The Bush administration has agreed to drop funding for continued research on the Robust Nuclear Earth Penetrator (RNEP) through the Energy Department, Sen. Pete Domenici (R-N.M.) announced late Oct. 25. The result continued to mark a successful march by opponents to strip fiscal 2006 funding for studying an RNEP, also known as the nuclear bunker-buster.
Heeding the request of the aerospace industry, the House late Oct. 25 passed a bill calling for a government-wide task force to craft a national strategy for aerospace work force recruitment, training and cultivation.
The Department of Homeland Security has begun flying missions with the Predator B unmanned aerial vehicle over Arizona's border with Mexico and so far credits the aircraft with 87 arrests of illegal border crossers. The flights began Oct. 4 and are taking place out of Ft. Huachuca, Ariz., according to Rowdy Adams, senior associate chief at the Office of Border Patrol. DHS purchased one General Atomics Predator B and one ground control station in late August, choosing the system over competitor Northrop Grumman's Hunter II.
The United States and British militaries are continuing to provide humanitarian aid to Pakistan in the wake of the country's devastating Oct. 8 earthquake that killed thousands. The U.S. Army planned to send six more CH-47 Chinook helicopters to the country between Oct. 24-26 to help airlift supplies from Chaklala Air Base near Islamabad to stricken remote areas, the U.S. Defense Department said.
Boeing said Oct. 26 that its third quarter profits doubled to more than $1 billion including a large one-time gain, but even without the unusual items, the company's operating margin grew 2.1 points to 6 percent.
The House was expected as soon as late Oct. 26 to pass a Senate bill that would create an exception for some U.S. payments to Russia in support of the International Space Station, meaning the measure would all but await President Bush's signature to be enacted.
Deborah Alderson has been named president of the System and Network Solutions Group. Mark Hughes is retiring and will be replaced by Alderson. K. Stuart Shea has joined the Intelligence Group as senior vice president and general manager for the Space and Geospatial Intelligence Business Unit.
Australia's air force and army have begun a two-week exercise designed to give flight controllers and pilots realistic training in a real time air defense scenario. The East Coast Air Defense Exercise (ECADEX) will be held from Oct. 26 to Nov. 9, with aircraft flying mostly over the ocean off the central east coast of New South Wales, Australia's defense ministry said. The aircraft will be based at both RAAF Base Williamtown, near Newcastle, New South Wales, and RAAF Base Amberley near Ipswich, Queensland.
The U.S. Navy's Mobile User Objective System program, contracted to Lockheed Martin Corp., successfully completed its preliminary design review (PDR) on schedule, the company said Oct. 26. "The PDR validated the detailed MUOS design to ensure that the system will meet or exceed the warfighter's requirements for the next generation narrowband tactical satellite communications system," a Lockheed Martin statement said.
Ivan Obolensky has been named to the board of directors. Obolensky is vice president of Shields & Company, Investment Bankers and a member of the New York Stock Exchange.
ENGINEERING: Lockheed Martin Systems Integration-Oswego has been awarded a $76.5 million contract to provide engineering services for the U.S. Navy's Phase II of the MH-60S Airborne Mine Countermeasures System Development and Demonstration, the Defense Department said Oct. 26. The work will be done in Oswego, N.Y., and is expected to be finished in March 2010.
The Marine Corps Systems Command has bought $15 million worth of additional AN/TPS-59(V)3 Row Electronics radars from Lockheed Martin Corp., according to an Oct. 25 Pentagon announcement. While the Defense Department did not specify the number of radars bought under the contract modification, the work is expected to be finished by January 2007.
The Pentagon says it will have to kill or revamp several major weapon system programs, including the Missile Defense Agency's Kinetic Energy Interceptor (KEI) and the multiservice Advanced Medium Range Air to Air Missile (AMRAAM), if Congress approves funding cuts proposed by House or Senate appropriators.
Boeing is installing the first radio frequency cables in EA-1, the first EA-18G flight-test aircraft, the company said Oct. 25. Production also is under way on EA-2, the second production EA-18G electronic attack aircraft. The RF cabling connects the specialized avionics the aircraft will use for their jamming and electronic warfare mission. Each aircraft will have more than 2,500 feet of RF cabling, about five times more than the F/A-18E/F Super Hornet on which the EA-18G is based.
Western Iraq is the most networked theater in the history of warfare, according to Terry Pudas, acting director of the Defense Department's Office of Force Transformation. Pudas, speaking at the Defense News Joint Warfare 2005 conference in Arlington, Va., especially credited the Blue Force Tracker locator system as helping to better link and inform ground troops. "This ability to network the force is very, very powerful. It has changed everything," Pudas told a conference audience of uniformed officers and defense industry executives.
A Bell-Boeing CV-22 Osprey sustained damage in flight when its engines unexpectedly sucked in ice, according to the government program office at Naval Air Systems Command. Based on an initial assessment, it appears that first-stage compressor fan blades and possibly other parts in the aircraft's two engines will need replacing, NAVAIR spokesman James Darcy said Oct. 25. The incident was categorized as a Class C mishap, meaning the cost of repairs is estimated at more than $20,000 but not more than $200,000.
A lack of "funding flexibility" is one of the biggest challenges facing the Defense Department's advanced technology efforts, according to Navy acquisition executive John Young, nominated to become the next Director of Defense Research and Engineering.
President Bush has tapped a federal prosecutor spearheading a government-wide anti-procurement fraud group to take the No. 2 position at the Justice Department. The White House announced Oct. 21 that Paul McNulty, currently U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia, was nominated to be deputy attorney general and will take on those responsibilities in an acting role until the Senate confirms him for the deputy post. McNulty will continue to head the Northern Virginia prosecutor's office in the meantime.
Northrop Grumman reported third-quarter net income of $293 million, up from $278 million in 2004, but said Hurricane Katrina hurt the results for its Ship Systems business. Third-quarter income from continuing operations was $288 million, down from 2004's $291 million, and sales were unchanged at $7.4 billion. The hurricane damaged some company facilities on the Gulf Coast and reduced Ship Systems' operating margin by $165 million, the company said Oct. 25.
