SALES, INCOME UP: Teledyne Technologies said Oct. 27 that third quarter 2005 sales were $295.3 million compared with $270 million for the same period of 2004. Third quarter 2005 net income was $15.7 million, or 45 cents per share, compared with net income of $12.5 million, or 37 cents per share, in the third quarter of 2004.
Net income soared 50 percent for Raytheon Co. in the third quarter of 2005, while net sales climbed 8 percent, the company said Oct. 27. Third quarter '05 net income was $228 million, or 50 cents per share, compared to $152 million, or 34 cents per share, the year before. Net sales increased from $4.9 billion in 2004 to $5.3 billion in the third quarter of '05. Income from continuing operations also grew, from $186 million, or 41 cents per share, to $231 million, or 51 cents per share, a 24 percent gain.
VESTS: Armor Holdings Inc. of Jacksonville, Fla., said Oct. 26 that it has received an $18.8 million contract modification to produce individual body armor vests for the U.S. military. The vests carry ballistic protective plates. The work will be directed by the Armor Holdings Aerospace and Defense Group in Alabama and Tennessee during 2006. The contract was awarded by Defense Supply Center-Philadelphia.
The U.S. military needs to better coordinate its use of electronic warfare systems in Iraq to ensure they do not interfere with each other, according to an Air Force general. As such systems grow in number and sophistication, the risk of "electronic fratricide" goes up as well, said Lt. Gen. Walter Buchanan, commander of U.S. Central Command Air Forces and the 9th Air Force.
WARFARE CENTER: San Diego-based Titan Corp. has been awarded a $16.5 million contract modification to provide engineering and technical support services and supplies for the telecommunication and communication-electronic systems of the Naval Air Warfare Center Aircraft Division, Special Communications Requirements Division, the Defense Department said Oct. 26. The work will be done in Lexington Park, Md., and St. Inigoes, Md. It is expected to be finished in October 2006. The contract was awarded by the Naval Air Warfare Center Aircraft Division, St. Inigoes, Md.
NET SALES UP: Curtiss-Wright Corp. reported Oct. 27 that third-quarter 2005 net sales increased 15 percent to $271.4 million, compared to $236.6 million in the third quarter of 2004. Operating income in the third quarter of '05 increased 27 percent to $32.4 million, compared to $25.5 million for the same period a year eariler. Third-quarter '05 net earnings increased 19 percent to $17.5 million, or 80 cents per share, from $14.7 million, or 68 cents per share, in the third quarter of 2004.
Arlington, Texas-based VirTra Systems Inc., which sells situational awareness firearms training systems to the U.S. military and other customers, said Oct. 26 that it has agreed to purchase three private electronics companies and create a single firm. VirTra Systems will buy Altatron EMS, Dynalyst Manufacturing Corp., and Suntech Inc. in a stock-for-stock or merger transaction. Further terms were not disclosed. L. Kelly Jones, VirTra Systems' chief executive officer, will remain as CEO of the combined company.
NASA is making slow progress in reforming its accounting practices and still is incapable of providing supportable financial statements, according to witnesses at an Oct. 27 hearing on Capitol Hill.
Herley Industries Inc., which designs and builds microwave technology products for the defense, aerospace and medical industries, said Oct. 26 that it posted record net sales for fiscal year 2005, but net income fell more than 20 percent.
BRAC BACKED: The House on Oct. 27 voted down an effort to block the 2005 round of domestic U.S. military base realignment and closures, known as BRAC, allowing the contentious changes to become law. Under law, Congress would have to pass a joint resolution disapproving the BRAC changes within 45 days of when President Bush forwarded an independent commission's decisions to legislators, which was Sept. 15.
The U.S. Air Force, whose Combat Search and Rescue-X (CSAR-X) program hopes to pick a prime contractor next year, has begun hosting flight demonstrations to help it evaluate competing aircraft, sources said Oct. 27.
Updated Pentagon mobility requirements would halt future U.S. buys of Boeing C-17 and Lockheed Martin C-130J airlifters, exposing those production lines to a full shutdown by the end of the decade, DAILY affiliate Aviation Week & Space Technology will report Monday, Oct. 31. The Pentagon's program analysis and evaluation office and the Joint Staff reviewed a draft of the Mobility Capability Study (MCS) this week with a small group of congressional staffers, although the future force structure numbers were classified.
NASA's Stennis Space Center in Mississippi began testing space shuttle main engines again on Oct. 25, marking the first engine test at the facility since Hurricane Katrina hit Stennis in late August. Engineers successfully test-fired an engine for 520 seconds, which is the time it takes a shuttle to reach orbit. Shuttle Discovery is not expected to launch on mission STS-121 until the spring of 2006.
The head of the Air National Guard said Oct. 26 that he hopes to consult with higher-ups in the next few weeks to see if a decision can be made to acquire new engines for the E-8C Joint Surveillance Target Attack Radar System (Joint STARS) aircraft.
