Aerospace Daily & Defense Report

Computer Sciences Corp. (CSC) plans to sell its DynCorp International and DynMarine units and selected DynCorp Technical Services contracts to Veritas Capital, CSC said Dec. 12. The total acquisition comes to $850 million, with $775 million cash payable at closing plus $75 million of Senior Preferred Stock. The companies expect the transaction to be completed during CSC's fiscal quarter ending April 1, 2005. As a result of the sale, CSC anticipates a nonrecurring gain of more than $400 million.

United Kingdom-based defense companies will be more successful than other European firms in acquiring U.S. defense companies, Hector Cuellar, president of RSM EquiCo, told The DAILY. Costa Mesa, Calif.-based RSM EquiCo, an investment firm owned by H&R Block that concentrates on smaller companies, is trying to expand its international merger and acquisition activities and is concentrating on U.K. buyers for this reason, Cueller said.

RADAR UNITS: Raytheon Co. has been awarded a $102.9 million contract to produce up to 32 AN/APS-137D(V)5 Radar Units for the P-3 Anti-Surface Warfare (ASUW) Improvement Program (AIP), the Defense Department said Dec. 13. The contract also provides for the modification of control indicators for incorporation into the radar, and engineering to replace obsolete radar components. The contract was awarded by the Naval Air Systems Command, Patuxent River, Md. The work is expected to be finished in December 2006.

The Defense Department has no plans to seek a second supplier for the Small Diameter Bomb, despite calls for such a step in a recent Pentagon report, according to a DOD official. There are "no specific things that we're doing" along those lines because production levels are expected to be adequate with one supplier, acting Pentagon acquisition chief Michael Wynne said last week at a Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) conference on the defense industrial base.

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. - The classified space war game that has been held for the past two years at Schriever Air Force Base here will be held early next year at Nellis Air Force Base in Nevada, according to an Air Force Space Command spokeswoman. Nellis "fits our needs to practice what we need to," Capt. Angie Blair said in response to a question. "Our goal is to integrate space into the fight. That's what we'll be exercising."

ITT Industries Inc. said it expects to extend its double-digit earnings growth into next year, and foresees earnings per share in 2005 of $5 to $5.15. "We're certainly pleased with the double-digit organic revenue and earnings growth we've realized so far in 2004, reflecting the strength of our portfolio and the soundness of the ITT management system," Chairman, President and CEO Steve Loranger said in a statement.

The U.S. Missile Defense Agency's Ground-based Midcourse Defense (GMD) program held off conducting Integrated Flight Test 13C (IFT-13C) late Dec. 13 because a battery in the target missile failed before the rocket was launched, an MDA spokesman said Dec. 14. The program was expected to replace or recharge the battery so the test could take place as early as late Dec. 14. The test previously was delayed several days by bad weather and a broken piece of test-range equipment (DAILY, Dec. 10, Dec. 14).

NASA has chosen eight proposals to provide instrumentation for its Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) rover, scheduled for launch in 2009. MSL is to be a mobile laboratory, spending two years exploring Mars as a potential habitat for past or present life. The selected investigations and the organizations who proposed them are: * "Mars Science Laboratory Mast Camera," Malin Space Science Systems of San Diego, Calif. * "ChemCam: Laser Induced Remote Sensing for Chemistry and Micro-Imaging," Los Alamos National Laboratory, Los Alamos, N.M.

The Raytheon Co.-built unitary penetration variant of the Joint Standoff Weapon (JSOW-C) has received the U.S. Navy's highest rating of "suitable and effective" following successful operational testing earlier this year, the company said Dec. 14. The Commander Operational Test and Evaluation Force (COMOPTEVFOR) said the JSOW-C is operationally effective and operationally suitable for fleet use, the company said.

AIR FORCE Raytheon Aircraft Co., Wichita, Kan., is being awarded a $240,535,650 firm fixed price contract modification to provide for Lot 12 Option Exercise JPATS T-6A Production Aircraft Lot 12 (fifty each) for FY2005. Total funds have been obligated. This work will be complete by February 2008. The Air Force Materiel Command, Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio, is the contracting activity (F33657-01-C-0022, P00073).

Driven by gains in contract research and development, Costa Mesa, Calif.-based Irvine Sensors Corp. increased its total revenues by 10% in fiscal 2004, but still posted a net loss of $4.1 million. FY '04 total revenues were $13.9 million, up about $1.2 million from FY '03's total revenues of $12.6 million, the company said. About $11.9 million of FY '04's total revenues came from contract research and development, an annual record for the company.

DIVIDEND INCREASE: The Boeing Co.'s board of directors has approved a 25% increase to the quarterly dividend, the second such increase announced this year, the company said Dec. 13. The quarterly dividend is now 25 cents per share, and the annual dividend $1 a share, payable March 4, 2005.

Honeywell and Lockheed Martin Corp. recently reached agreements to buy companies based in the United Kingdom to improve their niche capabilities, the companies said Dec. 13. Lockheed Martin plans to buy STASYS, a U.K.-based firm specializing in network communications and defense interoperability. Lockheed Martin has not disclosed the terms of the acquisition, but said the closing is expected in early 2005.

CANNON MUNITIONS: United Defense Industries Inc. of Minneapolis will serve as prime contractor and team with Bofors Defence AB of Sweden and France-based GIAT Industries in producing 155mm Bonus precision cannon munitions for the U.S. military, UDI said Dec. 13. Financial terms were not disclosed. Bonus munitions were developed by Bofors and GIAT and are currently being produced in Sweden and France. United Defense also produces and develops combat vehicles, artillery, naval guns and missile launchers.

Two Boeing X-45A unmanned aerial vehicles made their second and third coordinated flights earlier this month, Boeing said Dec. 10. The X-45As are smaller versions of the X-45C UAV Boeing is developing as part of the Joint Unmanned Combat Air Systems (J-UCAS) program. The aircraft were controlled by a single operator and flew in several formations over NASA's Dryden Flight Research Center at Edwards Air Force Base, Calif., on Dec. 3, Boeing said.

NAVY

Space Communication Corp. (SCC) of Japan and Boeing are investigating a fuel tank problem onboard SSC's Superbird-6 satellite that has "significantly shortened" its mission life, according to the company. SCC discovered the problem Nov. 28 when Superbird-6 experienced an attitude error that has been blamed on insufficient pressure in one of its fuel tanks.

The Army on Dec. 8 released the final draft of a request for proposals (RFP) for the Armed Reconnaissance Helicopter (ARH), with responses due Jan. 24. The RFP originally was scheduled for release in late November. The Army will award a $30 million research, development, test and evaluation contract for fiscal 2005 for planning purposes only, an Army Aviation and Missile Command representative told The DAILY. The RDT&E period will last from 2005 to 2008, he said.

SMALL-CALIBER AMMO: Advanced weapon and space systems company Alliant Techsystems of Minneapolis will provide more than $300 million worth of small-caliber ammunition to the U.S. Army Joint Munitions Command, the company said Dec. 13. ATK will produce 5.56mm, 7.62mm, and .50-caliber ammunition. Deliveries are set to be completed by Sept. 30, 2006.

EADS increased its revenue guidance for 2005 to 33 billion euros ($43.6 billion) and earnings before interest and tax (EBIT) to more than 2.4 billion euros ($3.2 billion), the company said Dec. 13. For 2004, EADS forecast revenues of 32 billion euros ($42.3 billion) and EBIT of 2.2 billion euros ($2.9 billion). The 2005 guidance represents 3% revenue growth and an increase of more than 9% for EBIT, EADS said.

FOREIGN SUPPLIERS: The U.S. Defense Department buys "very few defense articles and components from foreign suppliers," according to a new report released by DOD's industrial policy office. In fiscal 2003, international firms received only about 1.5% of all DOD contracts for defense articles and components. DOD "employs foreign contractors and subcontractors judiciously, and in a manner consistent with national security requirements," the congressionally mandated report says. Some lawmakers have expressed concern about DOD's dependence on foreign suppliers.

CPI Aerostructures Inc. will build two pod structural housings for Northrop Grumman to test as part of the U.S. Navy's Rapid Airborne Mine Clearance System (RAMICS), the company said Dec. 13. The work will be done under a $500,000 contract from Northrop Grumman Integrated Systems, and CPI plans to deliver the housings in the second quarter of 2005. Northrop Grumman got a $36.9 million contract in 2002 to develop the RAMICS system, an airborne anti-mine system designed to operate from an Sikorsky MH-60S helicopter (DAILY, Aug. 28).