V-22 FORMATION: Eight V-22 Ospreys fly in formation June 18 after leaving the USS Bataan in the Atlantic Ocean, where the U.S. multiservice aircraft program concluded the flight-test portion of its operational evaluation (DAILY, June 28). Tests results are now under review. OPEVAL is supposed to lead to full-rate production approval of the Bell-Boeing tiltrotor transport this fall. Photo by Photographer's Mate 1st Class Ken Riley, courtesy U.S. Navy.
The U.S. Army has awarded Raytheon Co. a $69.7 million contract modification for TOW bunker buster missiles, the Defense Department said June 27. The work will be done in Tucson, Ariz., and is expected to be finished by Nov. 30, 2008. The contract was awarded by the U.S. Army Missile Command, Redstone Arsenal, Ala.
BALTIMORE - After conducting a series of failed experiments last year, the Air Force's Unmanned Aerial Vehicle Battlelab is seeking industry's help to develop sense-and-avoid systems for small UAVs. The Battlelab wants to develop an inexpensive system for small UAVs to sense and avoid other aircraft, allowing them to conduct routine file-and-fly operations in joint airspace. The scheme the Battlelab had settled on involved a series of electro-optic cameras installed on the aircraft.
Europe's MBDA Missile Systems says it is pushing ahead with developing two new missiles that might compete with U.S. weapons, but questions remain as to whether either project will bear fruit. During the recent Paris Air Show, MBDA revealed that Meteor, which six European nations are pursuing as a beyond-visual-range, air-to-air missile, is slated to begin flight-testing near the end of 2005.
The U.S. Army has awarded General Dynamics C4 Systems a $30 million contract to integrate up to 500 Land Warrior Systems and Stryker integration kits into a Stryker experimental battalion, the company said June 28. The delivery of assessment versions of the Land Warrior Systems and integration kits is scheduled for March through May of 2006.
MOSCOW - Russia's Federal Space Agency and Space Forces have banned Soyuz and Molniya launches following the June 21 launch failure of a Molniya M booster carrying a military communications satellite (DAILY, June 22). Both Soyuz and Molniya use the same third stage that presumably failed in the attempt. According to media reports, the failure probably was caused by a fire in one of the third-stage RD-0110 engines, manufactured in Voronezh.
A400M EQUIPMENT: AAR Corp.'s Cargo Systems business unit of Livonia, Mich., will provide cargo handling systems for Airbus' A400M military transport, the company announced at the recent Paris Air Show. AAR Cargo systems is teaming with Pfalt Flugteugwerke of Speyer, Germany, on the program, and will develop and build the floor-based cargo loading system and aerial delivery system. PFW will develop and build the structural floor and drainage system. AAR Corp. expects its share of the work to be worth $300 million for the company through fiscal 2015.
The U.S. Air Force announced June 27 that a new entity will oversee modernization of its aging tanker fleet. The Tanker Systems Modernization Systems Squadron (TSMSS) will handle efforts to update a fleet that consists of 59 Boeing KC-10 Extenders and more than 500 Boeing KC-135 Stratotankers. Terry Kasten, who has served as deputy commander of the Air Force's combat support systems wing and as deputy program director of the B-2 program office, will serve as director of TSMSS, which will be based at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio.
MORE MH-60RS: The Naval Air Systems Command on June 22 awarded Lockheed Martin Corp.'s Systems Integration subsidiary in Owego, N.Y., a $49.8 million order for six low-rate initial production III MH-60R multimission helicopters. The contracted work, to be done in Owego, is to be finished in June 2008. Contract funds will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. In May, Sikorsky Aircraft Corp. received a $24.8 million order for 12 MH-60Rs (DAILY, May 26).
BACK HOME: Aircraft simulator builder CAE will move its head office from Toronto to Montreal, which President and CEO Robert E. Brown said would bring it "back to its birthplace." CAE was founded in Montreal in 1947 and employs more than 2,800 workers in the area, the company said. CAE shareholders approved the move last week.
The U.S. Navy's MH-53E Sea Dragons, originally designed to pull mine countermeasures equipment through the water, will be modified for Marine Corps assault support in Iraq under a program started in February, the Naval Air Systems Command said June 27. Of the first eight Sea Dragons to be modified under a $5 million initial effort, four belonging to Helicopter Support Squadron Four were otherwise going to be decommissioned.
SHARE REPURCHASE: Boeing's board of directors has approved a new share repurchase program and declared a second-quarter dividend of 25 cents a share, the company said June 27. The authorization is for the repurchase of up to 40 million shares, or about 5% of the company's outstanding shares of common stock. The repurchases will be used for general corporate purposes, including Boeing's share-based plans and other employee stock benefit plans.
PATUXENT RIVER, Md. - Despite overcast skies and occasional rain, Naval Air Systems Command held its third unmanned aerial vehicle public flight demonstration at Webster Field here June 27, featuring flights by Northrop Grumman's Fire Scout and Pioneer UAVs.
EJECTION CHARGE: Teledyne Technologies Inc. announced June 23 that the Naval Inventory Control Point, Mechanicsburg, Pa., awarded it a 13-month, $2.1 million contract to supply 412 Advanced Concept Ejection Seat II Recovery Sequencers for U.S. Air Force F/A-22, F-15, F-16, F-117, A-10, B-1B and B-2 aircraft. The electronic device stays dormant until an ejection when the seat catapult and rocket motor are fired and hot gas pressure from the rocket motor activates the sequencer's internal thermal batteries to provide electrical power to the ejection system's electronics.
AIR FORCE Lockheed Martin Corp., Fort Worth, Texas, is being awarded a $9,742,995 firm fixed price contract modification to provide for Lot-3 Infrared Red Counter Measures Shroud. The location of performance is Lockheed Martin Corp., Marietta, Ga. At this time, $4,871,497 of the funds has been obligated. This work will be complete by April 2006. The Headquarters Aeronautical Systems Center, Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio, is the contracting activity (F33657-01-C-2095).
The U.S. Air Force's plans for the second phase of the Small Diameter Bomb (SDB) program could become clearer in the next two months or so. In late August or early September, the Air Force expects to finalize its "acquisition strategy" for SDB Increment II, including the timing for releasing a request for proposals, a service spokesman said June 27.
NEW LONDON: The chairman of the House Armed Services Committee and the head of a subcommittee that oversees naval forces have thrown their weight behind trying to keep open the Naval Submarine Base New London, Conn., which could be shuttered under the ongoing Base Realignment and Closure process. Rep. Duncan Hunter (R-Calif.), HASC chair, and Rep. Roscoe Bartlett (R-Md.), chair of the HASC projection forces subcommittee, hope to influence the BRAC Commission because they do not have parochial interests in that congressional district.
MARITIME ISR: NavMar Applied Sciences Corp. of Chester, Pa., has received a $14.6 million Phase III Small Business Innovative Research program contract from the U.S. Navy for a laser radar identification demonstration and air-deployable expendable multi-parameter environmental probe. The contract calls for an integrated system approach, including modifying maritime patrol and reconnaissance aircraft with intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance and enhanced communications packages. The work will be performed in Chester and is to be finished in June 2007.
The National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency wants out-of-the-box ideas on how to help analysts automatically filter the vast quantities of information gathered daily by satellites and other systems to quickly retrieve only the data they need. A new broad agency announcement from NGA solicits offers that would lead to contracts for "innovative, high-risk, non-traditional geospatial intelligence concepts, technologies and products with a potential for high-payoff," according to a June 24 FedBizOpps notice from the agency.
ARMY Raytheon Co., Bedford, Mass., was awarded on June 21, 2005, a $79,544,455 modification to a cost-plus-incentive-fee contract for Joint Land Attack Cruise Missile Defense Elevated Netted Sensor Systems with Surveillance Radar. Work will be performed in Bedford, Mass., and is expected to be completed by July 31, 2010. Contract funds will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. This was a sole source contract initiated on Dec. 29, 2004. The Defense Space and Missile Command, Huntsville, Ala., is the contracting activity (DASG60-98-C-0001).
