USTRANSCOM LEADER: Air Force Lt. Gen. Norton Schwartz, who is being promoted to general, is scheduled to formally replace retiring Air Force Gen. John Handy as commander of U.S. Transportation Command Sept. 7.
The U.S. Army has begun exploring a smaller, shorter-range version of the Low Cost Interceptor (LCI) missile it is developing for cruise missile defense. The Multi-service Extended Range Low-cost Interceptor (MERLIN) would have a range of 19 to 25 miles, compared to LCI's 93-mile reach, said David Tilson, the Army's LCI project manager. MERLIN would weigh about 350 pounds, half as much as LCI, and would have a 7-inch diameter and 9-foot length, compared with LCI's 10-inch diameter and 15-foot length.
The U.S. Special Operations Command has awarded Northrop Grumman Corp. $22 million to demonstrate its Viper Strike munition as a standoff precision-guided weapon on the AC-130 gunship, the Defense Department said Aug. 4.
FATS Inc., a subsidiary of Firearms Training Systems, will provide its small arms and indirect fire trainers and close air support simulation to Lockheed Martin for two Virtual Combat Convoy Training systems bound for the U.S. Marine Corps. The contract is worth $800,000, bringing FATS' total for the VCCT program to $7 million, the company said Aug. 5.
The U.S. Navy's two unmanned underwater vehicles specialized for submersible search and rescue were sent Aug. 5 to help the Russian navy try to rescue one of its seven-manned AS-28 mini-subs believed caught up by a fishing net. The tethered U.S. submersibles, known as Super Scorpios, are capable of diving 5,000 feet and cutting one-inch-thick steel cable. They are part of the Navy's Deep Submergence Unit based in San Diego.
BEI RESULTS: BEI Technologies Inc. said Aug. 5 that its revenue for the third quarter of 2005 was up 21.5% over last year, totaling $83.6 million. Net income was up 57%, to $5.3 million. The company had higher expenses, partly due to its planned buyout by France's Schneider Electric, but said higher sales helped offset them.
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DRS DIVIDEND: DRS Technologies' board of directors declared a quarterly cash dividend of three cents per share on the company's common stock. The dividend is payable Sept. 30 to shareholders of record on Sept. 15.
The Global Command and Control System-Korea contract, recently highlighted in a court plea where two former defense industry executives admitted to improperly talking with an Army officer about a job, is scheduled to terminate at the end of this year and likely will soon be recompeted, the company involved has told The DAILY.
The U.S. Defense Department's new advisory panel on acquisition reform has scheduled a number of public and private meetings this month and next to discuss whether the department is properly equipped to oversee major weapon system programs.
Transformational Space Corp. (t/Space) tested a parachute landing system for its proposed Crew Transfer Vehicle over the Pacific Ocean Aug. 3, the company announced. The test used a full-sized mockup to represent the Crew Transfer Vehicle, or CXV, which would be a low-cost means of ferrying astronauts to the International Space Station. NASA will hold a competition this fall to select a new vehicle to carry ISS crew, the company said.
EXPLAIN AND JUSTIFY: Sen. Richard Durbin (D-Ill.), the assistant Democratic leader in the Senate, is calling for a Pentagon report identifying and explaining all major weapons programs whose unit costs have grown by more than 50% since their original budget estimates. In an amendment submitted to the Senate's fiscal 2006 defense authorization bill, Durbin also proposed requiring the defense secretary to justify continuing the programs despite the increases. The Senate is expected to restart debate on the defense bill soon after reconvening Sept. 6.
INFRARED REPAIR: The U.S. Naval Surface Warfare Center has awarded FLIR Systems Inc. of North Billerica, Mass., almost $10 million more for repairs, upgrades and application engineering services and spares for the Maritime Forward-Looking Infrared AN/KAX-1 and AN/KAX-2 systems. The follow-on contract is for U.S. Coast Guard and unidentified "coastal patrol" customers, the Navy announced Aug. 4. The latest repair order is supposed to be finished by August 2009.
AIR EXERCISE: A recent U.S. Air Force exercise highlights the need to train airmen regularly to ensure they are up to date on the latest air operations technology, which is advancing at a rapid rate, according to Col. David Morte, an organizer of the event. "If we don't stay on top of our procedures of how we execute, and train as many people as we can on what the latest and greatest is, then even people who have done this a year or two ago ... can almost get left behind," Morte says.
LM DIVIDEND: Lockheed Martin's board of directors declared a regular quarterly dividend on the company's common stock of 25 cents a share, the company said Aug. 4. The dividend is payable Sept. 30 to shareholders of record on Sept. 1.
MRO A GO: NASA plans to launch the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter from Cape Canaveral, Fla., on Aug. 10 during a launch window lasting from 7:54 a.m. to 9:39 a.m. EDT. The 4,800 pound Lockheed Martin-built spacecraft is the first NASA payload to be carried by an Atlas V rocket. After arriving at Mars in March 2006, MRO will use its suite of instruments to study the history and distribution of martian water and scout possible landing sites for future missions.
Kuwait is seeking 436 Raytheon-built TOW-2A/B anti-armor guided missiles and related equipment and services that could total $19 million, the Defense Security Cooperation Agency notified Congress on Aug. 4. The government of Kuwait is requesting 288 TOW-2A missiles, four TOW-2A Fly-to-Buy missiles, 140 TOW-2B missiles and four TOW-2B Fly-to-Buy missiles, DSCA said, as well as spare and repair parts and other equipment.
NASA has formed a "tiger team" led by International Space Station Program Manager Bill Gerstenmaier that is studying the remaining trouble spots on the shuttle's external tank where potentially dangerous foam debris was seen coming loose during Discovery's launch. "My purpose in having this team is to ... improve our knowledge base on how we go put foam on tanks and how we ensure it doesn't come off," Gerstenmaier said during a press conference in Houston Aug. 5. "Because it's obvious it's not an easy problem."
AEROCAPTURE: NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala., is seeking an industry partner to team with it on a proposal for an aerocapture demonstration that would compete for an opportunity to fly Earth's atmosphere in 2010. Aerocapture is a fuel- and time-saving maneuver in which a spacecraft dips into a planet's atmosphere to slow down and enter orbit around it. The partner would build the flight aeroshell structure and thermal protection system for the Earth Aerocapture vehicle, according to NASA.
ABL MODS: The U.S. Missile Defense Agency's Airborne Laser (ABL) program has moved its modified Boeing 747-400 freighter to Boeing facilities in Wichita, Kan., where the aircraft will undergo more changes to prepare it to accept a chemical kill laser. The floor and supports in the aircraft's aft section will be strengthened to handle the weight of the laser's six modules. Installation of the laser on the aircraft is expected to begin at Edwards Air Force Base, Calif., in the summer of 2006. The program's first ballistic missile intercept test is slated for 2008.
Congressional auditors continue to press for Congress to require the Defense Department to develop and obtain approval of a comprehensive list of program elements that are part of the strategic "new triad," even though Pentagon officials disagree. The Government Accountability Office also wants the DOD to establish a "virtual" major force program for the new triad, similar to what it has done for space spending, and report on that money as part of its annual budget request.
Alliant Techsystems (ATK) increased sales, earnings per share and cash guidance after it announced positive financial results for the first quarter of its fiscal year 2006. The report showed increases across the board, with earnings per share increasing 38% over the same period a year ago, to 99 cents. Sales rose 17% over the same period, reaching $757 million, and operating cash flow is up $34 million, ATK said Aug. 4.
The U.S. Air Force is studying whether coal could be used to increase the fuel efficiency of fighter aircraft, according to a service official. Researchers are examining coal's potential to expand petroleum-based jet fuel to get more energy out of it, said Col. Mark Stephen, chief of the science and technology division in the Office of the Deputy Assistant Secretary of the Air Force for Science, Technology and Engineering.
FIRST FLIGHT: The first new-production MH-60R flew for the first time July 28 at Sikorsky Aircraft Corp. facilities in Stratford, Conn. The helicopter flew for 90 minutes and performed the entire flight acceptance profile, including flight control checks, vibration measurements and engine power checks, without incident, program and industry officials announced Aug. 4. Sikorsky makes the helicopter and Lockheed Martin is the mission systems integrator. Test MH-60Rs have been in operational evaluation since May and are expected to finish in September. The U.S.
