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.
The F/A-22 Raptor remains on track to start a key test phase in about a week and a half, according to a U.S. Air Force official. The upcoming phase, known as the initial operational test and evaluation (IOT&E), is projected to begin on or about April 30 with the expected conclusion of "final entry events," including the completion of maintainer and pilot training and the certification to Congress that the avionics software is stable, the Air Force official told The DAILY last week in a written response to questions.
Lockheed Martin issued a broad industry announcement April 16 seeking proposals in connection with the Norwegian New Frigate Offset Program. Lockheed Martin is under contract to Spanish Shipbuilder IZAR to supply the Aegis combat system for the frigates.
B-2 COATING: Northrop Grumman has for the first time applied a specially formulated coating to an operational B-2 stealth bomber that is intended to reduce its radar signature, the company announced April 19. Known as alternate high-frequency material (AHFM), the coating was developed for application to the aircraft in areas where regular maintenance is performed. The bomber's stealth characteristics require a smooth outer surface without gaps that could reflect radar waves and reveal its position.
Cost and geography were major factors in Boeing's selection of General Electric and Rolls-Royce engines for the 7E7 Dreamliner, according to aerospace analysts. Earlier this month, Boeing picked engines from those companies over an entry from Pratt & Whitney (DAILY, April 8).
SURVIVABILITY SOFTWARE: Lockheed Martin will develop software to boost the survivability of manned and unmanned rotorcraft in combat situations, the company said April 19. The work will be done under a $7.8 million research and development contract from the U.S. Army Aviation Applied Technology Directorate at Fort Eustis, Va.
AWACS RENEGOTIATION: The U.S. Air Force and the Boeing Co. say they plan to renegotiate the $1.3 billion price of a modernization contract for NATO's airborne warning and control system (AWACS) aircraft, following the release of a report by the Defense Department's Inspector General (IG) that asserts that the Air Force, which spearheaded the contract work, did not follow all of its procedures in determining the price. "To remove any doubt that our customer got a fair and reasonable deal, we volunteered to renegotiate the contract.
ACHILLES' HEEL: The Joint Unmanned Combat Air System (J-UCAS) program is being careful to make sure that bandwidth hunger doesn't become a weakness of the operational system, according to J-UCAS Program Office Director Mike Francis. "The problem isn't just J-UCAS," Francis says. "It's all the other systems that have bandwidth demands." Because the J-UCAS may have to operate before DOD's Transformational Communications System comes online, "we'll be working with something less.
CANDIDATES: The European Space Agency's Directorate of Earth Observation plans to meet near Rome April 19 and 20 to discuss scientific and technical evaluations of six candidates for ESA's next generation of Earth Explorer missions.
Following several days of fact finding and a hearing April 16, the Stafford-Covey Task Group has concluded that NASA has fulfilled three of the return-to-flight recommendations made by the Columbia Accident Investigation Board (CAIB), according to Task Group Co-Chairman Richard Covey. "The progress that has been made by NASA in implementing the recommendations of the [CAIB] is substantial," Covey said during a press conference April 16. However, "they still have much work to do before they will be truly ready to return to flight."
COORDINATION: More needs to be done to coordinate U.S. Department of Defense air traffic management activities with those of other parts of the government, says Aerospace Industries Association (AIA) President John Douglass. The Joint Planning and Development Office (JPDO), established within the FAA to plan air traffic management over the next two to three decades (DAILY, Feb. 26), is a good start, he says. It consists of the FAA, DOD, Transportation Security Agency, Office of Science and Technology Policy, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and NASA.
The Force Application and Launch from the Continental U.S. (FALCON) program plans to open the second phase of its Small Launch Vehicle (SLV) portion to all respondents in a request for proposals (RFP) expected in two weeks. "Task 1" for FALCON is the SLV effort, which is developing a launch vehicle capable of putting 1,000 pounds into low-Earth orbit at very short notice or boosting a hypersonic munition known as the Common Aero Vehicle (CAV) to suborbital altitudes. The SLV is expected to come online by 2010.
NIMROD UPGRADE: Three teams have been selected for the first stage of Project Helix, an effort to upgrade the mission suite of the United Kingdom's Nimrod R1 reconnaissance aircraft. Teams led by L-3 Communications, Lockheed Martin and Northrop Grumman were chosen by the Defence Logistics Organisation, an office of Britain's Ministry of Defence, for an initial nine-month "problem definition" phase. Two of the teams will be chosen to proceed to the next phase, concept definition, which lasts 12 months. One team will be picked in 2006 for the risk reduction phase.
A team led by Northrop Grumman Corp. and the European Aeronautic Defence and Space Co. (EADS) has been picked to develop and build the Alliance Ground Surveillance (AGS) system for the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, NATO announced April 16.
Australia chose European Aeronautic Defense and Space Co. (EADS) over Boeing in a $1.5 billion deal to supply new tanker aircraft, handing Boeing its second defeat in the worldwide aerial tanker market in just three months. Boeing lost to EADS in the United Kingdom's $23 billion tanker competition in late January, prompting observers to say at the time that the development could prompt Australia to go for EADS as well (DAILY, Jan. 27).
SBR WORK: Lockheed Martin and Northrop Grumman, as expected, have been awarded 24-month, $230 million U.S. Air Force study contracts for the Space Based Radar program, the Defense Department said April 16. A prime contractor is expected to be selected for the system in 2006.
UPGRADING: Lockheed Martin will provide new transmitters, receivers and power supplies to upgrade five AN/TPS-59(V)3 radar systems and spares that were used in Operation Enduring Freedom and Operation Iraqi Freedom. The work will be done under a $13.8 million contract from Marine Corps Systems Command, which has options that could boost its value to $27.7 million, the company said April 15.
O&M: "Addressable" operations and maintenance (O&M) budgets will grow at 6 percent a year for fiscal 2005 through fiscal 2009 period, the Government Electronics and Information Technology Association (GEIA) predicts in a recently updated forecast. "Addressable" means the amount of the budget available to electronics and professional services contractors. GEIA segments O&M into seven services and support categories: logistics, maintenance, and depots; information services; training; military operations; base operations; health care; and administration.
The U.S. Department of Defense plans to expand its use of Blue Force Tracking (BFT) by installing "tens of thousands systems like those used by the coalition to track forces in Iraq and Afghanistan," the Army FBCB2 program office said April 14. FBCB2/BFT (Force XXI Battle Command, Brigade-and-Below/Blue Force Tracking) is a tactical command-and-control system that links troops, vehicles, aircraft and sensors via satellite or terrestrial radio to provide a digital picture of the battlefield.
JSF AMMO: The move by the Defense Department's F-35 Joint Strike Fighter program office to consider adding the PGU-25/U High Explosive Incendiary (HEI), an air-to-air ammunition, to the aircraft's 25mm gun design (DAILY, April 15) came in response to a four-year-old requirements document that calls for such a capability on what will primarily be an air-to-ground fighter, program spokeswoman Kathy Crawford says.
April 20 - 22 -- Aviation Week presents MRO Conference & Exhibition 2004, including MRO Latin America and the new MRO Military, Cobb Galleria Centre, Two Galleria Parkway, Atlanta, Ga. To register go to http://www.aviationweek.com/conferences. April 20 - 22 -- 2004 UAV Concepts, tactics and technologies for the 21st Century Conference and Exhibition, Westin Hotel, Sydney, Australia. For information go to www.uvasiapacific.com.
CONVOY PROTECTION: Because of the "extreme measures" the U.S. Army is taking to protect its convoys in Iraq, it is finding and deactivating most of the improvised explosive devices (IEDs) being placed along convoy routes, according to Lt. Gen. Richard Cody, the Army's deputy chief of staff for operations. "Sixty-five percent of the IEDs that are put along convoy routes we are finding today ... before they explode," Cody says. "We knew during this time that our convoys would be increased just because of the sheer movement, so we took military steps.
