2006, the company said. The mission systems avionics are used for mission planning, airborne mission and aircraft performance recording and mission and aircraft health debriefing.
HELO PURCHASE: Singapore's ministry of defense (SMD) has signed a contract with Sikorsky Aircraft Corp. of Stratford, Conn., to buy six new Sikorsky S-70B naval helicopters, the SMD said Jan. 21. Financial terms were not disclosed. The helicopters will be equipped with advanced anti-surface and anti-submarine warfare sensors and weapons. They will operate from the Singapore navy's new frigates. The helicopters are set for delivery between 2008 and 2010.
DDG 112: General Dynamics' Bath Iron Works was awarded a $562 million contract modification on Jan. 21 for DDG 112, the last of six DDG 51-class Aegis destroyers the company is building under a multiyear contract awarded in 2002. DDG 112 is scheduled to be delivered to the Navy in December 2010.
The U.S. Air Force has begun flight-testing the first A-10 Thunderbolt upgraded with a precision-weapons capability. The first flight of the modified close-air-support aircraft took place Jan. 20 at Eglin Air Force Base, Fla. A "ceremonial" first flight is scheduled for Jan. 25. The Precision Engagement (PE) program is adding a targeting pod and Joint Tactical Radio System (JTRS) data link to the A-10. It also is integrating the Joint Direct Attack Munition (JDAM) and Wind Corrected Munitions Dispenser (WCMD) on the aircraft.
Raytheon is beating the U.S. Air Force's cost reduction goals for the Global Hawk unmanned aerial vehicle's (UAV) sensor suite, according to company officials. "The Air Force has a cost goal for the [sensor] system over time, and we've achieved that and bettered that for the basic system," said Steve Sheridan, director of the reconnaissance and surveillance systems group at Raytheon Unmanned and Reconnaissance Systems.
RUMSFELD TESTIMONY: Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld is expected to testify before several congressional panels in mid-February to explain his department's upcoming fiscal 2006 budget request. He is slated to appear before the House Armed Services Committee on Feb. 16 and the Senate Armed Services Committee and House Appropriations defense subcommittee on Feb. 17. A hearing by the Senate Appropriations defense subcommittee has not been firmed up yet.
U.S. Navy Secretary Gordon England, a leading contender to succeed recently departed Air Force Secretary James Roche, could help the Air Force recover from recent procurement scandals and frayed relations with Congress, an analyst said Jan. 21. "Gordon England has a reputation for being a capable manager who is able to get along with people," said Loren Thompson, chief operating officer at the Lexington Institute. "In this Pentagon team, that makes him exceptional."
The Pentagon's office of the Director of Operational Test and Evaluation (DOT&E) expects this fiscal year to approve the test and evaluation master plan of the U.S. Navy's DD(X) multimission destroyer, assuming the Navy proposes an "acceptable" anti-ship cruise missile approach.
NO TIME: The impact of the first set of Littoral Combat Ships (LCS) on the second set will be "minimal" because of an accelerated acquisition timeline, the Defense Department's office of the Director of Operational Test and Evaluation (DOT&E) wrote in its latest annual report. The first set, called "Flight 0," of four LCS from competitors Lockheed Martin Corp. and General Dynamics Corp. are due in late fiscal 2007.
