PRAGUE - The Czech military has received another six Jas-39 Gripen fighters from Sweden as part of a 10-year, CZK 20 billion (USD $830 million) lease for 14 new aircraft, according to Czech defense officials. The six single-seat aircraft, which landed a few days ago at the country's Caslav air base, are expected to begin protecting Czech air space within the next week. The Czech Republic received the first batch of six fighters last April and expect to see the last two two-seat Gripen fighters arrive at the end of this month.
The U.S. Marine Corps Systems Command has placed an order with Savi Technology for 100 units of its new Portable Deployment Kit, a mobile radio frequency identification system.
The James Webb Space Telescope industry team has finished the first major step in building the telescope's primary mirror, although the future of the observatory remains in doubt as NASA grapples with how to rein in an estimated $1 billion cost overrun on the project, budgeted at $3.5 billion.
Northrop Grumman has been named lead system integrator for unmanned ground vehicles under the U.S. Army's Family of Integrated Rapid Response Equipment (FIRRE) program, the company said Aug. 22. The FIRRE program will use unmanned vehicles to perform some tasks currently handled by troops, including perimeter security. The main unmanned ground vehicle for the program will be the Tactical Amphibious Ground Support (TAGS) vehicle, provided by Northrop Grumman subsidiary Remotec, based in Clinton, Tenn.
The U.S. Air Force believes it is making progress promoting its views in the Defense Department's 2005 Quadrennial Defense Review, a service official said Aug. 22. While declining to discuss specific issues being debated privately in the QDR, Maj. Gen. Ronald Bath, director of Air Force strategic planning, said the Air Force is winning appreciation for three major capabilities it provides: global mobility, persistent surveillance and precision strike.
AIR FORCE The Boeing Co., Huntington Beach, Calif., is being awarded a $24,679,000 cost-plus award-fee contract modification to provide for funding for the continued production of Space Vehicles 1 through 3. Total funds have been obligated. This work will be complete by June 2006. The Headquarters Space and Missile Systems Center, Los Angeles Air Force Base, Calif., is the contracting activity (F04701-96-C-0025, P00358).
Singapore has requested the possible sale of weapons, logistics and training support for F-15 fighters that could be worth up to $741 million, the Defense Security Cooperation Agency notified Congress on Aug. 22. Singapore plans to choose this summer between Boeing's F-15 and the Dassault Aviation-built Rafale (DAILY, May 23).
Forecast International predicts the Multifunction Information Distribution System (MIDS) and the Joint Tactical Radio System (JTRS) will dominate the U.S. airborne communications market for the next decade. In a study released Aug. 22, Forecast says MIDS and JTRS combined will account for roughly 72% of the U.S. military airborne communications market, worth a projected $2.7 billion. The MIDS program alone is projected to be worth $1.2 billion in the next 10 years, Forecast Electronics Systems Analyst Mark Cowell wrote.
Perched atop its modified Boeing 747 carrier aircraft, Space Shuttle Discovery touched down at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Aug. 21 after a two-day trip from Edwards Air Force Base in California. The voyage included a refueling stop in Oklahoma and an overnight stay at Barksdale Air Force Base in Louisiana. Discovery had to divert to Edwards for its return from orbit on Aug. 9 because of questionable weather at KSC.
With an independent commission completing debate this week on the Defense Department's recommendations for base closings and realignments, several lawmakers and the Department of Defense remain strongly divided over shuttering the Naval Submarine Base New London, Conn. The two sides continued to disagree on whether closing the submarine base would save money, leave the U.S. Navy with enough surge capacity or disrupt the relationship with sub-builder General Dynamics Electric Boat.
ARMY General Dynamics C4 Systems, Scottsdale, Ariz., was awarded on Aug. 12, 2005, an $18,202,486 modification to a cost-plus-incentive-fee contract for the Prophet block II electronic attack capability. Work will be performed in Scottsdale, Ariz., and is expected to be completed by May 30, 2007. Contract funds will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. This was a sole source contract initiated on July 13, 2005. The U.S. Army Communications-Electronics Command, Fort Monmouth, N.J., is the contracting activity (DAAB07-03-C-L426).
HUNTSVILLE, Ala. - The U.S. Defense Department's national missile shield is about to have a growth spurt. The Ground-based Midcourse Defense (GMD) system, designed to destroy long-range ballistic missiles in their midcourse phase of flight, is slated to get more interceptors and sensors in the coming months, officials said at a missile defense conference here last week.
Northrop Grumman Corp. on Aug. 22 unveiled its BQM-74F subsonic aerial target, the latest version of the company's high-speed, agile naval airborne-threat simulator. The BQM-74F can fly twice as far, 15% faster and has a 70% increase in endurance over the E model, the company said. The BQM-74F will undergo at least six months of testing.
JSF ENGINE: A General Electric/Rolls-Royce team was awarded a $2.5 billion system development and demonstration contract for work on the F136 engine for the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter, the U.S. Department of Defense said Aug. 22. The F136 is the alternate engine for the JSF. Pratt & Whitney's F135, the lead engine, already is in the SDD phase.
The U.S. Department of Homeland Security has approved Northrop Grumman's design for the Guardian system, intended to protect commercial aircraft from shoulder-fired missiles, the company said Aug. 22. Based on Northrop Grumman's Directional Infrared Countermeasures (DIRCM) system for military aircraft, Guardian is being developed under the second phase of DHS' Counter-MANPADS (Man-Portable Air Defense System) program. DIRCM automatically detects incoming heat-seeking missiles and blinds them with beams of light.
QUICKER COUGARS: Force Protection Inc. said the Marine Corps Systems Command has boosted its award for Cougar Joint Explosive Ordnance Disposal Rapid Response Vehicles to get the 122-vehicle order to the field faster. Last week, the Corps added $4.5 million to the order, which now totals $91 million. On Aug. 22, Force Protection said it has awarded $2.7 million to Quantum Fuel Systems Technologies Worldwide for procedure development and process control expertise "to optimize and streamline" the Cougar production line for an accelerated schedule.
AGREED: Volga-Dnepr Group and Vnesheconombank have reached an agreement on financing terms for resuming An-124-100 aircraft production and continuing the Il-76 freighter modernization program, the companies announced Aug. 22. Representatives of Vnesheconombank, one of Russia's oldest banks, will analyze the Volga-Dnepr Group's projects and finance them, Volga-Dnepr said.
The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency is seeking proposals for the first phase of the supersonic "Switchblade" oblique flying wing (OFW) technology demonstration aircraft program. The agency envisions an "X-Plane" program leading to a "revolutionary" capability. Proposals are due Oct. 3. The idea of an OFW aircraft has been studied for years, and NASA flight-tested a subsonic model in 1994.
Naval Air Systems Command at Patuxent River, Md., has awarded four contracts for the Persistent Unmanned Maritime Airborne Surveillance capability broad agency announcement.
NFIRE PAYLOAD: The U.S. Missile Defense Agency has decided to add a German laser communications terminal to its Near Field InfraRed Experiment (NFIRE) satellite. While the terminal is a commercial payload and is unrelated to the NFIRE mission, Germany needed a way to launch the device, so MDA is just "giving them a ride," MDA engineer Kevin Robinson says.
