LANDING SYSTEMS: Herley Industries Inc. said June 29 that it received a $1.3 million, multiyear contract from the U.S. Navy for component repair of the Tactical Instrument Landing System (TILS) and the Automatic Carrier Landing Systems (ACLS). The systems are used on Navy F/A-18, EA-6B, F-14 and S-3 aircraft to provide pilots approach guidance information. The TILS is a manual system always used by the pilot, while the ACLS is used when the pilot requires assistance to land the aircraft, the Lancaster, Pa., company said.
In the next decade, terrorist groups "poised to attack the United States and actively seeking to inflict mass casualties or disrupt U.S. military operations" represent the most immediate challenge to the nation's security, according to the Strategy for Homeland Defense and Civil Support, released June 30.
President Bush's nominee to be the next chief of the U.S. Air Force on June 29 blamed the service's acquisition problems on too much downsizing, and committed to promoting the "traditional" procurement process. During a confirmation hearing by the Senate Armed Services Committee, Gen. Teed Michael "Buzz" Moseley, currently the Air Force vice chief, said the failed Boeing tanker lease deal should have undergone an analysis of alternatives beforehand and that more acquisition officials on the job could have helped.
SUPPORT SERVICES: Computer Sciences Corp. of El Segundo, Calif., has been awarded a contract worth up to $62.5 million to provide support services to the Missile Defense Agency's senior leadership, the company said June 30. CSC will furnish scientific, engineering and technical assistance services to the MDA director's executive management team, focusing on ballistic missile defense programs. The effort will include engineering analysis of missile defense capabilities, program and acquisition planning and analysis and related defense program support.
Leaders of the first U.S. Air Force unit to field the new Sniper targeting pod praised the Lockheed Martin-built system June 30, saying it helped them find enemy weapons that could have been used to kill Americans or Iraqis.
Following a two-day flight readiness review at Kennedy Space Center in Florida, NASA has chosen July 13 as the day it will attempt to launch space shuttle Discovery on mission STS-114 to the International Space Station. The agency has picked the first day of a launch window that extends through July 31. Primarily a flight to test new safety equipment and procedures in orbit, the mission will mark the first time the orbiter has flown since the loss of Columbia in February 2003.
Joe Davis has been appointed chief of strategic communications, and will oversee the offices of public, legislative and external affairs, as well as the Office of Education. David R. Mould has been named assistant administrator for the Office of Public Affairs.
ANTI-TORPEDO SYSTEM: The U.S. Naval Sea Systems Command has opted for three more AN/SLQ-25A torpedo countermeasure systems from ST Production Systems Inc. of Smithfield, Pa., under a $20.5 million contract modification announced June 28. The AN/SLQ-25A is a digitally controlled, modular design, electro-acoustic "soft-kill" countermeasure decoy system that defends ships against wake-homing torpedoes, acoustic-homing torpedoes, and wire-guided torpedoes. The units will be built in Smithfield and are expected to be ready by March 2007.
TANK SUPPORT: General Dynamics Land Systems has been awarded a $22.7 million contract modification to provide Abrams tank systems technical support (STS), the company said June 29. The STS program aims to maintain Abrams tanks at high operational readiness rates. It funds engineering studies and identifies improvements and the need for replacing obsolete parts, while keeping Abrams tanks current to their base configuration. The work will be done at General Dynamics Land Systems' headquarters in Sterling Heights, Mich., and is expected to be finished by July 31, 2006.
Gerard A. "Duke" Dufresne has been named sector vice president of the Airborne Early Warning and Electronic Warfare Systems unit, based in Bethpage, N.Y. He succeeds Philip A. Teel, who was named corporate vice president and president of the Ship Systems sector.
A British air force commander has high praise for the performance of a variant of the US101 presidential helicopter that he and his crew have been operating in Iraq. "The two words I'd use, to me I find it unbelievable. When I talk to people about what we're doing, they find it incredible," Royal Air Force Wing Commander Andy Turner said of the EH101 Merlin Mk3 helicopter.
The U.S. Army-led Aerial Common Sensor (ACS) program has concluded that it will need a larger airframe than the Embraer ERJ-145 regional jet that it selected less than a year ago, according to prime contractor Lockheed Martin. Responding to questions, Lockheed Martin told The DAILY in a statement June 29 that ACS designers have found "additional integration weight" that will prevent the program from using a modified ERJ-145.
Boeing Co., nearing the end of an effort to remanufacture AH-64A Apache helicopters it has delivered to the U.S. Army, is in line to remanufacture still more, a company spokeswoman said. By July 2006, Boeing is slated to complete a second five-year Army contract to remanufacture 501 of the 821 AH-64As it has delivered to the Army into the advanced AH-64D Longbow configuration.
BALTIMORE, Md. - The Navy is looking forward to having its two new Global Hawk unmanned aerial vehicles play major roles in the upcoming Trident Warrior and Joint Expeditionary Force Experiment exercises, an official said.
EGYPTIAN SPENDING: The Aerospace Industries Association is urging Congress to keep up its significant aid allotments to Egypt, noting that more than 90% of the country's military financing returns to the United States as defense procurements. In a June 24 letter to Reps. Jim Kolbe (R-Ariz.), chairman of the House Appropriations Committee's foreign operations subcommittee, and Nita Lowey (D-N.Y.), its ranking Democrat, AIA asked them to support President Bush's fiscal 2006 request of $1.3 billion for Egypt.
VEHICLE ENGINEERING: The Naval Research Laboratory has awarded Swales and Associates Inc. of Beltsville, Md., a $33.7 million contract for aerospace vehicle engineering technical services to support the definition, development, assembly, test and integration of aerospace platforms, structures, mechanisms and subassemblies. The engineering work will be performed in Washington and is supposed to be finished in a year.
BALTIMORE - The joint Air Force/DARPA Autonomous Aerial Refueling program has begun flight-testing using a Lear Jet as an unmanned aerial vehicle surrogate, and plans its final "graduation" demonstration in 2007. The program primarily is focusing on the Air Force's boom/receptacle style of aerial refueling, rather than the Navy's probe/drogue method. Begun in 2002, the program has more than 25 participating organizations, including the Air Force Research Laboratory, Boeing, Northrop Grumman, General Dynamics and NASA.
Japan has asked to buy nine Standard Missile-3 (SM-3) Block IA missiles with MK 21 Mod 2 canisters and related equipment, the Defense Security Cooperation Agency notified Congress on June 29. The deal could be worth up to $387 million, DSCA said, and includes ballistic missile defense upgrades to one Aegis Weapon System.
The House Science Committee's space and aeronautics subcommittee has sent a $16.5 billion fiscal 2006 NASA authorization bill to the full committee, but panel Democrats complained that they were not involved in the initial drafting.
AESA CONTRACT: Raytheon Co. has been given a $580 million, five-year contract to build 190 more APG-79 Active Electronically Scanned Array (AESA) radars for the U.S. Navy's F/A-18E/F Super Hornet, the company announced June 28. The contract award from the Boeing Co., the Super Hornet's prime contractor, covers two low-rate production lots and three full-rate production lots. Two low-rate production contracts for 20 units were awarded earlier. The Navy plans to buy a total of 415 APG-79 radars.
