JSF REVIEW: The first critical design review (CDR) for the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter is expected to occur in the fourth quarter of calendar 2005, according to program officials. Officials had previously indicated that the key review would take place sometime in 2005 (DAILY, March 1). The CDR, which will determine the design for the conventional takeoff and landing (CTOL) variant and for parts that will be common among all three JSF variants, originally had been slated for April 2004 but was delayed so the program can resolve the aircraft's lingering weight problems.
BALTIMORE, Md. - The Lockheed Martin-Bell Helicopter Unmanned Combat Armed Rotorcraft (UCAR) team analyzed 11 vertical takeoff and landing (VTOL) concepts before settling on a compound helicopter configuration, according to Walter Sonneborn of Bell Helicopter.
INTEGRATED APPROACH: The U.S. Navy could take an "integrated approach" to maintaining a sufficient submarine force in the future, short of buying more attack submarines, according to a naval analyst. Congressional Research Service analyst Ronald O'Rourke says this could include extending the service life of Virginia-class submarines from 30 to 40 years, having multiple crews and additional forward home-porting on Guam, and using sub-launched unmanned aerial vehicles for intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance missions currently performed by satellites and aircraft.
DESIGNING THE CEV: On June 18 NASA will release a Broad Agency Announcement (BAA) requesting concepts for the Crew Exploration Vehicle (CEV), according to Rear Adm. Craig Steidle, head of the agency's Exploration Systems office. In September, "we hope that we'll have at least five or six teams in that particular area to select and to go forward with," Steidle says. NASA will employ a DOD-style spiral development program for the CEV, with incremental capabilities to be developed and demonstrated over a series of years.
RFID COSTS: Defense contractors can use tax credits to offset some of the costs of complying with the Department of Defense's new Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) requirement, says Anthony Higgenbottom, a financial consultant at Deloitte. Companies can use investment tax credits, research and development credits and training credits, he says, to offset the cost of buying tags and readers, as well as increased labor costs and expenses from possible shipment delays.
Budget cuts have delayed the first major review of the Missile Defense Agency's Kinetic Energy Interceptor (KEI) development program, according to government and industry sources. A review of system requirements had been scheduled for June 2004 but is now planned for sometime in 2005. Defense Department and industry sources attributed the delay to reductions in MDA's fiscal 2004 funding request.
UAV EXCELLENCE: Senate Minority Leader Tom Daschle (D-S.D.) has introduced an amendment to the fiscal year 2005 defense authorization bill that would establish national centers of excellence for unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs). The centers would promote interservice cooperation and coordination in developing doctrines for using UAVs, monitoring the development of military and civilian UAVs in other countries and identifying UAV specialists.
The Senate this week resumes work on the fiscal year 2005 defense authorization bill, including considering amendments that would affect the relationship between contractors and the Department of Defense. Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) and Chris Dodd (D-Conn.) are among several lawmakers who are seeking to redefine how the Pentagon and contractors interact after problems have surfaced with a number of deals, including the U.S. Air Force's controversial 767 tanker lease-buy agreement with the Boeing Co.
NEW GRAIN: NASA test-fired a full-scale space shuttle Reusable Solid Rocket Motor (RSRM) at ATK Thiokol in Promontory, Utah June 10. The purpose of the test was to evaluate a new type of propellant grain that is less prone to cracking during storage and transport, as well as a proposed safety enhancement to the motor's nozzle.
June 14 - 16 -- International Armaments Technology Symposium & Exhibition, "Armaments Technology in Support of Current and Future Joint Military Operations," Hilton Parsippany, Parsippany, N.J. For information go to www.ndia.org. June 21 - 25 -- National Space & Missile Materials Symposium, "Developing Materials to Transform the Future," Seattle, Wash. For information go to www.usasymposium.com/.
PROGRAM DELAYS: President Ronald Reagan's death is having a slight impact on the schedules of some U.S. weapon system programs. The multi-service V-22 Osprey had been slated for a June 22 Defense Acquisition Board (DAB) review of several matters, including cost-reduction initiatives. However, the event was postponed until July 1 because a pre-DAB planning meeting, which would have fallen on the same day as Reagan's June 11 funeral, had to be delayed.
ACTIVE PROTECTION: The U.S. Army's Tank-automotive and Armaments Command (TACOM) is conducting a market survey to determine the current availability of active protection systems for ground combat vehicles. Active protection systems such as United Defense's Active Defense System (ADS) sense incoming projectiles such as rocket-propelled grenades and fire a countermeasure to intercept or otherwise disable them (DAILY, March 23). Responses to the survey are due by June 25.
MOSCOW - A Tselina electronic intelligence satellite was launched June 10 from Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan, after being delayed repeatedly since late April because of unspecified technical malfunctions. The spacecraft has been officially designated Kosmos-2406, which led to some confusion among space analysts here because the designation already had been applied to a Raduga-1 military communications satellite launched in March. However, the Space Forces later changed that spacecraft's designation back to Raduga.
The House Appropriations Committee has approved $32 billion in funding for the Department of Homeland Security for fiscal year 2005, including $1.1 billion for researching, developing and deploying innovative technologies. The bill, approved by the panel June 9, would provide an increase of $2.8 billion, or 9.4 percent above fiscal year 2004. It is $896 million, or 2.9 percent, higher than the president's budget request.
GOODRICH CORP. will produce the Goodrich Advanced Concept Ejection Seat II (ACES) for the Republic of Korea's F-15K fighter program, the company said. Eighty ACES II seats will be delivered to Boeing from August 2004 to December 2007. The company said the award is the first F-15 ejection contract since Goodrich acquired the ACES II set line from the Boeing Co. in 1999.
The Navy's RQ-8A Fire Scout Vertical Takeoff and Landing Tactical Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (VTUAV) is designed to provide autonomous real-time intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) to tactical users in maritime and littoral areas. Prime contractor Northrop Grumman produced and integrated the first Fire Scout UAVs at company facilities in San Diego. The company plans to begin producing the next-generation RQ-8B model at a new dedicated facility in Mississippi starting next year (DAILY, April 15).
UNITED DEFENSE INDUSTRIES will upgrade U.S. Navy Mk 38 Machine Gun Systems under a contract that could be worth up to $395.5 million, the company said. The current system uses a 25mm cannon that is not stabilized, but United Defense will replace it with a fully stabilized gun mount that can be fired remotely. The first order under the contract, for eight upgraded machine gun systems and spares, is for $6.8 million, with delivery scheduled for later this year. The weapons are used by surface combatants for self-protection.
Brazil's military is in the market for significant amounts of new equipment, much of which could be supplied by U.S. or other international firms, a Brazilian official said June 10.
NEW WARHEAD: Lockheed Martin will retrofit its Predator anti-tank weapon with a multi-purpose variant (MPV) blast fragmentation warhead, enabling it to go against urban targets such as buildings and bunkers, as well as light armored vehicles, the company said June 10. The new weapon system, which was approved by the U.S. Marine Corps, will be renamed the short-range attack weapon multi-purpose variant (SRAW-MPV), the company said.
Due to the proliferation of man-portable air defense systems (MANPADS) among terrorist organizations, the procurement of sophisticated active infrared counter measure (IRCM) systems is likely to gain momentum in the coming years, Frost & Sullivan said in a June 9 report. This market generated revenues worth $3.9 billion in 2003 and is likely to reach $4.2 billion in 2009, according to the "World Electronic Warfare Self-Protection Systems and Decoys Markets" report.
VOSS AEROSPACE will supply sheet metal and machined couplings and flanges for F-16 and F/A-22 fighters and C-130J transport aircraft under a six-year agreement with Lockheed Martin, the company said. The couplings will be used for de-icing, cabin pressurization and other requirements. "This is the most significant agreement we've made with Lockheed Martin in the 17 years we've been a supplier to them," Dan Sedor, president of Voss Industries, said in a statement.
GENERAL DYNAMICS ORDNANCE AND TACTICAL SYSTEMS will continue to produce MK80 bomb bodies under a $6 million contract modification awarded by the U.S. Army Joint Munitions Command, Rock Island, Ill. Delivery of the additional bomb bodies is expected by October 2006, the company said. The modification brings the contract's value to $167.3 million.
The U.S. Navy should explore how attack submarines could perform functions carried out by other platforms when considering the service's future requirements, Congressional Research Service analyst Ronald O'Rourke said June 10. Giving submarines additional warfighting missions could help the Navy make a better case when it tries to convince Congress to buy more submarines, he said at the Naval Submarine League's annual symposium in Alexandria, Va.
