The Air Force and NASA are calling for proposals to improve liquid lines and ducts in rocket engines as part of the Integrated High Payoff Rocket Propulsion Technology (IHPRPT) program.
LONDON - Although Lockheed Martin Space Systems recently was awarded an $11 million contract to support the British Royal Navy's Trident D5 nuclear submarine-launched ballistic missile (DAILY, April 29), the debate over the future of the United Kingdom's nuclear deterrent has intensified. British citizens will go to the polls May 5, and it is likely that the next government will have to decide what happens to the U.K. nuclear deterrent before the next general election in 2010.
Col. Ishmon F. Burks (USA-Ret.) has been appointed executive vice president - communications (investor and media relations). Gen. Larry R. Ellis (USA-Ret.) has been named president of the firm. Ellis will also continue to serve on the board of directors.
Congressional negotiators working out the $82 billion supplemental measure decided against Senate provisions for $213 million toward additional up-armored Humvee manufacturing and $32 million to buy defense systems to protect commercial aircraft against shoulder-fired missiles.
The U.S. Army is expected to launch a competition by the end of calendar 2005 to develop a mobile, solid-state laser defense against airborne threats, an industry official said May 4. The ground-based, electrically-driven laser system, which likely will have at least 100 kilowatts of power, is intended mainly to destroy rockets, artillery shells and mortar rounds, said Art Stephenson, vice president of directed energy systems at Northrop Grumman Space Technology.
The U.S. Navy's EA-18G electronic-attack aircraft program has completed a key design review, according to industry officials. Although the Navy has not announced the results of the critical design review (CDR), which concluded April 28, officials at the Boeing Co., the EA-18G's prime contractor, said May 2 that the Navy seems pleased with the outcome.
The International Space Station (ISS) program is adjusting to the postponement of STS-114 by rearranging the manifest of its upcoming June Progress resupply ship to include more of the station's most critical consumable - water. ISS managers already had planned an alternate manifest for the Progress in the event the shuttle was delayed. The ISS will have roughly six weeks supply of water left when the unmanned Russian Progress docks. The next Progress visit is scheduled for August.
WORKSTATIONS: DRS Technologies Inc. of Parsippany, N.J., has been awarded $50 million in new orders to provide engineering, spares, and production services for the U.S. Navy's AN/UYQ-70 Advanced Display Systems and related computer equipment, the company said May 3. The systems will be installed on the Navy's new Aegis destroyers, cruisers and other surface ships, as well as E-2C Hawkeye aircraft and attack submarines.
ORBITER ARRIVES: NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) has arrived at Kennedy Space Center, Fla., to prepare for its planned Aug. 10 launch, NASA said. The spacecraft, whose mission is to last through 2010, was built near Denver by Lockheed Martin Space Systems.
The Defense Department's financial performance has worsened and is now receiving the equivalent of an unsatisfactory grade from the White House, according to the latest federal agency scorecard compiled by the Office of Management and Budget.
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. - The recent TOPOFF 3 exercise, simulating a biological and chemical weapon attack on the U.S. by terrorists, showed a need for greater coordination with industry's first responders, and senior government officials will meet here May 4 to discuss this and other lessons, according to Adm. Timothy Keating, commander of U.S. Northern Command.
Administrator Michael Griffin said during a speech in Washington May 3 that NASA will pick the cheapest option for launching the Crew Exploration Vehicle (CEV) into orbit, but added that he will not discard the space shuttle's launch stack "lightly." "It's my job now to be a responsible steward of the government's money," Griffin said during a breakfast sponsored by Women in Aerospace (WIA). "I will be advocating whatever method of getting Crew Exploration Vehicle to orbit that seems to me to be the cheapest."
General Dynamics Armament and Technical Products of Charlotte, N.C., has been awarded a $13.8 million contract modification to produce enhanced-capability reactive armor for Bradley Fighting Vehicles, the company said May 3. The contract was awarded by the U.S. Army's TACOM/ARDEC Picatinny Arsenal, Picatinny, N.J. The award modifies a contract first awarded in November 2004. The contract's total value is now $46.75 million for 152 vehicle sets. The armor consists of "tiles" that are fastened to the outside of the vehicles.
RFID COMPETITION: The Defense Department has nearly 50 radio frequency identification (RFID) pilot programs either completed or in progress, and industry providers such as Savi Technology and Bearing Point are involved in many of them, according to consulting company ABI Research.
SPARE PARTS: The U.S. Army Tank-automotive and Armaments Command has awarded General Dynamics Land Systems of Sterling Heights, Mich., an $8.2 million contract to provide spare parts for the M1A2 Abrams System Enhancement Package tank and the Bradley Fighting Vehicle, the company said May 3. Twenty-five percent of the work will be done in Killeen, Texas, 10% in Sterling Heights, and 5% in Southwest Asia. The parts will be provided through April 2010, the company said.
TOW MOTORS: Alliant Techsystems Inc. of Minneapolis has been awarded a five-year contract worth up to $20 million to continue manufacturing rocket motors for TOW anti-tank missiles, ATK said May 3. The contract was awarded by Raytheon Co., the prime contractor for the TOW missile. The rocket motors will be delivered to Raytheon for U.S. and allied nations. ATK has manufactured more than 350,000 rocket motors since 1982. ATK also provides launch motors for the TOW system.
The Department of Defense has reduced its domestic infrastructure by about 20% and has saved about $29 billion from previous rounds of base realignment and closure (BRAC), a Government Accountability Office official told the new BRAC commission.
The U.S. Marine Corps is interested in software made by 21st Century Systems Inc. of Omaha, Neb., after the 1st Marine Expeditionary Force used the "Sentinel Net" program in Fallujah, Iraq, last August to cut its force-protection manning requirements in half.
Layoffs are expected among the 3,800 Atlas and Delta rocket workers as manufacturers Lockheed Martin and Boeing merge government launch operations and attempt to eliminate redundancy. The joint venture, known as United Launch Alliance, will begin with 1,500 Lockheed Martin Atlas employees and 2,300 Boeing Delta employees. However, "we're talking consolidation, eliminating redundancies and duplications, so it's inevitable that the size of the work force would constrict," Boeing spokesman Dan Beck told The DAILY.
