NASA and the U.S. Department of Defense are conducting a pilot program that integrates radio frequency identification (RFID) with sensor technology to manage hazardous materials. The first phase of the pilot, which started about three months ago and is nearing completion, is taking place at NASA's Dryden Flight Research Center, Edwards Air Force Base, Calif. It integrates DOD's existing Web-based Hazardous Materials Management System (HMMS), sensor-based services from Oracle Corp. and RFID tags and readers from EnvironMax Inc.
The X-45A team successfully transferred control of its aircraft from California to Seattle and back again during a 46-minute flight Dec. 9, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) announced Dec. 20.
AUSTRALIAN TANKERS: The Australian Government and EADS signed a contract Dec. 20 to supply the Royal Australian Air Force with five Airbus A330 Multi Role Tanker Transports (MRTT). Contract negotiations had been under way since Australia announced in April that it had picked EADS over the Boeing Co. for the $1.5 billion deal (DAILY, April 19). The first aircraft is scheduled to enter service in 2009. The A330 MRTT will be equipped with a new refueling boom system, which EADS plans to begin flight-testing in the second half of 2005.
Sweden's parliament has approved cuts in military units, equipment and personnel as the country switches to a more mobile, high-tech defense force that can better fight serious crime and terrorism, the Swedish Ministry of Defence said Dec. 17. The cuts include the elimination of 3,000 officers and 2,500 civilian workers, the MOD said in a statement. Ten towns will be affected. Financial figures were not disclosed. The Swedish government will help the affected cities cope with the job losses, the MOD said.
Jan. 10 - 12, 2005 -- GOVCON: 4th Annual Government Convention on Emerging Technologies, "Enabling the National Security Community," Anaheim, Calif. For more information call 1-888-603-8899 or go to www.federalevents.com. Jan. 24 - 26 -- The ION National Technical Meeting, The Catamaran Resort Hotel, San Diego, Calif. For more information go to www.ion.org. Jan. 25 - 26 -- JPEO-CBD Advanced Planning Briefing for Industry, The DC Convention Center, Washington, D.C. For more information go to www.ndia.org.
SALES, INCOME UP: Net sales and net income for Wood Dale, Ill.-based AAR Corp. grew in the second quarter of fiscal 2005, the company said Dec. 17. Net sales for the aviation overhaul, trading, and manufacturing services provider were up 12%, to $178.7 million from $159.5 million in the second quarter of FY 2004. Net income rose to $4.8 million, or 15 cents per share. Military sales jumped 16% and commercial aviation sales increased 14%.
Outgoing NASA Administrator Sean O'Keefe offered succinct advice for his successor during a Dec. 17 press conference formally announcing his departure: "Take the president's vision for space exploration, support it, and implement it." President Bush's plan to return astronauts to the moon by 2020 and prepare for a human landing on Mars represents "a great legacy" that the next administrator will inherit, he said. The next administrator "has the opportunity now to build on that baseline ... I wish my successor well in that task," he said.
DELTA IV HEAVY: The first flight of Boeing's Delta IV Heavy rocket has been re-scheduled for Dec. 21, according to a spokesman. Several earlier launch attempts were postponed due to weather and technical issues (DAILY, Dec. 14). If the Dec. 21 window is missed, the team can try to launch again the following day. Capable of lifting up to 28,950 pounds (13,130 kilograms) to geosynchronous transfer orbit, the Delta IV Heavy is the most powerful rocket developed since the Saturn V, according to Boeing.
The U.S. Air Force planned to use a small Boeing unmanned aerial vehicle in a convoy route reconnaissance demonstration in the Nevada desert that apparently was set for Dec. 18.
The first F-110 engine for the F-15K Strike Eagle that Boeing is building for South Korea has been delivered, Boeing said Dec. 17. The Samsung Techwin Co.-built engine was delivered to the Republic of Korea air force at a ceremony in Changwon, South Korea. It will be sent to Boeing's F-15K assembly facility in St. Louis, a company spokesman told The DAILY.
DEFENSE PRODUCTION: A committee studying possible changes in India's defense purchasing procedures and ways to encourage greater private sector participation in defense production will submit a report to the government by the end of December, the Indian Ministry of Defence says. The committee also is examining ways to increase India's defense exports, defense minister Shri Pranab Mukherjee says.
ENGINEERS WANTED: Lockheed Martin Corp.'s Syracuse, N.Y., facility will hire up to 500 new engineers in 2005, the company says, to support work on the Medium Extended Air Defense System and Advanced Hawkeye radar program, among others. The new jobs are in addition to 750 positions the company previously announced it would need to fill in Owego, N.Y., if its US101 helicopter is tapped for the presidential helicopter fleet over rival Sikorsky's VH-92. A decision on the program is expected in January (DAILY, Nov. 18).
EUROFIGHTER SALES: A new production pact among the Eurofighter Typhoon's four partner nations will have a "tremendous effect" on the aircraft's potential for sales to other countries, according to Eurofighter GmbH, the industry consortium that serves as the Typhoon's prime contractor. Germany, Italy, Spain and the United Kingdom signed an agreement Dec. 14 to buy 236 more aircraft for themselves.
SIGNED: President Bush signed legislation to revamp the nation's intelligence community on Dec. 17, calling it "the most dramatic reform of our nation's intelligence capabilities" since 1947. The law creates a director of national intelligence, to be appointed by the president.
Textron Systems Corp. of Wilmington, Mass., has been awarded a $115.7 million contract by the Headquarters Air Armament Center, Eglin Air Force Base, Fla., to provide 341 Sensor Fuzed Weapons to the United States and Oman, the Defense Department said Dec. 16. The work will be finished by March 2007.
PROPOSALS DUE: Proposals from five information technology systems integrators for the Marine Corps' logistics modernization program are due Jan. 10, says a Marine Corps official. The invitation for bids went out Dec. 8. The systems integration work is for the Global Combat Support System (GCSS), the modernization's key technology enabler. The Marine Corps plans to pare down its 240-plus logistics systems to fewer than 100 systems (DAILY, Dec. 1).
ICBM WORK: Northrop Grumman Mission Systems of Clearfield, Utah, will do engineering and refurbishment work on 96 Minuteman III stages, as well as test fire missiles, the U.S. Department of Defense said Dec. 16. The work will be done under a $248.8 million contract awarded by the Ogden Air Logistics Center, Hill Air Force Base, Utah. The work is to be finished by April 2007.
The Pentagon has decided to wait a few more weeks to disclose the results of a study on U.S. Air Force tanker modernization options. The Defense Department had been scheduled to brief Capitol Hill the week of Dec. 20 on the results of the analysis of alternatives (AOA), which RAND Corp. conducted for DOD. But congressional and defense sources said Dec. 17 that the briefings have been moved to mid- or late January. A Pentagon spokeswoman attributed the delay to unspecified "scheduling conflicts."
COOPERATION: The visit of Chinese Prime Minister Jiabao Wen to the European Space Agency's research and technology center in the Netherlands helped emphasize "the importance of China as a partner in space," ESA says. ESA and China have cooperated on space ventures for more than 25 years, including last year's establishment of a joint research program using data from ESA's Envisat satellite. China also will work closely with ESA on Europe's Galileo satellite navigation program, ESA says.
Metal Storm CEO Charles Vehlow has resigned following recent major surgery, the electronic ballistics company said Dec. 17. Ian Gillespie, the company's general manager, has been appointed CEO pending the outcome of a selection process to appoint a new CEO, the company said.
DOD CONCEPTS: The U.S. Defense Department is developing a series of "concepts" to guide its military transformation efforts, according to the Government Accountability Office. Documents are being drafted to address those concepts, which include seven "integrating" concepts: joint command and control, joint logistics, joint forcible-entry operations, integrating air and missile defense, global strike, sea-basing and undersea superiority. At least some of the documents could be finished in time to influence the 2005 Quadrennial Defense Review.
