NEW CNO: Navy Adm. Mike Mullen will relieve retiring Adm. Vern Clark as chief of naval operations during a ceremony at the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis, Md., on July 22. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and Navy Secretary Gordon England, who also is the acting deputy defense secretary, will speak at the event, the Pentagon announced July 18.
Lockheed Martin Corp. said July 18 that it has installed 10 systems that provide real-time air-to-ground transmission of sensor videos and other data on U.S. Navy P-3C aircraft for use in global counterterrorism operations.
BAE Systems said July 18 that the U.S. Office of Naval Research awarded it a contract to study system requirements definition, as well as preliminary design work, on a continuous mobile on-board power system that would generate 30 kilowatts for Marine Corps Humvees. The On-Board Vehicle Power study contract also includes an option to develop a prototype system for installation for testing, the company said. Further contract details were not provided.
An unprecedented national strategy for maritime security is at the White House awaiting President Bush's signature, which is expected by the end of the summer, Coast Guard Commandant Adm. Thomas Collins said July 18.
Boeing Co. said it is working under a $41.5 million Army contract to refurbish 70 Apache helicopters under the service's reset program. The latest reset contract, awarded June 27 but announced July 18 by Boeing, is a follow-on to a $16.3 million June 2004 contract for refurbishment of 15 Apaches. Boeing said the work is designed to quickly return heavily used Apaches and Apache Longbows to active service following operational deployments. The new contract runs through December 2008.
A team developing the James Webb Space Telescope for NASA has successfully tested software that will be used to bring the observatory's 18 mirror segments into alignment after launch, telescope prime contractor Northrop Grumman said July 18. Ball Aerospace & Technologies and NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory conducted the test, using prototype hardware and software developed by Adaptive Optics Associates of Cambridge, Mass., Northrop Grumman said.
AEGIS UPGRADE: Lockheed Martin Maritime Sensors and Systems will upgrade a Japanese Kongo-Class Aegis Destroyer to an Aegis Ballistic Missile Defense Block 2004 capability under a $124 million, three-year contract modification, the Defense Department said July 15. Lockheed Martin will be responsible for combat systems engineering and development and integration of the Aegis BMD Weapon System, as well as upgrades to the Vertical Launching System and the ship Command and Control System, the company said.
A recent hurricane in Florida has briefly delayed testing of the U.S. Air Force's Joint Air to Surface Standoff Missile (JASSM), a government source said July 18. A total of three flight-tests were scheduled for July 18 and 20 but were postponed because Hurricane Dennis forced F-16 test aircraft to be temporarily moved out of Eglin Air Force, Fla., interrupting preparations for the tests, according to the source, who estimated that the delay would be a week or so.
AGILE EAGLE: The Air Force has awarded SelectTech Services Corp. of Centerville, Ohio, a $24 million contract to provide for the Agile Eagle Program, which is for the research, design, development, assembly, modification and testing of specialized airborne communications packages, the Defense Department said July 18. The work will include the fabrication and delivery of one Command Control Module and one System Integration Laboratory. The work is to be finished by July 2011.
Full-rate production of the Long-Range Land Attack Projectile (LRLAP) for the Advanced Gun System onboard the U.S. Navy's planned future destroyer, the DD(X), is expected to begin in 2011, Lockheed Martin Corp. said July 18. Meanwhile, the LRLAP has completed four successful test flights out of a total of eight, according to the Navy. Preliminary results from the latest test on June 29 indicate the LRLAP operated normally and hit within the predicted target area after completing a 46.5-nautical mile, 183-second flight.
The U.S. Navy has awarded Northrop Grumman a $109.6 million contract for advanced planning, long-lead material acquisition and systems engineering on the LHA(R) amphibious assault ship, the company said July 18.
FUTURE BUYS? BAE Systems has made six "significant" acquisitions in the United States in the past year, including the purchase of combat vehicle maker United Defense (DAILY, June 27), but BAE Chairman Dick Olver says no further buys are in the works at the moment. However, he says that BAE Systems' U.S.-based businesses now employ 45,000 people, 35,000 of whom are Americans, and the "strategy remains" to increase buys of U.S. companies. Olver spoke last week at the Woodrow Wilson Center in Washington.
WYNNE'S WHEREABOUTS: Although former Pentagon acquisition chief Michael Wynne's successor took office more than a month ago, Wynne still has not left the building. According to a Defense Department spokeswoman, it is because Wynne, who has been mentioned as a potential candidate for Air Force secretary, has been tapped to oversee the Defense Department's current base-closing efforts.
DD(X) DAYS: The Defense Department, Navy, analysts and industry supporters will get two hearings this week before the skeptical House Armed Services Committee projections subcommittee to discuss the DD(X) destroyer program. Scheduled to testify are Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition, Technology and Logistics Kenneth Krieg, Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Vern Clark and Assistant Secretary of the Navy for Research, Development and Acquisition John Young Jr.
China critics in the House tried but failed July 14 to get the chamber to take up and pass a bill that would require the president to prepare annual reports identifying individuals or corporations from Europe that export specified munitions or associated items to China.
International Space Station prime contractor Boeing is brainstorming a list of possible experiments for astronauts to perform onboard the station that will help NASA plan for long-duration space voyages to the moon and Mars. "A big thrust on the station right now is to make it a testbed for exploration," said John Elbon, Boeing's vice president in charge of the ISS. Former astronaut Rich Clifford is leading the team at Boeing that is coming up with ideas, Elbon said.
A British naval task group on deployment in the Caribbean is standing by to assist in the wake of Hurricane Emily, which damaged and flooded parts of Grenada on July 14. The destroyer HMS Liverpool and Royal Fleet Auxiliary tanker Wave Knight have equipment to help deal with the aftermath of natural disasters, the U.K. defense ministry said July 14. The vessels have carried out several successful counter-drug operations during their deployment.
MOSCOW - Russia's government on July 14 approved a 10-year, 305 billion ruble ($10.5 billion) budget for its Federal Space Agency. About $800 million was budgeted for 2006 for the agency, also known as Roscosmos. Annual increases of 6% are set through 2015.
F-16 UPGRADES: Lockheed Martin Corp. is expected to receive a contract to supply long-lead items for upgrades to Turkey's F-16s. The contract is scheduled to be signed July 18 and is projected to be worth about $83 million, or about a tenth of the program's $800 million total value to Lockheed Martin. Improvements are slated for 37 Block 30 aircraft, four Block 40s and 76 Block 50s, for a total of 117 jets. Turkey has an option to modernize 100 more Block 40s.
MOSCOW - An anomaly in one of four second-stage engine combustion chambers was the most likely reason for the June 21 launch failure of a Molniya M booster carrying a military communications satellite, Russia's Space Forces said July 15. The anomaly caused second-stage engine fuel to be used up prematurely and the mission was aborted, Space Forces said. Eighteen possibile reasons for the failure were considered.
PUSHED BACK: NASA says it will not be able to launch Space Shuttle Discovery from Kennedy Space Center in Florida before the end of next week at the earliest. Engineers continue to troubleshoot an elusive problem with a hydrogen fuel cutoff sensor that forced a scrub of Discovery's first launch attempt on July 13. NASA must launch the shuttle by July 31 or wait until the next window in September, which would bump the next scheduled flight, STS-121.
