HUNTSVILLE, Ala. - The next test of the U.S. Missile Defense Agency's Ground-based Midcourse Defense (GMD) system has been delayed about a month because of a computer glitch in the interceptor's booster, officials said Aug. 17. The test, Integrated Flight Test-13C (IFT-13C), had been scheduled to occur between Aug. 18 and 23, but has now been moved to about mid-September, said Army Maj. Gen. John Holly, GMD's program director, who spoke at the 7th Annual Space and Missile Defense Conference here.
Under a $1.5 million contract from NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), the Boeing Co. is developing parachute guidance technology that could help future Mars landers touch down accurately in windy areas such as the polar caps or the Valles Marineris.
Thirty-one teams already have signed up for the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency's (DARPA) next Grand Challenge robotic vehicle race, to be held Oct. 8, 2005, in the Mojave Desert area. Fifteen of the teams that applied also participated in last year's Grand Challenge - although not all of them made it to the finals - and 16 of the teams are new to the competition. DARPA expects to receive "many more" applications before the submission deadline of Feb. 11, 2005, the agency said.
Taiwan's air force has received the first of two new Hawkeye 2000 airborne early-warning and command-and-control aircraft from the Northrop Grumman Corp., the company said Aug. 17. The second aircraft will be delivered to Taiwan in October 2004. The Hawkeye 2000 will help Taiwan monitor and control its airspace and the surrounding seas. The Hawkeye 2000 has new advanced color workstations and a commercial off-the-shelf mission computer. Its first combat deployment was during Operation Iraqi Freedom in 2003.
The U.S. Navy has awarded General Dynamics Electric Boat a $16.4 million contract to perform routine maintenance work on a Los Angeles-class attack submarine, the USS Dallas (SSN-700). Electric Boat will perform alterations, maintenance work and repairs, which is called a Drydock Selected Restricted Availability. The work will be done at the Navy Submarine Base in Groton, Conn. between February and April 2005, the company said.
HUNTSVILLE, Ala. - The U.S. Defense Department will be ready to field the Ground-based Midcourse Defense (GMD) system once it has achieved a comfort level with a host of issues, including crew training, operational procedures and GMD's technical capabilities, according to an official at U.S. Strategic Command (STRATCOM), DOD's integrator for missile defense operations.
RAPID RESPONSE: The Bush Administration's new plan to cut the number of U.S. troops based overseas by up to 70,000 means the military will need to improve its "rapid response capabilities for distant contingencies, because our forces will not likely fight where they are stationed," the White House said in a "fact sheet" released Aug. 16. "This requires an updated transport infrastructure to facilitate movement of forces, prepositioned equipment along transport routes, and lean command structures for deployable operations," the fact sheet says.
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. - Lockheed Martin Corp. is working with the Air Force to develop a decision-making system that will allow faster attacks on fleeting targets. The Time-sensitive target Dynamic Decision Enabler (TDDE) program, company officials said, focuses on automating the processes that go into making various decisions, therefore rapidly presenting a commander with clearer choices.
A broad base of companies will help Lockheed Martin in the development of the Aerial Common Sensor (ACS), the U.S. Army's next generation manned airborne intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance system, the company said Aug. 16. More than 800 new jobs in the U.S. will be created under the program's six-year, $879 million system development and demonstration (SD&D) phase, the company said.
Rockwell Collins and NASA recently conducted tests of synthetic and enhanced vision using a Gulfstream GV aircraft, Rockwell Collins said Aug. 17. The tests used the company's Head Up Guidance Systems and head-down cockpit displays with computer-generated images, and showed that synthetic and enhanced vision could be used for complex visual approaches at night or in bad weather. Test flights were conducted in Reno, Nev., to see how the system worked in mountainous terrain.
LONG LEAD: Northrop Grumman Ship Systems' Avondale Operations, La., has been awarded a $107 million contract modification to buy long-lead materials for construction of the Amphibious Transport Dock Ship LPD 23), the Department of Defense said Aug. 17. Work is to be completed by December 2008.
Sensor technology that was to be used on the canceled RAH-66 Co-manche helicopter program will be deployed as part of the U.S. Army's Future Combat Systems (FCS) ground sensor equipment. "A lot of the technology [going on the FCS ground sensors] came from the Comanche aircraft sensor program," Bob Costello, FCS program director for Lockheed Martin Missiles and Fire Control, of Orlando, Fla., told The DAILY.
A U.S. Air Force F-15E aircrew successfully launched a Boeing Co. Small Diameter Bomb (SDB) last week over the Gulf of Mexico Test Range, Boeing said Aug. 16. The aircrew is assigned to the 46th Test Wing at Eglin Air Force Base, Fla.
ACS ENGINE: A derivative of Rolls-Royce's AE 3007 engine will power the first five Embraer ERJ 145 regional jets built for the U.S. Army's Aerial Common Sensor (ACS) intelligence-gathering aircraft, Rolls-Royce said Aug. 16. The announcement came two weeks after a Lockheed Martin-led team Aug. 2 won an $879 million contract for the ACS system development and demonstration phase, which includes the production of five aircraft (DAILY, Aug. 4). The AE 3007 powers the Global Hawk unmanned aerial vehicle and 20 variants of the ERJ regional jet family.
Northrop Grumman Corp. and the European Aeronautic Defence and Space Co. (EADS) are expected to release information in the "near future" about their potential joint entry into the competition for the U.S. Air Force's (USAF) Personnel Recovery Vehicle (PRV), an industry source said Aug. 16.
NASA RFIs: NASA on Aug. 16 issued additional requests for information (RFIs) in response to the final report from the President's Commission on Implementation of U.S. Space Exploration Policy, which was released in June. The RFIs seek information on how to expand and transform the role of the private sector in space operations. "The president's commission recommended major changes in the way we engage private industry and conduct space operation activities. We believe these RFIs will generate a new wave of interest in innovation," William F.
SOLD: The Boeing Co. has completed the sale of its Irving, Texas, commercial electronics unit to BAE Systems North America, the company said Aug. 16. Terms of the sale, announced last month, were not disclosed. The unit designs, builds and supports avionics products. It has become part of BAE Systems' Platform Solutions Sector, which provides products for military and commercial aircraft.
Northrop Grumman Corp. received a $71.2 million task order from the U.S. Army to provide acquisition and software support, which will help the Army with command, control, communications and computers, intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (C4ISR) program readiness, the company said last week.
ACQUIRED: Zeus Holdings Ltd., a company formed by four investment funds, has agreed to acquire satellite communications company Intelsat Ltd. for $5 billion, which includes the assumption of about $2 billion of Intelsat debt, the company said Aug. 16. The deal is expected to close as early as the end of the year, Intelsat said. Zeus - formed by Apax Partners, Apollo Management, Madison Dearborn Partners and Permira - will pay $18.75 for each Intelsat share. Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co.
The world's military forces will spend a total of $11 billion purchasing 6,000 unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) through 2013, according to a new report by Forecast International Inc. U.S. companies will control more than half of this market's total value and will produce far more UAVs, ground control stations and payloads than any of their competitors, the report says. The leading firms are expected to be Global Hawk manufacturer Northrop Grumman and Predator manufacturer General Atomics.
LONDON - The Franco-German defense giant European Aeronautic Defence and Space Co. (EADS), a major partner in the Eurofighter Typhoon multirole aircraft consortium, is blaming the British government for holding up a second production run of 236 aircraft, a delay it says could add to the program's final cost.
A recent report prepared by the deputy undersecretary of defense for industrial policy recommends that the Department of Defense (DOD) focus on new rotorcraft concepts and programs - including heavy-lift - to stimulate the U.S. rotorcraft industrial base.
