A 23-person civilian team recently traveled to the Middle East to complete upgrades on Australian army light armored vehicles deployed to Iraq, Australia's ministry of defense said. The team included six contractors from General Dynamics Land Systems-Australia, which is based in Adelaide, Australia, and six others from Armatec Survivability Corp., based in Ontario, Canada. The team fitted the Australian Light Armored Vehicles with special spall liners or curtains, which strengthen the vehicles' armor.
Roughly half of Boeing's Delta rocket work force went on strike just after midnight on Nov. 2, dimming hopes for timely launches of three waiting satellites from NASA, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and the National Reconnaissance Office. There are 365 Delta employees on strike at Boeing's Huntington Beach, Calif., Delta facility. At Cape Canaveral, Fla., there are approximately 288 Delta workers striking, and at Vandenberg Air Force Base, Calif., there are about 100 striking.
Higher demand for precision munitions, rocket motors and ammunition spurred gains in net income and sales for Alliant Techsystems in its fiscal second quarter, the company said Nov. 2. Net income for the Minneapolis-based advanced weapons and space systems company grew 34 percent, to $40.1 million, compared with $29.8 million for the same period a year earlier. Sales increased 15 percent, from $673 million to $772 million. Second quarter orders also increased 20 percent, to $656 million compared with $548 million a year ago.
The Air Force's Global Hawk program team is close to finding the root cause of the high-altitude engine failures that occurred on two separate Global Hawks this past July, according to engine manufacturer Rolls-Royce. The Global Hawk unmanned aerial vehicle is capable of operating at altitudes up to 65,000 feet. "There are some unique things when the air gets very thin up there, and they cause any anomaly to be magnified," Rolls-Royce Defense North America President Dennis Jarvi said during a press luncheon in Washington Nov. 2.
EMS Technologies of Atlanta said it will sell the assets and operating liabilities of its Space & Technology/Montreal division to Canadian robotics company MacDonald, Dettwiler and Associates (MDA). The companies hope to close the deal by the end of the year, pending approval from Canadian antitrust authorities, EMS said Oct. 31. The terms of the deal were not disclosed, but EMS said it expects to get enough cash at closing to allow it to "reduce its existing bank indebtedness by approximately $20 million."
NASA will begin engaging in "more serious discussions" with prospective international and commercial partners on how they can contribute to America's plans to return to and explore the lunar surface, Administrator Michael Griffin said during a speech in Washington Nov. 1. "The United States, working alone, cannot fulfill the sweeping goals of the vision for space exploration," Griffin said in his prepared remarks during the Center for Strategic and International Studies' Workshop on Space Exploration and International Cooperation in Washington.
The U.S. Navy has kicked off a key design review for its P-8A Multi-mission Maritime Aircraft (MMA) program. The preliminary design review (PDR), which is taking place in Seattle, Wash., began Oct. 31 and is expected to conclude in meeting form on Nov. 4, government and industry representatives said Nov. 1. The PDR will not officially be over until follow-up "actions" requested during the week-long session are completed, Navy spokeswoman Stephanie Vendrasco said.
The new National Plan to Achieve Maritime Domain Awareness calls for seeding the oceans and waterways leading to the United States with sensor packages, using existing commercial-sector systems to help fix ship locations, and providing U.S. boarding teams with a portable ability to identify potential terrorists or criminals using biometric information.
General Dynamics Land Systems will produce spare parts for the U.S. Army's M1A2 Abrams tank continuous electronics evolution program, the company said Nov. 1. The contract fits with the overall M1A2 Systems Enhancement Package tank upgrade program to add new information technologies and enhanced command and control features, including color maps and networked communications, the company said. Work will begin immediately and be performed in Sterling Heights, Mich., Tallahassee, Fla., and Eynon, Pa. It is to be completed by July 31, 2007.
Northrop Grumman Corp. will subcontract to Smiths Aerospace to provide the flight management and integrated standby instrument systems for the U.S. Navy's E-2D Hawkeye, the first E-2 variant to have a flight management system (FMS) capability. Smiths said the system design and development contract is valued at more than $4 million, with a program potential of at least $30 million. Deliveries of the systems will continue through 2006, with production starting in mid-2009.
DELIVERED: Raytheon has delivered the first full production Integrated Sensor Suite for the Air Force's RQ-4A Global Hawk unmanned aerial vehicle, the company announced Nov. 1. The full production configuration includes synthetic aperture radar and electro-optical/infrared high resolution imaging in a single integrated system, Raytheon said. Northrop Grumman is the Global Hawk prime contractor.
The White House is calling for Congress to take back $155 million in unobligated balances for various Defense Department operation and maintenance activities, as well as Army research, development, test and evaluation funds for the Joint Common Missile (JCM).
Engineered products supplier Hawk Corp. said Nov. 1 that higher than anticipated restructuring costs were to blame for a loss in net income and income from operations in the third quarter of 2005. But the Cleveland-based company, which supplies friction materials for brakes, clutches and transmissions used in airplanes, trucks, construction equipment and other vehicles, said it posted a 5.7 percent increase in net sales for the period.
Senate Democrats forced their chamber Nov. 1 to go into a rare closed-door session to highlight a stalled Senate Select Intelligence Committee investigation into the CIA-Valerie Plame leak issue, angering Republican counterparts who were caught off guard. The procedural move could temporarily, at least, further poison feelings between Democrats and Republicans. Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-Tenn.), speaking in unusually harsh terms outside the chamber to reporters, said he had been "slapped in the face."
The leadership of the Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee vowed at a Nov. 1 hearing to speed the confirmation of Shana Dale as NASA's deputy administrator, which should allow her to assume her duties within a week. NASA Administrator Michael Griffin has made several calls to Committee Chairman Ted Stevens (R-Alaska) to expedite Dale's confirmation, Stevens said. Dale's nomination and several others likely will be voted on at a committee markup hearing Nov. 2.
The Pentagon has delayed a key review of the Marine Corps' Heavy Lift Replacement (HLR) program by more than a month, citing the need for more information about the helicopter acquisition effort.
U.S. military helicopters, airplanes, and ships are continuing to deliver relief supplies to Pakistan in response to the country's devastating earthquake, the Defense Department said. Two dozen Army and Navy helicopters are operating in the region, with nine more expected to begin soon. On Oct. 30, choppers flew 52 sorties, airlifted more than 310,000 pounds of supplies and carried 583 passengers. They also evacuated 64 people.
Insurgents in Iraq are benefiting from an "astonishing" amount of commercially available ingredients and technology to make their improvised explosive devices (IEDs), the roadside bombs and land mines responsible for more coalition casualties there than any other weapon, a Senate lawmaker said Nov. 1.
Sikorsky Aircraft Corp. said Nov. 1 that it has agreed to purchase Keystone Ranger Holdings Inc., which provides engineering and technical support for commercial helicopters and air medical flight operations. Financial terms were not disclosed. The purchase is expected to close in the fourth quarter of 2005.
