Avionics test and measurement company Tel-Instrument reported a $29,000 loss for the fiscal year ended March 31, blaming it on the poor performance of its Marine Systems division and lower commercial avionics sales. "The company is closely monitoring the Marine Systems division operations," Carlstadt, N.J.-based Tel-Instrument said July 13.
PRAGUE - An era came to an end in the Czech Republic July 12 when the air force's few remaining Russian-made MiG-21 fighters made a last symbolic flight over the country before being officially replaced by new Swedish-built JAS-39 Gripen aircraft.
Democratic lawmakers from both chambers announced July 13 that they would introduce legislation to boost the U.S. Army's baseline troop strength, saying the service needs 80,000 more soldiers for a total of 582,000. "This number will equip the Army with sufficient personnel so that it may not only engage in a stabilization operation like Iraq, but so that it may do so while maintaining optimal troop rotation schedules," the lawmakers said in a joint statement.
In an apparent breakdown of cooperation, Democrats on the House Science Committee have introduced their own NASA authorization bill, which prioritizes the agency's other missions such as earth science and aeronautics research along with President Bush's moon-Mars manned exploration agenda.
The design series for the next generation of U.S. presidential helicopters will be known as "VH-71A," the U.S. military announced July 13. A popular name for the VH-71A still is under consideration by the deputy chief of staff of the U.S. Air Force for plans and policies, which has naming and designating duty for military aerospace vehicles. The VH-71A designation was made July 7.
AIR TRAINING TRANSFORMATION: The Naval Air Warfare Center Training Systems Division has handed Aviation Training Consulting LLC of Altus, Okla., a $28 million contract for mission task lists and curricula for Marine aviation platforms "in support of the U.S. Marine Corps aviation training transformation." The contract, announced late July 12, was not competitively procured, the Navy said. The contracted work will be done in Altus and is supposed to be finished in July 2008.
C2 SERVICES: The U.S. Navy has awarded Analex Corp. of Alexandria, Va., a three-year basic ordering agreement worth up to $47 million for engineering services and software development on command and control systems, the company said July 11. The Navy has placed the first delivery order for $13.6 million.
BAE Systems has been awarded a contract to continue developing an alternate helmet mounted display (AHMD) system for the U.S.-led F-35 Joint Strike Fighter program. BAE Systems received the contract the week of July 4-8, company representatives said July 12. The award, worth several million dollars, is expected to fund work through September or October, including delivery of several helmets for tests. A decision could be made in late 2005 on whether the alternate helmet will continue receiving funding after the latest contract expires.
KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, Fla. - The weather outlook for the July 13 launch of the space shuttle worsened slightly from earlier forecasts as the agency wrapped up any remaining technical issues concerning Discovery's readiness for flight at a mission management team meeting July 12.
South Korea is seeking to purchase Global Hawk unmanned aerial vehicles from the United States, South Korea's defense ministry said July 12. An official request was made last month in Hawaii during a sub-panel session of the Security Consultative Meeting, an annual defense ministerial meeting between South Korea and the U.S. The SCM is scheduled for October. South Korea wants the high-altitude, long-range surveillance aircraft as part of its mid- to long-term arms acquisition plan, ministry officials said.
National Guard troops are outfitted with "superb" equipment overseas, but resulting deficiencies in the United States must be addressed, the chief of the U.S. National Guard Bureau says.
The United States and Singapore pledged July 12 to increase cooperation with each other in such areas as defense technology and joint military exercises. President Bush and Singapore Prime Minister Hsien Loong Lee, who met at the White House, signed an agreement committing their countries to closer ties. The pact was announced as Singapore considers whether to buy the U.S. Boeing F-15 or the French-built Dassault Rafael. A decision on the fighters is expected by late summer (DAILY, May 23).
The Homeland Security Department spending bill for fiscal 2006 that has been under consideration on the Senate floor this week contains a provision that would rescind $14 million in unobligated funding to research and develop a covert manned aircraft for the U.S. Coast Guard.
The U.S. Navy's Strategic Systems Program Office has awarded a Lockheed Martin-Alliant Techsystems team a $9.2 million contract to identify and prove solid rocket motor technologies for the Submarine Launched Intermediate Range Ballistic Missile System (SLIRBM).
Lockheed Martin has delivered to the U.S. Navy the first Update II.5 P-3C aircraft modified under the Anti-Surface Warfare Improvement Program (AIP), the company said July 12. The company, the original manufacturer of the aircraft, will install the AIP kits on five of the Update II.5 P-3Cs. The Update II.5 aircraft are older planes that, in some cases, have been used less than later production aircraft, Lockheed Martin said. The AIP upgrade program originally focused on Update III aircraft and now is going to the earlier II.5s.
The July 12 launch of the South Korean navy ship Dokdo Ham was attended by President Roh Moo-hyun, the Korean Overseas Information Service said. The ceremony was held at the Hanjin Heavy Industries & Construction shipyard in Busan. The 13,000-ton class multipurpose ship will serve as a light aircraft carrier. The amphibious ship is the first of its kind for South Korea's navy. A second ship is planned for development by 2010.
A new X-ray detector, developed by NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, Md., and Japan's Institute of Space and Astronautical Science, is in orbit after the successful launch of a new space observatory. The X-ray Spectrometer (XRS) was launched on the Suzaku space observatory on July 10 from Japan's Uchinoura Space Center. The spacecraft - previously named Astro-E2 - complements NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory and the European Space Agency's XMM-Newton mission, NASA said.
