Prime Research, LC of Blacksburg, Va. was awarded $2 million to develop and manufacture fiber optic sensors for the U.S. Navy, Sen. John Warner (R-Va.) announced. The Naval Surface Warfare Center (NSWC) selected Prime Research, a subsidiary of Prime Photonics LC, to develop high-temperature photonic sensor instrumentation to support the Navy's Condition Based Maintenance program for marine power gas turbine engines. The goal is to increase the efficiency, reliability and performance of gas turbine engines.
E-8C DELIVERY: Northrop Grumman Corp. is on track to deliver the 17th and final E-8C Joint Surveillance Target Attack Radar System (Joint STARS) aircraft to the U.S. Air Force in March 2005, company officials said Sept. 8. There are no plans to produce an 18th E-8C, despite congressional interest in buying more Joint STARS, the officials added. The E-8C is a modified Boeing 707 equipped with a ground surveillance radar.
The U.S. Department of Defense has awarded a $144 million Foreign Military Sales program contract modification to General Dynamics' Electric Boat Corp. The contract provides design support services for the United Kingdom's Asute-class Submarine. It provides for U.S. submarine design and production expertise, assistance with using computer-aided design tools for submarine design and production processes, and exchanging of expertise on submarine design techniques.
NASA's Genesis solar sample return mission ended in disappointment Sept. 8 when its sample capsule failed to properly deploy its parachute and crashed at the Army's Dugway Proving Ground in Utah. The Lockheed Martin-built spacecraft spent two years orbiting a libration point between the sun and the Earth, trapping solar atoms on delicate wafers of gold, sapphire, silicon and diamond. It released its sample capsule into Earth's atmosphere at approximately 9 a.m. PDT Sept. 8.
VEHICLE BUY: The Israeli government is seeking to purchase 103 troop carrier armored vehicles, services and equipment worth up to $99 million from the Textron Corp. of Providence, R.I., the Defense Security Cooperation Agency said. The DSCA notified Congress of the possible foreign military sale on Sept. 7. Israel is planning to upgrade its armored vehicle fleet and needs a more maneuverable, smaller vehicle for urban settings.
WELCOMED: Tina W. Jonas was officially welcomed Sept. 8 as the Department of Defense's new comptroller, the DOD said. Jonas, previously the chief financial officer of the FBI, was nominated to succeed Dov Zakheim on March 11, confirmed by the Senate on July 22 and sworn in on July 28.
President Bush's plan for revamping the intelligence community would keep the bulk of the nation's intelligence agencies within the Department of Defense. Bush detailed his plan to congressional leaders in a White House meeting on Sept. 8, giving his support to providing full budget authority to the proposed national intelligence director (NID).
Commercial space services provider Spacehab Inc.'s fourth quarter, which ended June 30, resulted in a net loss of $2.3 million, compared with a fiscal year 2003 fourth quarter net loss of $20.1 million, the company said Sept. 8. Net earnings for fiscal 2004 were $2.1 million, compared with a net loss in fiscal 2003 of $81.8 million.
PAC-3 EXPORT: Japan plans to buy 20 Patriot Advanced Capability-3 (PAC-3) interceptor missiles from Lockheed Martin Corp., the U.S. Defense Security Cooperation Agency (DSCA) said late Sept. 7. The deal, if finalized, will include support equipment and services and be worth up to $79 million. The sale would make Japan one of the first foreign buyers of the PAC-3 missile, which already is in use by the U.S. Army.
BUSINESS ROUNDTABLE, Washington Frederick W. Smith, chairman, president and CEO of FedEx Corp., has been named chairman of the security task force. CERADYNE, INC., Costa Mesa, Calif. Marc King has been named vice president of armor operations in Ceradyne's new office in Alexandria, Va. DIGITALGLOBE, Longmont, Colo. Bettina Eckerle has been appointed general counsel and secretary. DUCOMMUN INC., Los Angeles John J. Walsh has been named president of the Ducommun Technologies subsidiary.
MBDA signed an initial production contract with Eurocopter to equip all versions of the Tiger assault and NH90 multirole helicopters with the advanced SAPHIR-M decoy self-protection system, the company said. MBDA is jointly owned by BAE Systems, Finmeccanica and the European Aeronautic Defence and Space Co. (EADS). Eurocopter is wholly owned by EADS.
Irvine Sensors Corp. has been awarded a $1.3 million follow-on contract to develop an improved version of its Personal Miniature Thermal Viewer (PMTV), the company said Sept. 7. The PMTV gives soldiers the ability to see in adverse battlefield conditions or total darkness. The thermal video viewer weighs less than half a pound and is battery-operated and handheld. It also features an eyepiece and display. The PMTV uses Irvine Sensors' Cam-Noir infrared uncooled camera technology.
Responses to a U.S. Army request for proposals that aims to show how small unmanned aerial vehicles can work together to perform the duties of a single pointman for soldiers in an infantry company are due Oct. 1, a slip from the original date of Sept. 17. The Army Aviation Technology Directorate at Fort Eustis, Va., announced the change in a Sept. 3 notice.
The U.S. Army's Tank-automotive and Armaments Command (TACOM) is conducting a market survey to determine the availability of nondevelopmental tactical navigation systems for integration on Stryker vehicles, the Program Management Office Stryker Brigade Combat Team (PM-SBCT) said in a Sept. 1 Federal Business Opportunities notice. Survey documentation is due by Sept. 30, and a solicitation is expected to be issued between fiscal 2006 and fiscal 2008, if funding is available, the program office said.
PARTNERS: The Boeing Co. and CEA Technologies, an Australian radar and communications company, have signed a memorandum of understanding to cooperate on global missile defense, Boeing said Sept. 7. The cooperation could lead to future joint research and development of missile defense technologies, Boeing said.
Northrop Grumman and NASA have completed a nine-month series of tests to test the viability of a reusable cryogenic fuel tank made from composite materials, the company announced Sept. 7.
The damage done by Hurricane Frances to NASA's Kennedy Space Center (KSC) in Florida could jeopardize plans to return the space shuttle to flight in March or April, according to the agency. "We all know it's going to [make] some impact to the overall return to flight," NASA spokesman Allard Beutel told The DAILY.
Raytheon Co. expects to enter low-rate production of its new extended range Standard Missile-6 sometime in mid-2009, according to Jeff McKeel, the company's director of air and missile defenses. McKeel said the numbers of the Extended Range Active Missile (ERAM) that will be produced will be in the "low double digits," with some of the projectiles used in early tests at White Sands Missile Range, N.M.
NASA's Genesis spacecraft completed its final course correction on Sept. 6 in preparation to release its sample capsule containing solar particles into Earth's atmosphere on Sept. 8. The Lockheed Martin-built spacecraft spent two years trapping solar atoms on delicate wafers of gold, sapphire, silicon and diamond. The samples will shed light on the composition of the sun and the origins of our solar system, according to Don Burnett, Genesis principal investigator at the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, Calif.
Defense and aerospace companies are required to follow the first data management standard, recently released by the Government Electronics and Information Technology Association (GEIA), the organization said Sept. 3. "Through military specifications, the government told defense contractors how to deal with acquiring and delivering data, but this [standard] goes beyond that requirement to specify an integrated process throughout the product and data life cycles," GEIA spokesman Chris Denham told The DAILY.
U.S. Marine Commandant Gen. Michael Hagee said he is disappointed in defense contractors charged with developing new technologies and equipment for the military's movement toward jointness and interoperability. Hagee said defense companies promise that their products will be interoperable, but that isn't always the case. "What disappoints me about industry is their focus on their product," Hagee said. "We're told, 'don't worry, it will work, and if it doesn't we'll fix it.'"
Israel's attempt to launch a reconnaissance satellite was unsuccessful Sept. 6 after a third-stage rocket malfunction, the Israeli government announced in a statement. A special team is being established to investigate the Ofek-6 satellite's failed launch, which cost Israel $50 million, the Jerusalem Post reported.
MILESTONE: Lockheed Martin Corp.'s A2100 communications satellite fleet has reached 100 years of successful accumulated in-orbit operations, the company said Sept. 3. The A2100 satellite series has 900 transponders and 24 satellites with more than 4,000 years of accumulated orbital operations. The fleet is manufactured and designed at Lockheed Martin Commercial Space Systems in Newtown, Pa. The first A2100 satellite, AMC-1, was launched Sept. 8, 1996. AMC-15, a hybrid Ku/Ka-band satellite, is scheduled for launch later this year.
