July 11 - 12 -- 10th Annual Corporate Aircraft Transactions, Marriott Marquis Hotel, New York, N.Y. For more information call 1-800-599-4950 or go to www.srinstitute.com/cx542. 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.
Two AS 565 Panther helicopters were officially delivered to the Mexican navy by Eurocopter June 30 in a ceremony in Marignane, France, the company said. The Panthers were accepted by Commander General Admiral Armando Sanchez Moreno, the Mexican navy's undersecretary. Mexico has an option to buy eight more Panthers under a contract signed in 2003. The helicopters will be operated from boats for coastal patrols, surveillance, search and rescue, anti-drug operations and troop transport, the company said (DAILY, Oct. 15, 2003).
BUYING SOYUZ: The Bush Administration plans to deliver "very soon" to Congress a proposed amendment to the Iran Nonproliferation Act that would allow NASA to buy Soyuz rockets from Russia for use as crew rescue vehicles on the space station. Passed in 2000, the INA prohibits the U.S. from buying Soyuz vehicles, to dissuade Russia from helping Iran with its missile programs. "The proposed amendment will seek a balanced approach which maintains U.S.
The U.S. Army and the Boeing Co. recently signed a contract worth about $27 million to begin developing the Block III upgrade to the Boeing AH-64 Apache attack helicopter, The DAILY has learned. The deal has not been publicly announced yet. The Block III configuration calls for about 25 technology insertions, including giving the aircraft the ability to control unmanned aerial vehicles and improving the Apache's ability to share information with other forces. Delivery of the first Block III aircraft is scheduled for 2010.
PRAGUE - The Czech Republic's newly acquired batch of JAS-39 Gripen jet fighters began patrolling Czech airspace July 1, according to the Czech ministry of defense. Two of the six fighters recently delivered by Sweden under a 10-year lease took off from Caslav tactical air base to fulfill NATO duties as part of the NATO Integrated Extended Air Defense System. The defense ministry said that from now on, two Gripens would be on continuous 24-hour alert on the ground or in the air as part of the country's NATO commitments.
The new era of counter-terror operations is taking place across a large swath of territory encompassing the mid-Atlantic and northern South America, across almost all of Africa and the Middle East, and including the Indian Ocean and the southwest Pacific, according to Terry J. Pudas, acting director of the Defense Department Office of Force Transformation.
Although the Department of Defense broadened its definition of the nation's strategic "triad" in the 2001 Nuclear Posture Review - moving from a heavy dependence on nuclear weapons to include improved conventional weapons and a beefed-up command and control system - it hasn't figured out how much money it plans to spend on the new triad, according to the Government Accountability Office.
FIRE SCOUTS: The U.S. Naval Air Systems Command on June 30 bought two RQ-8B Fire Scout Unmanned Air Vehicles, including two associated payloads and nonrecurring engineering services, from Northrop Grumman Corp. for $15.2 million. Work on the contract modification order should be completed in August 2008, the Navy said. Days earlier, Navair hosted its third UAV public flight demonstration featuring Fire Scout and Pioneer flights (DAILY, June 28).
LASER PROPOSALS: The U.S. Defense Department's Joint High Power Solid State Laser (JHPSSL) program has released its much-anticipated request for proposals (RFP) for 100-kilowatt laser laboratory demonstrators. Responses are due July 11, and the program is expected to award a contract or contracts in October. Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, Northrop Grumman, Raytheon and Textron Systems, all of which already are developing lower-power lasers for the program, are expected to respond to the RFP (DAILY, May 25).
(Editor's note: Kimberly Johnson, Airports editor for our sister publication Aviation Daily, has embedded in Iraq with the 2nd Marine Division for three months. She will be reporting for The DAILY from there, covering the performance of specific weapon systems, the realities of warfare in Iraq and other topics important to our readers.)
A Pentagon proposal to move around $2.07 billion in previously allocated funding has been sent to lawmakers for their review. The 70-page omnibus reprogramming request, obtained by The DAILY late July 1, would add $12.8 million to the Army's Light Utility Helicopter program to support a contract award in the second quarter of fiscal 2006. Another $7.5 million would be freed up to improve the payload on the Army's Shadow unmanned aerial vehicle program.
CONTRACTOR POLICY: A "comprehensive" Defense Department policy on contractors is expected to be released in the coming weeks, according to Marine Corps Gen. Peter Pace. The policy captures lessons - good and bad - from Iraq and Afghanistan operations and addresses "contractor challenges" from the planning phase to actual employment across military operations, Pace says. He appeared last week before the Senate Armed Services Committee on his nomination to become the next chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
SATELLITE TRACKING: The U.S. Coast Guard is interested in a $4 million pilot program for long-range tracking of ocean vessels using satellites. Authorization legislation in the House, H.R. 889, would give the go-ahead, although the bill has yet to be taken up on the chamber floor. Such tracking falls under greater maritime domain awareness (MDA), which experts and defense officials in Washington have said is critical in keeping terrorists from using the nation's 361 ports to smuggle in weapons of mass destruction.
DARPA CAMERA: IPIX Corp. will build the world's highest resolution video camera under a $2.4 million contract from The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, the company announced. The high resolution camera will generate wide-area, improved acuity views from high altitudes, IPIX said in a statement. The camera will be used for aerial surveillance missions, including border patrol, battle surveillance and forensic intelligence.
T-38 WORK: Martin-Baker Aircraft Co. of England will provide an updated escape system for T-38C trainer aircraft under a contract from the U.S. Air Force worth up to $200 million. The initial contract calls for 19 sets of ejection seats and related equipment, but the company ultimately may be tapped to provide systems for 509 aircraft.
AIR TRAFFIC CONTROL: The U.S. Navy's Space and Naval Warfare Systems Center has tapped Scientific Research Corp. of Atlanta to provide air traffic control, ground electronics maintenance, and meteorology forecasting and observation support services for U.S. government aviation support facilities worldwide. The work will be done under a contract that could be worth up to $49.5 million if all options are exercised. Half the work will be performed at Spawar's Charleston, S.C., base, with the rest split between Christchurch, New Zealand, and Antarctica.
COST, AGE: The U.S. Air Force "must challenge our aerospace industry to shift its focus to recapitalization and produce more cost-effective and supportable aircraft," the next likely service chief says. Gen. T.
The National Polar-orbiting Operational Environmental Satellite System program still is in talks with its overseeing agencies about the possibility of getting additional funding to avoid a launch slip.
DD(X) SUPPORT: Computer Sciences Corp. has been awarded a task order worth up to $71 million to provide program management and total ship systems engineering support for the U.S. Navy's DD(X) Destroyer Class Program Office, the company said July 1. CSC will provide acquisition and ship production analysis support; aviation, mission and human systems integration; and environmental, safety and health support, among other things. The task order was awarded by the Naval Sea Systems Command.
HELO REVIEW: The Pentagon plans to convene a Defense Acquisition Board July 7 to review the Army's Armed Reconnaissance Helicopter (ARH) program, potentially paving the way for the selection of a prime contractor as early as July. The Bell 407 and Boeing's Armed Reconnaissance Little Bird are competing to replace the aging OH-58D Kiowa Warrior.
FINDING IEDs: Explosive ordnance detection teams in Iraq need robotic systems with three-dimensional camera views, increased range and greater dexterity, according to Capt. Bryan Sopko, commander of the EOD team with the 52nd Ordnance Group at Fort Gillem, Ga. EOD robots with better dexterity could defuse improvised explosive devices and leave them intact, Sopko says. "We can go day in and day out and blow up IEDs, and it doesn't help," he says. "We need to get the bomb maker.
The 2,000-pound version of the Joint Precision Airdrop System, which uses precision-guided parachutes to deliver equipment and supplies to forces in remote areas or behind enemy lines, should be delivered this month, according to U.S. Navy Adm. Edmund P. Giambastiani Jr.
LOGICAL: The Department of Defense's process for coming up with the 2005 Base Realignment and Closure list was "generally logical, reasoned and well documented," the Government Accountability Office says in a required report on the DOD's recommendation and selection process. However, the report says that there are "clear limitations" on DOD savings estimates for this BRAC round, which is larger than all previous rounds combined.
