The Navy-Marine Corps and Sikorsky Aircraft Corp. team heading the Marine Heavy Lift Replacement helicopter program expect to start an intense series of competitions over the next several months, including for engines, avionics and even the airframe, officials told reporters Jan. 5 at the Pentagon.
In an amazing show of virtuosity, the Pentagon's civilian leadership is expected to stop C-17 production and stiff-arm any objections by starting an aerial tanker program that doubles as a transport and hinting at a low-observable, follow-on tactical transport program.
NEW AWARDS: The U.S. Naval Air Systems Command in late December awarded almost $1.1 billion to the Bell-Boeing Joint Program Office for long lead components for 14 fiscal 2007 Lot 11 MV-22 and two Lot 11 CV-22 Osprey aircraft, as well as logistic services support of the CV-22 developmental test and initial operational test and evaluation. Also last month, the Defense Department said Rolls-Royce will provide 22 engines for the MV-22 and CV-22 under a $59 million contract modification (DAILY, Dec. 27).
YARD SERVICES: Bath Iron Works, a General Dynamics subsidiary, has been awarded a $64 million contract by the U.S. Navy to provide lead yard services for the DDG 51 Arleigh Burke Class Aegis Destroyer program and FFG 7 Perry Class Frigate program, the company said Jan. 4. Bath Iron Works will provide expert design, planning and material support services for maintenance and modernization. The work will be done in Bath, Maine, and is expected to be finished by Sept. 30, 2010.
The White House is pushing back on a congressional effort to prohibit consolidation of military budget liaison offices. As part of the fiscal 2006 defense spending act, Congress mandated that none of those funds go to "plan or implement the consolidation of a budget or appropriations liaison office of the Office of the Secretary of Defense, the office of the secretary of a military department, or the service headquarters of one of the armed forces into a legislative affairs or legislative liaison office."
LONDON - Eight British pilots will begin training in 2007 to fly the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter, the U.K.'s defense ministry says. The pilots are set to take part in the JSF system development and demonstration test programs, while 11 more pilots will also be trained to form the first group of instructors. The training will go ahead while the ministry is struggling with numerous aspects of its future carrier strike capability.
NASA will work with the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) on developing a new Earth-observing satellite to continue the 33-year-old Landsat data set, following a White House decision to pull the mission from the faltering National Polar-orbiting Operational Environmental Satellite System (NPOESS).
Despite cuts made to some Defense Department projects, lawmakers don't want the Pentagon to kill programs -- like Lockheed Martin's C-130J transport or the Boeing F-15 Strike Eagle -- that affect thousands of defense industry jobs back in their home states and districts. The $453.5 billion fiscal 2006 defense appropriations bill, passed by Congress in late December, fully funds the Pentagon request for the F-22 Raptor. The measure includes $3.2 billion to buy 25 of the F-22s, made by Lockheed Martin and Boeing.
Jim Benson will become chief technology officer and remain as board chairman. Mark Sirangelo has been named chief executive officer and vice chairman of the board. Richard Slansky will remain president and chief financial officer.
Renato A. DiPentima and Gail R. Wilensky have been named to the board of directors. DiPentima is president and chief executive officer of SRA International. Wilensky is an economist and a senior fellow at Project HOPE, an international health education foundation.
In a move that echoes past budget maneuvering, the U.S. Navy says it can't afford to keep developing an alternative engine for the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter.
ThyssenKrupp Technologies and EADS have signed an agreement with BAE Systems for a joint acquisition of Atlas Elektronik, a Bremen, Germany, naval systems subsidiary that the British defense company was trying to unload. Under the agreement announced Dec. 30, ThyssenKrupp will hold 60 percent of Atlas while EADS controls the rest.
Lynn Brubaker has been named to the board of directors. Brubaker was vice president/general manager for commercial aerospace for Honeywell International.
Lockheed Martin Aeronautics Co. (LMAC) is conducting laboratory tests of a new, electrically-based flight control system for the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter. The Electrohydrostatic Actuation System (EHAS) uses six actuators that deflect the aircraft's horizontal tail surfaces, wing trailing edge flaperons and wing leading edge flaps. Both systems are controlled by signals transmitted from a triple-redundant computer network, which receives its power from two 270-VDC electrical generators and a stand-by battery.
Greece's air force will be provided long-lead tasks for the production of 30 F-16 aircraft under a $99.7 million contract awarded to Lockheed Martin by the U.S. government, the company said. The new order includes work on 20 single-place F-16Cs, 10 two-place F-16Ds, and an option for 10 more aircraft. The program's total value is $2 billion. Lockheed Martin's portion is $1.2 billion, the company said. The new aircraft will be added to the Greek air force's fleet of F-16s. The last of the aircraft will be delivered in late 2009.
The U.S.-German Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment (Grace), a pair of satellites that have been measuring tiny shifts in the Earth's gravity below them since 2002, has detected an unusual aftermath of the deadly Indian Ocean earthquake of December 2004 - a one part per billion alteration in local gravity.
Courtney B. Banks has been named vice president of homeland security for the company's Intelligence and Information Systems business. Charles Keegan has been appointed director of strategic development, airspace management and homeland security.
