Aerospace Daily & Defense Report

SPACE TOURISM: By a slim margin, the House of Representatives on Nov. 20 passed a revised bill (H.R. 5382) that would create a regulatory framework for the emerging suborbital space tourism industry. The bill is a modified version of legislation that passed the House nearly unanimously in March. Passage by the Senate is considered uncertain.

Munich, Germany-based EADS/LFK has been awarded a contract to provide the Spanish air force's F/A-18 and Eurofighter aircraft with the Taurus KEPD 350 precision-guided stand-off missile system, the company said. Terms of the contract were not disclosed. The first missiles will be delivered this month. The Spanish company SENER produces the fin actuation systems for the missile system and will serve as prime contractor for Spain for logistics, acquisition of the system and its integration on the aircraft.

L-3 Communications will buy Boeing's Electron Dynamic Devices unit for an undisclosed amount, Boeing said Nov. 22. The Torrance, Calif.-based EDD will continue to provide Boeing with satellite components and other products and services, Boeing said. The sale includes five of the six major EDD product lines: linearized traveling wave tube amplifiers, space traveling wave tubes, military traveling wave tubes, passive microwave devices and electric propulsion.

Alion Science and Technology will develop small, processor-based "reasoning modules" to help joint warfare teams make decisions in urban combat, the McLean, Va., company said Nov. 22. The modules are to help analyze combat situations in near-real time and help soldiers anticipate enemy actions. The company will experiment on the modules and evaluate how useful they are in a simulated joint urban operation.

A group of more than 50 U.S. lawmakers is urging the Defense Department to move quickly to replace the engines on the E-8C Joint STARS ground-surveillance aircraft, saying the existing propulsion system fails to meet Air Force needs.

General Dynamics Armament and Technical Products will build three Aegis Weapon System (AWS) gun and guided missile director and controller shipsets, the company said Nov. 22. The work will be done under a $12 million contract option from Naval Sea Systems Command. The original contract was awarded in September 2003, and the contract's total value to date is $27.5 million. Program management, assembly and testing will be performed at General Dynamics' Vermont-based Burlington Technology Center.

A House-Senate conference committee has granted NASA nearly its entire $16.2 billion fiscal year 2005 budget request, including money to jump-start the Bush Administration's space exploration agenda, although lawmakers still are skeptical about parts of the program.

The U.S. Air Force (USAF) will not be allowed to upgrade or replace its aging KC-135 refueling aircraft without holding a competition, according to Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz. An analysis of alternatives (AOA), which is nearly done, is assessing several broad options for updating the tanker fleet and will not complete the process of determining how the Air Force's refueling capability will be modernized, Wolfowitz wrote in a Nov. 19 letter to Sen. John Warner (R-Va.), chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee.

The Affordable Weapon System, a less costly cruise missile that Titan Corp. is developing for the Navy, is slated to undergo three more flight-tests at Titan's Desert Center, Calif., facility by late January 2005, according to a Navy official.

SEVENTH CLIPPER: Boeing has delivered the seventh C-40A Clipper to the U.S. Naval Reserve, the company said Nov. 22. The Clippers, modified 737-700s, replace aging C-9B Skytrain aircraft and will increase the Navy's airlift capability, Boeing said.

The Bush Administration's efforts to explore new nuclear weapons have suffered a blow in Congress. House and Senate negotiators for the fiscal 2005 energy appropriations bill have rejected the Bush Administration's $27.6 million request to continue the Robust Nuclear Earth Penetrator program, which has been looking at whether two existing warheads could be hardened to destroy deeply buried targets. The panel also denied the Administration's $9 million request to study whether new nuclear weapons could be developed.

Patria's Armored Modular Vehicle (AMV) has been tested successfully by Poland's defense ministry, allowing delivery of the vehicles to begin, Patria said Nov. 19. Poland's government ordered 690 of the vehicles in 2003. The first two vehicles were delivered in June and passed their final tests, which included swimming and field tests.

The European Aeronautic Defence and Space Co. (EADS) has been awarded a one-year contract to provide Slovenia's military with vehicle platforms, paramedic equipment and a mobile rescue center, the company said Nov. 19. Financial terms were not disclosed. EADS Defence Electronics Forces Support Systems of Friedrichshafen, Germany, is handling the order. The center will give Slovenia a NATO-standard mobile army surgical hospital that will be interoperable with other armed forces' medical services, the company said.

A top Pentagon official issued a memorandum on Oct. 25 tightening conflict-of-interest regulations, which a Washington watchdog group said shows the Defense Department is taking the revolving-door issue "slightly more seriously."

AIR FORCE The Boeing Co., Wichita, Kan., is being awarded a $22,750,000 firm fixed price contract to provide for four each RC-135 Re-Engine. Total funds have been obligated. This work will be complete by March 2006. Solicitation began June 2004 and negotiations were completed November 2004. The Headquarters Oklahoma City Air Logistics Center, Tinker Air Force Base, Okla., is the contracting activity (FA8105-05-C-0002). ARMY

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The aircraft carrier USS Enterprise is receiving a state-of-the-art upgrade to its landing gear to help improve the ability of aircraft to touch down on the ship, the Navy said Nov. 19.

NASA's Swift observatory lifted off Nov. 20 atop a Boeing Delta II rocket from Cape Canaveral, Fla., marking the beginning of what program officials say could be a new era in quick-response astronomy.

NASA's fiscal year 2005 spending bill provides $25 million for a follow-on to the agency's X-43A hypersonic demonstrator, which had its final flight Nov. 16. In addition, "the conferees encourage joint NASA and Air Force cooperation and collaboration in advancement of aeronautics technologies in the national interest," according to the House-Senate conference committee that approved the bill. The extra money is thought to be the result of a congressional earmark.

The U.S. Coast Guard needs to increase its maritime domain awareness and command and control capabilities as part of its post-9/11 homeland security mission, a Lockheed Martin official said Nov. 22. "We need to be able to track ships with the precision that we track aircraft in the aviation domain, where they use IFF [identification friend or foe] systems," said Dale Bennett, vice president of Lockheed Martin Integrated Coast Guard Systems.

Tadiran Communications of Petach Tikva, Israel, will provide secure voice and data communications to an unnamed country in Latin America, the company said Nov. 21. The systems, derived from the company's own research and development work, will sell for $19.7 million and be delivered in 2005 and 2006. Tadiran said the work is a "major step forward" in its move to increase exports to Latin America.

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