Aerospace Daily & Defense Report

Abu Dhabi Ship Building (ADSB) of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) has awarded the Raytheon Co. a contract to produce and deliver MK56 Evolved Seasparrow Missile Vertical Launching Systems for the UAE navy, the company said Oct. 20. Financial terms were not disclosed. The launching systems will be installed on four Baynunah class corvettes, the company said. Two additional ships may be equipped under a contract option.

PerkinElmer Inc.'s California-based Optoelectronics unit will provide two critical subsystems to Lockheed Martin for the Joint Common Missile, the company said Oct. 19. The unit will design and build the firing modules for the electronic safe and arm device (ESAD) fuze system and the power supply for the air-to-ground missile system. Production contracts for the work could be worth more than $100 million for domestic needs, with foreign military sales on top of that, the company said.

A Canadian air force move to limit operations of its 15 CH-149 Cormorant helicopters after finding cracks in a tail rotor component of one aircraft won't affect the Team US101 entry for the U.S. presidential helicopter competition, members of the Lockheed Martin-led team said Oct. 20.

Defense contractors pitching unmanned underwater vehicles (UUV) to the U.S. Navy need to make them capable of being used by either surface ships or submarines, Rear Adm. William Landay, the program executive officer for Navy Littoral and Mine Warfare, told reporters at a recent Naval Sea Systems Command (NAVSEA) briefing.

Arotech Corp.'s vehicle-armoring subsidiary, MDT Armor, will launch its new ultralight armored combat vehicle at the 2004 Association of the U.S. Army's annual meeting and exposition in Washington next week, the company said Oct. 18.

NASA has picked four teams to research critical issues in electric propulsion to support the new space exploration plan, the aerospace agency announced late Oct. 18. The work is part of NASA's Project Prometheus, which is aimed at advancing in-space nuclear power and propulsion (DAILY, Aug. 11). The total value of the work over three years is about $6 million, NASA said. The teams are:

GENERATORS: The Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) is sponsoring the development of new, compact electrical generators for aircraft, with an eye toward powering future directed energy weapons. Working under a Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase II grant, Electrodynamics Associates Inc. of Oviedo, Fla., is developing two types of generators - a 2.5-megawatt generator weighing 327 pounds and a 100-200 kilowatt generator.

The U.S. Air Force has awarded ITT Industries Inc. of White Plains, N.Y., a $40 million firm fixed price contract to provide AN/AVS-9 night vision goggles for rotary wing and fixed aircraft crews, the company said Oct. 18. Pilots, co-pilots and other crewmembers using the goggles include those on C-17 and C-130 transport aircraft, KC-10 and KC-135 tankers, and H-60 helicopters, the company said. ITT's Night Vision division, based in Roanoke, Va., will do the work. It is set to be complete by July 2007.

The U.S. Air Force Space Command (AFSPC) has established a space training and education organization that will help create a new generation of space professionals, the Air Force said Oct. 18.

The U.S. Navy is stepping up its efforts to develop directed energy weapons and has made significant strides in recent months, according to Rear Adm. Brad Hicks, commander of the Naval Surface Warfare Center. "As fiscal constraints allow ... the Navy is increasing its efforts in directed energy," Hicks said during a presentation at the Directed Energy Professional Society's seventh annual symposium in Rockville, Md., on Oct. 19. "We continue to set world records in [Free Electron Laser] performance. ..."

Lockheed Martin's Littoral Combat Ship (LCS) team is moving toward final critical design review (CDR) in December, the company said Oct. 18. The company's LCS team completed the initial critical design review in September (DAILY, Sept. 23). The initial critical design review included customer approval of final design elements, including general arrangements, drawings and initial manning concepts, the company said.

Smiths Group is acquiring Integrated Aerospace Inc., a privately owned, California-based supplier of specialist landing gear systems, for $110 million, subsidiary Smiths Aerospace said Oct. 19. The acquisition is expected to be completed in November, subject to regulatory approval.

The first delivery of a mine-protected 4x4 Cougar Hardened Engineer Vehicle (HEV) produced by Ladson, S.C.-based Force Protection Inc. has been made to U.S. Marines in Iraq, the company said Oct. 18. Thirteen more Cougars are set to be shipped before the end of this year. The Cougar can be used for reconnaissance, command and control, explosive ordnance disposal, as a lead convoy vehicle and for troop transport, the company said.

Saab will develop and produce a tactical support and training system for the Gripen fighter aircraft under a 500 million Swedish krona ($70 million) contract with the Swedish Defence Materiel Administration. The system, called planning, evaluation, training, rehearsal and analysis (PETRA), could be used for planning and evaluating missions, basic training, mission rehearsal and tactical scenario analysis, Saab said Oct. 18. PETRA will be delivered to Sweden, Hungary and the Czech Republic between 2004 and 2007.

NASA's Demonstration of Autonomous Rendezvous Technology (DART) spacecraft is scheduled to launch Oct. 26 from Vandenberg Air Force Base, Calif., NASA said Oct. 18. DART is to demonstrate technologies for spacecraft to rendezvous with other spacecraft without human intervention, and is scheduled to rendezvous with a target satellite during the mission. DART is the first demonstration program selected by NASA's Exploration Systems Mission Directorate to develop technologies for the new space exploration mission.

Pratt & Whitney, which is developing the F135 engine for the U.S. Defense Department's F-35 Joint Strike Fighter, plans to start incorporating a significant new component into its propulsion system in December, according to a company spokesman.

NEAR SPACE: The Air Force Space Battlelab has tentatively scheduled the first flight of the Near Space Maneuvering Vehicle (NSMV), or "V-Airship," for Oct. 29 from Tillamook, Ore. A 175-foot long, helium-filled balloon, the v-shaped NSMV was built by JP Aerospace of California. The flight will carry a small communications payload to an altitude of 100,000 feet. The first flight of the NSMV had been set for February, but was scrubbed due to bad weather.

The U.S. Air Force has formed a task force that plans to deliver a road map for directed energy weapons by early next year, according to Harry Disbrow, deputy director for operational capability requirements at Air Force headquarters.

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. - U.S. efforts to strengthen its global command and control (C2) systems will benefit from efforts to field a national missile defense system, according to Gen. James E. Cartwright, commander of U.S. Strategic Command. "Part of what we're talking about" in the current "shakedown" phase of the missile defense system, he said, is trying to understand a range of broad issues that affect global C2.

Paris-based Thales Avionics has won the flight management system (FMS) contract for Airbus Military's new A400M military transport, the company said Oct. 19. Terms of the contract were not disclosed. The FMS handles aircraft flight control during tactical missions and flight operations, particularly at low altitudes, and is the core of the avionics suite, Thales said. Thales will develop the FMS400 using an innovative software architecture and a platform derived from integrated modular avionics, the company said.

The Defense Department is forming a Joint Rapid Action Cell (JRAC) to speed the fielding of materials urgently needed by warfighters. In a Sept. 3 memorandum, Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz directed acting Pentagon acquisition chief Michael Wynne and DOD Comptroller Tina Jonas to set up the JRAC to "to break through the institutional barriers" that prevent DOD from "providing timely, effective support" to troops deployed in Afghanistan, Iraq and the global war on terrorism.

HERCULES ORDER: Lockheed Martin will deliver an additional C-130J Super Hercules aircraft to Denmark, the company said Oct. 19. Denmark's air force exercised an option for the aircraft under the original order for three C-130Js that was placed in December 2000.

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. - Officials at an intelligence center supporting the North American Aerospace Defense Command and U.S. Northern Command are doing "a wonderful job," according to Gen. Ralph E. "Ed" Eberhart, who is in charge of both commands. But one consumer of the intelligence, who declined to be further identified, disagrees.