Successful at-sea testing of the first Aegis Weapon System equipped with the new SPY-1F radar has been performed by Lockheed Martin and Spain-based shipbuilder Navantia, Lockheed Martin said Oct. 10. The Integrated Weapon System (IWS) testing took place aboard the Norwegian frigate Fridtjof Nansen (F-310), the first of Norway's five new Aegis-equipped frigates.
AeroAstro Inc. will continue development of a Fast Angular Rate Miniature Star Tracker under a contract from the Air Force's Small Business Innovation Research program, the company said Oct. 10. A miniature star tracker is being developed in conjunction with MIT through a contract from the Missile Defense Agency, and that work laid the groundwork for the Air Force contract, the Ashburn, Va.-based company said.
Officials with the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency and the Stanford Racing Team's autonomous ground vehicle "Stanley" credit its winning performance in the 2005 DARPA Grand Challenge to its onboard software. The Stanford University team, with participation from Volkswagen, won the $2 million prize Oct. 8 by finishing the rugged 132-mile course through the Mojave Desert in six hours, 53 minutes and 58 seconds at an average speed of 19.1 mph. Stanford did not participate in the first Grand Challenge race in 2004.
Northrop Grumman Corp. has opened a new electronic warfare systems integration laboratory to support the development of the airborne electronic attack system for the U.S. Navy's EA-18G aircraft, the company said Oct. 10. The system is scheduled to enter the fleet in 2009. The lab, at Bethpage, N.Y., will be operated by the Bethpage-based Integrated Systems sector, which is the airborne electronic-attack systems integrator for that aircraft.
OSPREY OVERSEER: The U.S. multiservice V-22 Osprey program is about to get a new leader. During an Oct. 21 ceremony at Naval Air Station Patuxent River, Md., Marine Corps Col. Bill Taylor, who has been the V-22's deputy program manager, will be elevated to program manager, succeeding Air Force Col. Craig Olson, who is awaiting a new assignment that will take him to Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio. The Osprey program recently achieved a key milestone, receiving Pentagon approval to begin full-rate production of the Bell-Boeing-built tiltrotor aircraft (DAILY, Sept.
GLOBAL REACH: In late October the Air Force Research Laboratory plans to release a broad agency announcement calling for research proposals on trans-atmospheric hypersonic vehicles capable of quickly reaching any spot on the planet. The first BAA under the Reusable Operationally Responsive Trans-Atmospheric Technology program will cover high-speed global reach air vehicle technologies including unpowered hypersonic glide and powered vehicles.
The Senate voted 97-0 on Oct. 7 to pass the fiscal 2006 defense appropriations bill, which would provide $445.6 billion in spending for the Defense Department for the year that started Oct. 1, including $50 billion for operations in Iraq and Afghanistan and domestic military air patrols.
SHIPBUILDING: U.S. Navy officials must separate shipbuilding requirements from "desirements," reinvigorate the service's acquisition work force and technical expertise, and try to convince industry to invest more in maintaining capacity and work forces on their own, says Donald Winter, the Bush Administration's nominee to be the next Navy secretary. He tells the Senate Armed Services Committee that if confirmed he will take a "good, hard look" at shipbuilding requirements and offer Congress and industry a "viable, credible" shipbuilding plan (DAILY, Oct. 7). He says Adm.
DEFENSE OUTLAYS: Outlays for defense spending grew by an estimated 7.6% in fiscal 2005 to $474 billion, although the growth was half the rate of increase averaged over the previous three years, the Congressional Budget Office reported Oct. 6. The total federal budget deficit totaled about $317 billion in 2005, CBO estimates, $96 billion less than the shortfall recorded in 2004.
The U.S. Army is making plans to conduct ground tests to help it explore a possible low-cost interceptor that would be fired from a Surface Launched AMRAAM (SLAMRAAM) launcher. Miltec and Aerojet, both contractors for the potential Multi-service Extended Range Low-cost Interceptor (MERLIN), are developing a design for the missile's dual-stage booster. If funding is available, the Army will be ready to begin conducting ground tests of that booster design "within the next six months or so," said David Tilson, who manages MERLIN for the Army.
PRAGUE - The Czech defense ministry has launched the initial phase of a tender to purchase an unspecified number of new medium-sized transport aircraft to be received no later than 2011. The ministry said Oct. 5 that it was talking with several companies about price, delivery deadlines and aircraft parameters. "I can't give you a specific number of aircraft at this time but it is more than one," defense spokesman Andrej Cirtek said. "A tender should take place in 2008-2009 and we would like delivery to be around 2010 or 2011."
The Pentagon's Senior Readiness Oversight Committee is reviewing a group of readiness challenges characterized as "encroachment" issues, according to the likely next Air Force secretary. Michael Wynne, currently the principal deputy undersecretary of defense for acquisition, technology and logistics, told the Senate Armed Services Committee on Oct. 6 that encroachment is a "serious problem" and a unique challenge to Air Force training.
The Global Hawk unmanned aerial vehicle program has achieved cost savings of $82 million since December 2002 through the application of lean manufacturing principles, according to industry officials. The actual savings are higher, prime contractor Northrop Grumman says, because they include costs that were avoided altogether. These achievements have been overshadowed by overall cost growth on the program created by technical and programmatic issues as Northrop Grumman gears up to produce the upgraded RQ-4B Global Hawk for the Air Force.
SPACE SUPPORT: The Naval Research Laboratory has awarded Praxis Inc. of Alexandria, Va., a potentially $65.4 million contract to perform services in all aspects of mission and instrument development and implementation for ground system, spacecraft and suborbital craft. While the contract was open to competition, only one offer was received, the Defense Department said Oct. 5. The DOD said the award will help it "enable future science missions."
C4ISR: Milcom Systems Corp. has won a U.S. Navy contract worth up to $49 million for ship alteration, installation and drafting services for C4ISR cryptologic, communications and intelligence systems. The Space and Naval Warfare Systems picked the firm out of four offers. Almost $10 million has been let already, the Defense Department said Oct. 6.
A U.S. Air Force E-8C Joint Surveillance Target Attack Radar System (Joint STARS) aircraft sustained "moderate damage" late last month when Hurricane Rita's winds struck the hangar it was housed in, according to a spokesman for Joint STARS prime contractor Northrop Grumman. Engine and nose cowlings, or coverings, on the modified Boeing 707-300 were dented when part of the hangar's door broke loose and hit the aircraft. "It looks like a fender-bender," the spokesman said Oct. 6.
ARMY REQUEST: EADS and DRS Technologies have offered EADS' Hellas obstacle warning system to the U.S. Army, which is seeking a cable warning/obstacle avoidance capability for the UH-60 helicopter. EADS Defence Electronics of Germany and U.S.-based DRS announced an agreement last week to market Hellas in the United States, and Peter Kielhorn, the manager of obstacle warning systems for EADS Defence Electronics, confirms they have responded to the Army by proposing the system.
RAPTOR 'DEPLOYMENT': The U.S. Air Force is gearing up to conduct the first practice deployment of the Lockheed Martin F/A-22 Raptor. Langley Air Force Base, Va., where the F/A-22 is scheduled to achieve its initial operational capability in December, plans to begin the practice deployment by having eight of its 10 Raptors fly to Hill Air Force Base, Utah, on Oct. 15. The planes will stay at Hill for about two weeks and be used in various activities, including dropping inert Joint Direct Attack Munitions.
The U.S. Navy expects to buy three Coastal Battlefield Reconnaissance and Analysis (COBRA) systems from Northrop Grumman Corp. in fiscal 2007 and three more in FY '08, U.S. Navy officials said Oct. 6.
The House and Senate have both ratified the fiscal 2006 conference agreement for the Homeland Security Department's spending measure. The agreement provides $30.8 billion for the year that started Oct. 1, $1.4 billion more than FY '05 and $1.3 billion above what President Bush requested.
NO POSSE: Rep. Ike Skelton (D-Mo.), the ranking minority member on the House Armed Services Committee, says Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld told him that the Pentagon has no plans to recommend changes to the Posse Comitatus Act, which limits active, federal military participation in domestic law enforcement activities. "I agree with Secretary Rumsfeld that no changes need to be made to the existing law," Skelton says.
The Advanced Electric Ship Demonstrator test platform, an early DD(X) destroyer design built by Dakota Creek Industries Inc., will undergo noise and wake trials in mid-November, U.S. Navy officials said Oct. 6.
