The U.S. Air Force is about to launch a formal study on potential candidates for a new multi-use helicopter, an industry source said Sept. 8. The Air Force plans to start the analysis of alternatives (AOA) "in the next couple weeks," the source told The DAILY. Contractors that might compete to build the helicopter are being asked to sign papers that will allow them to confidentially provide input for the AOA.
A new satellite ground station designed to substantially improve the Netherland's intelligence gathering was unveiled on Sept. 6. The station will be part of a new Dutch intelligence organization called the National Signals Intelligence Organization (NSO), which will provide raw intelligence to both the Defense Intelligence and Security Service (MIVD) and the civilian General Intelligence and Security Service (AIVD).
Northrop Grumman Corp. hopes to open its Gulf Coast region shipyards, temporarily closed by Hurricane Katrina, on Sept. 12, according to a company update posted on its Web site late Sept. 7. "While the company is hopeful to resume some levels of shipbuilding activities at its shipyards next week, for now all personnel should continue to monitor these daily advisories," the company said.
Contractors have unveiled proposals for two new military aircraft variants: the Northrop Grumman KC-30 tanker and the Boeing HH-47 combat-search-and-rescue helicopter.
NASA has released a request for information to gauge the interest among commercial geosynchronous satellite operators in using the extra room on their spacecraft to host NASA science instruments. The first instrument that could fly under what NASA is calling the Geo-Quick Ride program is the 31-kilogram (68-pound) Multispectral Imaging System for the Thermosphere and Ionosphere (MISTI) instrument. Responses to the RFI, including a description of how MISTI would be accommodated, are due Sept. 26.
JOCKEYING BILLS: Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) suggested Sept. 7 that the Senate take up its delayed fiscal 2006 defense authorization bill on Sept. 8, even ahead of a spending bill including NASA, so that more money can be provided for Hurricane Katrina relief and recovery operations. He said that authorization legislation could be amended with nonrelated provisions while appropriations bills follow stricter Senate guidelines.
THUMBS UP: More than 71% of Europeans favor deploying a NATO missile defense, according to a poll sponsored by the George C. Marshall Center for Security Studies and the Missile Defense Advocacy Alliance. Seventy-five percent of poll respondents in France, Germany, the United Kingdom, Spain, Italy, Poland, the Czech Republic, the Netherlands and Denmark said that missiles could be used "as instruments of blackmail or coercion" against NATO or NATO countries, the alliance said. Although European leaders have been cool to U.S.
The Pentagon's new undersecretary of defense for acquisition, technology and logistics said the Defense Department is reviewing its supply chain operations, acquisition requirements, and planning in light of increasing globalization. Kenneth Krieg, who filled the No. 3 DOD position June 3, further said the department will "scour the world" to find the "best" industrial sources for its defense needs, and that the largest federal department must become "creative" in research, acquisition and delivery, especially to encourage competition.
The U.S. Naval Air Systems Command has modified an existing contract and awarded Raytheon Systems $17.1 million more for 150 AIM-9M/9X tactical missiles for Saudi Arabia under the Foreign Military Sales program. The deal also includes 30 spare guidance control sections and eight guidance control system containers. Raytheon will perform almost all of its work in Tucson, Ariz., and finish by December 2006.
C. Wayne Grubbs has been named senior vice president, chief financial officer and treasurer, effective immediately. Stephen C. Matthews has been appointed senior vice president for business development.
The German government has awarded EADS a contract to provide 150 FAUST tactical command and control equipment sets for vehicles in German elements of the multinational NATO Response Force 7, the company said Sept. 7. Financial terms were not disclosed.
Christopher E. Camargo has been appointed director of the Avionics and Support Systems Department in the Aerospace Electronics and Information Technology Division.
Peter Edwards has resigned as president of Bombardier Business Aircraft, effective immediately. Pierre Beaudoin, president and chief operating officer of Bombardier Aerospace, will fill in for Edwards until a new president is appointed.
PRAGUE -- BVR Systems (1998) Ltd. has won a $2.1 million subcontract to help provide a new F-16I fighter aircraft simulator to Israel's air force. The Rosh Ha'ayin, Israel-based company said Sept. 6 that the deal would lead to additional future orders through Israel's Elbit Systems, the prime contractor for the Israeli portion of the simulator program.
Ronald B. Cohen has been named principal scientist in the Space Materials Laboratory. Kirk Nygren has been appointed principal director of mission integration and systems engineering in the Evolved Expendable Launch Vehicle Division.
An unarmed Minuteman III intercontinental ballistic missile was launched from Vandenberg Air Force Base, Calif., early on Sept. 7 to test the missiles reliability and accuracy, the Air Force said. The missile's two unarmed re-entry vehicles traveled about 4,200 miles in 30 minutes, hitting predetermined targets at the Ronald Reagan Test Site on the Kwajalein Atoll in the Marhsall Islands.
It's not clear which missile-defense related equipment will be transferred from the Missile Defense Agency to the military services, making it hard for the services to make plans and realign budgets to "support the missile defense mission," the Government Accountability Office says in a new report.
NASA Administrator Michael Griffin visited Stennis Space Center in Mississippi and the Michoud Assembly Facility in New Orleans on Sept. 7 to survey the damage wreaked by Hurricane Katrina. Griffin and several other senior emergency operations personnel flew from Washington to Stennis in the morning, then took a previously scheduled supply helicopter flight to Michoud, which still is only accessible by aircraft or boat.
SUPPLEMENTAL SPENDING: President Bush will ask for $51.8 billion in additional spending for relief and recovery efforts due to Hurricane Katrina, and the House will debate a supplemental bill Sept. 8. The Defense Department, which received an initial $500 million in the first Katrina measure last week, is due for more as the size of its forces performing Katrina response missions has increased. U.S. Northern Command reported Sept. 7 that 18,000 active-duty ground forces and almost 43,000 National Guardsmen are committed.
Michael R. Boyce has been named to the board of directors. Boyce is currently chairman and CEO of PQ Corp., an industrial chemicals business owned by JP Morgan Chase Partners; and chairman and CEO of Peak Investments, which buys and operates chemical and mineral businesses.
