Although the U.S. Navy has decided to withdraw from the U.S. Air Force-led Joint Air to Surface Standoff Missile (JASSM) program, prime contractor Lockheed Martin Corp. plans no layoffs because JASSM sales to the Air Force and foreign customers are expected to sustain the current work force, according to the company. The Air Force is in the early stages of acquiring 4,900 JASSMs, and the missile has "excellent potential for international sales," with Australia among the possible overseas buyers, company spokeswoman Jennifer Allen said late Jan. 25.
Defense spending should be "on the table" and under equal consideration for freezing or cutbacks to help get the federal budget deficit reigned in, Rep. John M. Spratt (D-S.C.), said Jan. 25. "Everything should be on the table, everything," Spratt, the ranking Democrat on the House Budget Committee, told The DAILY. The congressman also is the second-ranking Democrat on the House Armed Services Committee.
CACI International Inc. is one of several prime contractors to support the Naval Air Systems Command (NAVAIR) business and financial community multiple award contract, the company said Jan. 24. "This award positions CACI to expand its core engineering and logistics line of business," CACI said. Under the terms of the contract, CACI will lead a team of 11 subcontractors to supply logistics, business and financial support services to NAVAIR as it manages programs and products delivered to Navy and Marine Corps aviators.
Saab presented the first Hungarian Gripen JAS-39 fighter aircraft to roll off the assembly line to Hungary's military on Jan. 25, the Swedish defense procurement agency said. "The rollout of the first Hungarian Gripen is a significant milestone in the Gripen for Hungary program," procurement agency program director Mats Hansson said in a statement.
The V-22 Osprey program office is close to resolving a recently discovered glitch in the aircraft's engine pods and now foresees little or no delay in the start of a key test phase, a program spokesman said Jan. 26.
Mark Faulkner has been appointed director of engineering for the Endwave Defense Systems division. Naren Idnani has been named director of manufacturing for the same division.
U.S. officials should begin a connectivity-communications study to review how U.S. and foreign satellite capacity would be affected by a planned improvement of tsunami warning ability, the director of the National Weather Service told The DAILY Jan. 26.
Raymond W. Boushie has been named to the company's board of directors. Boushie has retired as president and CEO of Crane Aerospace & Electronics, a business segment of Crane Co., Stamford, Conn.
DRS Technologies Inc. of Parsippany, N.J., has been awarded $30 million in new orders to provide engineering services, spares and production for the U.S. Navy's AN/UYQ-70 Advanced Display Systems and related computer equipment, the company said Jan. 26. Lockheed Martin Maritime Systems & Sensors Tactical Systems of Eagan, Minn., awarded the contracts. The systems will be installed on the Navy's new Aegis destroyers, cruisers and other surface ships, as well as E-2C Hawkeye aircraft and USS Los Angeles class SSN 688 attack submarines.
The House and Senate armed services committees are preparing for painful cuts to current and future defense weapon systems and military bases due to budget deficits and Bush Administration proposals to reform Social Security and Medicare, according to statements from the House committee chairman and a Senate committee staff member.
Precision Castparts Corp., which produces aerospace metal components and products, intends to acquire the shares of Air Industries Corp. (AIC) and the assets of Air Tuf Products Inc. for $194 million in cash, Precision Castparts said Jan. 25. AIC, located in Garden Grove, Calif., manufactures airframe fasteners, which include bolts, pins, and screws made from titanium and nickel-based alloys. Precision Castparts said the acquisition will enhance PCC's presence in the aerospace fastener market.
Raytheon Co. has been awarded $4 million by the U.S. Air Force Research Laboratory to continue developing advanced radar antenna technology for unmanned combat aircraft, the company announced Jan. 25.
The newest version of the U.S. Air Force's Transformation Flight Plan outlines ways to deny sanctuary to adversaries, as well as plans to develop new nonlethal weapons, the promise of machine-to-machine integration, the importance of operations with other services or countries, and new initiatives for homeland defense, the Air Force said.
Endwave Corp., which provides radio frequency subsystems for cellular infrastructure, broadband wireless networks, homeland security and defense use, said Jan. 24 that it is creating a defense systems division. The new division combines JCA Technology, which Endwave acquired in July 2004 and moved to Endwave's Diamond Springs, Calif. manufacturing facility, and Endwave's legacy defense products business. The division will operate as a subsidiary named Endwave Defense Systems Inc.
Swiss authorities are investigating the crash of a Pilatus Aircraft Ltd. PC-21 military trainer prototype that killed the company's chief test pilot and seriously injured a woman on the ground, Pilatus said Jan. 24. Test pilot Andy Ramseier was killed in the crash near the Pilatus airfield at Buochs, Switzerland, according to a Jan. 24 story in DAILY affiliate Aviation Week & Space Technology magazine. The woman on the ground was not identified.
The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) has received more than 120 applications for its Grand Challenge 2005 robot race, including a "significant number" in the past two weeks as the Feb. 11 application deadline nears.
The U.S. Missile Defense Agency's Airborne Laser (ABL) program has completed its first round of ground-based laser firings and is pleased with the results, an MDA spokesman said Jan. 25. The program conducted seven tests of the chemical laser over three days the week of Jan. 17-21, including four firings on the last day. Each test went well, the MDA spokesman told The DAILY. "We were able to repeat the procedure without any hitches," the spokesman said. "Every time we tried to produce photons, we did. Everybody's really happy."
The heads of the European Space Agency and Russian Federal Space Agency signed an agreement last week calling for long-term cooperation in the development and use of launch vehicles, ESA said. The partnership is based on the use of Russian Soyuz vehicles from ESA's spaceport in Kourou, French Guiana, and cooperation on future vehicles, ESA said. Russian and European engineers will work together to develop reusable liquid-fueled engines and stages and experimental vehicles, although they won't exchange funding for the work, ESA said.
General Dynamics Electric Boat has won an $8 million modification to an existing contract for submarine modernization and related work at the Naval Submarine Support Facility in Groton, Conn., the company said Jan. 25. Initially awarded in October 2001, the overall contract could be worth $149 million over five years if all options are exercised and funded. The work is expected to be completed in March.
U.S. Comptroller General David M. Walker on Jan. 25 criticized the Defense Department (DOD) in the number and severity of high-risk areas of concern that result in "billions of dollars of waste each year and inadequate accountability to Congress and the American people." Unveiling the latest regular update to the Government Accountability Office's list of high-risk federal government practice areas, GAO chief Walker said DOD has eight high-risk areas of its own, and shares in another six across the government.
