SOFTWARE: NASA has selected Northrop Grumman Information Technology-TASC to provide scientific software services, the agency said Oct. 24. The work covers hig-performance computing programs for the Software Integration and Visualization Office at the Goddard Space Flight Center, Md.
SOLD: Boeing has completed the sale of its operations in Arnprior, Canada, to Arnprior Aerospace, a subsidiary of Consolidated Industries. Terms of the deal were not disclosed. The site had been part of Boeing Canada Technology Ltd., a subsidiary of Boeing Commercial Airplanes. The 370 employees in Arnprior build precision-machined metal parts and sheet metal subassemblies for Boeing jetliners.
The Federal Trade Commission has issued a second request for information to Lockheed Martin and Boeing about their proposed United Launch Alliance merger. The companies believe the RFI is intended to give the FTC more time to consider the complex merger proposal and make an antitrust ruling. The companies already resubmitted their filing on ULA last month to give the FTC an additional 30 days, which ran out on Oct. 24.
Howitzer Contract: General Dynamics' Spanish subsidiary, General Dynamics Santa Barbera Sistemas of Madrid, will supply Spain's army with 70 155/52 APU SBT howitzers, the company said Oct. 24. The work will be done under a EUR 181 million (USD $216.2 million) and includes 66 units of a new, improved version of the towed/self-propelled howitzers, the company said.
The House is poised to consider a bill to establish a governmentwide aerospace revitalization panel to develop a national strategy for aerospace work force recruitment, training and cultivation. The bill, first introduced in February by Rep. Vernon Ehlers (R-Mich.) and now counting at least 28 cosponsors, would establish an "Interagency Aerospace Revitalization Task Force" to develop a government strategy for aerospace work force development.
NAVAL SUPPORT: ManTech International Corp. announced Oct. 24 that it won a U.S. Naval Sea Systems Command award for engineering, technical, and management services for Navy unmanned vehicles, training ranges, air-to-air/air-to-ground weapons, and aerial target shipboard combat systems. If fully exercised, the five-year contract could be worth almost $35 million. Subcontractors are Applied Techniques Corp. and HiPK.
NASA closed the Kennedy Space Center, Fla., in advance of the arrival of Hurricane Wilma, the aerospace agency said Oct. 24. Facilities and launch pads have been secured, the payload bay doors of the three space shuttles were closed, and the New Horizons spacecraft, slated for launch on Jan. 11, was placed inside its protective transportation canister, NASA said.
A U.S. Air Force F/A-22 Raptor sustained significant engine damage while preparing to fly during the fighter program's first practice deployment. The Lockheed Martin-built stealthy jet was engaged in "pre-flight ground operations" at Hill Air Force Base, Utah, late Oct. 20 when its right Pratt & Whitney F119 engine sucked in an undisclosed type of foreign debris, an Air Force spokeswoman said Oct. 24. The incident, in which no one was injured, is under investigation, and the extent of the damage is under review.
Aftermarket aviation parts supplier Aviall Inc. of Dallas said its net sales for the third quarter of 2005 grew 13 percent to $334 million, although its military and government sector sales dropped 4 percent "due to softening of demand and select military part shortages."
The 220-pound XSS-11 micro satellite developed by the Air Force Research Laboratory recently performed several rendezvous maneuvers with the spent upper stage of its Minotaur I launch vehicle at distances between 1.5 kilometers (4,921 feet) and 500 meters (1,640 feet), according to the Air Force.
A U.S. House proposal to cut a relatively small but significant amount of funding for the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter would delay the stealthy jet's fielding up to a year, the Pentagon has told Congress. The House-passed version of the fiscal 2006 defense authorization bill approves almost $4.9 billion for the F-35's continued development but denies $152 million that the Bush Administration requested to buy long-lead items for five jets. The House version of the FY '06 defense appropriations bill takes a similar approach.
The Department of Defense's Joint Tactical Radio System (JTRS) Cluster 5 program is close to completing its preliminary design review, according to program officials. "Working closely with our customer, we have met all program milestones to date, including system requirements reviews, program baseline reviews and engineering development test unit deliveries," Chris Brady, vice president of Assured Communications for General Dynamics C4 Systems, said in a Oct. 21 statement.
A proposal for a joint Air Force, Army and Navy intelligence-gathering aircraft program received added momentum late Oct. 20 when the Navy publicly endorsed exploring the idea.
TEST-FIRE: Russian technical specialists plan a test-firing of the International Space Station's Progress resupply vehicle thruster system on Oct. 26 to gather more data on why a planned Oct. 18 altitude reboost of the station using Progress thrusters was aborted. Mission managers believe Russian navigation computers properly shut down the thrusters when they lost information about how they were performing, NASA says. Meanwhile, Expedition 12 Commander Bill McArthur and Flight Engineer Valery Tokarev are preparing for a Nov.
Armor Holdings Inc. of Jacksonville, Fla., said Oct. 21 that it has won $110.5 million in orders from AM General of South Bend, Ind., to provide vehicle armor for M1151 and M1152 Humvees. The armor will be installed when the vehicles are built or later when needed, the company said. The work will be done in 2006 at Armor Holdings facilities in Ohio and Arizona. Armor Holdings reported a 74 percent jump in revenue and a 10.8 percent increase in net income for the third quarter of 2005 (DAILY, Oct. 21).
'LESS GREEN': Army Col. Edward Martin, chief of staff to Army Brig. Gen. Joseph Votel, commander of the Joint IED Defeat Task Force, is leaving the group. Martin, who was recalled to active duty to help the task force, says a Marine Corps colonel will replace him soon. The move will help make the group "less green," he said, noting the uniform colors and the goal of making the efforts collaborative. Martin also says the Coast Guard should join the task force soon as the bridge to the Homeland Security Department.
TANKER PRODUCTION: Northrop Grumman plans to announce Oct. 24 that it will produce the KC-30 tanker at the downtown airport in Mobile, Ala., if it wins a potential U.S. Air Force competition. EADS North America, Northrop Grumman's main subcontractor, had already said it would build the basic aircraft in Mobile (DAILY, June 23). Northrop Grumman would be responsible for the military modifications. A Defense Department-commissioned study of tanker modernization options, which is due to be completed in the next few weeks, is expected to endorse acquiring new tankers.
Oct. 24 - 26 -- SAFE Association 43rd Annual Symposium, Grand America Hotel, Salt Lake City, Utah. For more information go to www.safeassociation.org Oct. 25 - 26 -- Border Management 2005, "Securing America's Air, Land and Sea Borders," Georgetown University Conference Center, Washington, D.C. For more information go to www. idga.org. Oct. 25 - 28 -- Science and Technology for Chem-Bio Information Systems (S&T CBIS) Conference, Hilton Albuquerque, Albuquerque, N.M. For more information go to www.cbis2005.com.
A decrease in demand for science, technology and defense satellites pushed Orbital Sciences Corp.'s third quarter 2005 net income down 40.3 percent, the company said Oct. 20. Revenues also fell 7.2 percent, and operating income declined 14.6 percent.
The global demand for new military transports is expected to be 929 aircraft worth nearly $54 billion over the next decade, Forecast International said Oct. 21. Boeing's C-17 and Lockheed Martin's C-130J likely will maintain their hold on the market, but "some major changes are in the offing," Forecast said. Boeing will deliver the last of 180 C-17s by mid-2008, and the line is expected to close by the end of 2010 even with an expected order of 40 more units. Boeing may instead build KC-767 tankers for the Air Force starting around that time.
COMING HOME: Particles gathered near a comet in deep space are scheduled to arrive at NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston in January, so scientists can study them to learn more about comets and their role in the early solar system. The Stardust spacecraft collected particles from the comet Wild 2 last year and will be ending its two-year, 708-million mile journey back to Earth in January 2006.
