Boeing officials expressed confidence April 6 about their ability to contain the cost of the V-22 Osprey tiltrotor transport aircraft and win a contract to provide the U.S. Air Force with 100 KC-767A tankers.
The testing schedule for the U.S. Navy's MH-60R helicopter slipped about 10 months while engineers grappled with technical and training-related issues discovered during testing last summer, according to prime systems integrator Lockheed Martin.
Major Pentagon acquisition programs have increased in cost by $73 billion, or 5.8 percent, the U.S. Defense Department said April 6 in releasing the latest selected acquisition reports (SARs).
BAE Systems North America will buy the assets of STI Government Systems of Honolulu, Hawaii, for $27 million in cash, the company said April 5. STI Government Systems provides photonics, information technologies and systems integration services to U.S. government customers. "STI Government Systems scientists and engineers are well respected throughout government and industry for their innovative technology solutions," Galen Ho, president of BAE Systems North America's Information and Electronic Systems Integration Sector said in a statement.
The Ground-based Midcourse Defense (GMD) system has successfully demonstrated the ability of an Alaska-based interceptor silo to open its doors while buried under a massive pile of snow, according to the U.S. Missile Defense Agency. During a February test at Fotr Greely, Alaska, where much of the GMD system is being built, an interceptor silo opened its doors in 1.12 seconds despite being blanketed by a 29-foot-high heap of compacted snow, MDA said April 2. The goal was an opening time of 1.75 seconds or less.
The F-35 Joint Strike Fighter program is showing signs of maturity even as the aircraft continues to battle a weight problem, according to prime contractor Lockheed Martin. "A lot of stuff is coming together right now," said Tom Burbage, who heads Lockheed Martin's work on JSF.
A cabin pressure monitor (CPM) developed by NASA engineer Jan Zysko was named NASA's top commercial and government invention for 2003, the agency said. The CPM, patented by NASA, is a hand-held device that senses local environmental pressure while operating separately from other aircraft or spacecraft systems, NASA said. The device is being used in the Kennedy Space Center's Mars Simulation Chamber to protect workers from an accidental pressure reduction, a NASA official told The DAILY, and it also is being sold for use in commercial aircraft.
As the U.S. Navy moves from being primarily a blue water navy and places new emphasis on fighting in the littorals, BAE Systems officials say they and their European partners are ready to offer their experience in developing mine warfare systems.
Lockheed Martin Maritime Systems & Sensors (MS2) is planning an innovative small, high-speed littoral ship that would be able to engage small attack boats at five nautical miles, George Root, director of advanced programs at Lockheed Martin MS2, said April 5 at the Navy League's Sea-Air-Space Expo. Lockheed Martin envisions the Covert, High-Speed Attack and Reconnaissance Craft (CHARC) deploying from a larger combatant, which could include a version of the Littoral Combat Ship (LCS) - a program for which Lockheed Martin is competing - Root said.
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. - U.S. Air Force officials say a new GPS Operations Center at Schreiver Air Force Base here shifts the focus from those who operate the navigation satellites to warfighters and civil users, giving them real-time information to help offset problems that may crop up with ground stations, receivers or the satellites themselves.
EMALS: General Atomics was awarded a $145.6 million contract for the system development and demonstration of an Electromagnetic Aircraft Launch System (EMALS), the Defense Department said April 5. The SDD phase includes the design, delivery, test and support of a full-scale EMALS at Naval Air Systems Command facilities in New Jersey, the DOD said.
The U.S. Army Research, Development and En-gineering Center (TARDEC) has has asked Quantum Fuel Systems Technologies of Irvin, Calif., to develop transportable hydrogen refuelers to support its fuel cell vehicles. The technology comes as the armed services have been seeking more portable and lightweight power sources for equipment for troops in Iraq and Afghanistan. The $1 million agreement is an expansion of a contract for light-duty off-road vehicles also currently under development.
Engineering development models (EDMs) of eight of the DD(X) next-generation destroyer's 10 technology areas have passed preliminary design review (PDR), and three have gone through critical design review, a program official said April 5. The DD(X) hull form is scheduled for a PDR this week, and the dual-band radar will go through its PDR in May, according to Brian Cuccias, DD(X) program manager at Northrop Grumman Ship Systems.
Members of the House Armed Services Committee are asking their leaders to include an amendment in the fiscal 2005 defense authorization bill that would limit the leasing of foreign-built ships by the U.S. Department of Defense to 12 months, including contract optionss.
Vision Systems International (VSI), a joint venture between EFW Inc. and Rockwell Collins' Kaiser Aerospace and Electronics, is delivering more than 400 additional Joint Helmet Mounted Cueing Systems (JHMCS) under a $62.6 million contract from the Boeing Co.
MDA MICROSATS: SpaceDev of Poway, Calif., will conduct a distributed sensing experiment for the Missile Defense Agency (MDA) using three microsatellites flying in formation under a $43 million, five-year contract awarded April 1. The contract also contains options for a laser communications experiment and other microsatellite studies, according to the company. The satellites will be based on the company's Cosmic Hot Interstellar Plasma Spectrometer satellite (CHIPSat), a microsatellite built for NASA and launched last year.
AURA DELIVERED: Northrop Grumman has delivered NASA's Aura satellite to Vandenberg Air Force Base, Calif., in preparation for its summer launch, the company said April 2. The satellite will be the first capable of collecting data for gauging the concentration and movement of gases in the troposphere, the region that "most affects daily human life," the company said.
April 6 - 7 -- DoD Chemical Biological Advance Planning Briefing for Industry (APBI), Kossiakoff Center, Laurel, Md. Contact Angie Gress at (703) 247-2568, email [email protected], or go to www.ndia.org. April 6 - 8 -- Sea Air Space Exposition 2004, Marriott Wardman Park Hotel, Washington, DC. For more information go to www.sasexpo.org/2004/.
SHOPPING: Air Marshal S. Krishnaswamy, head of the Indian air force, is in France through April 7 to discuss India's possible acquisition of more Mirage fighters. India is seeking multirole aircraft from international markets to replace its aging MiG-21, MiG-23 and MiG-25 aircraft. The Indian defense ministry also is considering a proposal from Dassault Aviation to build Mirage 2000-5 aircraft in India under license (DAILY, Jan. 29). Indian defense planners favor the idea, but a final decision has been postponed under after upcoming elections.
The U.S. Coast Guard's Deepwater program should be completed in 15 years, not 20 or more, Rep. Frank LoBiondo (R-N.J.), who chairs the House Transportation Committee's Coast Guard subcommittee, told The DAILY April 2. "We want to make sure first it doesn't slip beyond 20 years and then we want to see it completed in a faster period of time," LoBiondo said. LoBiondo said the changing nature of the U.S. Coast Guard's mission, particularly its expanded role in homeland security, makes it crucial to upgrade the fleet.
