Lockheed Martin Corp. is maneuvering to become the leader in the budding maritime domain awareness (MDA) arena, a marketplace worth at least half a billion dollars, and already has persuaded Defense and Homeland Security department officials with its modeling concept.
The Defense Department wants Alloy Surfaces Co. Inc. to produce four times as many "special materials decoys" a month to help protect U.S. Army helicopters and other aircraft from shoulder-fired missiles.
Navy Adm. Mike Mullen, the chief of naval operations (CNO), said Jan. 10 that more shipbuilding programs will come under a harsher microscope for cost savings as the DD(X) destroyer just did, including the LHA(R) amphibious assault ship, Littoral Combat Ship, Maritime Prepositioning Force-Future, the Virginia-class submarine and the proposed CG(X) cruiser. "We can't afford every new gadget, we can't afford the Star Wars version of every new idea," Mullen said. "We need to be selective and efficient."
DELIVERIES: The Boeing Co. delivered 42 FA/-18E/F Super Hornet aircraft in 2005, the company said Jan. 10. Other 2005 delivery totals from the company's Integrated Defense Systems Programs included 12 AH-64D Longbow helicopters; 16 C-17 Globemaster cargo aircraft; two C-40 military aircraft; two Delta II Launch Vehicles; six F-15 fighter aircraft; three government and commerical satellites; and 10 T-45 Training System flight simulators and related equipment.
The Lockheed Martin Corp.-Northrop Grumman Corp. joint venture responsible for the U.S. Coast Guard's 25-year, $24 billion Deepwater recapitalization program is prepared to accelerate the makeover project if Congress agrees to fund the move, executives said Jan. 9. "We welcome a program acceleration," said Leo Mackay, head of the Integrated Coast Guard Systems (ICGS) joint venture. "There's no industry limitation to acceleration." ICGS Executive Vice President James Anton said, "It's really a matter at this point of funding."
NASA Administrator Michael Griffin tried to reassure the astronomical community about NASA's continued commitment to science during an address to the American Astronomical Society (AAS) in Washington Jan. 10, saying that NASA does not plan "to sacrifice present-day scientific efforts for the sake of future benefits to be derived from exploration."
The military services should start sooner rather than later on developing the various supporting technologies that will enable future high-energy, solid-state laser weapons, according to Northrop Grumman. "A weapon system is made up of more than just the laser," said Dan Wildt, the company's director of business development for directed energy systems. Supporting systems include optics for aiming, technology to identify and track targets as well as pick an aim point, and platform requirements such as power and cooling, he said.
The Defense Department's Manufacturing Technology (ManTech) Program has awarded $2.8 million to Edmund Optics Inc. to develop advanced manufacturing tools for producing complex conformal and advanced optical elements such as aspheres, the Barrington, N.J., company said Jan. 10.
The U.S. Navy is taking another step toward development of a solid rocket motor for a future Submarine Launched Intermediate Range Ballistic Missile (SLIRBM). The service's Strategic Systems Programs Office says it plans to hold a competition for a 12-month contract to demonstrate innovative solid rocket motor design and manufacturing techniques applicable to an affordable SLIRBM, which would probably carry a conventional warhead.
Singapore's government has chosen the GE F110 fighter engine to power a dozen of its Boeing F-15SG aircraft, GE Aviation said Jan. 9 Financial terms were not disclosed. The deal includes options to provide engines for eight more aircraft. Deliveries will take place in 2008-2009.
The Pentagon's elusive program budget decision (PBD) 720 was issued and then withdrawn before anyone other than a few in Congress could see it, and it was the lawmakers' howls of rage that put it back in the box, say senior Air Force officials.
PARIS - Industrial snags and persisting disagreement over force requirements and deployment strategies continue to plague French attempts to help forge a European road map for unmanned aerial vehicle development.
CONVERSION COMPLETED: General Dynamics Electric Boat said Jan. 9 that it has completed its conversion of the Trident submarine USS Ohio as a multimission vessel for covert tactical strike and special operations support. The subs USS Michigan, USS Florida and USS Georgia are also undergoing conversions. The work is being done under a $1.4 billion contract won by Electric Boat in 2002. It is set to be finished in 2007.
Pentagon leaders appear to have reached an agreement "in principle" to endorse Lockheed Martin and Boeing's proposed United Launch Alliance rocket merger, according to Jim McAleese of McAleese & Associates. First announced in May 2005, ULA would merge production of Lockheed Martin's Atlas and Boeing's Delta Evolved Expendable Launch Vehicle families, both of which have struggled in the absence of a vigorous commercial launch market. The companies originally had hoped to secure approval for the deal by the end of 2005.
President Bush on Jan. 6 signed the fiscal 2006 defense authorization measure into law, which authorizes FY '06 appropriations for all Defense and some Energy department programs, as well as establishes detainee-related policies and modifies acquisition-related powers.
The U.S. Air Force has been a bit frustrated in its plans to convert Air National Guard units from manned to unmanned aircraft. First, there aren't enough pilots to remotely fly all the unmanned aircraft that are already available. Second, most of the states where the unmanned aerial vehicles are to go don't have the necessary restricted air space, a requirement that will stand until the Federal Aviation Administration allows UAVs to fly in national air space.
Boeing and partner Science Applications International Corp. (SAIC) plan to open a new regional office for the Future Combat Systems (FCS) program in El Paso, Texas this February. The Boeing/SAIC team is the Lead Systems Integrator for FCS, which is developing a new family of networked manned and unmanned vehicles and equipment for the Army's future brigade. The regional office will be located at an existing Boeing facility.
PARIS - EADS officials are applauding a U.S. Congress decision not to include restrictive language concerning its participation in a future U.S. tanker replacement program in legislation passed at the end of last year.
Despite a lot of rhetoric about improving NATO's warfighting technology, investments are small and improvements are glacially slow. For example, NATO's development of its future airborne ground-surveillance system is expected to slide another year because of a lack of consensus about what is wanted in the system.
