Aerospace Daily & Defense Report

NASA is lobbying Congress for the authority to award prizes of more than $250,000 in its Centennial Challenges program, and hopes to get a green light during the current lame-duck session of Congress or early next year. NASA needs authorization from Congress to award prizes of more than $250,000. Centennial Challenges Program Manager Brant Sponberg met with authorizers on Capitol Hill to discuss the issue Nov. 15.

Former Boeing Co. Chief Financial Officer Michael Sears will be sentenced in January after entering a guilty plea Nov. 16 in connection with improper dealings with former Boeing executive and Air Force acquisitions official Darleen Druyun. Sears pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court in Virginia to one count of "aiding and abetting acts affecting a personal financial interest," court documents said. The maximum penalties are five years in prison and a $250,000 fine. Judge Gerald Bruce Lee set a sentencing date of 9 a.m. Jan. 21.

Lockheed Martin conducted a second successful controlled flight-test of the Compact Kinetic Energy Missile (CKEM) recently at Eglin Air Force Base, Fla., the company said Nov. 12. The missile was guided internally and flew 10 kilometers (6.2 miles). It did not attempt to hit a target.

The German Bundestag's budget committee has approved buying eight P-3C Orion maritime reconnaissance aircraft from the Netherlands navy as well as 55 Dingo 2 armored transport vehicles, the German defense ministry said Nov. 12. The aircraft cost totals 271 million euros ($352 million), including simulators, documentation, spare parts, ground service and testing equipment. Deliveries of the P-3Cs are to begin next year.

General Dynamics C4 Systems, located in Taunton, Mass., won a $14.9 million increment as part of a $112 million contract for development of an initial architecture for the Warfighter Information Network -Tactical Communication System (WIN-T), the Defense Department said Nov. 15.

November 8, 2004 NAVY

Information Handling Services (IHS) and the Aerospace Industries Association (AIA) expanded their multiyear agreement to provide improved access to industry standards and related publications, AIA said Nov. 15. Under this long-term arrangement, IHS will become the exclusive distributor of AIA standards and related publications, and will upgrade and manage the AIA's National Aerospace Standards Store for easier access to these documents.

A Moog Inc. protest of an Army decision to seek small businesses to overhaul and upgrade UH-60 Black Hawk flight control components was denied Nov. 12 by the Government Accountability Office (GAO).

The U.S. Air Force's E-10A Multi-sensor Command and Control Aircraft has received a vote of confidence from a key Pentagon panel, a program official said Nov. 15. The Joint Requirements Oversight Council (JROC) Oct. 14 approved a document outlining the need for the E-10A, which is designed to replace the E-8C Joint STARS air-to-ground surveillance aircraft, said Col. Joseph Smyth, E-10A's program director, who spoke at the Defense News Media Group's ISR Integration 2004 Conference.

ACQUIRED: Honeywell is now sole owner of GEM Microelectronics Materials, which manufactures chemicals for the semiconductor industry. Honeywell acquired Mitsubishi Chemical America's 40 percent stake in the company for an undisclosed amount. Honeywell will market GEM's products under its Honeywell Electronic Materials business.

The contractor team that will build NASA's James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) has opened a new facility in Cullman, Ala., where the telescope's optical components will be machined into the proper shape, Northrop Grumman announced Nov. 15. Axsys Technologies Inc. owns the facility, which houses advanced computer-aided manufacturing and metrology equipment that will shape JWST's optical components. The telescope's 6.5-meter (20-foot) primary mirror will consist of 18 hexagonal beryllium segments.

Norway's air force has exercised an option to buy additional Lockheed Martin Precision Attack Navigation and Targeting (PANTERA) advanced targeting pods, the company said Nov. 15. The terms and quantities of the option were not disclosed.

Researchers at Johns Hopkins University are designing an inflatable, expendable, high-altitude vehicle that could stay aloft for weeks monitoring a battlefield.

The Ground-based Midcourse Defense (GMD) program has completed the first round of interceptor emplacements at Fort Greely, Alaska, a Defense Department official said Nov. 12. Fort Greely has now received all six operational interceptors it has been slated to get in 2004. The sixth one was placed in an underground silo on Nov. 11, less than four months after the first interceptor missile was installed at the Alaskan site (DAILY, July 26). Vandenberg Air Force Base, Calif., is expected to get its first two GMD interceptors by December.

The two major space-based observatories planned for NASA's "Beyond Einstein" program are proceeding with development despite severe funding constraints that already have caused a two-year slip in the launch of the first mission. Beyond Einstein is dedicated to answering fundamental questions about the origin, evolution and eventual fate of the universe. The centerpieces of the program are the Laser Interferometer Space Antenna (LISA) and Constellation-X missions, both of which will study black holes.

General Dynamics Ordnance and Tactical Systems will design and develop the Expeditionary Fire Support System (EFSS) that is to be transported to the field by the V-22 Osprey tiltrotor aircraft, the company said Nov. 10. The contract, awarded by the U.S. Marine Corps Systems Command, has an initial value of $18 million but could be worth up to $300 million if initial production and fielding options are exercised.

United Kingdom-based Satamatics said the U.S. Coast Guard has approved the use of its Ocean Alert Ship Security Alert System for use by U.S.-flagged vessels, the company said Nov. 11. Ocean Alert uses satellite relays to provide ship location and security alerts, such as if a hatch is opened without authorization, the company said.

ORBIT/FR Inc., which builds automated microwave test and measurement systems for the aerospace and defense markets, reported that its revenue for the quarter ending Sept. 30 increased 17 percent to $5 million. Revenues for the nine months ending Sept. 30 were up 25 percent, to $15.1 million, compared with the same period in 2003. The Horsham, Pa.-based company has "capitalized on strong market conditions and recognized our third straight quarterly profit," Israel Adan, the company's president and CEO, said in a statement.

SEARS SENTENCING: Former Boeing chief financial officer Michael Sears is expected to plead guilty in U.S. District Court Nov. 15 in connection with allegations that he improperly recruited Darleen Druyun to the company while she was still an Air Force acquisition official overseeing contracts with Boeing. Sears faces up to six months in jail. Druyun was sentenced Oct. 1 to nine months in prison (DAILY, Oct. 4).

The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency is seeking industry input on ways to disrupt an enemy's command organization and increase the effectiveness of friendly battlefield command structures.

The Army's OH-58D Kiowa Warriors will complete their safety enhancement program (SEP) in 2007, John Guenther, deputy product manager of the Army Scout/Attack Helicopter Program, told The DAILY Nov. 12. The SEP, which started in 1997, involves an engine upgrade, including going from an electromechanical fuel control system to a full authority digital engine control system. This improves how the fuel flows based on the aircraft's demands, Guenther said. Bell Helicopter is installing the hardware upgrades and Rolls-Royce is supplying the new C-30R3 engines.

The Super Dvora Mk-III fast patrol/interdiction naval craft, built by Israel Aircraft Industries' Ramta Division, has been accepted into operational service by Israel's navy, IAI said. A commissioning ceremony was held Nov. 11 at the Israel naval base in Ashdod. IAI/Ramta naval design engineers and architects worked with Israel's navy for two years to build the craft according to the navy's needs, the company said. The vessel is the first of six procured by Israel's navy under a contract signed in January 2002.

LUH AWARD: The Army will issue a contract for its Light Utility Helicopter (LUH) at the end of 2005 and the aircraft will deploy in 2006, says Paul Bogosian, deputy program executive officer for Army Aviation. "We held the industry day for the LUH November 8," Bogosian says. Because the LUH is a commercial-off-the-shelf aircraft, it will not have a system development program but will go straight into production (DAILY, Oct. 28). The Army plans to procure 322 LUHs to replace UH-60 Black Hawks, 144 of which will be used for homeland security, he says.