Changes to domestic military bases under the pending Base Closure and Realignment process, expected to become law this month, are likely to create new opportunities for information technology vendors, according to a suburban Washington consulting firm.
The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency is seeking congressional approval to make permanent the prize authority under which it offered the Grand Challenge program, according to Director Tony Tether. The authorization is slated to expire in 2008. Although Tether expects there will be similar Grand Challenge-type programs mounted at DARPA before the decade is out, there is nothing on the immediate horizon.
BALLISTIC WINDSCREENS: Armor Holdings Inc. of Jacksonville, Fla., said Oct. 11 that it has been awarded a $17.6 million contract modification to provide the U.S. Army with ballistic glass windscreens for up-armored Humvees. The modification is an extension of a previously awarded $53.5 million agreement. The windscreens will be delivered during 2006. The work will be done at Armor Holdings' Fairfield, Ohio, glass plant. The contract was awarded by the U.S. Army Tank-automotive and Armaments Command, Picatinny Arsenal, N.J.
Boeing has completed the on-orbit delivery of the Spaceway F1 satellite to DIRECTV Inc., following the completion of in-orbit testing, the company said Oct. 10. The Spaceway F1, which Boeing says is the most complex commercial satellite ever built, will allow DIRECTV to beam high-definition TV channels to several of the nation's largest markets. The Boeing 702 satellite was designed and built at Boeing's Satellite Development Center in El Segundo, Calif., and launched in April by Sea Launch Co. (DAILY, April 27).
Australia's navy commissioned the frigate NUSHIP Toowoomba Oct. 8 in Brisbane, the country's defense department said. The ship was christened by Judy Blight, the daughter of the late Lt. Cmdr. Howard Goodwin, the last commanding officer of HMAS Toowoomba I, a minesweeper that served during World War II. The ceremony was one day shy of the 64th anniversary of Toowoomba I's commissioning on Oct. 9, 1941.
Michigan Aerospace Corp. said its Mechanical Systems Business Unit will design, test and move to production an unmanned watercraft launch and recovery system for use on the U.S. Navy's Littoral Combat Ship. At-sea testing of the system is planned for next year, the company said. The technology will be evaluated for use in other surface and underwater applications, and sensors could be added later to guide launches and recoveries.
General Dynamics Armament and Technical Products said Oct. 10 that it has been awarded a $14.7 million contract to produce 1,097 MK19 grenade machine guns for the U.S. Army. The MK19 can fire up to 400 grenades per minute. Program management will take place at the company's Burlington, Vt., facility. Production work will be done at the Saco, Maine, facility.
Teachers will be able to perform simple experiments in microgravity as Zero Gravity Corp. will conduct "weightless" flights from the space shuttle's runway at Kennedy Space Center, Fla., next month. Zero-G will use its Boeing 727-200 aircraft, "G-Force One," to fly parabolic trajectories that temporarily create weightlessness. NASA and the European Space Agency have used such flights for years to conduct experiments in microgravity.
Advocates for missile defense spending are declaring a victory over an abandoned Democratic attempt to use some fiscal 2006 ballistic missile defense funds for nonproliferation efforts instead.
DISAPPOINTING: FLIR Systems Inc. said Oct. 10 that its third-quarter revenue of $112 million is "disappointing," and revised its full-year 2005 outlook down. FLIR now expects 2005 revenue to be $510 million to $520 million, down from previous expectations of $545 million to $555 million. Full third-quarter results will be released Oct. 19.
U.S. Navy Capt. Joe Rixey has relieved Capt. Steve Eastburg as program manager for the P-8A Multimission Maritime Aircraft in the Naval Air Systems Command's Maritime Surveillance Aircraft Program Office. Cmdr. Michael Moran already relieved Rixey in September as the deputy program manager. Since November 2003, Moran was the P-3 Aircraft Improvement Program deputy program manager before taking on his role as P-8A lead.
The Boeing Delta IV team preparing to launch a National Reconnaissance Office satellite from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California is waiting to hear from the NRO whether or not to de-stack the rocket to avoid a potential fly-over concern during an upcoming Lockheed Martin Titan IV launch. The Titan IV, carrying another NRO satellite, will follow a flight path that takes it over the Delta IV's launch pad, raising the possibility that a Titan launch failure could rain debris down on the Delta IV with the satellite sitting on top of it.
Lockheed Martin said Oct. 7 that it has successfully completed a live-fly demonstration of its Airborne and Maritime/Fixed Station Joint Tactical Radio System (AMF JTRS) prototype. The demonstration featured airborne, ground-based and simulated maritime units collaborating in real time across an integrated, airborne Internet Protocol network to rapidly find, identify and strike a time-sensitive target, the company said.
The Defense Department has issued its latest overarching business enterprise architecture - and a new transition plan to get there - to try to help the largest federal agency get a handle on its bookkeeping and stop wasting taxpayers' money. Kenneth Krieg, the Pentagon's new chief acquisition official, told members of the Senate Homeland Security government management subcommittee on Oct. 6 that the new architecture and plan should help "reduce risks" that congressional investigators and White House budget-makers have identified as severe (DAILY, Jan. 26).
The United States is sending eight military helicopters and support personnel to Pakistan following a devastating earthquake that may have killed at least 20,000 people, the Defense Department said Oct. 10. Five CH-47 Chinook helicopters and three UH-60 Black Hawk helicopters and their crews were set to arrive on Oct. 10. They will provide rescue, recovery and logistics assistance. The aircraft were deployed from Combined Forces Command Afghanistan at the Pakistan government's request.
U.S. Naval Air Systems Command has tacked on $5.8 million more to Northrop Grumman Corp.'s contract to design, manufacture and test a shipboard compatible control station for the Fire Scout unmanned air vehicle to operate from a Littoral Combat Ship.
Science Applications International Corp. of McLean, Va., said Oct. 10 that it has purchased IMAPS LLC of Columbia, Ill. Financial terms were not disclosed. IMAPS provides geographic information systems and marine navigation, aviation flight planning and navigation software products. SAIC furnishes research and engineering services to national security, homeland security, space, and other customers. As part of the deal, 67 ex-IMAPS workers have joined SAIC's Mission Integration Business Unit.
Northrop Grumman Corp.'s shipbuilding woes from Hurricane Katrina landed on Wall Street Oct. 10 as the company said it now expects 2005 revenue to be off by about $1 billion, while earnings could be down roughly 40 cents a share due to damage to its Ships Systems unit on the Gulf Coast.
