After two weeks in space and 5.8 million miles traveled, Space Shuttle Discovery and its seven-person crew landed safely at 8:11 a.m. EDT Aug. 9 in near-perfect weather at Edwards Air Force Base in California. "We have had a fantastic mission," STS-114 Commander Eileen Collins said after she and her crewmates performed the traditional post-landing walk-around inspection of the shuttle on the runway. "The crew was really anxious to walk around and see what the outside looked like, and it looks fantastic."
Although unmanned airships and unmanned aircraft have distinctly different looks, a new Pentagon report suggests there may be several areas in which technology developed for one vehicle type could benefit the other. The report, a "road map" on unmanned aircraft systems (UAS), sees a "potential for synergy" between airships and unmanned aircraft that would "enhance capability or reduce cost" for several kinds of missions, including communications relay, force protection and signals intelligence collection.
Directed energy weapon producer Ionatron Inc. said its second-quarter 2005 financial results showed a large revenue gain over last year's reporting period, although the quarter ended with a loss larger than reported for the same time in 2004 as it set up a new production facility. Revenue was $4 million for the quarter, compared with $1.8 million in the same period last year, the Tucson, Ariz.-based company said Aug. 9, partly boosted by work under a contract to build anti-improvised explosive device systems.
International defense electronics company Elbit Systems Ltd. reported Aug. 8 that its revenue grew 5.2% in the second quarter of 2005 while net income fell 18% due to the purchase of shares in a military communications company. Second quarter 2005 revenue was $243.8 million, compared with $231.6 million for the same period a year ago. Net income dropped from $13.3 million in the second quarter of 2004 to $10.9 million.
WEAPONS DELIVERED: Raytheon Co. said Aug. 9 that it has delivered the 25,000th AN/PAS-13 Thermal Weapon Sight to U.S. Army officials. Raytheon doubled its production rates from 400 to 1,050 units per month in 2004 to speed delivery of the equipment to U.S. troops in Iraq and Afghanistan. The advanced thermal imaging sensors improve soldiers' surveillance, targeting and combat effectiveness during the day or night and in any type of weather, the company said.
HELLFIRE FIRED: Eurocopter and Lockheed Martin said Aug. 9 that they have successfully fired a live Hellfire II missile from a Eurocopter Tiger built for Australia, the first non-U.S. aircraft to integrate the Hellfire. An Australian Tiger armed reconnaissance helicopter fired the missile at the Woomera test range in Australia's southern desert, striking a simulated armored personnel carrier six kilometers (3.8 miles) downrange. Lockheed Martin said the test, the first of six, paves the way for using Hellfire on European versions of the Tiger.
The Army more than doubled the expected buy for the Extended Range Multipurpose unmanned aerial vehicle when it awarded the winning contract to General Atomics Aeronautical Systems, going from 60 UAVs to a projected 132. The final downselect between General Atomics' Warrior and Northrop Grumman's Hunter II was delayed by several months while the Army increased the order and sought congressional approval to shift the money needed for the buy away from the canceled RAH-66 Comanche helicopter accounts.
Gen. John Jumper, the U.S. Air Force chief of staff, said Aug. 9 that the service needs more large tanker aircraft like its KC-10 Extender, echoing comments made recently by another senior Air Force general.
A Defense Department memo authorizing the U.S. Navy to award contracts to General Dynamics and Northrop Grumman for additional early work on the projected DD(X) shipbuilding program keeps the effort going at a relatively low level until decisions can be made about its future, one analyst said. The new program acquisition decision memorandum allows the Navy "to award further pre-Milestone B work to Northrop Grumman Ship Systems and General Dynamics Bath Iron Works as members of the design team."
US Global Nanospace Inc. said Aug. 9 that it sold and delivered 10 radomes to Bell Helicopter last month and that it has received an order from Agusta Aerospace Corp. for 12 more. The Carson City, Nev.-based company said the deals are worth $220,000 in the current fiscal year. Radomes are protective fairings for aircraft radar antennas.
MRO DELAY: The launch of NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter has been postponed 24 hours due to a potential problem with the Atlas V rocket's Redundant Rate Gyro Unit. A similar unit failed in manufacturer testing. An engineering team is determining whether the failure could affect the launch. The new launch window is 7:50 to 9:35 a.m. EDT on Aug. 11.
Helicopter maker Kaman Corp. said Aug. 5 that it replaced its expiring $150 million revolving credit facility with a new $150 million credit facility set to expire Aug. 4, 2010. Bank of America will serve as the administrator with the Bank of Nova Scotia as co-administrator. Other banks involved include JPMorgan Chase Bank, KeyBank National Association, Citibank and Webster Bank National Association. The Standard and Poor's ratings firm has assigned an investment grade rating of BBB- to the new facility.
Low clouds at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida prompted mission managers to wave shuttle Discovery off from its scheduled landing on Aug 8. Discovery had to pass up both of its opportunities to land due to concerns over "unstable" weather. The crew will try again early in the morning of Aug. 9, with the first opportunity taking place at 5:07 a.m. EDT.
HEICO Corp. said Aug. 8 that it is increasing its revolving credit facility to $130 million with the help of several banks. The credit facility has been extended by $10 million and the expiration date has been moved from May 2008 to August 2010. The company also is now able to increase the credit amount in the future to as high as $175 million. HEICO president, Chairman and CEO Laurans A. Mendelson said in a statement that the extension would be used to maintain the company's acquisition strategy.
ARMY American Science and Engineering of Billerica, Mass., was awarded on July 29, 2005, a $9,466,596 firm-fixed price contract for eight Z-Backscatter Vans to meet U.S. Central Command requirements for Afghanistan and Iraq. Work will be performed at Billerica, Mass., and is estimated to be completed on Sept. 1, 2005. The U.S. Army Contracting Agency at White Sands Missile Range, N.M., is the contracting activity. Army Public Affairs can be reached at (703) 692-2000. (GS-07F-8897D)
The United States and Japan are having "detailed discussions" on developing a longer-range version of the ship-launched Standard Missile-3 (SM-3) interceptor, according to the U.S. Missile Defense Agency. While the two countries already plan to begin the joint development effort in fiscal 2007 and conduct initial flight-tests in 2010-2011, the talks are needed to finalize "specific work shares and schedules," an MDA official told The DAILY in a recent written response to questions.
RADAR CONTRACT: Germany's defense ministry has awarded Selex Sistemi Integrati, a Finmeccanica company, a contract to provide two long-range 3D air surveillance mobile radars for the country's air force, Finmeccanica said Aug. 5. Financial terms were not disclosed. The work is expected to be complete by 2007. The radar systems are the first of their model sold to a NATO country, the company said.
Forecasted weather appears favorable for the scheduled launch of NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter from Cape Canaveral on Aug. 10, according to program officials. MRO is scheduled to launch on an Atlas V rocket during a one hour and 45 minute window opening at 7:54 a.m. EDT. Weather officials expect scattered low clouds, with a 20% chance of a weather-related launch scrub due to possible thunderstorms off the coast. If the flight is scrubbed, the launch team can try again the following day.
AMPLIFIERS CONTRACTS: Herley Industries of Lancaster, Pa., has been awarded $11.8 million in contracts to provide high-power amplifers to unnamed domestic and international customers, the company said Aug. 8. The amplifiers are for defense communication systems for multiple airborne, ground and shipborne platforms. The contracts are follow-on production orders following the successful completion of design, development and system qualifications. They were awarded to the company's Farmingdale, N.Y., operation.
