Hi-Shear Technology Corp. of Torrance, Calif., said Oct. 18 that revenue grew 30 percent and gross margin increased 40 percent in the first quarter of 2005. But net income over the period fell 40 percent, the company reported. The company, which provides pyrotechnic, mechanical and electronic products to the aerospace and defense markets, said first-quarter revenue was $5.1 million, compared with $3.9 million the year before. Gross margin increased from $1.5 million to $2.1 million. Net income dipped from $618,000 to $368,000.
LINK-16: ThalesRaytheonSystems said Oct. 18 that Swiss defense procurement agency armasuisse has awarded it $120 million in contracts to provide the Swiss air force with advanced command and control Link-16 connectivity for their fighter aircraft. The work will be performed in Fullerton, Calif., and Massy, France. Swiss industry will also take part in the system's deployment. The award is part of the company's continuing work on the FLORAKO high-performance air defense and air space management system.
Croman Corp. of White City, Ore., has received a one-year, $12.2 million U.S. Navy contract to provide airlift and recovery functions in support of all Hawaiian military ranges. The contract was not competitively procured, according to an Oct. 17 Pentagon announcement. The company, registered as a small business, also will provide aircraft for utility and transport missions to carry passengers and cargo, as well as for range clearing operations based out of Barking Sands, Kauai, Hawaii.
The U.S. Navy expects to spend a sizable amount of time figuring out how best to use the wide array of capabilities that the AGM-88E Advanced Anti-Radiation Guided Missile (AARGM) promises to provide, according to an official at Naval Air Systems Command.
Hartford, Conn.-based United Technologies Corp., which provides high-technology products and support services, said Oct. 18 that diluted earnings per share grew 19 percent and net income jumped 18 percent in the third quarter of 2005. The company also increased its full-year earnings per share growth estimate. UTC reported diluted earnings per share of 81 cents compared with 68 cents for the same period a year ago. Third quarter 2005 net income was $821 million, compared with $693 million for the third quarter of 2004.
The U.S. Navy plans to begin an upgrade program for the Harpoon missile in fiscal 2007 to increase its accuracy and allow operators to retarget it after it is launched, a government official said Oct. 18. "We're expecting it to be funded" in the Navy's upcoming FY '07 budget request, said Keith Sanders, deputy program executive officer for strike weapons at Naval Air Systems Command. The FY '07 request is due to be sent to Capitol Hill in early calendar 2006.
Venus Express, the European Space Agency mission to orbit Venus, is set for launch on a Soyuz-Fregat booster on Oct. 26 from Baikonur Cosmodrome, Kazakhstan. The EADS Astrium-built spacecraft is scheduled to reach Venus in April 2006, according to ESA. It carries several scientific instruments, including the Venus Monitoring Camera, several spectrometers and the Venus Express Magnetometer. Its mission will be controlled by ESA's space operations center in Darmstadt, Germany.
Lockheed Martin and U.S. Navy and Spanish navy ships completed a three-ship, international qualification trial of the Aegis Combat System last week, part of a planned series of four joint tests between Spain and the United States. During the trial, the ships' Aegis systems were evaluated for combat readiness through surface, underwater and anti-air warfare exercises, culminating in an air defense trial in which the ships successfully engaged more than a dozen missile targets.
COMPONENTS: Bechtel Plant Machinery Inc. of Pittsburgh has been awarded a $279.2 million contract to provide the U.S. Navy with nuclear propulsion components, the Defense Department said Oct. 18. The work will be done in Schenectady, N.Y., and Pittsburgh. The contract was awarded by the Naval Sea Systems Command, Washington.
Honeywell's Micro Air Vehicle has reached a technology readiness level 6, meeting requirements for the Army's Future Combat Systems to begin transitioning it to the FCS program, Boeing said. Boeing, which is the FCS lead systems integrator along with SAIC, noted that the MAV has had recent successes in government acceptance tests and pre-experimentation flights. Boeing's FCS Program Manager, Dennis Muilenburg, told The DAILY recently that MAV has flown in heavy thunderstorms and simulated urban canyons at Fort Benning, Ga. (DAILY, Oct. 7).
Cleveland-based Parker Hannifin, which manufactures motion and control technologies and systems, said Oct. 18 that it set records for sales, earnings per share and cash flow from operations in the first quarter of fiscal year 2006. The company also increased its previous earnings guidance and said its Aerospace segment enjoyed a 7 percent jump in operating income and a 5.3 percent increase in net sales. First quarter FY 2006 sales were $2.1 billion, up 13 percent over sales of $1.8 billion for the same period the year before.
L-3 Communication's Spar Aerospace Ltd. subsidiary has begun working on the first New Zealand air force C-130H Hercules aircraft under a six-year life-extension program. The work is being done at Spar's Edmonton, Canada, facilities under a $100 million-plus contract awarded late last year. The life-extension program is one of the most comprehensive to be performed on C-130s, L-3 said, and will result in New Zealand having one of the most modern C-130 fleets in the world.
Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne has conducted the first engine test at NASA's Stennis Space Center, Miss., since Hurricane Katrina came through, the company said Oct. 17. An RS-68 booster rocket was tested for 180 seconds. "Running the test, while marking a return to what we do here, was also a tremendous morale boost to our employees, many of whom lost their homes to the hurricane," Dave Geiger, the company site director, said in a statement.
The Defense Department is experimenting with several classified versions of Force Protection Industries Inc.'s Cougar armored vehicles, including an unmanned version, while the U.S. military is looking to rely on the Cougar Joint Explosive Ordnance Disposal Rapid Response Vehicle in the future, Army and company officials said Oct. 18.
Engineers at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio, are testing a lighter, stronger transparent armor to protect the windows of air and ground combat vehicles against armor-piercing weapons, the Air Force says. Aluminum oxynitride - ALON - is being tested by the Air Force Research Laboratory's materials and manufacturing directorate. It would replace traditional multilayered glass transparencies.
The Pentagon's joint task force working to counter improvised explosive devices (IEDs) will be ramping up its outreach to industry over the next several months as the U.S. military remains plagued by a few stubborn challenges it has not been able to overcome in more than two years of battling IEDs.
One new Australian patrol boat is set to start protecting the country's shores and two others will be ready before the end of the year, Australia's defense ministry said Oct. 17. The HMAS Armidale, the first of the Australian navy's 14 Armidale class patrol boats and its newest ship, has completed its Mission Readiness Evaluation and can begin to patrol for illegal fishing, customs or immigration offenses. It has a crew of 21 and is homeported in Darwin.
CPI Aerostructures Inc. will supply Vought Aircraft Industries with 17 more types of parts for the C-5 Galaxy aircraft, including metal-bonded parts and subassemblies, the Edgewood, N.Y.-based company said Oct. 17. These are in addition to the 14 types of parts that CPI Aerostructures is supplying as a subcontractor under a contract from a year ago, the company said.
Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) said he will seek to repeal a fiscal 2006 appropriations provision for the Non-Line-of-Sight Cannon because it could separate the program from the Army's Future Combat Systems and result in higher costs.
Two Chinese astronauts safely returned to Earth early Oct. 16 local time after spending nearly five days in Earth's orbit, the China Internet Information Service said. Astronauts Fei Junlong and Nie Haisheng landed in the Shenzhou VI's re-entry capsule at 4:33 a.m. and were in "fine condition" after being examined by doctors. The capsule touched down just one kilometer (.62 miles) from the planned target area.
REWORKING: Sikorsky Aircraft Corp. will conduct a special progressive aircraft rework in fiscal 2006 of a VH-3D presidential helicopter under a $6 million modification to a previous contract, the Department of Defense said Oct. 17. The work is expected to be completed in September 2006.
