PILOT TRAINING: Finland's Patria has been awarded a five-year, EUR 25 million (USD $30.5 million) contract to provide the Finnish air force with elementary and basic pilot training and related technical support, the company said July 29. About eight to 10 Patria flight and theory instructors will train Finnish conscripts, cadets and flight instructor trainees at Finland's air force academy in Tikkakoski. The instructors will follow the Finnish air force's training syllabus and use its Vinka flight trainers.
Northrop Grumman and General Dynamics will receive $50 million less than their maximum incentive fee for their work on the Virginia-class submarine USS Texas, apparently due to "poor performance," the U.S. Navy has said.
The launch of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's GOES-N weather satellite has been delayed to no earlier than Aug. 5 while manufacturer Boeing troubleshoots a problem with the spacecraft. Liftoff had been scheduled for July 29 on a Boeing Delta IV rocket from NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida. NASA is managing the launch of GOES-N for NOAA.
The number of customers for Lockheed Martin's Patriot Advanced Capability-3 (PAC-3) interceptor could grow within the next year, according to a company official. "I don't think you're going to hear any announcements in the next few weeks, but over the next year I would expect that you'll probably hear about at least one new customer," said Mike Trotsky, vice president of air and missile defense systems at Lockheed Martin Missiles and Fire Control.
Aerospace component and assembly manufacturer Ducommun released second-quarter results Aug. 1 that showed an increase in sales but a slight decrease in income. Sales totaled $62 million in the second quarter, up from $57.4 million in the same quarter of 2004, but net income was $4.1 million, down slightly from last year's $4.3 million in the same period. An increase in military sales was largely responsible for driving sales up 8% over the second quarter last year, with military business now making up 63% of sales, the company said.
UAV TEST: The Safran Group of Paris has conducted a successful test flight of its tactical Sperwer unmanned aerial vehicle that will be delivered to the Greek army, the company said July 29. The test was held at the French air force test center at Istres in southern France. The primary ground control station at Istres transferred control of the aircraft to a secondary ground control station more than 180 kilometers (111.8 miles) away near the Perthus pass in the Pyrenees mountains.
DELAYED BILL: Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-Tenn.) said the fiscal 2006 defense authorization bill - set aside from consideration in late July - will be a priority when the Senate reconvenes starting Sept. 6. Speaking late July 29, he said, "our troops in the field are depending on it. The security of our country depends on it." Democrats, who said the defense bill has been waiting since May, criticized Republican leaders for postponing it until after Labor Day.
The U.S. Army and Bell Helicopter Textron Inc. are arranging a meeting to discuss the way ahead for the Armed Reconnaissance Helicopter (ARH), now that Bell has been chosen as the program's prime contractor, a company spokeswoman said Aug. 1. The meeting could occur as early as the week of Aug. 1-5. "We're going to meet with our customer to discuss our new relationship," Bell spokeswoman Erin Dick told The DAILY.
The Defense Security Cooperation Agency (DSCA) has notified Congress that Egypt is seeking 200 M109A5 155mm self-propelled howitzers as part of a sale that could reach $181 million. Egypt wants the howitzers, intercoms, spare and repair parts, support and test equipment and other related equipment and services, including overhaul and refurbishment, DSCA said. In addition, six U.S. government quality assurance personnel would be needed at two-week intervals for an unspecified amount of time.
ThalesRaytheonSystems Co. is providing spare parts for U.S. Army AN/TPQ-36 and AN/TPQ-37 Firefinder weapon-locating radars under a $130 million contract modification, the company said Aug. 1. The modification makes the company's work on the Raytheon-built radar effort worth more than $220 million, and it is being done on an "urgent basis" to finish the work as soon as possible, the joint venture said.
The Aerospace Industries Association is pushing for industry involvement in crafting a long-range plan for the defense industrial base, AIA President and CEO John W. Douglass said Aug. 1. Douglass said other areas of interest to the AIA, including the air travel and space segments, have moved to implement recommendations from the Commission on the Future of the U.S. Aerospace Industry, released three years ago.
The STS-114 spacewalk team is planning ahead for the possibility that Discovery's crew will have to perform an unprecedented on-orbit repair of two protruding "gap-fillers" on the shuttle's underbelly before coming home. "We're getting everything staged and ready to go," STS-114 Lead Spacewalk Officer Cindy Begley said during a press conference Aug. 1. If the repair is approved, STS-114 Mission Specialist Steve Robinson will perform it as part of the mission's third spacewalk on Aug. 3.
SOLE SUPPORT: General Dynamics' Advanced Information Systems unit won another $47 million contract to support the U.S. Joint Forces Command's Joint Experimentation Program and Joint Futures Lab, following on an almost $93 million contract for similar work that was awarded a month ago. This contract, like the previous award, is expected to be completed by July 2006, the Navy said late July 29. While both awards were competitively procured by the Fleet and Industrial Center Norfolk Philadelphia Division, only one offer was received.
SPARE WINGS: Spain's cabinet has approved a five-year, EUR 18.4 million (USD $22.4 million) contract to purchase spare wings for its Northrop-Grumman built F-5B fighter aircraft, the company said Aug. 1. The contract is part of a modernization program that includes upgrading avionics and precision navigation systems, as well as instrument panel data display. The program's aim is to make the F-5B similar to modern combat aircraft such as the F-18 and Eurofighter EF-2000, the company said. The program will extend the F-5B's operational life beyond the year 2020.
ELECTRO ARMOR: The U.S. Navy's Office of Naval Research has awarded BAE Systems a three-year contract worth up to $2.8 million to develop "advanced" armor for Marine Corps ground combat vehicles, the company announced Aug. 1. The program, which has BAE working with the Army Research Lab in Aberdeen, Md., will try to develop an advanced system by combining electro-magnetic armor with other armor technologies. Once the armor "recipe" is written, the group will pursue multihit arrays and, eventually, a full vehicle kit. The lab will provide design, modeling and test support.
ISRAEL DISPUTE: The U.S. Defense Department remains optimistic that a dispute over Israel's defense trade with China will be settled soon, even though a quick resolution was predicted several months ago (DAILY, April 25), Pentagon spokesman Larry Di Rita says. Di Rita says the two parties are wrestling with "tough issues" but expect to resolve them "sooner rather than later." The U.S.-led F-35 Joint Strike Fighter program office was told to stop sharing new information with Israel until concerns about Israel's technology controls are resolved.
ALWAYS 'GROUNDED': Space Shuttle Deputy Program Manager Wayne Hale resists the media's widespread use of the term "grounded" to describe NASA's decision not to fly the orbiter again until a new foam debris source on the external tank is eliminated. "The shuttle is an experimental flight vehicle," Hale says. "We're not operational. So every time we fly, every time there's a flight anomaly that's got to be resolved, we have to know that it's safe to fly the next flight before we go fly.
NEW DELHI - India's air force has received nine upgraded Jaguar combat aircraft and a Lakshya reusable aerial target drone from government-owned defense manufacturer Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd. The upgraded Jaguars have been fitted with an indigenous avionics suite with night attack and precision bombing capability, as well as an improved airframe for new countermeasures armament pods.
