As part of the DARPA/Air Force FALCON program, Microcosm has successfully completed a series of tests of a 20,000-pound thrust composite rocket engine, the company announced June 2. The tests, conducted at Air Force Research Laboratory facilities at Edwards Air Force Base, Calif., ranged from one to 30 seconds in duration. Microcosm is one of the contractors working on Task 1 of FALCON (Force Application and Launch from the Continental U.S.), which is developing a small launch vehicle for rapidly boosting military payloads into low-Earth orbit.
The U.S. Navy has approved Northrop Grumman Corp.'s AN/SLQ-32(V) Electronic Surveillance Enhancement (ESE) for low-rate initial production, the company announced June 2. John Young, assistant secretary of the Navy for research, development, test and evaluation, gave the "go-ahead" after ESE met or exceeded all test objectives during its operational assessment, Northrop Grumman said.
Sikorsky plans to fly the X2 Technology demonstrator, shown here in an illustration, by the end of 2006. It would demonstrate a new class of co-axial helicopters capable of cruising at 250 knots, the company said (DAILY, June 2). Co-axial helicopters use two counter-rotating sets of helicopter blades on the same vertical axis. Illustration courtesy Sikorsky Aircraft.
Under a contract worth as much as $124 million through July 2008, Northrop Grumman Corp. announced that it was selected by the U.S. Air Force Electronic Systems Center to develop and integrate the U.S. military's next generation of joint and coalition network-management systems. Called the Joint Interface Control Officer Support System (JSS), the program will manage complex tactical networks through an automated toolset and information repository that enables planning, management and analysis of communications before, during and after operations.
Northrop Grumman Corp. announced June 2 that its team has begun building the first of three X-47B air vehicles it is supposed to assemble for the U.S. Defense Department's Joint Unmanned Combat Air Systems (J-UCAS) program. Several significant pieces already have been completed, including a fuel cell floor. Northrop Grumman hopes to finish building the first aircraft in early 2007 and begin flying it by late 2007.
PRAGUE - Nearly 50 companies have expressed interest in a tender to supply new armored personnel carriers to the Czech army, according to Czech defense officials. The ministry of defense said 46 companies had requested application forms for the tender by the deadline of May 27. The deal, which involves the purchase of at least 199 APCs at a cost of between 20 billion and 25 billion Czech crowns ($800 million to $1 billion), is the largest Czech military contract since the formation of the Czech Republic in 1993.
RAPTOR LEAD WORK: Lockheed Martin Corp. was awarded a $134.2 million contract modification to extend the period of performance of the F/A-22 Raptor Lot 5 long-lead activities through June 2005, the Defense Department said June 2. The work is to be completed by November 2007.
The Lockheed Martin Corp.-led VXX presidential helicopter replacement program industry team has signed Northrop Grumman Corp.'s Defensive Systems Division to support a bid for the U.S. Air Force's Personnel Recovery Vehicle (PRV) competition.
Lockheed Martin Corp. and Raytheon Co. have both demonstrated dual-mode guided bombs for the U.S. Navy, which is evaluating such weapons at the direction of Congress. Raytheon announced June 2 that an F/A-18 successfully dropped Enhanced Paveway II bombs at China Lake Test Range, Calif., in May. Lockheed Martin announced in May that it had achieved similar test results in April with its Dual Mode Guided Bomb.
TEST AWARD: The U.S. Navy and the National Defense Industrial Association have awarded a lead system engineer for Lockheed Martin Corp. the 2004 Contractor Tester of the Year award for exemplary work performed on the MH-60R helicopter flight test program, the company announced June 2. The award was presented to Brendan Rhatigan of Leonardtown, Md. Rhatigan works at the Naval Air Station Patuxent River, Md., where the Navy oversees the helicopter's development.
Despite uncertain funding, NASA's aeronautics directorate hopes to fly a high-altitude unmanned aircraft by 2009 that is capable of staying aloft for 14 straight days without refueling. Although the budget is not yet in place to proceed to full-scale development, NASA engineers are hopeful they can sell agency leaders on the value of the aircraft as a means of studying hurricanes as they develop, according to Rich Wlezien, division director for vehicle systems at NASA headquarters.
COLLABORATION: The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency and Singapore's Defence Science and Technology Agency are considering working together on military technologies, Singapore's defense ministry said recently. Thirteen DARPA program managers, including Anthony Tether, DARPA's director, visited Singapore May 24-27 to meet with DSTA. The scientists and engineers discussed technologies for future battlefield concepts such as command and control, protective technology and land warfare.
Five Swedish navy mine countermeasures vessels are undergoing midlife upgrades and modifications by Sweden-based Kockums AB, the company said May 31. The work is worth more than 1 billion kronor ($134.3 million) and is being done at the company's Karlskrona shipyard. Obsolete equipment already has been removed from one ship, the HMS Koster, the company said. The HMS Vinga and HMS Ulvon will be worked on next. The three vessels will be modified to take part in Sweden's international rapid reaction force, and then receive a general upgrade.
U.S. Navy Adm. Vernon Clark, chief of naval operations, and Royal Australian Navy Vice Adm. Chris Ritchie, chief of the navy, recently extended their statement of principles for "enhanced cooperation" between the navies on submarines for at least another five years, the U.S. Naval Sea Systems Command said. The agreement is designed to make the two countries' submarine forces fully interoperable and sustainable.
By June 6 the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) plans to release a request for proposals for the Oblique Flying Wing (OFW) advanced technology demonstration program. "The goal of the OFW program is to expand the design space for future aircraft concepts, particularly for those missions that demand both supersonic speed and long endurance," DARPA said. The program will build a supersonic, tailless X-plane demonstrator.
JSOW CABLES, HARNESSES: Raytheon Missile Systems has awarded LaBarge Inc. of St. Louis a seven-year contract worth up to $24 million to provide cables and harnesses for Raytheon's Joint Standoff Weapon system, LaBarge said June 1. About $1.65 million will be released under the contract for 2005. The cables send electronic data signals throughout the weapon, which uses Global Positioning System data to find its target and can change its path during flight. The cable assemblies are used to perform tests for JSOW functionality.
DIVIDEND: General Dynamics' board of directors has announced a regular quarterly dividend of 40 cents per share, payable Aug. 5 to shareholders of record as of July 1.
NATO Secretary General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer said that the concern of some U.S. officials over technology transfer issues still is "a point of contention," but with Bush Administration support, progress is being made. "It's a bit more the [Capitol] Hill here than the Administration," the NATO leader said during a June 1 Defense Writers Group breakfast meeting before he was scheduled to meet with President Bush. "It is Congress, which is perhaps more strict in that sense than the Administration."
TARGETING: BAE Systems announced June 1 that it would provide geopositioning software for Defense Department applications under the U.S. Navy's Common Geopositioning Services Project (CGSP). The contract, awarded by the Naval Air Warfare Center, is valued at $4.6 million and includes options through 2008. Specifically, BAE Systems will develop a modular set of software geopositioning services capable of calculating accurate, three-dimensional geographic coordinates for weapons targeting.
By the end of 2006, Sikorsky Aircraft plans to build and fly a demonstrator for a new class of co-axial helicopters capable of cruising at 250 knots, the company announced June 1. Coaxial helicopters feature two counter-rotating sets of helicopter blades on the same vertical axis. Known as the X2 Technology demonstrator, the helicopter will be flown at Sikorsky's Schweizer Aircraft subsidiary in Elmira, N.Y. Preliminary design work is finished and parts are being built, according to the company.
Defense electronics and support company Engineered Support Systems Inc. overcame a financial hit suffered by a key military program by posting revenues from other business segments and recently acquired subsidiaries. The St. Louis-based company reported record net revenues of $263.8 million for the quarter ended April 30, a 25% increase compared with the same period last year, the company said June 1.
