Aerospace Daily & Defense Report

The mission team for NASA's Jupiter Icy Moons Orbiter (JIMO) is weighing the pros and cons of incorporating a lander that would touch down on the surface of Europa. JIMO's Science Definition Team (SDT) has recommended that the spacecraft include a lander that would perform a soft landing on Europa and bore into its frozen surface. The team determined that the lander was valuable enough to devote up to one quarter of the JIMO's 1,500-kilogram (3,306 pound) science payload to it.

The first flight of a Gripen multirole fighter aircraft bound for export to the Czech Republic took place Oct. 18 in Linkoping, Sweden, the FMV Swedish Defense Material Agency said Oct. 20. The aircraft, painted gray with the Czech Republic national insignia on its tail, was flown by a Saab test pilot. "This flight is a very important milestone for the Czech program and shows that the production of Gripen aircraft for the Czech Republic is on schedule," Per Nilsson, FMV program director for the Gripen for Czech Republic, said in a statement.

SM-3 DELIVERIES: Raytheon Co. announced Oct. 22 that it has begun delivering the Standard Missile-3 (SM-3) to the U.S. government. The Defense Department wants to have five ship-based SM-3s available for emergency use by year's end to defend against short- and medium-range ballistic missiles.

Orbital Sciences Corp. reported increases in revenue, operating income, net income and free cash flow for the third quarter of 2004. The Dulles, Va.-based company last week reported revenues of $171.7 million, up 33 percent for the same period last year. Operating income was $14.3 million, compared with $11.2 million in 2003, and net income was 11.4 million, compared with a $30.2 million net loss in the same period last year.

NET-CENTRIC SUB: The U.S. Navy is launching an era of "unprecedented capability" for its fleet with the Oct. 23 commissioning of the USS Virginia (SSN 774), says Lockheed Martin, which designed the sub's sonar, combat system, radio room and electronic support equipment. "USS Virginia's network-centric communication capabilities are a significant departure from legacy systems and address many of the Navy's FORCEnet transformational communication needs," says Michael LaRouche, senior executive for the company's Navy command and control programs.

WORK RESUMES: A stop-work order has been lifted on the U.S. Army's Joint Tactical Radio System Cluster 5 after the Government Accountability Office denied a JTRS Cluster 5 protest. The Army awarded a $295 million system development and demonstration contract to General Dynamics in July (DAILY, July 20). Competitor ITT Industries protested, but the GAO denied the protest on Oct. 20, allowing work to resume "immediately," the Army's Communication Electronics Command Acquisition Center says.

Government representatives from nine nations are expected to gather in Australia in the coming days to review progress in the U.S.-led F-35 Joint Strike Fighter program. The event, the sixth semi-annual meeting of the program's executive committee, will include officials from the United States and its eight international partners for JSF.

EA-18G REVIEW: A preliminary design review (PDR) for the U.S. Navy's EA-18G began Oct. 19 and was completed Oct 22. The Navy is expected to take days or weeks to analyze information presented at the review by the Boeing Co., the prime contractor for the electronic attack jet. As expected, the review's completion coincided with the start of production of the forward fuselage in St. Louis, Mo. (DAILY, Sept. 27).

NEW PROBA: The European Space Agency plans to deploy a follow-on technology demonstrator spacecraft, Proba-2, by the end of 2007 to demonstrate new technologies and products in orbit, ESA says. A system built around these developments is intended to support a mission to observe and measure the plasma of the sun, ESA says. Proba-2 will follow Proba, ESA's first microsatellite, which has just completed three years of successful operations. The TV-sized imaging satellite was aimed at demonstrating autonomous operation, hence its name: Project for On-Board Autonomy.

Oct. 25 - 27 -- Association of the United States Army 2004 annual meeting and exposition, "Our Army at War - Relevant and Ready." Washington Convention Center, Washington, D.C. For more information go to www.ausa.org. Oct. 25 - 27 -- The International Loran Association's 2004 Convention and Technical Symposium, Toyko, Japan. For more information go to www.loran.org/events.html.

JSF SCRUTINY: The U.S. Defense Department's F-35 Joint Strike Fighter program, which is transitioning from being a design on paper to actual hardware, is about to receive more scrutiny. The recently completed fiscal 2005 defense authorization conference report requires the Government Accountability Office to start conducting an annual review of the program to see whether JSF is meeting its cost, schedule and performance goals. A report on the first review is due March 15, 2005.

MORE PARTNERS: Lockheed Martin-led Team US101 has added 16 suppliers in Florida to its team vying to build the next presidential helicopter fleet, the company said Oct. 22. The team is competing with Sikorsky in a hotly contested effort to replace the fleet. "...As an excellent example of Lockheed Martin's corporate commitment to the US101 program, two of our Florida-based operating companies - Aerostructures, and the Simulation, Training & Support business unit - are also supporting Team US101's efforts to win the Marine One competition," Stephen D.

According to a review conducted in September, most of the Future Combat Systems' critical technologies would have been mature enough for the program's originally scheduled preliminary design review (PDR) in 2006, according to the U.S. Army. In addition, of the 50 percent of the technologies the Army assessed for maturity under the FCS realignment, all have been deemed to be mature enough for their new PDRs, an Army official said.

Honeywell's 2004 third-quarter net income increased to $372 million from $344 million from the third quarter of 2003, the company said Oct. 20. Defense and space sales grew 3 percent in the quarter. This segment margin increased to 15.4 percent, compared with 14.6 percent a year ago, primarily due to strong commercial aftermarket sales growth, Honeywell said. Also, Honeywell was selected by Lockheed Martin as supply services provider for the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter.

Aerospace and defense revenues continued to rise during the third quarter of 2004, but the rate of increase is expected to drop over the next two to three years, an industry analyst said. High single-digit and low double-digit top line revenue growth rates are expected to dip to 3- to 5-percent growth rates, Eric Hugel of Stephens Inc. told The DAILY.

The U.S. Missile Defense Agency has concluded it cannot afford for now to begin developing an interceptor missile to destroy long-range ballistic missiles in their final phase of flight, Defense Department officials said Oct. 21. MDA had been looking at the feasibility of a terminal-phase Long Range Atmospheric Defense (LRAD) system to complement systems it is already pursuing for earlier phases of flight (DAILY, Nov. 20, 2003). The agency is charged with developing a layered system to provide several chances to intercept an incoming missile.

Raytheon Network Centric Systems will deliver prototypes of all three of its ground sensor systems for the Army Future Combat Systems (FCS) ground vehicles in late 2006 through 2008, Johnny Garrett, director of integrated systems at Raytheon Network Centric Systems, told The DAILY.

Northrop Grumman has named 12 U.S. companies as its suppliers of the year, the company said Oct. 20. The company presented awards to the companies at a suppliers luncheon in Manhattan Beach, Calif. They are:

The project team for NASA's ambitious Jupiter Icy Moons Orbiter (JIMO) plans to work with NASA leadership to obtain a higher budget request for the mission during its crucial development years. Scheduled to launch no earlier than 2011, the multibillion-dollar JIMO mission will be the first flight demonstration of the space nuclear power and propulsion technology being developed under NASA's Prometheus effort.

NASA is grappling with a defect discovered in the Field Programmable Gate Arrays (FPGAs) that are used in many of the agency's spacecraft. An FPGA is an integrated circuit that can be programmed in the field after manufacture. FPGA manufacturer Actel Corporation of Mountain View, Calif., discovered the anomaly with the FPGAs, in which some of them begin to behave unpredictably after 700 hours of use.

The Navy transferred operation of the former Naval Space Surveillance System to the Air Force earlier this month, the Navy said Oct. 20. The "Fence" system, the oldest sensor system built to track satellites and debris in orbit around the Earth, was transferred Oct. 1 from the Naval Network and Space Operations Command to the new 20th Space Control Squadron.

JSF WORK: Vektrex of San Diego will develop a power interface for performing high-fidelity power testing on F-35 Joint Strike Fighter communications avionics, the company said Oct. 21. The work will be done for Northrop Grumman Corp., which is developing the communications avionics for Lockheed Martin.

Lockheed Martin has received $20.9 million for additional work on the Advanced Deployable System (ADS), an undersea surveillance system intended to detect and localize submarines for a joint task force commander (JTFC). The new contract, awarded Sept. 13 by the Navy's Space and Naval Warfare Systems Command (SPAWAR), bolsters the company's original ADS contract, for program development and risk reduction, awarded in 1995.

DRS Technologies Inc. of Parsippany, N.J., has received $34.3 million in new orders to provide engineering services, spares and production for the U.S. Navy's AN/UYQ-70 Advanced Display Systems and related computer equipment, the company said Oct. 20. The systems and equipment are on the Navy's new Aegis destroyers, cruisers and other surface ships, as well as E-2C Hawkeye aircraft and USS Los Angeles class SSN 688 attack submarines.