HARRIS CORP. has delivered its Sierra II Application Specific Integrated Circuits and cryptographic software to the Joint Tactical Radio System (JTRS) Cluster 1 Cryptographic Subsystem development team, the company said. The circuits and software will be integrated and tested on a JTRS subsystem board.
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).
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.
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.
Lehman Brothers this week gave Boeing Co. a vote of confidence, saying investment firm analysts believe the aircraft manufacturer will regain its share losses to Airbus, although company stock still carries significant risks. Lehman Brothers aerospace analyst Joseph F. Campbell said the firm has been pessimistic about Boeing's 767 civil and 767 military tanker programs, and is "particularly pessimistic" about the 767 tanker lease-buy deal with the U.S. Air Force, which is on hold pending reviews (DAILY, May 26).
ABB, Norwalk, Conn. Dinesh C. Paliwal, a group executive, has been elected to the board of directors of the U.S.-India Business Council. ACSS, Phoenix Kris Ganase has been named president. AEROSONIC, Clearwater, Fla. Thomas E. Whytas, the chief financial officer and finance director for CAE USA Inc., has been elected to the board of directors. AMSEC, Virginia Beach, Va.
Sen. Robert Byrd (D-W.Va.) has proposed an amendment to the fiscal year 2005 Department of Defense authorization bill that would ban government contractors from hiring high-ranking federal officials overseeing procurement programs for two years after those employees leave their posts. The amendment would temporarily prohibit some presidential appointees, senior executives, people who served in the executive branch above grade GS-12 and commissioned military officers from taking positions with companies that do business with the federal government.
General Dynamics Armament and Technical Products (GDATP), which has been equipping Army Bradley fighting vehicles with reactive armor since 1999, has opened a new facility in Mississippi to manufacture its latest version. "This new-generation reactive armor offers a substantial increase in protection levels for troops and equipment against all shoulder-fired weapons, and most tube-launched, shaped-charge systems," GDATP said.
SUBSYSTEMS: DRS Technologies will provide airborne instrumentation subsystems to Cubic Defense Applications for use in the U.S. Air Force's P5 Combat Training System and Tactical Combat Training System program, the company said June 9. The work is potentially valued at more than $525 million over 10 years, the company said. The training program is intended to replace existing training instrumentation on U.S. Air Force, Navy, Marine Corps and Air National Guard aircraft at more than 25 sites.
PARABOLIC FLIGHTS: A new European Space Agency campaign of parabolic aircraft flights, which give researchers temporary access to weightlessness, is underway in Bordeaux, France, ESA said. A modified Airbus A300 began the first of three consecutive flight days June 8, according to ESA. Ten experiments, some of which are slated for the International Space Station, will be part of ESA's 37th parabolic flight campaign. The flights give researchers a total of 10 minutes of weightlessness each day. The campaign is the second one this year, with a third scheduled for October.
BALTIMORE, Md. - The U.S. Marine Corps hopes to receive Pentagon approval by December to develop a successor to its aging CH-53E Super Stallion helicopter, an official said June 9. The Marines would like to replace the shipboard, heavy-lift Super Stallion with the CH-53X, a "new-build derivative" of the CH-53E, said Marine Corps Col. Paul Croisetiere, who manages H-53 programs for the Marines and Navy. A recent analysis of alternatives recommended the new aircraft (DAILY, June 9).
NASA is trying to strengthen the boom being developed to inspect the space shuttle in orbit to ensure it can handle the structural loads anticipated during flight, according to Michael Kostelnik, deputy associate administrator for the International Space Station (ISS) and space shuttle programs.
LAUNCH SCHEDULE: International Launch Services (ILS) plans to launch the Intelsat 10-02 satellite on June 15 from Baikonur Cosmodrome, Kazakhstan, ILS said June 9. The satellite, built by EADS Astrium of France, is intended to provide video, networking, voice and Internet services across Europe, Africa, the Middle East, South America and parts of Asia and North America. It carries 36 Ku-band and 70 C-band transponders and will be the most powerful satellite in Intelsat's fleet, ILS said.
MOSCOW - Russia seems ready to continue its cooperation with the Ukrainian aerospace industry despite years of seeking distance from it. Anatoly Perminov, the head of Russia's new Federal Space Agency, inspected the facilities of the Ukrainian-built Zenit launcher during a tour of Baikonur Cosmodrone in Kazakhstan last week.
General Dynamics will acquire TriPoint Global Communications Inc., a privately held company that provides ground-based and satellite communications equipment, the company said June 9. Terms of the deal were not disclosed. The boards of directors of both companies have approved the deal, which is expected to close in the third quarter of this year, General Dynamics said.
The expendable launch vehicle (ELV) industry is emerging from a sluggish market and probably will experience a near-term resurgence, says a June 8 Forecast International (FI) report. Launch industry revenues rose more than 60 percent in one year, from $3.7 billion in 2002 to more than $5.5 billion in 2003. In 2003, 17 new commercial geosynchronous communications satellites were ordered, compared with only three in 2002.
BALTIMORE, Md. - The U.S. Army's plans for a new Light Utility Helicopter (LUH) are moving significantly closer toward becoming a reality, a program official said June 9. The proposed acquisition effort received the blessing of the Army Requirements Oversight Council (AROC) June 8 and is now headed to the Joint Requirements Oversight Council (JROC) for its review, said Matt Rainey, the Army's acting deputy program manager for utility helicopters. In October, the Army hopes to release a request for proposals (RFP) for the LUH.
A public administration panel has made recommendations aimed at improving the embattled Manufacturing Extension Program (MEP), which the White House has targeted for budget cuts. The National Academy of Public Administration (NAPA) said in a report released earlier this week that the MEP program could help create an infrastructure for supporting small manufacturing firms as the U.S. economy undergoes enormous economic transition.
A NASA-developed system for automatically alerting pilots to potentially dangerous turbulence will make its first evaluation flights on a commercial airliner this summer, NASA announced June 8. The Turbulence Prediction and Warning System (TPAWS) airborne radar is designed to give flight crews enough advance warning to avoid turbulence or advise passengers to sit down and buckle up to avoid injury.
Lockheed Martin said it has delivered to the U.S. Army a tethered aerostat that will be used beginning this summer to monitor the area around Baghdad. "The aerostat, equipped with various sensors, will provide a persistent surveillance capability in the defense of ground forces and high-value assets," Lockheed Martin said June 8. It said the Army will test the system at Yuma Proving Grounds in Arizona before transporting it to Iraq.
