DEEPWATER AUTHORIZED: The House has authorized $1.6 billion for the U.S. Coast Guard's Deepwater recapitalization program. The chamber voted 415-0 on Sept. 15 to pass the fiscal 2006 Coast Guard and Maritime Transportation Act of 2005. The bill authorizes roughly $8.7 billion for the Coast Guard overall, including $39 million for operating expenses to fund a West Coast helicopter interdiction tactical squadron and $24 million for research, development, testing and evaluation.
BOMB NETWORK: After submitting the only offer, Dell's Federal Systems unit on Sept. 13 received $18.4 million from the U.S. Naval Sea Systems Command to update the Joint Explosive Ordnance Disposal Network, as well as for the initial rollout of four regional gateway nodes. The network is a tactical, Web-based information system that provides information and access "where delivery of accurate and timely tactical mission critical knowledge is crucial to the success of a mission," the Navy said Sept. 14. The Navy expects Dell to finish its work by September 2010.
The U.S. Army has halted work on the troubled Aerial Common Sensor (ACS) development program and told prime contractor Lockheed Martin to come up with a fix-it plan in 60 days. The Army announced its decision late Sept. 14 after reviewing the ACS design with Lockheed Martin and concluding that "the weight of the ACS payload and required airframe modifications exceed the structural limits of Lockheed Martin's selected aircraft," the Embraer ERJ-145 regional jet.
NASA's DC-8 flying laboratory has left the Dryden Flight Research Center at Edwards Air Force Base, Calif., for Grand Forks, N.D., where the University of North Dakota will maintain and operate it. Under a deal announced earlier this year (DAILY, June 6), NASA will pay the university $25 million over five years for the work, which will make the DC-8 the centerpiece of a new National Suborbital Education and Research Center there. NASA flight crews will operate the aircraft "for the foreseeable future," the agency said Sept. 15.
Several House Democrats, led by the minority whip and the ranking member of the House Armed Services Committee (HASC), unveiled a national security strategy on Sept. 15 that largely synthesized several efforts the lawmakers have so far pushed unsuccessfully in the GOP-controlled Congress.
DD(X) GUN: The Advanced Gun System for the U.S. Navy's future DD(X) destroyer has successfully demonstrated a sustained maximum rate of fire of at least 10 rounds per minute in eight round bursts, the U.S. Naval Sea Systems Command said Sept. 14. The system also unloaded eight complete rounds from a pallet in 45 seconds or less during the Aug. 31 test. BAE Systems conducted the test under subcontract with DD(X) design agent Northrop Grumman Ship Systems.
A test launch of a Minuteman III intercontinental ballistic missile was held early Sept. 14 from Vandenberg Air Force Base, Calif. In the test, the final one of the year, the missile's unarmed re-entry vehicle traveled about 4,200 miles in about 30 minutes, striking a predetermined target at the Ronald Reagan Test Site on the Kwajalein Atoll in the Marshall Islands.
Lynn Brubaker has been elected to the board of directors. Brubaker was vice president and general manager-Commercial Aerospace for Honeywell International.
Rep. Robin Hayes (R-N.C.), a member of the House Armed Services Committee, said the fiscal 2006 defense appropriations bill could end up being rolled into an omnibus spending measure at the end of the congressional session. Speaking Sept. 14 to an audience at the Air Force Association's 2005 Air & Space Conference in Washington, Hayes - whose committee writes the annual companion defense authorization bill - said the defense appropriations won't be completed as a stand-alone bill.
The U.S. Air Force is considering upgrading the imagery capability of the B-2 Spirit's APQ-181 radar system, according to industry officials. The stealth bomber's radar could be equipped to produce higher-resolution imagery that would "dramatically increase the accuracy of the maps that you could make at a great range," said Mike Henchey, director of business development for air combat avionics at Raytheon, which supplies the radar.
RULE COMING: The House Rules Committee was slated to meet late Sept. 14 to hash out a rule for the U.S. Coast Guard's fiscal 2006 authorization bill, meaning the bill could come up on the floor Sept. 15. House authorizers have outlined $1.6 billion for the Coast Guard's Deepwater recapitalization program, while Senate counterparts have authorized $1.1 billion (DAILY, Sept. 12). The White House this year offered $966 million as a baseline for future funding.
Howard E. Chambers has been appointed vice president and general manager of Space & Intelligence Systems. Bill Collopy has retired as vice president of Southern California operations. Gary S. Toyama will replace Collopy. Toyama was deputy to the vice president for Boeing's Integrated Defense Systems.
ANTI-MINE SUPPORT: CACI International Inc. of Arlington, Va., announced Sept. 13 that the U.S. Naval Sea Systems Command awarded it a potentially five-year, $188 million prime contract to support a wide range of current and future mine countermeasure programs and combat systems, including unmanned surface and underwater vehicles. CACI's role entails helping the Navy manage solicitations and monitor contractor performance, as well as budget planning.
India's government has chosen Armaris, a joint venture of France's Thales and DCN, as the prime contractor for a technology transfer program under which India will build six conventional Scorpene submarines. Thales, which announced the deal Sept. 13, also will provide assistance to Indian shipbuilder Mazagon Dock Ltd. and supply key subsystems for the Scorpenes' integrated combat systems, including underwater sensors and electronic warfare equipment. The deal is worth nearly EUR 600 million (USD $720 million), to Thales, the company said.
Two competitors for the U.S. Air Force's Combat Search and Rescue-X (CSAR-X) program squared off at dueling press briefings Sept. 14, with the Bell-Boeing CV-22 team emphasizing the leap-ahead nature of its tiltrotor technology and the Boeing HH-47 team stressing the combat experience of its helicopter. The CV-22 can travel twice as fast as a helicopter, providing more time to decide whether and where to deploy the aircraft, Bell-Boeing's Bob Carrese told reporters at the Air Force Association's Air & Space Conference in Washington.
SHIP SUPPORT: Thales said Sept. 12 that it has been awarded a EUR 12 million (USD $18.4 million) contract to maintain and support the French navy frigates Nivose and Floreal. Major work on the Nivose will start in January 2006 and is set to be finished by mid-April. Intermediate work on the Floreal will begin in July 2006. Thales will perform the duties along with fleet management firm V. Ships of Monaco. The 3,000-ton ships are based on Reunion Island in the sourthern Indian Ocean, where they perform patrol and surveillance missions. Each ship has 100 sailors.
Alliant Techsystems (ATK) of Minneapolis and Nitrochemie, a Swiss/German propellant manufacturer, have teamed to market Nitrochemie's advanced gun propellants in North America, ATK said Sept. 14. The agreement will "expand ATK's industry-leading portfolio of gun propellants" to include Nitrochemie technology manufactured in Switzerland, ATK said. If the agreement "results in the sales expected," ATK could build some of the propellant at the Radford Army Ammunition Plant, Va., which it manages for the U.S. Army.
