The FAA has certified General Electric's CF6-80C2 engine for the U.S. Air Force's C-5 Galaxy modernization program, GE Transportation-Aircraft Engines of Evendale, Ohio, said Sept. 16. The certification comes after eight months of ground-testing the engine to validate the new FADEC III control system and the engine-aircraft integration. The FADEC III control system has been certified on the CFM56-7 and GE90-115B engines.
SPACEWALKS: NASA has awarded Hamilton Sundstrand Space Systems International of Windsor Locks, Conn., a consolidated contract to perform work related to future spacewalks. The five-year contract, which has five additional one-year options, has a total potential value of $814 million, according to NASA. The company's work will include defining and integrating spacewalk requirements for shuttle flights and space station expeditions, sustaining engineering for spacewalk hardware, and extending the life of spacesuit components through the life of the shuttle and station.
NEW MARKET: Lockheed Martin is entering the military truck market under a license agreement with the British company HMT Vehicles Ltd. to build and sell its tactical wheeled vehicles to government customers in North America, the company says. The agreement will give Lockheed Martin exclusive rights to supply light and medium tactical wheeled vehicles to military and government markets in the U.S., Canada and Mexico, and to pursue international sales via the U.S. government's Foreign Military Sales program.
SMALL SATS: More than 200 experts from 25 countries are scheduled to meet this week in La Rochelle, France to discuss small satellites and what they can achieve, according to the European Space Agency. ESA is sponsoring the Small Satellite Systems and Services Symposium with the French space agency. "Small satellites ... give us the possibility to test and demonstrate innovative and advanced technologies in space, at modest cost, before using the technologies on more expensive missions," says Luca Maresi, an ESA system engineer.
Sept. 21 - 22 -- Wireless Sensing Solutions, Donald E. Stephens Convention Center, Rosement, Ill. For information call Jennifer LaFond at (508) 424-4809, email [email protected] or go to www.wssconference.com. Sept. 21 - 23 -- Enterprise Integration Expo 2004, "Connecting the Enterprise through Information," Anaheim Convention Center, Anaheim, Calif. For information go to www.eiexpo.org. Sept. 21 - 24 -- ION GNSS 2004, Long Beach Convention Center, Long Beach, Calif. Go to www.ion.org and follow the ION GNSS Meeting links.
The U.S. Army is making progress on its transformation, including upgrading its soldier equipment, aircraft, brigades and end strength, Army Vice Chief of Staff Gen. Richard Cody said Sept. 17 at a Defense Forum Foundation luncheon meeting on Capitol Hill. Equipping soldiers with Rapid Fielding Initiative (RFI) equipment - better body armor, helmets, boots and other pieces of clothing and equipment - costs the Army $15 million per brigade. "We are buying a total of 800,000 sets of this equipment," Cody said.
Computer Sciences Corp. has been awarded a four-year, $10.4 million contract by the Australian navy to install and design a shore-based and shipboard information technology infrastructure, the company said Sept. 16. CSC will provide program management and administrative, engineering, analytical and technical support for 17 RAN frigates, in addition to three naval communications stations and support and refueling ships, the company said.
Northrop Grumman Ship Systems sector awarded a $16.6 million subcontract to Raytheon Co. for advance procurement of the LPD 23 San Antonio-class amphibious transport dock ship. Under the subcontract, Raytheon Integrated Defense Systems will provide advanced planning, procurement and support for total ship electronic systems associated with LPD 23, the future SS San Diego and the seventh in the line of San Antonio class ships.
GMD INTERCEPTOR: The third interceptor for the Ground-based Midcourse Defense (GMD) system was installed Sept. 15 in an underground silo at Fort Greely, Alaska, the U.S. Missile Defense Agency announced Sept. 16. Three more interceptors are planned for emplacement there by mid-October. Vandenberg Air Force Base, Calif., is slated to get its first two GMD interceptors by year's end.
The U.S. Department of Defense has awarded Lockheed Martin Corp. a $257.8 million contract to provide ground support equipment, a Missile Segment Enhancement (MSE) Kit and 153 PAC-3 Missile Four Packs for the PAC-3 Missile Program, the DOD said Sept. 15. The work is expected to be completed by April 30, 2006, and will be performed in Grand Prairie, Texas. The U.S. Army Aviation and Missile Command, Redstone Arsenal, Ala., awarded the contract.
Legislation passed by the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee's aviation subcommittee encourages President Bush to pursue diplomatic efforts to limit the proliferation of man-portable air defense systems (MANPADS) and seek their destruction.
The U.S. Army is overcoming shortages and deficiencies in equipment for deployed troops uncovered by operations in Iraq and Afghanistan, according to Lt. Gen. James Helmly, chief of the Army Reserve. "All of the kinds of things that are less visible until one begins to stress the force have come to the fore," Helmly said at a Defense Writers Group breakfast in Washington Sept. 16.
Lockheed Martin Corp. believes that equipping a C-130 to fire standoff missiles could fulfill the U.S. Air Force's (USAF) desire for new long-range strike capabilities, according to company officials.
Space Imaging will sell its Federal Civil/Commercial Solutions business unit to Geo360 Corp. of Denver, the company said Sept. 15. Space Imaging is selling the unit to focus on its core business of selling commercial satellite imagery and providing geospatial imaging products to defense and intelligence agencies, the company said.
Eliminating sources of debris on the space shuttle's external tank remains the biggest challenge facing NASA as it attempts to return the orbiter to flight next March or April, according to the Stafford-Covey Return to Flight Task Group. "Probably the long pole in the tent right now would be the tank," Task Group Co-Chair Tom Stafford said during a teleconference Sept. 16.
The U.S. Navy says it plans to launch formal negotiations later this year with nations interested in participating in two new maritime surveillance aircraft programs.
The U.S. Air Force (USAF) has grounded 29 KC-135E tankers because the struts that hold the engines on the aircraft need major repairs for corrosion, Air Mobility Command said late Sept. 15. The tankers, which account for more than a fifth of the Air Force's 133 KC-135Es, will remain out of service until the Air Force figures out what to do with them.
The last two active-duty C-141B Starlifter transport aircraft will be retired Sept. 16 at McGuire Air Force Base, N.J., the Air Force said Sept. 15. But the Air Force Reserve Command will keep flying the remaining 20 Starlifters until they are retired after 2006, Gen. John W. Handy, commander of the Air Mobility Command (AMC) and the U.S. Transportation Command, said in a statement.
Sen. Trent Lott (R-Miss.), the former Senate majority leader, said he will try to convince his colleagues to ignore U.S. Navy proposals to slash funding for ship construction. "These proposed shipbuilding cutbacks aren't official policy yet, but just the whisper of something as foolish as gutting our naval shipbuilding capacity or transferring skilled shipbuilding jobs overseas is enough to get this senator riled up," Lott wrote in a weekly column sent to newspapers.
The Force Application and Launch from the Continental U.S. (FALCON) program has selected four teams to move into Phase II and produce preliminary designs for a Small Launch Vehicle (SLV). The SLV is intended to put 1,000 pounds of payload into low-Earth orbit on very short notice. The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) had been funding nine companies in the six-month first phase of the SLV effort (DAILY, Nov. 18, 2003).
QinetiQ North America will buy Westar Aerospace & Defense Group Inc. of St. Louis for $130 million, Westar said Sept. 14. "By partnering with QinetiQ, our engineers, software developers and analysts can offer additional technology solutions and meet the evolving needs of the Department of Defense and our other customers," Westar President Rob Topping said in a statement. The transaction is expected to close by the end of the year, pending regulatory approval.
