SUMMER TESTING: This summer, the U.S. Navy's Air Test and Evaluation Squadron (VX-1) is putting MH-60R test aircraft through a final operational evaluation test phase, Lockheed Martin Corp. said. The tests, at Naval Air Station Patuxent River in Maryland, are expected to wrap up in September. Lockheed Martin is the systems integrator for the MH-60R and provides the avionics suite common to all MH-60R and MH-60S helicopters.
URGENT ISR: The U.S. Marine Corps Systems Command has awarded Boeing Integrated Defense Systems a $19.5 million contract for additional intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance services for the Marine Expeditionary Force II, some of which is deployed in Iraq. The sole-source ISR procurement was acquired under an "urgent universal need statement," with 80% of the services to be provided in theater. The contract runs until July 2006, the Navy announced late July 14.
July 19 - 20 -- Tactical IA, "Precise, Immediate, Secure Information Exchange on the Battlefield," Doubletree Hotel Crystal City, Arlington, Va. For more information go to www.idga.org. July 26 - 27 -- Nanotechnology for Defense, Georgetown Conference Center, Washington, D.C. For more information call 1-800-882-8684 or go to www.idga.org.
VeriSign Inc. of Mountain View, Calif., which provides infrastructure services for the Internet and telecommunications networks, has purchased Reston, Va.-based security intelligence company iDEFENSE for $40 million in cash, VeriSign said July 14. VeriSign said in a statement that the purchase will expand its ability to monitor and assess security threats in real time. VeriSign's name will be taken on by iDEFENSE, which will continue to market its intelligence services. VeriSign also said it will retain iDEFENSE employees.
Lockheed Martin will integrate anti-submarine and surface warfare systems on six MH-60R helicopters under a $49.8 million Navy contract, the company said. The aircraft comprise the third and final phase of low-rate initial production before full production begins next year, Lockheed Martin said July 14. It said the Navy is expected to order as many as 254 MH-60Rs through 2015, with production increasing from 6 to 30 aircraft per year.
KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, Fla. - The launch of Space Shuttle Discovery will be postponed until next week at the earliest as NASA attempts to fix the faulty liquid hydrogen fuel sensor that caused the agency to scrub its July 13 launch attempt.
An acquisition of Unocal Corp. by China National Offshore Oil Corp. (CNOOC) would place the United State's only domestic source of rare earth minerals, important for some weapons such as precision-guided munitions, in the hands of the Chinese government, the House Armed Services Committee heard July 13.
KUALA LUMPUR, Malayasia - The South Korean government has decided to build a ground tracking and control station on Cheju Island worth 33 billion won ($32 million). Construction on the 115,500 square meter (126,312 square yard) site began July 14 and is set to be finished in June 2006. The station will track spacecraft and satellites launched from a space center being built in Kohung in the south of Cholla Province. The space center will be ready in 2007.
KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, Fla. - Boeing's vice president for the International Space Station expects the station's configuration to be "somewhat" scaled back as NASA balances its desire to minimize the number of shuttle flights with its obligation to launch modules built by the station's international partners.
Singapore officially mothballed its aging UH-1H Huey helicopter fleet in a ceremony on July 12, and will replace them with Super Puma and Chinook helicopters. The ceremony marked an end to almost three decades of service for the Huey in Singapore's air force, the Singapore ministry of defense said, and the breakup of the air force's oldest helicopter squadron.
STRYKER SUPPORT: GM GDLS Defense Group L.L.C. has been awarded a $17.4 million contract modification to provide logistics support for the U.S. Army's Stryker Brigade Combat Teams, the Defense Department said July 14. The work will be done in Sterling Heights, Mich., Auburn, Wash., and Ontario, Canada. It is expected to be finished by Dec. 31. The contract was awarded by the U.S. Army Tank-automotive and Armaments Command, Warren, Mich.
In a compromise that favored several Democratic provisions, including shielding Earth and space science missions, the House Science Committee unanimously approved a fiscal 2006 and 2007 NASA authorization bill July 14. "We support the goal of human exploration beyond low-Earth orbit," Rep. Bart Gordon (D-Tenn.), the committee's ranking Democrat, said at the panel's markup. "We just want to make sure that it is properly paid for and not funded by cannibalizing NASA's other important missions."
Rising oil prices have not spurred design changes to the U.S. Defense Department's biggest acquisition effort, the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter, but higher fuel bills could influence how the aircraft is used, according to the program's leader.
Australia will send a 150-member special forces task group to Afghanistan for up to a year to help fight terrorism, the country's defense department said July 13. The group will consist of Special Air Service soldiers, commandos and logistic support elements who will work with American special forces, Robert Hill, Australia's defense minister, said in a statement. They will perform reconnaissance and surveillance operations and patrol remote regions. The forces will leave for Afghanistan in about two months, Hill said.
The Naval Air Warfare Center Training Systems Division has awarded the Boeing Co.'s McDonnell Douglas Corp. a $500 million contract for new F/A-18 E/F and EA-18G trainer and training systems, as well as to upgrade existing systems. The contract, which was not competitively procured, further calls for a full range of analysis, modeling and simulation, design, development, production, modification, test and evaluation, delivery, refurbishment, relocation and product support of all training systems for the U.S. Navy and U.S. Marine Corps' aircraft platforms.
FLIGHT HOURS: The Northrop Grumman-built prototype of the RQ-4 Global Hawk unmanned aerial reconnaissance system recently reached its 7,000th total flight hour during a combat mission supporting the war on terrorism, the company said July 14. Through three deployments, the six prototype Global Hawks have successfully completed more than 200 missions and have now flown more than 4,300 hours in combat. The Global Hawk prototype was pressed into service following the Sept. 11 attacks to provide image-based information for Operation Enduring Freedom.
The Naval Air Warfare Center Aircraft Division has given a $25 million go-ahead to Geneva Aerospace Inc. of Carrollton, Texas, for a Phase III Small Business Innovative Research (SBIR) Project on unmanned systems, including unmanned air vehicles. Geneva will research, develop, prototype and test autonomous control technology, new unmanned vehicle systems and common command, control and communication systems architectures for unmanned systems, the U.S. Navy announced late July 13.
MOBILITY MAN: Air Force Lt. Gen. Duncan McNabb has been nominated by President Bush to be commander of Air Mobility Command, which manages the Air Force's tanker and transport aircraft, the Pentagon announced July 13. If confirmed by the Senate, McNabb will succeed Gen. John Handy, who retires Oct. 1. McNabb is currently logistics director for the Joint Staff.
After backing off on trying to mandate as much, Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) has successfully pushed through an amendment on the Senate floor that specifically would allow the Homeland Security Department to deploy unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) along the southwestern border of the United States. An original version of McCain's amendment to the DHS spending bill under Senate consideration this week said UAVs "shall be deployed," but McCain modified his proposal to instead read UAVs "may be deployed," which was agreed to by unanimous consent late July 13.
BAE Systems will continue providing the U.S. Army with portable combat helicopter refueling systems under a $7.6 million order, the company said July 13. BAE Systems will produce 31 Advanced Aviation Forward Area Refueling Systems, which are used by U.S. troops in Iraq and Afghanistan to fuel AH-64 Apache, UH-60 Blackhawk, and CH-47 Chinook helicopters.
