Aerospace Daily & Defense Report

Ball Aerospace and Technology Corp. reported third-quarter 2004 earnings of $11.6 million on sales of $161.3 million, compared with $10.6 million on sales of $125.2 million in 2003, the company announced Oct. 28. For the first nine months, segment earnings were $34.8 million on sales of $491.9 million, compared with $37.7 million on sales of $383 million in the first nine months of 2003, according to the company.

Raytheon Co. reported third-quarter 2004 net sales were $4.9 billion, up 13 percent from the $4.4 billion for the same period in 2003, the company said Oct. 28. The uptick mostly was due to increased government and defense contracts, the company said. Government and defense sales for the third quarter 2004 increased 12 percent to $4.1 billion from $3.7 billion in 2003.

The Atlantic Fleet, now under way with its Sea Swap experiment, is incorporating lessons learned from the Pacific Fleet's Sea Swap that finished last spring, Cmdr. Robert Randall of the guided-missile destroyer USS Laboon told The DAILY. Sea Swap is an initiative that increases forward naval presence by keeping a single ship hull continuously present in a given area of operation - in this case for 18 months - while swapping crews at six-month intervals.

The U.S. Air Force plans to award a multiyear contract to the Boeing Co. in January for communications upgrades to the B-52 bomber. The four-year, system development and demonstration (SDD) contract, estimated at about $200 million, will call for integrating new satellite communications and other enhancements into the B-52 to improve its ability to share information with other aircraft and with command centers, Air Force officials told The DAILY in recent written responses to questions.

NASA and Orbital Sciences Corp. have postponed the launch of the Demonstration of Autonomous Rendezvous Technology (DART) spacecraft after discovering particulate contamination in the spacecraft's Pegasus launch vehicle. During final flight preparations at Vandenberg Air Force Base, Calif., the closeout team discovered pieces of aluminum foil inside the rocket's fairing. The vehicle will be de-mated from its Stargazer L-1011 carrier aircraft and returned to the vehicle assembly building for inspection. NASA does not expect to launch before Nov. 4.

SUPER HORNET WORK: Boeing has been awarded a $36.9 million contract modification for the full-rate production of advanced mission computers and displays that will be integrated into the F/A-18E/F Super Hornet Lot 28 aircraft, the U.S. Department of Defense said Oct. 27. The work is expected to be completed in July 2006.

C-17 TRAINING: AAI Corp. will upgrade systems used to train maintenance technicians for the C-17 Globemaster III transport aircraft under a $23.5 million order, the company said Oct. 28. The upgrades will be installed on 26 C-17 trainers at three Air Force bases and one Air National Guard facility, the company said.

Rheinmetall Defence Electronics of Bremen, Germany, has demonstrated a reusable, autonomous micro air vehicle that fits in a backpack, the company said Oct. 26. The Carola P50 has been demonstrated to representatives of Germany's Bundeswehr and federal agency for defense technology and procurement, according to the company, which has set up the spin-off company Mavionics GmbH of Braunschweig to market it.

AEROSPACE CORP., El Segundo, Calif. J. Bruce Chudoba has been promoted to associate principal director in the Electronic Programs Division in Chantilly, Va. Valerie I. Lang has been promoted to principal director of the Systems Acquisition Subdivision in El Segundo. BOEING CO., Chicago Mike S. Zafirovski, president and chief operating officer of Motorola Inc., has been elected to the board of directors. DIMENSIONS INTERNATIONAL, Alexandria, Va.

The U.S. Navy will finalize its involvement in the Army-led Aerial Common Sensor (ACS) program later this year, providing the Navy an opportunity to put forth additional requirements for the intelligence-gathering aircraft, a program official said Oct. 27.

Bigelow Aerospace still is drawing up the rules that will govern the $50 million "America's Space Prize" competition, according to Bigelow corporate counsel Michael Gold. Announced last month, the prize will be awarded to the first private team that sends astronauts to low-Earth orbit before the end of the decade. Former hotel entrepreneur and Bigelow Aerospace founder Robert Bigelow is putting up half of the $25 million purse himself, and is seeking sponsors to cover the rest.

The U.S. Army is studying a range of systems that could be used to counter the kinds of rocket, artillery and mortar (RAM) threats that American troops face in Iraq, according to service and industry officials. Michael Schexnayder, an acquisition official for the Army's Space and Missile Defense Command, said he plans to compile a set of near- and long-term options and present them to Army leaders before Christmas.

The draft request for proposals (RFP) for the U.S. Army's Light Utility Helicopter (LUH) is due out around Oct. 28, with an industry day to follow within seven days, Paul Bogosian, deputy program executive officer for Army aviation, said on Oct. 27. The Army's future Armed Reconnaissance Helicopter (ARH) is in the final approval phase of its capabilities document, said Lt. Col. Neil Thurgood, Army ARH product manager.

DART: NASA has rescheduled the launch of its Demonstration of Autonomous Rendezvous Technology (DART) spacecraft for Oct. 28 during a five-minute launch window opening at 2:16 p.m. EDT. The launch is scheduled take place from Vandenberg Air Force Base, Calif., aboard a Pegasus XL rocket. NASA plans to feed lessons learned from DART into its proposed Hubble Space Telescope servicing robot.

Boeing reported that net income for the third quarter jumped from $256 million to $456 million, or 78 percent, driven largely by "a very strong quarter" for the Integrated Defense Systems (IDS) business, CEO Harry Stonecipher said Oct. 27. Boeing reported $13.2 billion in revenues for the quarter, up 8 percent from 2003's $12.2 billion quarterly report.

The U.S. Army decided this week to eliminate the Loitering Attack Missile (LAM) component of the Non-Line-of-Sight-Launch System (NLOS-LS), Raytheon and Lockheed Martin officials told reporters Oct. 27. Raytheon and Lockheed Martin are developing NLOS-LS as the NetFires Limited Liability Co. The system is part of the Army's Future Combat Systems (FCS) and its deployment schedule was accelerated last July to start during Spiral 1 of FCS, which is in 2008, with production in 2009 to 2010.

EFV TESTING: The Expeditionary Fighting Vehicle (EFV) has been undergoing testing at the Marine Corps Air Ground Combat Center in Twentynine Palms, Calif., and is preparing to enter the operational assessment phase, the Marine Corps said last week. The EFV, built by General Dynamics Land Systems, can carry a reinforced rifle squad, or 17 Marines, and a crew of three. Its main armament is the MK-46 30mm weapon system.

Northrop Grumman Corp. said Oct. 27 that its third-quarter income rose to $291 million, a 46 percent increase over the $200 million reported for the same period last year. Third-quarter sales increased 11 percent, to $7.4 billion from $6.7 billion reported for the same period last year.

EDO Corp. of New York has been chosen to develop and design fixed-wing, dual missile launchers for the Joint Common Missile (JCM) on F/A-18E/F Super Hornet aircraft, the company said Oct. 27. EDO has been authorized to do $1.9 million in start-up work under Phase 1 of the project, and the company said it could make up to $100 million over the life of the JCM program.

Lessons and technology from Scaled Composites' SpaceShipOne are being applied to the supersonic manned aircraft the company is developing for the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency's (DARPA) RASCAL program, according to Jacob Lopata, chief executive officer for RASCAL prime contractor Space Launch Corp.

The Missile Defense Agency (MDA) has awarded Poway, Calif.-based SpaceDev a second task order worth about $8.3 million to develop and design as many as six networked micro-satellites to support national missile defense, the company said Oct. 26. The second task order is part of an existing $43 million contract with the MDA. The order went into effect on Oct. 1 and the work is expected to be finished by January 2006, the company said.

The German parliament is expected to approve the design and development (D&D) phase of the tri-national Medium Extended Air Defense System (MEADS) in December, clearing the last in a series of political hurdles for the new D&D effort, an industry official said Oct. 26.

Raytheon Co. said it delivered its 250,000th Paveway laser-guided bomb in ceremonies on Oct. 26. Deliveries of Raytheon-built Paveways began in 1968. Lockheed Martin has delivered 25,000 units. The company has been producing Paveways since early 2002, after getting approval to build the kits to compete with longtime supplier Raytheon (DAILY, March 1, 2001). Government officials have said that having two production lines saves money and keeps quality high.