An analysis of the Mobility Capability Study, an assessment of the Defense Department's transportation needs, is finished and Pentagon "principals" now are being briefed on its results, Air Force Lt. Gen. Norton A. Schwartz told senators July 28. The analysis includes a "range of solutions," he told members of the Senate Armed Services Committee. Schwartz did not provide further details pending final internal review.
The U.S. Army's Tank-automotive and Armaments Command (TACOM) has placed an order worth $7.2 million with Engineered Support Systems Inc. (ESSI) for its Knight Precision Targeting System for artillery and air-dropped munitions, ESSI said July 26. ESSI subsidiary Systems & Electronics Inc. will fill the order, which involves 31 Fire Support Sensor Systems-equipped Mission Equipment Packages that include laser designator/rangefinders, thermal imagers, and Global Positioning System targeting and navigation systems.
LONDON - Despite the aircraft's age, the United Kingdom may upgrade its Harrier Vertical Take Off and Landing (VTOL) fleet to extend its life beyond 2020, the ministry of defense said this month. Such an upgrade would leave the design more than 60 years old by the time it left service. But the defense ministry is said to want to ensure that the Royal Air Force still has a potent VTOL close air support platform if the Joint Combat Aircraft, Britain's version of the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter, is delayed past 2012.
Anteon Corp. of Fairfax, Va., and the Titan Corp. of San Diego will compete for more than $26 million in surveillance systems engineering, software development, and test and evaluation services for the U.S. Navy's Space and Naval Warfare Systems Center Joint and National Systems Division. The contract has a five-year ordering period with no options. Additional contracts to other unidentified offerors may be awarded in a second phase at a later date, the Navy said July 27. All work is to be performed in San Diego by July 2010.
Raytheon Co. reported significantly improved financial results for the second quarter of 2005, going from a loss of $108 million in 2004 to net income of $201 million, or 44 cents a share, in the most recent quarter. Sales were up 10% to $5.4 billion, driven partly by the company's Missile Systems and Space and Airborne Systems units, both of which recorded sales of just more than $1 billion for the quarter.
Lockheed Martin has begun doing significant work on the possibility of adapting its land-based Patriot Advanced Capability-3 (PAC-3) interceptor for use on ships. Michael Trotsky, vice president for air and missile defense systems at Lockheed Martin Missiles and Fire Control, said July 28 that the company has received two $8 million contracts from the U.S. Navy within the past two years to explore putting the PAC-3 missile on Aegis cruisers or destroyers.
Lockheed Martin's missile defense programs are gearing up for a busy second half of 2005, including several flight-tests and at least one key contract award, company officials said July 28.
The crew of Discovery docked with the International Space Station at 7:18 a.m. EDT July 28 to begin assisting station astronauts with logistics and repairs, while on the ground shuttle managers grappled with a newly revealed foam debris problem that must be solved before the orbiters can launch again.
Goodrich's second-quarter profits jumped 95% to $76 million thanks to strong demand for defense and space products, which led the company on July 28 to increase its sales and income projections.
Northrop Grumman Corp. posted a 23% gain in net income and a 7% increase in sales in the second quarter of 2005, the company said July 28. Net income grew to $367 million, or $1 per share, compared with $298 million, or 82 cents per share, in the second quarter of 2004. Sales increased to $8 billion from $7.4 billion in the same period a year ago. The defense contractor also raised its 2005 earnings per share guidance, to $3.90 to $4 from its previous guidance of $3.70 to $3.85. Projected 2006 earnings per share are $4.10 to $4.30.
Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-Tenn.) on July 28 listed several bills the chamber will focus on before it recesses for its August break, a list that did not include defense authorization or appropriations bills or NASA's long-awaited authorization measure. Even when the Senate and House reconvene starting Sept. 6, senators will face other priorities, including confirmation of a Supreme Court nominee and a controversial U.N. ambassador nominee, Frist noted as he spoke to reporters at a Capitol Hill briefing.
(Editor's note: The following is excerpted from written responses by Gen. Michael T. Moseley, nominated by President Bush to be chief of staff of the U.S. Air Force, to written questions from the Senate Armed Services Committee. He testified June 29, and was confirmed by the Senate on July 1.
PAV: NASA has teamed with the Comparative Aircraft Flight Efficiency Foundation to offer a $250,000 prize to the teams that come up with the best technology improvements for general aviation aircraft. The Personal Air Vehicle competition is the fifth announced prize in the agency's Centennial Challenges program.
Richard Branson, founder of the Virgin Group, and Burt Rutan, president of Scaled Composites, have agreed to form a new company to fulfill their goal of starting a suborbital commercial spaceflight industry. Scaled Composites won the X Prize last fall, just after Branson said he plans to offer suborbital space flights beginning in 2007 (DAILY, Sept. 30, 2004) using technology licensed from Scaled's financial backer, Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen.
GUN SYSTEMS: General Dynamics Armament and Technical Products will produce 42 M61A2 20mm gun systems for the U.S. Navy's Boeing-built F/A-18E/F Super Hornet fighter under a $10 million contract award, the company said July 27. The General Dynamics Burlington Technology Center in Vermont will manage the program. The gun systems will be built at the company's Saco, Maine, facility, and the work is set to be finished by January 2007. The contract was awarded by the Naval Air Systems Command, Patuxent River, Md., as part of a planned multiyear procurement.
General Dynamics Land Systems has been awarded two contracts worth $22.9 million for work on the U.S. Army's Stryker combat vehicle and Abrams tank, the company said July 27. Under a $17.4 million contract, the company will provide logistics support for Stryker Brigade Combat Teams. This will include ordering spare parts, managing a spare parts warehouse, distributing repair parts worldwide and finishing Stryker maintenance.
DAHLGREN, Va. - A U.S. military program that is integrating a wide range of lethal and nonlethal capabilities onto a prototype ground vehicle will soon select contractors for two key components.
Submarines, space-based platforms and aerial refueling tankers would be primary U.S. military assets in any conflict with China over Taiwan, witnesses July 27 told the House Armed Services Committee, which hosted a hearing on China's military buildup. "There is no question that the Chinese military is a potential adversary of the United States in the Taiwan Strait," said Franklin D. Kramer, assistant secretary of defense for international security affairs in the Clinton Administration and now counsel in the Washington, D.C., law firm Goodwin Procter.
(Editor's note: The following is excerpted from written responses by Adm. Edmund P. Giambastiani Jr., nominated by President Bush to be vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, to written questions from the Senate Armed Services Committee. He testified June 29, and was confirmed by the Senate on July 15). Q: What is your vision for the role and priorities of the JROC?
A contract worth $15.6 million to build the microwave receiver subsystem on a new Global Precipitation Measurement satellite system has been awarded to EDO Corp. by Ball Aerospace and Technologies. The contract, announced July 27, is for one engineering model and one flight subsystem to be placed on the first of a constellation of spacecraft intended to allow improved climate and weather predictions as part of a joint project involving NASA and the Japanese Aerospace Exploration Society.
Boeing's second-quarter profit sank 6.7% to $566 million, including a hefty charge, but the company raised its earnings predictions for the full year thanks to growth in the aircraft and weapon systems unit and growing commercial aircraft deliveries. "Integrated Defense Systems delivered solid revenue growth and excellent margins driven by strong performance across its broad portfolio of defense, space and intelligence programs," new CEO Jim McNerney said.
Robert P. Iorizzo will retire as corporate vice president and president of the company's Electronic Systems sector. James F. Pitts will succeed Iorizzo.
