N. Wayne Hale Jr. has been named manager of the space shuttle program. Roy Bridges has retired as director of Langley Research Center, Hampton, Va. Lesa B. Roe will replace Bridges.
Charles A. Ross has stepped down as chief operating officer but will continue as president and director. Stanton E. Ross has been named CEO, chairman of the board of directors, and interim chief financial officer.
TEAMING FOR BID: Germany's ThyssenKrupp Technologies said Sept. 19 that it has signed a memorandum of understanding with EADS to make a joint bid for Atlas Elektronik, a BAE Systems subsidiary. If successful, ThyssenKrupp would take over 60% of Atlas and EADS would get 40%. Atlas Elektronik develops integrated sonar systems for submarines and is a supplier for ThyssenKrupp Marine Systems. Atlas Elektronik, which has 1,750 employees, would continue to be headquartered in Bremen.
JSC CLOSES: NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston closed at 2 p.m. Eastern Time Sept. 21 due to the threat from Hurricane Rita. A small emergency crew will remain on site but the center will not reopen until the storm passes. Primary flight control of the International Space Station has been transitioned to the Russian Mission Control Center near Moscow.
NASA's $104 billion plan to put astronauts back on the moon by 2018 and go on to Mars after that may have ramifications for its aeronautics program, according to Robert S. Walker, a former Pennsylvania Republican congressman who chaired the House Science Committee. NASA Administrator Michael Griffin unveiled the plan Sept. 19, saying it wouldn't take money from aeronautics and science budgets (DAILY, Sept. 20).
A former commercial airliner is being transformed in the desert to prepare it to serve as a high-tech test bed for the U.S. Defense Department's F-35 Joint Strike Fighter program. The Boeing 737-300, which JSF prime contractor Lockheed Martin bought from Lufthansa, the German airline, has been undergoing modifications at a BAE Systems facility in Mojave, Calif., since September 2003. Once completed, the test bed will be "able to replicate the entire sensor suite of the F-35," said Paul Metz, who oversees JSF flight-testing for Lockheed Martin.
Despite the back-to-back losses of two critical competitions to variants of General Atomics' Predator, Northrop Grumman is continuing production of its first Hunter II prototype and holds out hope that it may still find customers for the system. A derivative of the Israeli Heron unmanned aerial vehicle, Hunter II lost in the Army's Extended Range/Multi-Purpose UAV competition in early August, then again in the Department of Homeland Security's Arizona border patrol UAV competition at month's end.
Amy Alving has been appointed the Transformation, Training and Logistics Group's chief technology officer and vice president for technology. Andrew W. Palowitch has been named senior vice president and chief technology officer for the Intelligence Group. Roberto L. Vasquez has been appointed the Intelligence Group's vice president of Department of Defense Space Operations for the National Security & Space business unit.
Some industry and Washington observers hope the White House's new National Strategy for Maritime Security and the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina could help boost the U.S. Coast Guard's prospects on Capitol Hill, especially over its embattled Deepwater recapitalization program.
South Korea plans to develop a horse-like mobile combat robot that would fight alongside human soldiers, the Korea Overseas Information Service said Sept. 21. The robot would have six or eight extendable legs with wheels, allowing it to move like an insect over uneven terrain. It would be armed with various weapons and operated by remote control and its own artificial intelligence system. Project officials have requested KRW 33.4 billion (USD $32.4 million) in funding between 2006 and 2011 to develop the robot.
Latin America will pose a bevy of nontraditional, even nonmilitary, threats to U.S. national security over the coming two decades, a trio of experts told a group of House Armed Services Committee members hearing testimony ahead of the Defense Department's ongoing Quadrennial Defense Review.
PRAGUE - BAE Systems has withdrawn from a CZK 20 billion (USD $830 million) tender to supply at least 199 armored personnel carriers to the Czech military. The company said its newly formed Land and Armaments division pulled out of the competition after realizing it could not meet delivery deadlines outlined in the tender documentation.
A pilot program by the National Association of Manufacturers to boost the quality and quantity of skilled shipbuilding workers has hit a snag after Hurricane Katrina devastated New Orleans. The Washington-based trade group and Bollinger Shipyards Inc. were about to start an educational program for low-income residents around New Orleans, according to NAM's Stacy Wagner, speaking at a National Shipbuilding Research Program conference on Sept. 20.
DIVIDEND: Kaman Corp.'s board of directors has declared a quarterly dividend of 12.5 cents per share, the helicopter maker said Sept. 20. The dividend will be paid on Oct. 26 to shareholders of record as of Oct. 12.
A third Dassault Falcon 7X business jet flew for the first time on Sept. 20 from the company's facility in Bordeaux-Merignac, France, the company said. The aircraft, which the company said uses technologies derived from military aircraft, reached an altitude of 41,000 feet and flew at Mach .82, Dassault said. The aircraft mainly will be used for avionics, systems and function and reliability testing.
Top Pentagon officials said Sept. 20 that it is too early to know whether Defense Department funding will be cut to help pay for Hurricane Katrina recovery efforts. Although the Bush Administration has signaled that it wants to pay for Katrina's projected $200 billion-plus price tag by cutting other federal spending, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and Air Force Gen. Richard Myers, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said at a Pentagon press briefing that the White House has given no indication so far that DOD's budget will be reduced.
