Lockheed Martin is ramping up to begin work on a 20-year contract for pilot training with the Royal Singapore Air Force (RSAF) that will see the company delivering simulators, courseware, flight instructors and PC-21 turboprop trainer aircraft. Lockheed Martin would not disclose the total value of the contract win, which was announced Nov. 3. The company will spend the next eight months conducting a training needs analysis with the RSAF to fully flesh out its requirements.
The Pentagon's Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) is keying on developing technology and programs to better manage electromagnetic spectrum for communications and other capabilities. DARPA is working to ensure that U.S. forces will have secure, assured, high-rate, multisubscriber, multipurpose networks for future forces, agency Director Anthony J. Tether said Nov. 6 during his keynote presentation at the 43rd Annual AOC (Association of Old Crows) International Symposium and Convention in Washington.
Britain is looking at the possibility of closer industrial cooperation with the U.S. for future nuclear submarine needs as it ponders a successor to its Trident nuclear deterrent. Murray Easton, managing director of submarines at BAE Systems, told the British Parliament's Defense Committee on Nov. 7 that "there has been some dialogue at the industrial level."
The U.S. Navy has awarded Northrop Grumman Ship Systems of New Orleans $1.45 billion for construction of the eighth LPD-17 class amphibious transport dock ship (LPD 24), with long-lead-time materials and associated labor for the final planned ship, LPD 25.
STANDARD MISSILE-2: The Naval Sea Systems Command has awarded Raytheon Co. more than $64 million to provide additional engineering and technical services for the Standard Missile-2, and more is expected, the Defense Department says. Under one contract modification, Navsea awarded $39.4 million for fiscal 2007 U.S. requirements. In another, Navsea awarded $25.5 million for Foreign Military Sales (FMS), starting with Germany and Canada.
SCOTT AIR FORCE BASE, Ill. - Air Mobility Command chief Gen. Duncan McNabb says he wants the future aerial refueler to "be more like a mini KC-10 than it will be like a -135" as teams with very different proposals continue to prepare their bids for the massive KC-X contract.
The U.S. Army is making electronic warfare (EW) a core competency that every soldier must have a basic understanding of, says Col. Laurie Buckhout, Army EW Division chief. While the service's interest started about two years ago with its attempts to thwart electronic ignition of improvised explosive devices (IED) in Iraq, the Army's foray is spreading in scope and depth, Buckhout said Nov. 7 at the 43rd Annual AOC (Association of Old Crows) Symposium and Convention in Washington.
General Dynamics Corp.'s Electric Boat and Northrop Grumman Corp.'s Electronic Systems both have been chosen for the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency's Underwater Express program to demonstrate stable and controllable high-speed underwater transport through supercavitation. If fully exercised, Electric Boat's contract could reach $37.1 million. While further details were not immediately provided, the company received more than $5.7 million under a cost-plus-fixed-fee contract for the initial research and development.
Eyal Nahum has been appointed chief accountant of the Commercial Aircraft Group. Jacob Vistanetzky has been named chief accountant of the Bedek Aviation Group. Doron Zakai has been appointed chief accountant of the Systems, Missiles and Space Group.
The U.S. Air Force has awarded Northrop Grumman Systems Corp. a $104.6 million time-and-material contract through December 2009 to equip NATO's Airborne Early Warning and Control fleet of NE-3A aircraft with Large Aircraft Infrared Countermeasures (LAIRCM).
The C-27J Spartan is set to begin its early user survey (EUS) for the U.S. Army/Air Force Joint Cargo Aircraft (JCA) program on Nov. 7. Testing is expected to take two weeks and be spread over three locations: Pope Air Force Base, N.C., Maxwell Air Force Base, Ala., and Ft. Rucker, Ala.
Space shuttle managers will head to the Michoud Assembly Facility in New Orleans on Nov. 13 to assess an interim redesign of the external tank's worrisome ice/frost ramps and decide whether or not it is an improvement over continuing to fly the ramps as-is. The ice/frost ramps -- buildups of insulating foam designed to prevent ice formation -- are the last major area of concern on the tank for debris release during launch. There are 34 ice/frost ramps on the tank, which is built at Michoud.
European defense spending is stuck in slow motion as many nations scramble to pay for operational costs and maintain professional armies, according to a report by Forecast International released Nov. 6.
EADS CASA will supply four C-295s to the Brazilian air force before year's end - double the number of deliveries originally planned in 2006, the company said Nov. 6. They will go to support Brazil's Amazon Protection System and for the Calha Norte Project, which provides airlift into remote areas of the Amazon.
FINANCING PACKAGE: Loral Space & Communications has requested that a $300 million equity financing package proposed by MHR Fund Management be scaled back or abandoned because of interest among certain shareholders in participating in refinancing plans. The MHR placement, announced last month, is intended to fund growth.
