United Kingdom aerospace industry orders grew 28% in 2005 to their highest level since 1998, a Society of British Aerospace Companies survey says. The survey, published July 11, shows orders grew to 22.6 billion pounds ($40.1 billion) and that industry productivity jumped 7.8%. The survey also shows: * U.K. aerospace defense sales climbed 3% to 8.94 billion pounds ($15.8 billion), the civil aerospace sector was flat at 8.35 billion pounds ($14.8 billion), and the space sector rose 11% to 427 million pounds ($758.5 million).
DRS Technologies Inc. will continue to manufacture electronic troubleshooting sets for the M1A1, M1A2 and M1A3 Abrams battle tanks and the M2/M3 family of Bradley fighting vehicles, the company said July 12. Deliveries of the test sets are to start immediately under the $35 million contract from the Army Tank-automotive and Armaments Command, and continue through June 2007. The work will be done by the company's DRS Test & Energy Management business in Huntsville, Ala.
A panel of U.S. military and intelligence space leaders and specialists agreed July 12 that the Defense Department's space acquisition system has suffered serious flaws, producing unrealistic cost estimates that lead to programs that can't be carried out, but they disagreed on whether changes already implemented will remedy the process. "That picture is in the rear view mirror," Gen. Lance Lord, head of U.S. Air Force Space Command, said at a hearing of the House Armed Services strategic forces subcommittee.
AIR RUBBER: After a competition, the U.S. Naval Inventory Control Point has opted for $92.9 million worth of tires and related support for Navy F-14, V-22, H-60, AV-8B, P-3, S-3, F-18, EA-6B, H-46, T-2, H-53, E-2, C-2 and H3 aircraft from Michelin Aircraft Tire Corp. of Greenville, S.C. While 90% of the award goes to the U.S. Navy, Spain (2%), Kuwait (2%), Japan (1%), Egypt (1%), Taiwan (1%), Malaysia (1%), Italy (1%) and New Zealand (1%) also get orders under the Foreign Military Sales Program.
GLOBAL HAWK: Northrop Grumman Systems Corp. has been awarded a $272.7 million contract modification to provide four Global Hawk RQ-4B production air vehicles with enhanced-integrated sensor suites; one mission control element; one launch recovery element; support equipment and spares, the Department of Defense said July 12. The work is set to be finished by July 2008. The contract was awarded by Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio.
U.S. technology export controls could hamper development of the multinational F-35 Joint Strike Fighter and ultimately endanger jobs at home, the chairman of the United Kingdom's BAE Systems warned July 12. Dick Olver said the problem is particularly acute for the U.K., which "punches above its weight" when it comes to technology but does not benefit from its historically close relationship with the United States.
TRIDENT WORK: Alliant Techsystems will continue to produce solid propulsion systems for all three stages of the U.S. Navy's Trident II fleet ballistic missile under a $75.7 million contract from Lockheed Martin Space Systems Co. Under the contract, Minneapolis-based ATK will continue to produce the system through 2009.
Preparations continue smoothly for the scheduled July 13 launch of NASA's space shuttle Discovery from Kennedy Space Center in Florida, the first shuttle mission since the loss of Columbia in February 2003. Liftoff is scheduled for 3:51 p.m. EDT. The launch countdown officially began at 6 p.m. EDT on July 10, which marked T-43 hours. "All our hardware and systems are performing nominally," NASA Test Director Pete Nickolenko said during a press conference July 11. "We're currently tracking no technical issues."
V-22 RECOMMENDATION: The U.S. Defense Department's operational testers have been urged by their Navy counterparts to declare the V-22 Osprey ready to enter service by the Marine Corps, according to a government source. The V-22 recently completed a nearly three-month test phase designed to guide the fate of the Bell-Boeing tiltrotor aircraft (DAILY, June 28), and all signs so far indicate the phase went well.
ARMY Lockheed Martin Corp., Grand Prairie, Texas, was awarded on June 30, 2005, a $79,405,878 modification to a firm-fixed-price contract for Block IA Army TACMS Variants (Unitary) XM57 Guided Missile and Launching Assembly. Work will be performed in Dallas, Texas, and is expected to be completed by Dec. 31, 2007. Contract funds will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. This was a sole source contract initiated on Nov. 7, 2003. The U.S. Army Aviation and Missile Command, Redstone Arsenal, Ala., is the contracting activity (DAAH01-03-C-0203).
The Boeing Co. plans to pick a subcontractor in the next month or so to play a key role in a "network-centric operations" upgrade it is developing for the U.S. Air Force's B-52 Stratofortress bomber, company officials said July 11.
MOSCOW - A representative of Russia's federal space agency Roscosmos said the agency has lifted the ban on Soyuz vehicle launches that was imposed after the June 21 launch failure of a vehicle carrying a Molniya military communications satellite. The modified Soyuz version, called Molniya, had been used to launch the satellite of the same name. The problem is believed to stem from Molniya-specific hardware, so although the Molniya version still is under a launch moratorium, other Soyuz vehicles are now cleared for flight.
Although FAA has made progress recently in managing its troubled air traffic control acquisition programs, challenges remain for the agency as it seeks to keep pace with projected demand, according to a new report from the Government Accountability Office. FAA has spent $43.5 billion on airspace modernization since the early 1980s and plans to spend nearly another $10 billion through fiscal 2009. The effort has suffered from cost, schedule and performance problems and has been on GAO's list of high-risk programs since 1995, the report says.
ITT Night Vision and Northrop Grumman both submitted proposals July 11 for the Army's Omnibus VII night vision goggle procurement, which provides for up to 360,000 new goggles. The Army has purchased NVGs in large "omnibus" procurements since the 1980s. Omnibus VII will be the biggest yet, according to Larry Curfiss, ITT Night Vision's vice president and director of business development. An award is expected by September.
DEFENSE LOGISTICS AGENCY Sikorsky Aircraft Corp., Stratford, Conn., is being awarded a maximum $74,805,917 firm fixed price requirements type contract for various aircraft spare parts for Army, Navy, Air Force, Marine Corps, and Federal Civilian Agencies. This is a sole source contract with a one-year base period with nine one-year option periods. Performance completion date is July 7, 2006. Proposals were Web solicited and one responded. The contracting activity is the Defense Supply Center Richmond (DSCR), Richmond, Va. (SP0400005D9413). NAVY
The Defense Department's Office of Industrial Policy has identified five logistics technologies where an insufficient or potentially insufficient industrial base exists to support the U.S. military's projection worldwide for sustained operations, including advanced solid rocket motors (SRMs) and autonomous space rendezvous and docking.
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. - The new commander of the Cheyenne Mountain Operations Center here, which is charged with warning of attacks on the U.S. and Canada, comes from a job that she acknowledges was "very different." Air Force Brig. Gen. Rosanne Bailey, who became the CMOC commander during a July 11 ceremony - relieving Brig. Gen. Duane W. Deal, who is retiring - most recently was commander of the 45th Air Base Wing at Ramstein Air Base in Germany, and commander of the Kaiserslautern Military Community there.
The U.S. industrial base is "well positioned" to develop and apply the 1,428 most critical war-fighting technologies that the Defense Department seeks, with U.S. suppliers trailing foreign firms in only 7% of the technological areas, a DOD policy study has concluded.
AIR FORCE Carnegie Mellon University/Software Engineering Institute, Pittsburgh, Pa., is being awarded a $411,105,411 cost reimbursement contract to provide for Software research and development, pertinent to national defense. At this time, $750,000 of the funds has been obligated. This work will be complete by 2010. Solicitation began March 2005 and negotiations were completed June 2005. The Headquarters Electronic Systems Center, Hanscom Air Force Base, Mass., is the contracting activity (FA8721-05-C-0003). U.S. SPECIAL OPERATIONS COMMAND
As a dispute over who gets to operate nine of the Large Medium Speed Roll-On/Roll-Off (LMSR) ships for the U.S. Navy's Military Sealift Command (MSC) continues, Patriot Contract Services is set to turn over the last LMSR to General Dynamics' American Overseas Marine Corp. (Amsea).
OUT FOR BUSINESS: Two new joint ventures created by France's Alcatel and Italy's Finmeccanica will aim to be leaders in the field of telecommunication satellite systems and to get "a strong position" on European programs such as the Galileo satellite navigation system, the companies said. Alcatel Alenia Space, 67% owned by Alcatel and 33% by Finmeccanica, combines the work of Alcatel Space and Alenia Spazio. Telespazio Holding, 67% owned by Finmeccanica and 33% by Alcatel, combines Telespazio and Alcatel Space Services and Operations.
