COVERED: The House's NASA authorization bill, H.R. 3070, would extend NASA's ability to indemnify or insure developers of experimental aerospace vehicles operated by civilian developers from damage claims by third parties through 2015, the Congressional Budget Office says. NASA Administrator Michael Griffin would be able to indemnify or insure a single event for up to $1.5 billion (in 1989 dollars) beyond the developer's private insurance coverage, regardless of whether amounts are available from appropriations to pay such claims, CBO reports.
Canada is providing 105 armored vehicles to help the peace effort in Darfur, Canada's defense department said July 28. One hundred Grizzly general purpose armored vehicles and five Husky armored recovery vehicles are being loaned for one year to the African Union Mission in Sudan. Spare parts will be included, along with training, maintenance assistance and personal protective equipment.
Rockwell Collins reported a 20% increase in sales for its fiscal 2005 third quarter. Sales totaled $890 million, the company said, and net income was up 33% over the third quarter of fiscal 2004, reaching $101 million, or 56 cents per share.
The Navy is spearheading what it calls a "Manhattan Project" to counter the threat posed by improvised explosive devices, which still account for three-quarters of U.S. casualties in Iraq. The project sprang from a challenge posed by Navy Secretary Gordon England to Chief of Naval Research Rear Adm. Jay Cohen to develop technologies capable of detecting and neutralizing IEDs at safe distances from a moving vehicle. Most IED attacks target convoys, and most are discovered only after they explode.
The U.S. Navy will commission another Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer, the Halsey, on July 30 at the Naval Air Station, Coronado, Calif. Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) will deliver the ceremony's principal address while Heidi Cooke Halsey, Anne Halsey-Smith and Alice "Missy" Spruance Talbot will serve as sponsors of the ship named for their grandfather. Fleet Adm. William F. "Bull" Halsey Jr. (1882-1959) was the fourth and last five-star Navy admiral. The 9,300-ton Halsey is the 47th of 62 planned Arleigh Burke vessels.
EDO Corp. said July 28 that earnings for its second quarter of fiscal 2005 totaled $6.1 million, a 46% increase from last year's $4.2 million. Second-quarter revenue also was up, reaching $156.1 million, an increase of 24% over the same period last year. Revenue for the first half of 2005 was $272.6 million, a 14% jump over last year. The order backlog for the company, which supplies armament, defense eletronics and other systems, increased to $535.1 million.
An analysis of the Mobility Capability Study, an assessment of the Defense Department's transportation needs, is finished and Pentagon "principals" now are being briefed on its results, Air Force Lt. Gen. Norton A. Schwartz told senators July 28. The analysis includes a "range of solutions," he told members of the Senate Armed Services Committee. Schwartz did not provide further details pending final internal review.
The U.S. Army's Tank-automotive and Armaments Command (TACOM) has placed an order worth $7.2 million with Engineered Support Systems Inc. (ESSI) for its Knight Precision Targeting System for artillery and air-dropped munitions, ESSI said July 26. ESSI subsidiary Systems & Electronics Inc. will fill the order, which involves 31 Fire Support Sensor Systems-equipped Mission Equipment Packages that include laser designator/rangefinders, thermal imagers, and Global Positioning System targeting and navigation systems.
LONDON - Despite the aircraft's age, the United Kingdom may upgrade its Harrier Vertical Take Off and Landing (VTOL) fleet to extend its life beyond 2020, the ministry of defense said this month. Such an upgrade would leave the design more than 60 years old by the time it left service. But the defense ministry is said to want to ensure that the Royal Air Force still has a potent VTOL close air support platform if the Joint Combat Aircraft, Britain's version of the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter, is delayed past 2012.
Anteon Corp. of Fairfax, Va., and the Titan Corp. of San Diego will compete for more than $26 million in surveillance systems engineering, software development, and test and evaluation services for the U.S. Navy's Space and Naval Warfare Systems Center Joint and National Systems Division. The contract has a five-year ordering period with no options. Additional contracts to other unidentified offerors may be awarded in a second phase at a later date, the Navy said July 27. All work is to be performed in San Diego by July 2010.
Raytheon Co. reported significantly improved financial results for the second quarter of 2005, going from a loss of $108 million in 2004 to net income of $201 million, or 44 cents a share, in the most recent quarter. Sales were up 10% to $5.4 billion, driven partly by the company's Missile Systems and Space and Airborne Systems units, both of which recorded sales of just more than $1 billion for the quarter.
Lockheed Martin has begun doing significant work on the possibility of adapting its land-based Patriot Advanced Capability-3 (PAC-3) interceptor for use on ships. Michael Trotsky, vice president for air and missile defense systems at Lockheed Martin Missiles and Fire Control, said July 28 that the company has received two $8 million contracts from the U.S. Navy within the past two years to explore putting the PAC-3 missile on Aegis cruisers or destroyers.
Lockheed Martin's missile defense programs are gearing up for a busy second half of 2005, including several flight-tests and at least one key contract award, company officials said July 28.
The crew of Discovery docked with the International Space Station at 7:18 a.m. EDT July 28 to begin assisting station astronauts with logistics and repairs, while on the ground shuttle managers grappled with a newly revealed foam debris problem that must be solved before the orbiters can launch again.
Goodrich's second-quarter profits jumped 95% to $76 million thanks to strong demand for defense and space products, which led the company on July 28 to increase its sales and income projections.
Northrop Grumman Corp. posted a 23% gain in net income and a 7% increase in sales in the second quarter of 2005, the company said July 28. Net income grew to $367 million, or $1 per share, compared with $298 million, or 82 cents per share, in the second quarter of 2004. Sales increased to $8 billion from $7.4 billion in the same period a year ago. The defense contractor also raised its 2005 earnings per share guidance, to $3.90 to $4 from its previous guidance of $3.70 to $3.85. Projected 2006 earnings per share are $4.10 to $4.30.
Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-Tenn.) on July 28 listed several bills the chamber will focus on before it recesses for its August break, a list that did not include defense authorization or appropriations bills or NASA's long-awaited authorization measure. Even when the Senate and House reconvene starting Sept. 6, senators will face other priorities, including confirmation of a Supreme Court nominee and a controversial U.N. ambassador nominee, Frist noted as he spoke to reporters at a Capitol Hill briefing.
(Editor's note: The following is excerpted from written responses by Gen. Michael T. Moseley, nominated by President Bush to be chief of staff of the U.S. Air Force, to written questions from the Senate Armed Services Committee. He testified June 29, and was confirmed by the Senate on July 1.
PAV: NASA has teamed with the Comparative Aircraft Flight Efficiency Foundation to offer a $250,000 prize to the teams that come up with the best technology improvements for general aviation aircraft. The Personal Air Vehicle competition is the fifth announced prize in the agency's Centennial Challenges program.
Richard Branson, founder of the Virgin Group, and Burt Rutan, president of Scaled Composites, have agreed to form a new company to fulfill their goal of starting a suborbital commercial spaceflight industry. Scaled Composites won the X Prize last fall, just after Branson said he plans to offer suborbital space flights beginning in 2007 (DAILY, Sept. 30, 2004) using technology licensed from Scaled's financial backer, Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen.
GUN SYSTEMS: General Dynamics Armament and Technical Products will produce 42 M61A2 20mm gun systems for the U.S. Navy's Boeing-built F/A-18E/F Super Hornet fighter under a $10 million contract award, the company said July 27. The General Dynamics Burlington Technology Center in Vermont will manage the program. The gun systems will be built at the company's Saco, Maine, facility, and the work is set to be finished by January 2007. The contract was awarded by the Naval Air Systems Command, Patuxent River, Md., as part of a planned multiyear procurement.
