UPGRADE: Rockwell Collins will upgrade the communications of U.S. Air Force F-15 Eagles to allow the fighters to "engage more actively" in homeland security activities, the company said. Rockwell Collins will replace one of the F-15's military single-band radios with a multi-band radio capable of providing Very High Frequency communications with civil air traffic control authorities and civil aircraft. "The addition of this new Rockwell Collins radio is a critical improvement for the U.S.
Despite the passage of the Safety Act of 2002, companies wishing to offer products to combat terrorism still are too vulnerable to third-party liability claims, according to Ron Sugar, chairman and CEO of Northrop Grumman.
MISSILE COUNTERMEASURES: Several factors make current military anti-missile systems a poor fit for commercial airlines, according to Ronald Robinson of Boeing Commercial Airplanes. "The failure rates that are quite acceptable for military operations are up to 30 times more frequent than the standard that we've set for commercial [airlines], which is about 10,000 hours of operation on the airplane between failures," he says. False alarms on anti-missile systems also could pose a significant problem for the commercial air traffic system, according to Robinson.
One of three companies receiving contracts for the Innovative Space Based Radar Antenna Technology (ISAT) program will be chosen in 2006 to build a 100-meter demonstration antenna that would fly in 2010, according to an Air Force Research Lab (AFRL) official.
MP-RTIP: Northrop Grumman was awarded an $888 million contract for the Multi-Platform Radar Technology Insertion Program's (MP-RTIP) system development and demonstration phase, the U.S. Department of Defense announced late April 30. The contract includes the development of an MP-RTIP radar for the Multi-Sensor Command and Control aircraft and the delivery of three MP-RTIP radars for the Global Hawk unmanned aerial vehicle, as well as other equipment and support, according to the DOD. Work is to be completed by May 2010.
U.S. Air Force officials are declaring victory in their battle to fix a major technical problem with the F/A-22 Raptor: avionics software instability. "Software stability [is] no longer an issue," the Air Force said in a graphic displayed at an April 30 press briefing.
WORKING TOGETHER: Today, unmanned ground vehicles (UGV) are "point solutions," in that they conduct single missions with an operator. In the future, they will work in tightly integrated teams with other UGVs, unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) and warfighters, says Eugene Hudson, coordinator of the Office of the Secretary of Defense's Joint Robotics Program. OSD is conducting a study on the collaborative engagement of unmanned systems and naval vessels, says Mack Barber, president of Northrop Grumman's REMOTEC.
The U.S. Army Space and Terrestrial Communications Directorate has contracted Raytheon and Boeing to each conduct an 18-month study of the High Capacity Communications Capability (HC3) program. Final award selection will follow completion of the study phase.
Vice Adm. Conrad Lautenbacher Jr. (USN-Ret.), undersecretary for oceans and atmosphere at the Department of Commerce, asked a Senate authorizing subcommittee April 29 to support a $3 million increase for the National Oceano-graphic and Atmospheric Administration's (NOAA) Satellite Operations facility. NOAA's overall budget request for fiscal 2005 is $3.4 billion, an 8.4 percent decrease from the FY '04 level of $3.6 billion.
The U.S. Missile Defense Agency needs to do a better job integrating its many modeling and simulation (M&S) systems, according to a Defense Science Board task force. While MDA is connecting multiple anti-missile platforms to form a single ballistic missile defense system (BMDS), it is lagging in linking its M&S software, the task force says in a new report. "The linkages that currently exist between models do not provide the needed insight to support system-level development, deployment and testing," the report says.
The GQM-163A Supersonic Sea Skimming Target (SSST) represents the U.S. Navy's latest attempt to develop a low-altitude target that accurately simulates the threat cruise missiles pose to surface ships.
The U.S. Air Force has awarded Lockheed Martin a $32 million order for 24 Sniper XR (Extended Range) advanced targeting pods and associated equipment, the company announced April 29. The order, which also includes spares and training, marks the fourth buy (Lot IV) of Sniper XR pods by the Air Force, according to Lockheed Martin. The new order brings the total number of Sniper pods bought by the service to 80, according to Lockheed Martin spokeswoman Jennifer Allen. A second increment of the Lot IV buy is expected this year.
The U.S. Department of Defense's need to deploy robots, or unmanned ground vehicles (UGV), has increased dramatically since Sept. 11 and their missions are expanding, according to industry and government officials. "Post 9/11, the urgency for UGVs has ratcheted up. The customer [DOD] wants more of them and wants them right away," Mack Barber, president of Northrop Grumman's REMOTEC, said at a press briefing April 29. "The design and technology requirements have changed, there is an increased focus on research and development."
RAPTOR IOT&E: The U.S. Air Force's F/A-22 Raptor began its formal initial operational test and evaluation (IOT&E) at Edwards Air Force Base, Calif., the Air Force said April 29. The service expects to complete IOT&E in September. Initial operational capability is scheduled for December 2005 at Langley Air Force Base, Va.
MOSCOW - The European Space Agency is looking for "institutional relationships" with Russia, ESA Director General Jean-Jacques Dordain told reporters here. Dordain, along with NASA Administrator Sean O'Keefe and Russian Federal Space Agency chief Anatoly Perminov, are here to greet an international crew returning from the International Space Station. He said Russia and ESA will form a working group by the end of May to investigate integrating Russia with ESA.
A House panel approved legislation April 29 urging President Bush to use diplomatic measures to deter the proliferation of shoulder-fired missiles. The Commercial Aviation MANPADS (man portable air defense systems) Defense Act of 2004 was approved by the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee's aviation subcommittee. Introduced by subcommittee chairman Rep. John Mica (R-Fla.), it calls for taking an aggressive stance to counter the threat of shoulder-fired missiles to civil aircraft.
WICHITA, Kan. - While waiting to learn whether the U.S. Air Force will get the go-ahead to proceed with its controversial proposal to lease and buy 100 Boeing 767 refueling aircraft, the manufacturer quietly is proceeding with work on international orders for the wide-body tanker.
The House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee plans to consider two bills April 29, one of which addresses finance laws regarding aircraft and another that is intended to speed the development of missile defense systems for commercial aircraft. The committee will hold a hearing and then mark up the Cape Town Treaty Implementation Act of 2004, which would extend commercial finance laws already in place in the United States to international transactions involving aircraft and aircraft engines.
NASA's Mars Exploration Rovers (MER) have completed their originally planned 90-day missions and have moved on to what the agency calls "extra-credit assignments." Opportunity finished its 90th day at Meridiani Planum on April 26, according to NASA, having traveled 811 meters (more than half a mile) and sent home 15.2 gigabits of data. Last month, the rover found geological evidence that a shallow, salty ocean once covered its landing site (DAILY, March 24).
A requirement for eight surveillance aircraft to be used by the Coalition Provisional Authority in Iraq has prompted a series of questions from builders of such aircraft. The planes would report on "potential threats, tampering, and malfunctions of essential infrastructure elements in divergent areas throughout Iraq," according to a FedBizOpps notice from the U.S. Army Aviation and Missile Command (AMCOM), the CPA's contracting agency.
Space Systems/Loral (SS/L) expects to emerge from Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in July or August, ahead of parent company Loral Space & Communications, according to SS/L President Pat DeWitt. "We will come out of Chapter 11 with no debt ... and we'll have substantial cash reserves and access to lines of credit," DeWitt said during a briefing in Arlington, Va., April 28. The company will file its plan for reorganization in May.
ASSOCIATION FOR WOMEN IN AVIATION MAINTENANCE, Edgewater, Fla. Don Canova, a heavy maintenance manager at Delta in Atlanta, has joined the board of directors. DFI INTERNATIONAL, Washington Brett B. Lambert has been named executive vice president of strategies, ventures and development. Elizabeth Baldwin has been named executive vice president for business operations. Steve M. Irwin has been named executive vice president of DFI Corporate Services. EDO CORP., New York
BATTLEFIELD TRAINING: AT&T Government Systems will develop live battlefield training systems under two multi-year contracts managed by the U.S. Army Program Executive Office for Simulation, Training and Instrumentation, the company said April 28. The combined value of the contracts could reach $134 million, the company said.
