Dec. 5 - 6 -- SMi: NATO Defence Procurement: Objectives, Programs and Opportunities; Brussels. For more information call +44 (0) 20 7827 6000, fax: +44 (0) 20 7827 6001; email: [email protected]. Dec. 5 - 6 -- Aerospace & Defense Finance Conference, CSFB Headquarters, New York City, N.Y. For information call Lydia Janow at (212) 904-3225 or (800) 240-7645 ext. 5 or go to http://www.aviationweek.com/ conferences.
United Launch Alliance (ULA) formally opened for business Dec. 1, embarking on a two-year plan to consolidate Atlas and Delta rocket operations primarily in Denver, Colo., and Decatur, Ala. ULA is a 50-50 joint venture between Atlas builder Lockheed Martin and Delta manufacturer Boeing that will have just under $2 billion in annual sales at startup. The company begins life with 3,800 employees total - 1,500 from the Atlas program and 2,300 from Delta.
PAD RESTRICTION: For safety reasons, NASA will be placing additional restrictions on access to the launch pad in the final days leading up to the planned Dec. 7 liftoff of shuttle Discovery on mission STS-116. The agency's concern is over composite tanks, known as over-wrap pressure vessels, which are used to pressurize systems on the orbiter. Evidence suggests that the tanks, developed 25 years ago, could fail over time. "We have an aggressive test program under way to try to understand how that affects us," Shuttle Program Manager Wayne Hale says.
The U.S. Navy has funded an $860.6 million contract modification to a previously awarded contract to Northrop Grumman Corp. for continued work on the futuristic CVN 21 aircraft carrier program. The base contract modification is valued at roughly $754 million with an additional $106.7 million in options. This expected additional work brings the total value of the contract to $2.2 billion, according to the company.
The Nuclear Weapons Council (NWC), a working group of senior Pentagon and National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) officials, decided Dec. 1 to proceed with the Reliable Replacement Warhead (RRW) program after reviewing competing designs from Los Alamos and Lawrence Livermore National Laboratories. The two labs now will compete to gain acceptance of their respective designs for the replacement warhead, which aims to create an improved and safer nuclear weapons stockpile without traditional means such as nuclear tests.
BATTLELAB CONTRACT: Goodrich Corp. said Nov. 30 that it was awarded a U.S. Air Force Unmanned Aerial Vehicle Battlelab contract to develop and fabricate a shortwave infrared sensor for the Spectre-Finder initiative. The goal is to demonstrate the potential of a small, air-launched and recoverable unmanned aircraft to provide off-board sensing for future Air Force Special Operations Command concepts of operation. Goodrich's team will develop a SWIR camera payload assembly.
The U.K. government has tapped a team of Lockheed Martin and the VT Group to be the preferred bidder for the country's 6 million pound ($11.8 million) Military Flying Training System program. The so-called Ascent Team beat out the rival Thales-led Sterling bid and the Vector team, led by KBR and Bombardier.
WEAPONS MOUNTS: Tonsberg, Norway-based Vinghog AS has been awarded an $8.4 million contract to provide the U.S. military with Improved Crew Served Weapons Mounts for MK47 Advanced Lightweight Grenade Launchers, the U.S. Defense Department said Nov. 29. The mounts, which help improve accuracy when firing on the move, will also be used with M2 and M240 machine guns. The work will be done in Norway and is expected to be completed by November 2011. The contract was awarded by The Naval Surface Warfare Center, Crane Division, Crane, Ind.
NASA says it will continue to support its Centennial Challenges prize program, despite the fact that Congress may be on the brink of denying funding to the effort for the second year in a row. Senate appropriators have voted to deny the program's $10 million fiscal 2007 budget request, although the Senate and House have yet to agree on a final FY '07 NASA budget (DAILY, Nov. 29).
Raytheon Co. said Nov. 30 it was awarded a $2 million contract for its Paveway II laser-guided bomb (LGB) kits in a winner-take-all U.S. Air Force competition. Raytheon will provide Paveway GBU-10 air foil groups, used with 2,000-pound Mk-84 warheads, under a contract with Ogden Air Logistics Center, Hill Air Force Base, Utah.
After further analysis of its last two space shuttle flights, NASA has downgraded the risk of foam debris to the orbiter and is proceeding with plans to launch Discovery on the next space station assembly mission Dec. 7. During at two-day flight readiness review (FRR) at Kennedy Space Center in Florida that wrapped up Nov. 29, managers reviewed new analysis of the danger posed to the orbiter by foam debris shed from the external tank during ascent - the phenomenon that doomed Columbia nearly four years ago.
The U.K. defense ministry opened a new explosive waste incinerator on Nov. 30 in Bosnia designed to destroy tons of arms and bombs in the Balkans. The U.K. in July pledged to destroy 250,000 light weapons and small arms in Bosnia within a year. The defense ministry has already helped dispose of 200,000 small arms in Bosnia this year and has helped destroy more than 1 million weapons worldwide through its Global Conflict Prevention Fund.
'DIVESTING': Air Force acquisition czar Sue Payton says she is considering "divesting," or terminating programs because of declining funding for the service's modernization accounts. Funding has decreased about $10 billion in the last three years, she says. Her criteria will be those programs that may have lost relevance since the war on terrorism began and those that are over budget or underperforming. "I personally believe this is my swan song," she says of her service to the Pentagon and her determination to get Air Force programs back in line.
U.S. Navy officials have chosen F/A-18E/F Super Hornet Radar Altimeters, MH-60R/S Air Data Computers and newer ARN-153 advanced digital tactical airborne navigation systems for EA-6B Prowlers from a top-10 list of problematic avionic systems to be worked on this fiscal year. These projects were chosen depending on how close they were to a proposed fix (usually a redesign or qualification of a similar modern component), urgency of need, return on investment and the ability to fix the problem.
