The Australian government is expanding communications systems for its surface ships, with a plan to spend $74 million on the effort near-term. The government has announced that ADI Ltd. will be the prime contractor for the third phase of the multipronged Sea 1442 project. It aims at developing the initial Maritime Tactical Wide Area Network (MTWAN), and associated capability, as well as the hardware and software to equip 15 ships. The contract is valued at $33 million (45 million Australian dollars).
Boeing Co. has successfully completed weapons separation wind tunnel tests on P-8A Multi-mission Maritime Aircraft (MMA), the company said Feb. 23. The tests showed that the weapons, which include U.S. Navy mines, missiles and torpedoes, will separate from the aircraft safely when launched during flight. The 220 hours of testing were conducted over three weeks at Arnold Air Force Base Engineering Development Center in Tullahoma, Tenn.
The U.S. Naval Sea Systems Command is awarding General Dynamics Corp.'s Bath Iron Works shipbuilding unit $35.1 million to exercise an option for DDG-51-class destroyer program lead yard services, the Defense Department said Feb. 22. Lead yard services include liaison for ship construction, general class services, class logistic services, class design agent services and class change design services for ships and DDG modernization support. The work will be performed in Bath, Maine, and is expected to be completed by November 2010, the DOD said.
The U.S. intelligence community's enterprise architecture will be broadened beyond the traditional focus on its infrastructure to include missions and function areas, the chief information officer for the director of national intelligence said Feb. 22.
Bruce Albrecht has been named vice chairman. Harvey Castner has been appointed vice president. Henry Cialone has been named president and CEO. Dennis Crockett has been appointed chairman. Robert Myers has been named chief financial officer and secretary/treasurer. Phil Weisenbach has been appointed vice president and chief operating officer.
A deal to turn over operational control at six major U.S. ports is generating hearings, letters, legislation and rhetoric on Capitol Hill. The Senate Armed Services Committee plans to hold an open briefing Feb. 23 on the national security implications of the acquisition of Peninsular and Oriental Steamship Navigation Co. by Dubai Ports World -- a government-owned and controlled firm of the United Arab Emirates (UAE).
CVN-21 PUMPS: Curtiss-Wright Corp. said Feb. 21 that it has been awarded $14.6 million in contracts by Northrop Grumman Newport News to build and design engineered pumps for the U.S. Navy's CVN-21 Class aircraft carriers. The pumps will be built by Curtiss-Wright's Flow Control unit in Phillipsburg, N.J. They are set to be delivered in 2008 and 2009.
Close coordination between the European Space Agency and the German team that operates the High Resolution Stereo Camera (HRSC) on its Mars Express orbiter allowed them to capture images of the shadow of the moon Phobos racing across the planet's surface on Nov. 10, 2005.
The U.S. Navy has chosen Lockheed Martin Corp. and Northrop Grumman Corp. to go ahead with their Persistent Unmanned Maritime Airborne Surveillance (PUMAS) planning, helping the service figure out its manned and unmanned force structure for intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) missions.
Arianespace has postponed the scheduled Feb. 21 dual-launch of the Hot Bird 7A and Spainsat satellites aboard a heavy-lift Ariane 5 ECA rocket due to a problem with ground support equipment at the company's spaceport in Kourou, French Guiana. A new date for the mission will be announced soon, the company said.
The first of two fourth-generation spacecraft for the Arab l Satellite Communications Organization (Arabsat) is set for a March 1 launch from Baikonur. EADS Astrium shipped Arabsat 4A to the launch site in Kazakstan on Jan. 26, where it is in the final stage of preparation atop the Breeze M upper stage of the International Launch Services Proton booster that will take it into orbit. EADS also developed new satellite control centers in Saudi Arabia and Tunisia for the new spacecraft. Alcatel Alenia Space supplied the satellite's payload.
DALLAS -- More than 3,500 workers at Sikorsky Aircraft Co. went on strike Feb. 20 after overwhelmingly rejecting a new, three-year contract. Local 1150 of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, which represents hourly employees at Sikorsky's Stratford, Conn., and West Palm Beach, Fla., facilities, voted on Feb. 19 to reject the proposal chiefly because of increased health insurance costs. It is the first strike at the helicopter manufacturer since 1963.
Deciding that mothballing an aircraft carrier early was better than dipping into the already tenuous U.S. Navy shipbuilding plan, an influential senator has changed sides and is pushing the Navy's proposal to retire the USS John F. Kennedy. Sen. John Warner (R-Va.), chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, has introduced a bill that would reverse legislation he himself helped become law last year to allow the Navy to drop to fewer than a dozen active flattops.
The Senate has confirmed James Finley to be deputy undersecretary of defense for acquisition and technology and Preston Geren to be undersecretary of the Army. Thomas D'Agostino also was confirmed Feb. 17 to be deputy administrator for defense programs at the Energy Department's National Nuclear Security Administration.
Mark Carroll has been named vice president and business manager of U.S. Navy programs for the Ship Systems sector. Chineta K. Davis has been appointed vice president of Multi-role Electronically Scanned Array (MESA) programs for the company's Electronic Systems sector. Brian J. Morra has been named sector vice president of business development and strategic planning for Electronic Systems. Albert F. Myers, the company's corporate vice president of strategy and technology, has been elected a member of the National Academy of Engineering.
