Sen. Carl Levin (D-Mich.), the ranking Democrat on the Senate Armed Services Committee, said June 8 that Gordon England's nomination for deputy secretary of defense is being held up on an ethics concern but that the problem will be fixed, possibly as soon as this week. Levin stressed to reporters that England is a strong candidate for the No. 2 Pentagon job and he enjoys ardent bipartisan SASC support, but the committee has a longtime anti-conflict requirement that has temporarily stifled moving England's nomination to the full Senate for confirmation.
NASA Administrator Michael Griffin has chosen to replace Associate Administrator for Exploration Craig Steidle, who will be leaving the agency by the end of June.
The ARTEMIS satellite payload being developed by Raytheon Co. (DAILY, June 1) is intended to help demonstrate the feasibility of the "responsive space" idea, according to a company official. ARTEMIS - Advanced Responsive Tactically Effective Military Imaging Spectrometer - would fly on satellites that "would be launched on demand when needed, versus the current practice of maintaining an expensive fleet of long-life satellites in orbit," Dave Shingledecker, vice president for Raytheon Strategic Systems, said in a company announcement.
NAVAL READINESS: CACI International Inc. of Arlington, Va., has been awarded a three-year, $73 million contract to support the Naval Aviation Enterprise and the Naval Aviation Readiness Integrated Improvement Program, the company said June 8. CACI will provide technical services and program management to support Navy cost-saving initiatives in its readiness programs, the company said. CACI experts will help evaluate current polices and procedures, collect and analyze data, and identify and remove barriers to improve processes, training, and resource management.
Jane P. Chappell has been appointed vice president of the strategic imaging systems product line for its intelligence and information systems business. T.W. Scott has been named chief information officer for intelligence and information systems business.
The South Korean company Samsung Techwin is the "rising star" of the international market for self-propelled artillery, according to a new analysis from Forecast International Weapons Group. The market for such artillery is "robust," the new version of the annual study says, with more than 4,200 systems worth more than $14 billion expected to be produced over the next decade.
The International Space Station's Elektron oxygen generation system and Control Moment Gyros remain the most pressing repair needs onboard the outpost, according to Expedition 10 Commander Leroy Chiao, who returned from his six-month stay in April. The Russian Elektron unit has "been balky for several missions now," Chiao said during an exclusive interview with The DAILY and affiliate Aviation Week & Space Technology. "Our flight was no exception."
AWS: Titan Corp. subsidiary International Systems LLC will produce about 85 Affordable Weapon System missiles for demonstration, test and evaluation under a $32.3 million contract from the U.S. Navy, which was awarded late last month (DAILY, May 24). The company will also work on the AWS launcher design and ship integration. The AWS is a guided missile system consisting of missile, launcher and mobile ground station, intended to carry a 200-pound payload to a target several hundred miles away. The contract was awarded by the Naval Sea Systems Command.
Following a series of on-site visits with 118 hopefuls in May, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency has narrowed the field for its next Grand Challenge robotic ground vehicle race to 40 teams.
SEARCHLIGHTS: Xenonics Holdings Inc. said June 7 that the U.S. Marine Corps has bought roughly $3 million worth of its NightHunter illumination systems. The Carlsbad, Calif., company expects to ship the entire order immediately. Xenonics chief executive Dick Naughton said the company would continue lobbying lawmakers and defense officials and expects the effort to lead to more orders. The product, a compact searchlight, can illuminate objects more than a mile away with no "black hole" to obstruct the field of view, according to a company statement.
A key congressional panel is predicting that the U.S. Air Force's Personnel Recovery Vehicle (PRV) program will not meet its goal to pick a prime contractor by February. In a new report explaining its version of the fiscal 2006 defense appropriations bill, the House Appropriations Committee cut the Air Force's $113.8 million request for PRV by $42 million, or 37%, citing the expected delay.
Former Defense Department acquisition chief Edward C. "Pete" Aldridge Jr. is the highest Pentagon official alleged to be responsible for pushing the now-failed Boeing tanker lease with the U.S. Air Force, according to a new report, although new information indicates greater White House involvement.
Space Systems/Loral has won a contract from XM Satellite Radio of Washington, D.C., to build XM-5, a ground spare that will serve as a backup to XM's fleet of digital broadcasting satellites. Based on Space Systems/Loral's (SS/L) 1300 satellite bus, XM-5 will be delivered in 2007. It will have an on-orbit design life of 15 years and will feature two large mesh antennas. XM-5 is the first satellite XM has ordered from SS/L, and the fourth satellite order SS/L has received so far in 2005.
SHIP WORK: The U.S. Navy announced late June 6 that Cascade General of Portland, Ore., was awarded a maximum $5.7 million contract for the "midterm availability" of USNS Rainier (T-AOE 7), or repair work without a full dry-docking. Rainier is a Naval Fleet Auxiliary Force ship owned and operated by Military Sealift Command. The work will be done in Portland and is expected to be finished by October.
The House Appropriations Committee has funded NASA at $16.5 billion in fiscal 2006, or $14.7 million more than President Bush's request and $274.7 million above the enacted FY '05 level, including supplemental funding. The committee supported a push by Rep. Frank Wolf (R-Va.), chairman of the panel's science subcommittee, to restore the agency's aeronautics research efforts at the FY '05 level of $906 million.
The House Appropriations Committee on June 7 voted to add one DDG-51 destroyer, two Littoral Combat Ships and one T-AKE amphibious cargo ship above President Bush's fiscal 2006 request, which already included four new U.S. Navy ships.
Lockheed Martin has been awarded two contracts worth $22.8 million to provide field support and upgrades for tactical missile defense radar systems used by U.S. Marines in Iraq and Afghanistan, the company said June 7.
United Defense Industries Inc. of Minneapolis has been awarded a $376 million contract for the continuing design, development and testing of the Advanced Gun System, which includes the fully automated gun, magazine, and Long Range Land Attack Projectile for the Navy's new DD(X) destroyer, the company said June 7. The AGS will be a fully automated, single barrel, 155mm, vertically loaded, stabilized gun mount that can store, program, load, and fire the LRLAP. Each DD(X) destroyer would have two AGSs with up to 900 rounds of LRLAP ammunition.
THERMAL WEAPON SIGHTS: DRS Technologies Inc. of Parsippany, N.J., has received $43 million in new orders to produce more than 4,000 Thermal Weapon Sights for the U.S. Army, the company said June 7. DRS will produce light, medium and heavy sights using uncooled infrared technology. Deliveries will begin in October 2005 and continue through October 2006.
