Aerospace Daily & Defense Report

The secretary of the Navy should systematically evaluate the feasibility and cost-effectiveness of rotating crews, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) said in a Nov. 10 report. One rotating crew concept the Navy is experimenting with is called "Sea Swap," which increases forward naval presence by keeping a single ship hull continuously present in a given area of operations - in this case for 18 months - while swapping crews at six-month intervals. Traditional overseas ship deployment is for six months. (DAILY, Oct. 29).

The U.S. Defense Department's F-35 Joint Strike Fighter program has begun testing the aircraft's communication, navigation and identification (CNI) system on a full-scale model of the stealthy fighter.

Titan Corp. is in line to receive a Navy contract to complete development of the Affordable Weapon System, a low-cost supplement to the Tomahawk cruise missile. The San Diego company, which has been working on AWS since 2002, soon will receive a contract "to complete the [system's] development through the fabrication and testing of 100 missiles and two launchers," according to a Nov. 10 FedBizOpps notice from Naval Sea Systems Command.

A Soyuz 2-1a launch vehicle had a successful first flight on Nov. 8 from the Plesetsk Cosmodrome, Russia, the European Space Agency said Nov. 9. The modernized version of the launcher incorporates a digital control system to provide additional mission flexibility and enable control of the vehicle with a larger fairing, said ESA, a partner in the flight along with Russia's Starsem and Arianespace.

Net sales for engineered products supplier Hawk Corp. jumped 23.2 percent and income from operations grew 14.3 percent in the third quarter of 2004, the company said Nov. 11. The Cleveland-based firm reported net sales of $59.4 million in the third quarter of 2004, compared with $48.2 million in the same period last year.

A host of enhanced command-and-control, munition and sensor technologies are needed to improve air-, land- and sea-based assaults on enemy ground forces, according to a Pentagon advisory panel. In a new report, "Integrated Fire Support in the Battlespace," a Defense Science Board task force says the Defense Department should keep developing navigation upgrades and more affordable seekers and data-links so that munitions are better able to destroy moving targets.

House and Senate backers hope to bring a bill to a vote next week during Congress' lame-duck session that would extend FAA's commercial aviation regulation authority to manned space flight, congressional sources told Aerospace Daily affiliate Aviation Daily. Congress has been taking a hard look at legislation covering passengers in space, a trend certain to continue gaining momentum with the success in October of the SpaceShipOne flight under the auspices of the Ansari X-Prize.

The U.S. Air Force and Navy should consider adopting an Army system that keeps controlled or classified spare parts from being sent improperly to other countries, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) said in a report issued Nov. 9.

The U.S. Army's requirements for the Future Cargo Aircraft (FCA) will be completed within the next few months by the Joint Requirements Oversight Council and a request for proposals (RFP) is expected in 2006, with an award in 2007, an Army aviation official told The DAILY. The Army plans to procure the FCA to replace 43 C-23 Sherpa intra-theater fixed-wing support aircraft, but eventually would like to buy 128 FCAs. The Sherpas will be retired from the fleet from 2007 through 2013, he said.

RADAR KITS: The U.S. Army Air and Missile Command has awarded ThalesRaytheonSystems Co. a $13.1 million contract for the production and integration of more than 20 AN/MPQ-64 Sentinel Radar Modernization kits, the company said Nov. 10. The AN/MPQ-64 Sentinel Radar is a highly mobile, ground-based air defense radar. The kits will provide increased detection and acquisition ranges, improved target classification and greater detection of smaller targets.

The U.S. Air Force is seeking more details from companies that submitted concepts for a potential hunter-killer unmanned aerial vehicle, a service representative said Nov. 10.

A new study by Futron Corp. ranks Lockheed Martin's Atlas V rocket first in overall customer satisfaction among launch vehicles capable of putting payloads in geostationary orbit, with chief launch services competitor Arianespace's Ariane 5 vehicle coming in third.

NASA's X-43A "Hyper-X" team is poised to break its own airspeed record Nov. 15 during the third and final flight of the hypersonic demonstrator, which will shoot for Mach 10. The X-43A program achieved the fastest flight of an air-breathing aircraft March 27 during a successful Mach 6.83 (5,000 mph) flight off the coast of California (DAILY, March 30). The Mach 10 (7,000 mph) flight attempt will follow a flight path roughly similar to the March flight.

In fiscal 2006, investment in U.S. military vehicles and technology will reach around $8.7 billion, while fiscal 2007 funding is projected at $8.1 billion, the Government Electronics and Information Technology Association (GEIA) predicts in its 40th 10-year defense forecast.

SIMULATORS: Ornskoldsvik, Switzerland-based Land Systems Hagglunds has received an order from Switzerland's government for army CV90 combat vehicle training simulators, the company said Nov. 9. Terms were not disclosed. The equipment will be used to train crew and technical staff. It will consist of chassis and turret trainers. The original 186-vehicle CV90s contract was placed in 2000. The order included command and infantry variants, the company said. Land Systems Hagglunds is a subsidiary of BAE Systems.

Lockheed Martin Corp. will continue to provide operations and maintenance for the C-130 Aircrew Training System (ATS) under a $28.8 million contract modification extension, the company said Nov. 9.

The U.S. Air Force's F/A-22 Raptor has moved a step closer to full-rate production. The Defense Department announced Nov. 10 that acting Pentagon acquisition chief Michael Wynne has approved unspecified exit criteria the program must meet for full-rate production to occur. Lockheed Martin is producing almost two Raptors a month, a rate that would rise to almost three a month under full-rate production.

Roseland, N.J.-based Curtiss-Wright Corp. has acquired the Government Marine Business Unit (GMBU) division of Flowserve Corp. for about $28 million in cash, Curtiss-Wright said Nov. 10. GMBU, of Phillipsburg, N.J., designs and manufactures highly engineered, critical function pumps for U.S. Navy nuclear submarine and aircraft carrier programs and non-nuclear surface ships. It had 2003 sales of about $26 million, Curtiss-Wright said.

ARMOR HOLDINGS INC., Jacksonville, Fla. Tony Russell has been appointed chief technology officer. KAMAN CORP., Bloomfield, Conn. John J. Tedone has been named assistant vice president, internal audit. MESSIER SERVICES AMERICA, Sterling, Va. Ian Longstreth has been appointed vice president of sales and marketing. MRC PRECISION OPTICS, Sarasota, Fla. Stephen C. Hobert has been named vice president of sales and marketing. SAFELINK CORP., Bellevue, Wash.

Armor Holdings Inc. of Jacksonville, Fla. has agreed to purchase Temecula, Calif.-based Bianchi International for $60 million in cash, Armor Holdings said Nov. 10.

MORE JOBS: Aerospace companies have added 7,500 new jobs since June, bringing employment in the industry to 587,600 nationwide, the Aerospace Industries Association said Nov. 9. This shows an increase after a 50-year low that was hit in February, AIA said.