The U.S. Air Force later this year plans to show that it can control multiple unmanned aircraft from a single ground station, an ability that would help boost the contribution of such vehicles to network-centric operations, according to Lt. Col. Eric Mathewson, chief of Air Combat Command's UAV division.
Raytheon Co.'s ASQ-228 Advanced Targeting Forward-Looking Infrared (ATFLIR) targeting pods are deployed on the USS John F. Kennedy (CVN 67) with two F/A-18C Hornet squadrons and successfully completed numerous missions in July without missing a sortie, the company said Sept. 1.
The U.S. Army's Tank and Automotive Research, Development and Engineering Center (TARDEC) recently awarded United Defense Industries Inc. (UDI) an $18.4 million contract modification to study ways to counter tank-fired kinetic energy (KE) rounds, UDI said Sept. 1. UDI will conduct active defense systems engineering, analysis, and testing. Experiments will simulate, model, define and help understand all aspects of defeating KE, and a direction will be decided on for future technology investments for full-spectrum protection, UDI said.
China ranked first among developing nations in the value of arms transfer agreements with the United States and other nations, according to a Congressional Research Service report. "Developing nations continue to be the primary focus of foreign arms sales activity by weapons suppliers," says the report. "Conventional Arms Transfers to Developing Nations," an unclassified annual study released this week, found that between 2000 and 2003 China had $9.3 billion in agreements with the United States.
C-130S: Lockheed Martin Corp. has been awarded $8.4 million for seven C-130E aircraft for Pakistan's air force, the U.S. Department of Defense said Sept. 2. The sale was conducted under the Foreign Military Sales program. The work is to be completed by December, the DOD said. Warner Robins Air Logistics Center, Robins Air Force Base, Ga., awarded the contract.
Discontinuing production of the DDG-51 Arleigh Burke guided missile destroyer without immediately starting work on the U.S. Navy's new DD(X) multi-mission destroyer would cause a rise in unit costs for all other vessels, according to a report by the American Shipbuilding Association (ASA).
AWARDED: Northrop Grumman Corp. has been selected to receive the 2004 U.S. Senate Productivity and Quality Award (SPQA), the company said Sept. 2. A team of SPQA examiners evaluated the Newport News sector's operations group in several areas, including organizational results and leadership. The sector was identified as a model organization, with demonstrated maturity and excellence in each area, Northrop Grumman said.
BAE Systems is bringing together Alvis and RO Defence to create a new Land Systems business, the company said Sept. 2. The new business will be led by Ian King, group managing director of Customer Solutions & Support (CS&S) and Land Systems.
The Patriot Advanced Capability-3 (PAC-3) missile system intercepted both of its targets during a Sept. 2 test designed to demonstrate recent improvements to the PAC-3 missile, according to the U.S. Army. During the first engagement, two PAC-3 missiles were "ripple-fired" at a Patriot-As-A-Target (PAAT), which is an older Patriot missile modified to act like a short-range ballistic missile. The first PAC-3 missile hit the target, prompting the second missile to self-destruct.
A recent report by the Defense Science Board (DSB) concludes that the U.S. Air Force's Space Based Radar (SBR) program has the potential to make "substantial contributions" to ballistic missile defense.
The U.S. Marine Corps plans to set up new programs in the Middle East to sustain H-1, CH-46 and CH-53 helicopters deployed in Iraq, according to a service official.
NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity has resumed the use of its Rock Abrasion Tool (RAT) after a pebble that had jammed the tool's rotors two weeks earlier apparently fell out. The RAT is used to bore into martian rocks, exposing their interiors for further analysis. Mission controllers had planned to rotate the mechanism in the other direction to dislodge the pebble, but apparently the rover's normal movements were enough to make it fall out (DAILY, Aug. 19).
NASA has awarded the first contracts for companies to perform preliminary concept studies on human lunar exploration and the Crew Exploration Vehicle (CEV), the agency announced Sept. 1. The 11 contracts are worth approximately $27 million, with options for another $27 million. They are a result of the Concept Exploration and Refinement (CE&R) Broad Agency Announcement (BAA) issued by NASA in May. Each contract covers a period of six months, with an option for an additional six months.
BAE SYSTEMS' solid-state recorder assemblies and radiation-hardened RAD6000 computers are bound for the planet Mercury aboard the spacecraft MESSENGER, the company said Aug. 31. A Delta II rocket carrying MESSENGER was successfully launched from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Fla. on Aug. 3, beginning its 6.5-year, 4.9-billion-mile journey. MESSENGER will be the first spacecraft to orbit Mercury after it arrives in March 2011, and will provide the first images of the entire planet.
INAVSAT CONSORTIUM has delivered its offer to the Galileo Joint Undertaking (GJU) to become the Galileo contractor, the consortium announced Sept. 1. If chosen, the consortium would deploy the Galileo satellite constellation and operate all subsequent services. The consortium is one of three final bidders that were chosen in February. The preferred bidder is expected to be announced by December 2004, and contract negotiations are to be completed by December 2005.
Tel-Instrument Electronics Corp. has won a $1.6 million contract to supply T-36M ramp test sets to the Army National Guard, the company said Sept. 1. Tel-Instrument Electronics expects to complete delivery of all units during the current fiscal year. Tel-Instrument Electronics manufactures and designs avionics test and measurement systems for the general aviation, global commercial air transport and aerospace and defense markets. The company provides instruments to repair, calibrate, measure and test communications and airborne navigation equipment.
The first test flight of the Complementary Low Altitude Weapon Systems (CLAWS) was completed successfully at White Sands Missile Range, N.M., according to Raytheon Co. Company officials said Sept. 1 that all mission objectives were achieved with the launcher in full tactical configuration. U.S Marines operated the equipment.
LOCKHEED MARTIN said a classified National Reconnaissance Office (NRO) satellite lifted off from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station Aug. 31, marking the final flight of the company's Atlas II series of rockets. Liftoff of the Atlas IIAS took place at 7:17 p.m. EDT from Pad 36A, followed by payload separation 73 minutes later. The Atlas II now has logged 63 flights since its introduction in December 1991. The mission also marked the final flight of the Rocketdyne MA-5A engine, which has been in service for 47 years.
IRVINE SENSORS CORP., Costa Mesa, Calif. Chris Toffales, the vice chairman of Communications Power Industries, has been appointed to the board of directors. ITT INDUSTRIES, Clifton, N.J. John Capeci has been promoted to vice president and director for business development of the Avionics Division. NORTHROP GRUMMAN CORP., Herndon, Va. Steven R. Perkins has been named vice president, business development and strategy for the information technology sector. RAYTHEON CO., El Segundo, Calif.
SpaceDev will begin development of small satellite bus technologies under a $740,000 contract from the Air Force Research Laboratory, the company said Sept. 1. SpaceDev is to design a system that could be integrated and launched in hours or days, not years, the Poway, Calif.-based company said.
The second operational interceptor for the Ground-based Midcourse Defense (GMD) system is slated for installation at Fort Greely, Alaska, "within the next few days," a Missile Defense Agency spokesman said Sept. 1. Weather, especially the desire for "favorable wind conditions," will determine the specific timing for inserting the Initial Defensive Capability 2 (IDC-2) interceptor missile in an underground silo, the spokesman told The DAILY. The first GMD interceptor, IDC-1, was placed in the ground July 22 (DAILY, July 26).
