By the end of 2006, Sikorsky Aircraft plans to build and fly a demonstrator for a new class of co-axial helicopters capable of cruising at 250 knots, the company announced June 1. Coaxial helicopters feature two counter-rotating sets of helicopter blades on the same vertical axis. Known as the X2 Technology demonstrator, the helicopter will be flown at Sikorsky's Schweizer Aircraft subsidiary in Elmira, N.Y. Preliminary design work is finished and parts are being built, according to the company.
Defense electronics and support company Engineered Support Systems Inc. overcame a financial hit suffered by a key military program by posting revenues from other business segments and recently acquired subsidiaries. The St. Louis-based company reported record net revenues of $263.8 million for the quarter ended April 30, a 25% increase compared with the same period last year, the company said June 1.
Raytheon Co. will be the leading supplier of air defense missiles over the next decade, according to a new report from Forecast International, heading a market that will reach revenue of $22.8 billion between 2005 and 2014. More than 88,000 surface-to-air missiles (SAMs) will be produced around the world in that time.
DOUBLY SMART: EDO Corp. said June 1 that it was awarded an $11 million contract for the first production lot of 135 BRU-55 dual-carriage, "smart" bomb racks for the U.S. Navy's F/A-18 aircraft. The deal runs roughly two years and includes an option for additional production units. The BRU-55 works with the GBU-38 (500-pound Joint Direct Attack Munition) and doubles the smart-weapon carriage capacity of an F/A-18, EDO said. Cmdr.
Boeing's Small Diameter Bomb (SDB) had it longest flight to date in a test conducted last month, flying more than 55 miles and coming within 34 inches of its target, the company said June 1. In a May 11 test, conducted near Eglin Air Force Base, Fla., the SDB was launched from an altitude of 30,000 feet, flew its record distance and hit a target barge in the Gulf of Mexico.
ATV PURCHASE: The Netherlands has agreed to buy 74 BvS10 All Terrain Vehicles worth 43 million pounds ($77.8 million) for its marines from BAE Systems Land Systems Hagglunds, the company said June 1. The ATVs will come in four variants: troop carrier, command, repair and recovery, and ambulance. They will be used as logistics vehicles to carry troops and equipment. Deliveries of the ATVs will begin in January 2006 and be finished by April 2007. The British Royal Marines currently are using the vehicles, and they are being tested by the French and Finnish militaries.
Glen Kassan, Warren G. Lichtenstein, Gen. Richard I. Neal (USMC Ret.), and Frederick M. Strader have been elected to the board of directors. Kassan is executive vice president of Steel Partners Ltd. Lichtenstein is president and CEO of Steel Partners Ltd. Strader is UIC president and CEO.
TANKER REPORT: Top Defense Department officials said June 1 that the department's inspector general's report on the now-failed Boeing 767 tanker lease-buy contract has been sent to Congress. The IG probe is a response to a letter sent to the Pentagon late last year by Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman Sen. John Warner (R-Va.), ranking member Sen. Carl Levin (D-Mich.) and Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.). The senators complained about what they said was an atmosphere devoid of accountability or oversight that led to the deal.
The U.S. Navy said late May 31 that it was awarding multiple-award contracts to 503 contractors for support services for all phases of weapon systems acquisition and life-cycle support, including research and development, prototyping, logistics, modeling, test and evaluation trials and engineering.
NASA is considering testing a free-floating camera for future inspections of the space shuttle and International Space Station (ISS) in orbit. Developed at Johnson Space Center in Houston, the Miniature Autonomous Extravehicular Robotic Camera (Mini AERCam) is a free-flying robotic inspection vehicle derived from the AERCam free flyer that flew as an experiment aboard the shuttle in 1997. The spherical Mini AERCam is 7.5 inches across and weighs about 10 pounds.
The U.S. Defense Department has given its final blessing to the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter program's strategy for fixing the aircraft's weight problems. In a two-sentence statement, DOD said June 1 that Pentagon acquisition chief Michael Wynne has approved a detailed version of the "re-plan" that is intended to overcome JSF's weight woes. Wynne's decision follows a May 5 Defense Acquisition Board review of the program (DAILY, May 6). A more conceptual version of the re-plan received DOD's endorsement in 2004.
JUNO: NASA announced June 1 that the proposed Juno mission to Jupiter will proceed to a preliminary design. The second mission in NASA's New Frontiers Program, Juno would place a spacecraft in polar orbit around Jupiter to investigate the existence of an ice-rock core and study the planet's atmosphere and magnetic field. To launch before mid-1020, the mission will be capped at $700 million.
Lockheed Martin and Aerojet conducted the second test firing of the Atlas V's upgraded Block B solid rocket booster (SRB) on May 24 at Edwards Air Force Base, Calif., the companies announced. It was the second test of the Aerojet-built Block B SRB at the company's new SRB test stand at Edwards. A third test is planned for this fall.
REPLENISHING OILER: United Defense Industries Inc. announced June 1 that the U.S. Military Sealift Command awarded it a $1.6 million contract for work on the USNS Laramie (T-AO 203). If all options are exercised, the award could total slightly more than $2 million. The work is scheduled to complete on July 15. The Laramie is one of MSC's 14 Fleet Replenishment Oilers and is part of the 37-ship Naval Fleet Auxiliary Force, which provides fuel, food, ammunition, spare parts and other supplies and services to ships at sea.
Ron Genova has been appointed to the scientific and commercialization board of advisers. Genova is a former executive with JDS Uniphase of San Jose, Calif.
The Air Force has released a request for proposals for the Transformational Satellite Communications (TSAT) Mission Operations System (TMOS), and has scheduled a bidders' conference for June 2. Responses to the RFP, released May 27, are due July 25. A single TMOS contractor is slated to be chosen by the end of fiscal year 2005, or Oct. 1.
The tri-national Medium Extended Air Defense System (MEADS) program has completed two key events in as many weeks, according to MEADS International, which is developing the anti-aircraft, anti-missile system.
