MUNITIONS REMOVAL: DynCorp International LLC of Irving, Texas, said Sept. 8 that it has been awarded a contract worth up to $13.3 million to remove and destroy various munitions from Afghanistan. The munitions include land mines, light weapons, portable air-defense systems and unexploded ordnance. The contract was awarded by the U.S. State Department and has one base year and two option years.
Boeing has begun installing on Space Shuttle Endeavour hardware that will enable it to draw power from the International Space Station, allowing the shuttle to stay docked at the facility for longer periods. When completed, the station's solar arrays will generate a maximum of 75 kilowatts of power total. The Station-Shuttle Power Transfer System will transfer up to eight kilowatts of that power to a docked shuttle, according to SSPTS Integration Manager Eric Gietl.
GREGORY RESIGNS: Deputy Administrator and former astronaut Fred Gregory plans to resign from NASA as soon as a replacement is confirmed by the Senate. Prior to becoming deputy administrator in 2002, Gregory served as associate administrator for space flight and associate administrator of NASA's Office of Safety and Mission Assurance. A retired Air Force colonel, he has logged 7,000 flight hours and 455 hours in space: as pilot for the Challenger (STS-51B) in 1985, commander of Discovery (STS-33) in 1989 and commander of Atlantis (STS-44) in 1991.
Raytheon has delivered a short-range millimeter wave Active Denial nonlethal weapon to the Office of Force Transformation's Full Spectrum Effects Platform (FSEP) program, also known as Project Sheriff, the company announced. In partnership with the U.S. Army's Futures Center and the Naval Surface Warfare Center, OFT is developing an operational prototype to provide forces in urban environments with new nonlethal options for subduing crowds. Active Denial fires a beam that heats the water under the skin to cause temporary pain.
The House Rules Committee has begun taking amendment proposals to the fiscal 2006 Coast Guard authorization bill and may meet this week to prepare the bill for floor consideration, Rep. David Dreier (R-Calif.) told colleagues Sept. 8.
AEGIS BMD: U.S. Navy Rear Adm. Kathleen Paige, program director for the Missile Defense Agency's Aegis Ballistic Missile Defense system, is expected to retire in late November. She will be succeeded by Rear Adm. Alan B. "Brad" Hicks, who has been deputy director for combat systems and weapons, Surface Warfare Directorate, Office of the Chief of Naval Operations.
FRIGATES SOLD: Britain's defense ministry said Sept. 7 that it has finalized the sale of three Type 23 frigates to Chile's government for GBP 135 million (USD $248 million). The agreement was signed by Lord Paul Drayson, Britain's minister for defense procurement, and Jaime Ravinet, Chile's minister of defense. Britain withdrew the former Royal Navy ships Norfolk, Grafton, and Marlborough from service as part of a force restructuring that cut its number of frigates and destroyers from 31 to 25. Chile signed a letter of intent to buy the ships in December 2004.
The U.S. Army will likely make an announcement the week of Sept. 12-16 about the fate of the Aerial Common Sensor (ACS) program, an Army spokeswoman said Sept. 9. Army officials met the week of Sept. 5-9 to deliberate over the program's future in light of prime contractor Lockheed Martin's recent revelation that the Embraer ERJ-145 regional jet that it had chosen for the intelligence-gathering program would actually be too small (DAILY, June 30).
EX-CHAIRMAN DIES: Boeing Co. said Sept. 9 that lead director and former chairman of the board Lew Platt died on Sept. 8. He was 64. Jim McNerney, Boeing chairman, president and chief executive officer, said Platt was "one of our best friends and one of Boeing's most important leaders ... I am deeply saddened by Lew's untimely death."
ASTRONAUT LEAVING: Astronaut John Herrington is leaving NASA to become a commercial test pilot. Herrington has been named vice president, director of flight systems, and chief test pilot for Rocketplane Limited Inc. in Oklahoma City, NASA said Sept. 9. Herrington is an enrolled member of the Chickasaw Nation of Oklahoma and the first Native American to fly in space and perform a spacewalk. He became an astronaut in 1996 and flew aboard Space Shuttle mission STS-113 to the International Space Station in November 2002.
B-52 JAMMER: Although Raytheon did not submit a proposal to be the prime contractor for the U.S. Air Force's B-52 Stand-Off Jammer (SOJ), it still hopes to participate in the program as a subcontractor and is talking to the two competing teams about a potential role, a company spokesman tells The DAILY. A Boeing/BAE Systems team and Northrop Grumman both submitted proposals for the program's upcoming technology development phase. The Air Force plans to award a contract to one of the teams in October (DAILY, Aug. 18, Aug. 30, Sept. 1).
The Pentagon's top acquisition official has given the V-22 Osprey what seems to be a strong endorsement. In a Sept. 8 letter to congressional defense leaders that was obtained by The DAILY late Sept. 8 (DAILY, Sept. 9), Ken Krieg, undersecretary of defense for acquisition, technology and logistics, said the Bell-Boeing tiltrotor aircraft has satisfied provisions of the fiscal 2002 defense authorization act that call for certain effectiveness and sustainability goals to be met before production rises above its minimum sustaining rate.
NASA BUDGET: Senate Majority leader Bill Frist (R-Tenn.) hopes to pass the fiscal 2006 Commerce/Justice/Science appropriations bill that contains NASA's budget by early this week. The $48 billion spending package includes $16.4 billion for the space agency, which is $200 million above the FY '05 level but $60 million below the Bush Administration's request. The bill also contains $250 million for servicing of the Hubble Space Telescope that was not requested by the Administration or included in the House version of the bill passed months ago.
Lockheed Martin has announced its team for the U.S. Army's $20 billion Information Technology Enterprise Solutions (ITES-2S) program. ITES-2S is a nine-year, indefinite delivery/indefinite quantity program that will provide the Army with technology products and services. The Army expects to award eight contracts under the program, four to large businesses and four to small businesses with 1,500 employees or less.
The independent Base Closure and Realignment Commission late Sept. 8 sent to President Bush its review of the Pentagon's desired changes to domestic military facilities. Copies of the report were delivered to congressional members Sept. 9, as well as to the Defense Department.
LIVE-FIRE: Program officials heading the Boeing Co.'s P-8A Multimission Maritime Aircraft program for the U.S. Navy believe they are doing developmental live-fire testing early enough so that results can influence the actual design of the aircraft. Live-fire test and evaluation began in April and will finish in 2012, prior to the P-8A entering full-rate production, the Naval Air Systems Command says. Results remain classified, but Navair asserts that Boeing is working with several vendors to develop an "effective" fire-suppression system.
CERTIFIED: The Pentagon has told lawmakers that the Bell-Boeing V-22 Osprey has fulfilled several effectiveness and sustainability requirements it needed to meet to raise production above the current minimum sustaining rate. The conclusion was conveyed in a Sept. 8 "certification" letter to Capitol Hill. The V-22 recently underwent a series of tests designed to help measure the tiltrotor aircraft's readiness for operational service. The certification helps pave the way for a Sept.
The U.S. Navy has awarded Northrop Grumman Corp.'s Airborne Ground Surveillance and Battle Management Systems unit in Melbourne, Fla., a $124.5 million letter contract for three low-rate initial production (LRIP) units of the AN/AES-1 Airborne Laser Mine Detection System. The AN/AES-1 is a light-detection-and-ranging airborne mine countermeasures system that finds and classifies floating and near-surface moored sea mines.
The U.S. Navy's Space and Naval Warfare Systems Command has awarded Lockheed Martin Corp. a $30 million contract to help the service boost signal processing and automation to detect, track and "localize" undersea threats and pass the information to operational decision makers faster. The first two tasks assigned to this new contract include the Command and Control Mission Planner and the Integrated Common Processor, the company said Sept. 7.
PURCHASE: Lockheed Martin Corp. said Sept. 8 that it has agreed to acquire Louisville, Colo.-based Coherent Technologies Inc., which supplies laser-based remote sensing systems. Financial terms were not disclosed. Lockheed Martin Space Systems of Denver will manage Coherent's business. The closing is expected later this year.
NASA Administrator Michael Griffin has initiated an effort to revamp the agency's aeronautics program, and to do so quickly, industry and government officials said. The plan would kill five existing efforts, create three new ones and reduce funding for another.
ARMORED CABS: The U.S. Army has awarded Stewart & Stevenson Tactical Vehicle Systems LP of Houston a $17 million contract to produce an additional 292 Low Signature Armored Cabs for its Family of Medium Tactical Vehicles, the company said Sept. 8. The contract will give the Army a total of more than 2,000 LSACs. The cabs shield occupants from enemy assault, extreme weather, and accidents. Stewart & Stevenson has produced more than 30,000 FMTVs and 1,700 LSACs since 1991 at its facility in Sealy, Texas.
