NASA has decided that a robotic servicing mission to the Hubble Space Telescope (HST) is feasible and may decide to release a request for proposals (RFP) for such a mission by the fall, according to Associate Administrator for Space Science Ed Weiler.
THE AEROSPACE CORP., El Segundo, Calif. Linda F. Halle has been promoted to principal director of program acquisition and management in the Advanced Technology Division at the company's Chantilly, Va., office. Susan M. Vogel has been promoted to principal director of the Hard Problems and Strategic Solutions Subdivision, Advanced Technology Division. DRS TECHNOLOGIES, Parsippany, N.J. Joseph E. Hart has been named vice president of marketing for aviation and unmanned programs at the company's Washington Operations in Arlington, Va.
The House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee approved a fiscal 2005 U.S. Coast Guard authorization bill April 21 that would provide $7.9 billion for the agency, including $1.1 billion for the 20-year Integrated Deepwater System modernization program. The bill, H.R. 3879, is aimed at accelerating the Deepwater program. It is nearly identical to the version produced by the committee's Coast Guard subcommittee earlier this month (DAILY, April 5).
PAYLOAD CDR: Northrop Grumman Corp. has completed the critical design review for the payload of the Advanced Extremely High Frequency (AEHF) satellite communications system, the company said April 20. The program now will focus on design verification and production of the flight payload to support the launch of the first AEHF satellite in early 2007, the company's Space Technology sector said. The payloads will be delivered to Lockheed Martin Space Systems, the prime contractor for the satellite program.
GENERAL DYNAMICS ADVANCED INFORMATION SYSTEMS will develop improvements to the AN/SQQ-89A(V)15 surface ship sonar system under an $8.9 million contract modification. The contract calls for system engineering, software engineering, integration and test activities to field sonar technologies in U.S. and allied surface ships, the company said. Technologies in the program include automated torpedo detection, sonar performance prediction, active sonar, active displays and integrated training and logistics methodologies.
LOCKHEED MARTIN AND CUSTOM MANUFACTURING & ENGINEERING INC. (CME), a small woman-owned business in St. Petersburg, Fla., have signed a two-year mentor-protègè agreement under which Lockheed Martin will help CME develop an imaging sensor product line. The mentor-protègè program is a U.S. Department of Defense initiative that encourages large companies to share technical expertise and government contracting knowledge with minority and women-owned small businesses.
BAE SYSTEMS is leading a team that has developed a next-generation transistor technology that improves the speed, integration density and power consumption for solid-state integrated circuits, the company said. "This is another piece to the technology puzzle that will be used to develop the next-generation of miniature digital receivers and exciters that are needed for future strike, surveillance and electronic attack missions," Frank Stroili, the BAE Systems' technology development manager, said in a statement.
NASA's long-awaited Gravity Probe B (GP-B) successfully launched from Vandenberg Air Force Base, Calif., at 12:57:24 p.m. EDT April 19, kicking off an 18-month mission to test unverified predictions made by Albert Einstein. A launch attempt on April 19 was scrubbed three minutes before liftoff when technicians decided there was insufficient time to confirm that the correct wind profile had been loaded aboard the Delta II rocket. The team was holding out for last-minute weather balloon data due to high winds that were observed throughout the countdown.
CUBIC CORP. will supply instructional services and maintenance support for the U.S. Navy's Pioneer unmanned aerial vehicle program. The five-year, $5 million contract will include systems maintenance, operator instruction and classroom instruction for the UAV and its ground control system at Navy Outlying Field Choctaw in Milton, Fla., the company said. The work will be done by Cubic's Worldwide Technical Services Division, part of the Cubic Defense Applications group. "UAVs will play an important role in the future of the U.S.
The most viable way to close the shipbuilding industrial base gap in fiscal 2006 is to add advance procurement money for another DDG-51 surface combatant in the fiscal 2005 budget, Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) and Richard Vortmann, president of the National Steel and Shipbuilding Company (NASSCO), said at an American Shipbuilding Association (ASA) forum April 20. Doing so would have the U.S. Navy procure 63 DDG-51s instead of the planned 62. General Dynamics' Bath Iron Works, based in Maine, builds DDG-51s.
FORT BELVOIR, Va. - Several key components of the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter, including the radar, software and weapons bay, are achieving key milestones, program representatives said April 20.
Space and defense company Aeroject, owned by GenCorp and based in Sacramento, Calif., expects a 10 to 15 percent revenue increase this year, GenCorp CEO and President Terry Hall said April 20. "We expect to make half a billion this year in revenue at Aerojet, up from $321 million in sales in fiscal 2003," he said in a meeting with Aerospace Daily & Defense report and Aviation Week & Space Technology magazine. "We expect 5, 6, 7 and 8 percent growth in the following consecutive years."
President Bush's vision for space exploration is "stalled" in Congress, in part due to a perceived lack of detail and lingering uncertainty over NASA's ability to carry it out, according to a senior Senate staff member. A. John Cullen, senior staff member with the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transporta-tion and a technical consultant on space for Sen. Ernest F. Hollings (D-S.C.), said that despite its promise, the vision remains stalled along party lines.
U.S. forces should rush the delivery of equipment to Iraqi security forces as the war-torn country prepares for a transition of power, Deputy Secretary of Defense Paul Wolfowitz told members of the Senate Armed Services Committee April 20. Wolfowitz, who testified along with military leaders on defense policy and planning in Iraq and Afghanistan, said the U.S. should accelerate the provision of weapons, ammunition, vehicles and radios to Iraqi security forces.
ROCKWELL COLLINS will provide Block 1 modification upgrades for U.S. Navy E-6B aircraft under a $79 million Navy contract. The program could be worth up to $300 million, the company said. The modification would provide the aircraft with an open-system architecture for mission avionics and would upgrade its primary mission systems, including the Digital Airborne Intercommunication Switching System (DAISS) and the Ultra High Frequency Command, Control and Communications system, Rockwell Collins said.
FORT BELVOIR, Va. - The F-35 Joint Strike Fighter program office is exploring the possibility of increasing the number of precision-guided Small Diameter Bombs (SDBs) the aircraft could carry in its internal weapons bays, a program official said April 20. JSF already is slated to carry up to eight SDBs internally, as well as 16 externally, but the program office wants the aircraft to have more firepower when it carries its weapons internally to maximize stealth, said Air Force Maj. Gen. Jack Hudson, who oversees JSF for the U.S. Defense Department.
Former Boeing official Darleen Druyun could receive a maximum of five years in prison and a $250,000 fine for covering up her job negotiations with a company executive while overseeing a $20 billion negotiation with the U.S. Air Force, the U.S. Attorney for the eastern district of Virginia said April 20. Druyun pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy in U.S. District Court and will be sentenced Aug. 6, U.S. Attorney Paul J. McNulty said in a statement.
TEAM KEYPORT SERVICES, a joint venture of BAE SYSTEMS and RAYTHEON INTEGRATED DEFENSE SYSTEMS, will provide engineering, professional and business management support to the Naval Undersea Warfare Center (NUWC) in Keyport, Wash., under a $54.7 million contract. The contract, awarded by the Fleet and Industrial Supply Center, Bremerton, Wash., and could reach $301.7 million if all four one-year options are exercised, BAE Systems said. Twenty-four subcontractors are part of the joint venture, the company said.
An analysis of alternatives (AOA) that focused on the ground moving target indicator (GMTI) of the projected Space Based Radar will figure in SBR concept development contracts awarded last week, according to a U.S. Air Force official. Lockheed Martin and Northrop Grumman got 24-month, $220 million Air Force contracts for concept development of the projected system on April 16 (DAILY, April 19).
Airdrome Holdings LLC of of Long Beach, Calif., which builds aerospace tube fittings and components, has acquired AF AEROSPACE LTD. of Rugby, England, the company said. AF Aerospace (AFA) builds pneumatic and hydraulic components for aerospace applications. "Joining forces with AFA ensures that we will meet all the financial strength requirements of our key customers through all types of market conditions," James Eaton, president and CEO of Airdrome Holdings, said in a statement.
Boeing's X-45A unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) released an inert Global Positioning System-guided Small Smart Bomb April 18, successfully hitting a ground target at the Naval Air Warfare Center Weapons Division Range at China Lake, Calif.
The U.S. Army is looking for a directed energy (DE) weapon or weapons that could be developed relatively quickly to generate more enthusiasm for the technology, according to a service official.
UCAR TEAM: Raytheon Co. has joined Lockheed Martin's team competing for the Unmanned Combat Armed Rotorcraft (UCAR) program, Lockheed Martin said April 19. Raytheon will develop and deploy sensors and related technologies for the program. A team led by Northrop Grumman is competing with Lockheed Martin for the program. Both were selected to move into Phase II of the program last year, and one is expected to be picked later this year to build a flying demonstrator system.
BAE Systems will build high-frequency transmitters for use in an ionospheric research program, the U.S. Department of Defense said April 19. The company was awarded a $35.4 million delivery order under a previously awarded contract to build transmitters for the High Frequency Active Auroral Research Program (HAARP), DOD said. The transmitters will be installed in the HAARP's Gakona, Alaska, phased-array antenna system.
