SUPPORT CENTER: Lockheed Martin said Sept. 27 that it has opened an F/A-22 Technical Support Center in Marietta, Ga. The center will be the focal point for communications and technical support between the contractor team and customers at F/A-22 bases. TSC technicians have 24-hour access to technical data, engineers and program officials, which will shorten turnaround time for support services, the company said.
Raytheon is under contract from the U.S. Army's Communications and Electronics Command to expand the capabilities of its new Persistent Surveillance and Dissemination System of Systems, which fuses disparate sensor data to provide comprehensive, rewindable surveillance of a given area.
Saudi Arabia is seeking upgrade kits and services for 54 C-130E/H aircraft and related equipment and services that could total $800 million, the Defense Security Cooperation Agency has notified Congress. The Avionics Modernization Program upgrade for the aircraft includes navigation and communications equipment, LCD heads-up displays, software development and integration, spare and repair parts and other equipment and services, DSCA said.
Hurricanes Katrina and Rita and a reaffirmed effort to develop a small reconnaissance airplane for drug interdiction in the Caribbean appeared to align to help the U.S. Coast Guard get almost its entire Deepwater program budget request for the next fiscal year. A House-Senate conference on Sept. 29 agreed to provide $933.1 million for fiscal 2006 for the recapitalization and replacement program. That is $33 million below President Bush's request of $966 million, but significantly above the Senate's $906 million and the House's $500 million allocations.
A U.S. Army competition for a small, backpackable unmanned aerial vehicle is on the verge of producing a winner. The Army, which has been evaluating AeroVironment's Raven B and L-3 BAI Aerosystems' Evolution XTS, plans to award a contract to one of the companies in mid-October, an Army spokesman told The DAILY Sept. 29.
LONG LEAD: General Dynamics Land Systems will provide long-lead material for an "anticipated future contract" for Lot 1 low-rate initial production of the Marine Corps' Expeditionary Fighting Vehicle, the Defense Department said Sept. 29. The work will be done under a $19 million Marine Corps contract.
Lockheed Martin said it has received a $38 million contract from the U.S. Navy to integrate additional weapons, communications and navigation systems into new production MH-60R and MH-60S helicopters, and some existing MH-60S aircraft. A company spokesman said still other systems will be integrated in the future.
South Korea's defense ministry plans to develop sophisticated unmanned fighter jets with a radar-evading stealth function by 2020, the Korean Overseas Information Service said Sept. 25. The country's Agency for Defense Development said it is working on an artificial intelligence-based Unmanned Combat Aerial Vehicle and has begun developing stealth technology on its own, KOIS said.
Terry Bacola has been appointed general manager of the Little Rock Service Center. Dennis Cockrell has been named customer service manager in the Little Rock Service Center. Ken Root has been appointed maintenance manager.
Sidney E. Fuchs has been named to an executive-level panel of the Information Technology Association of America's Coalition for America's High-Tech Future. Stuart T. Linsky has been appointed vice president, Satellite Communications for the Space Technology sector. Linda A. Mills has been named vice president of operations and processes for the Information Technology sector, effective Oct. 1. Diane Murphy has been named director of communications for the Space Technology sector.
NASA's possible cancellation of Access Five would seriously slow ongoing efforts by the FAA to develop regulations and standards for unmanned aerial vehicles, according to government and industry officials.
In response to Greenpeace party inquiries, Britain's defense ministry said Sept. 27 that it is not yet considering options to replace its Trident D5 nuclear intercontinental ballistic missiles. Greenpeace's request for data on the submarine-launched missiles included any studies on the cost of replacing Trident; the impact on British foreign, economic, and military policy; whether there had been talks with U.S. officials and British and overseas defense companies; and if industry diversification studies had been done.
The Senate Appropriations Committee has forwarded the fiscal 2006 defense spending bill to the full Senate, where the FY '06 defense authorization bill could be tacked on as an amendment so Congress can pass the high-priority bills within a month after the start of the new fiscal year.
EMS Technologies of Atlanta is upgrading equipment on U.S. Air Force Joint Surveillance Target Attack Radar System (Joint STARS) aircraft under a $2.1 million contract from Northrop Grumman. EMS' Defense & Space Systems division is upgrading phase shifter modules and control electronics to cut power consumption and improve accuracy, the company said Sept. 27, as well as providing support services.
APPROPRIATIONS: Senate and House conferees will formally meet Sept. 29 to hammer out the fiscal 2006 appropriations measure for the Homeland Security Department, including the Coast Guard and its Deepwater recapitalization effort. Senate and House appropriators were far apart on their Deepwater mark over the summer, $906 million and $500 million, respectively, and some observers have expected a final level somewhere in between. President Bush requested $966 million as a baseline starting in FY '06.
The U.S. Defense Department has approved starting full-rate production of the Bell-Boeing V-22 Osprey, boosting the once-troubled tiltrotor aircraft program, according to a government source. A Defense Acquisition Board (DAB), which the Pentagon convened for about two hours Sept. 28 to weigh the program's fate, decided that the V-22 production rate, now 11 aircraft a year, should begin to rise in fiscal 2007 and eventually reach a top rate of more than 40 aircraft a year.
NOT ENDORSED: The House Armed Services Committee late Sept. 28 adversely ordered a resolution rejecting the Base Closure and Realignment report submitted by President Bush be forwarded to the full House for consideration. The move means the HASC did not endorse the effort - indeed, in a vote most members opposed it - but the committee reported it out anyway so all representatives can vote on it. Congress must pass a joint resolution rejecting the BRAC list before the end of October, otherwise it becomes law (DAILY, Sept. 27).
R. Franklin Balotti and Timothy A. Wicks have joined the board as independent directors. Balotti is a member of the Delaware law firm Richards, Layton and Finger P.A. Wicks is senior vice president, Product Development and Management for UnitedHealthcare.
