The ranking Democrat on the Senate Armed Services Committee said Oct. 5 that he does not see any military aircraft programs such as the F/A-22 Raptor, the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter or the Air Force tanker replacement effort being canceled due to increasing budget concerns, but orders for the fighters probably will be cut further. Noting the JSF in particular, Sen. Carl Levin (D-Mich.) said, "That one I can see being reduced."
Robert S. Henderson has been appointed executive vice president. Raymond F. Laubenthal has been appointed president and chief operating officer. Albert J. Rodriguez has been named executive vice president. Gregory Rufus has been appointed executive vice president and chief financial officer.
Gen. George A. Joulwan (USA Ret.) and IAP President David W. Swindle have been named to the board of directors. Joulwan served as commander in chief, U.S. European Command and as NATO's 11th supreme allied commander Europe.
The U.S. Army and interested European users plan to develop an enhanced unitary warhead for the Guided Multiple Launch Rocket System that would be capable of attacking certain hardened targets. "Right now, the warhead that we're using is enhanced for blast-frag effects," said Rick Vallario, director of business development for tactical missiles at Lockheed Martin Missiles and Fire Control. "The European community wants to also ... incorporate some types of fortifications into the requirement."
PRAGUE - Danish truck producer MAN Last & Bus will provide the Danish armed forces with 143 trucks under a DKK 269 million (USD $43.1 million) contract, the Danish Army Material Command said. Most of the vehicles will be delivered with a hydraulic loading platform, the DAMC said Sept. 30. All of the trucks will allow for the installation of communications and Global Positioning System equipment. Twenty of the trucks will have an armored cab to protect soldiers, while the rest will have a modular cab that will accommodate add-on armor if necessary.
NEW ADDITION: SpaceShipOne, the first privately built and operated vehicle to reach space, has joined other pioneering vehicles in the Smithsonian Institution's National Air and Space Museum. As of Oct. 5, it hangs next to Charles Lindbergh's Spirit of St. Louis and Chuck Yeager's Bell X-1.
A surge in new business is forcing General Atomics Aeronautical Systems Inc. (GA-ASI) to slow development a bit for the newest version of the Predator unmanned aerial vehicle. Predator C, billed as a more capable version of the MQ-9 Predator B, had been expected to take its first flight by the end of 2005. But that key event has now been moved to "the beginning" of 2006, according to a GA-ASI spokeswoman.
The Compact Kinetic Energy Missile program is seeking additional funding from the U.S. Army to keep it alive past September 2006 in the hopes of transitioning to a system development and demonstration program in 2008.
A proposal by Sen. Kent Conrad (D-N.D.) authorizing $218.5 million for buying General Atomics Aeronautical Systems' Predator MQ-1 unmanned aerial vehicles this fiscal year is on its way to being approved by the Senate. Conrad's proposal (DAILY, Aug. 24) is one of more than 100 additions and changes that leaders of the Senate Armed Services Committee have approved as part of a manager's amendment to their fiscal 2006 defense authorization legislation.
The unique X-50A Dragonfly unmanned aerial vehicle is poised to resume flight-testing at Yuma Proving Ground in Arizona later this month, roughly a year and a half after the 2004 crash that ruined the first X-50A prototype.
The industry teams competing in the U.S. Army's Future Cargo Aircraft program came out swinging at the Association of the U.S. Army's annual meeting in Washington, with each touting the advantages of their offering. The final request for proposals for FCA is expected by early November, with an anticipated response time of 30 days. The winning contractor will be chosen in June of next year.
Contrary to recent press reports, the U.S. Army's overall schedule for fielding the first 15 Brigade Combat Teams in the Future Combat Systems program has not slipped, according to service officials. Army Chief of Staff Gen. Peter Schoomaker recently was quoted as saying that the first 15 BCTs would be fielded around 2030 rather than the previous target date of 2025, leading to speculation that the FCS deployment had slipped five years or more.
