Defense Solutions LLC will rebuild 77 T-72 main battle tanks and other vehicles for Iraq's army under an agreement with Iraq's Ministry of Defense, the company said May 9. Financial terms were not disclosed.
The Government Accountability Office (GAO) has denied a contract protest from Madison Research Corp. (MRC) of Huntsville, Ala., that contended that the Air Force improperly awarded a support contract to COLSA Corp., also based in Huntsville. The contract was for assisting the Air Force in research, developing, acquiring, testing and maintaining aircraft and munition systems at Eglin Air Force Base, Fla., and other locations.
The U.S. aerospace and defense industry responded to the global marketplace and expanded internationally, so U.S. leaders should tread lightly regarding domestic requirements, Lockheed Martin Senior Vice President Robert H. Trice told lawmakers recently on Capitol Hill. The industry last year provided a trade surplus of $32 billion. "If cross-border relationships are anti-American, the defense industry didn't get the memo," he said.
The U.S. Navy said May 6 that it successfully conducted live-fire testing for the Spartan Scout, a new remote-controlled unmanned surface vehicle (USV) under advanced development by the Pentagon. The Spartan Scout conducted the first live-fire test of a USV at Aberdeen Proving Grounds, Md., in early April. During the tests, it fired a remotely controlled, high-fidelity, electro-optically sighted .50-caliber machine gun while moving across the open water.
The European Aeronautic Defence and Space Co. (EADS) "strongly improved" its financial performance in the first quarter of 2005, mostly driven by improved earnings in the Airbus division, the company said May 9. EADS reported earnings before interest and taxes (EBIT) of 657 million euros ($840 million), more than triple the 198 million euros reported for the same period in 2004. Revenues grew 16%, to 7 billion euros ($9 billion) due to "strong performance across all divisions," including the defense division, which also grew by 16%.
The soon-to-be San Antonio, the first ship of the LPD 17 class of new amphibious ships, has returned to Northrop Grumman Ship Systems' (NGSS) Pascagoula, Miss., facility after successfully completing its sea trials, the U.S. Navy said May 6. The company tested ship maneuvering and steering, propulsion and propulsion controls, mission systems, auxiliary systems and combat systems. The Shipboard Wide Area Network and Engineering Control System, which the Navy says makes up the cornerstone of the complex new vessel, also was demonstrated.
Pennsylvania State University is being awarded a $27.7 million task order for work on the Persistent Littoral Undersea Surveillance Network (PLUSNET) concept. PLUSNET is to be a semiautonomous network of fixed bottom and in-water mobile sensors for detecting and tracking diesel electric submarines operating in shallow waters typical of the Western Pacific. The submarines pose a potential threat to U.S. forces stationed offshore near a combat zone.
Led by its Shadow 200 Tactical Unmanned Aerial Vehicle Program, United Industrial Corp. posted a 31.7% gain in net sales and a 195% jump in net income for the first quarter of 2005, the company said May 9. Net sales from continuing operations for the first three months of 2005 rose to $107.5 million, compared with $81.6 million for the same period of 2004, the company said. First quarter 2005 net income rose to $12.7 million, or 84 cents a share, compared with $4.3 million, or 32 cents per share, the year before.
SWARMING UNMANNED: The U.S. Navy said May 9 that Alion Science and Technology Corp. of Chicago was awarded a $20 million contract for technical services to develop an "intelligent control system" for swarming, unmanned vehicles to demonstrate autonomous operations and cooperative behavior for persistent surveillance. Work will be performed in Morgantown, W. Va., and is expected to be completed in May 2009.
TANK REPAIRS: General Dynamics Land Systems of Sterling Heights, Mich., has been awarded a $25.2 million delivery order to service M1A2 System Enhancement Package (SEP) tanks returning from Iraq, the company said May 9. The order is part of a $56.3 million contract and was awarded by the U.S. Army TACOM Lifecycle Management Command. General Dynamics will modify, repair and service the vehicles and reissue them to Army units before their next deployments. The work is set to start in June 2005. It will be done in Lima, Ohio, Eynon, Pa., and Sterling Heights.
MAINTENANCE: CAE Inc. of Montreal has been awarded a 15-year contract worth Canadian $45 million (U.S. $36.3 million) to provide maintenance and support services for the NATO Flying Training in Canada program, the company said May 9. The contract was awarded by Bombardier Military Aviation Training of Mirabel, Quebec. CAE will provide a range of support services for five flight training devices: three T-6A FTDs and one Hawk FTD located at Canadian Forces Base (CFB) Moose Jaw, and one Hawk FTD at CFB Cold Lake.
EVOLVING SEASPARROW: Raytheon Co. on May 6 was awarded a $162.8 million contract for production of the Evolved SeaSparrow Missile (ESSM) for the U.S. Navy and nine other NATO and allied nations. The contract calls for 251 missiles, 38 shipping containers and associated spares for Australia, Canada, Germany, Norway and the Navy by October 2007. Raytheon said its international partners would perform the majority of the work, 55%, while Raytheon completes the rest. The ESSM is an "international cooperative upgrade" of the RIM-7 NATO SeaSparrow Missile, the company said.
COUGAR ORDER: U.S. Army and Marine Corps generals testifying before the House Armed Services Committee on May 5 said their services have placed a joint order for 120 Cougar troop-carrying vehicles made by Force Protection Inc. "We've taken the cue from the Marine Corps in procuring a vehicle called the Cougar," Army Brig. Gen. Joseph L. Votel, director of the Joint Improvised Explosive Device Defeat Task Force, told lawmakers. The vehicle is designed for joint explosive ordnance disposal.
NSA SUPPORT: SI International Inc. of Reston, Va., has been awarded a four-and-a-half-year, multimillion-dollar contract to support the National Security Agency (NSA), the company said May 9. Exact financial terms were not disclosed. The contract includes a six-month base period and four one-year options. SI International, under the Bridge Technology subsidiary, will provide the NSA with expertise in program management, resource management, cost modeling, business analysis, and software engineering, the company said.
The Bell-Boeing team competing for the U.S. Air Force's Personnel Recovery Vehicle (PRV) program believes its offering could be fielded early because the tiltrotor aircraft would need few modifications to perform the PRV mission.
Northrop Grumman, prime contractor for the U.S. Missile Defense Agency's Kinetic Energy Interceptor (KEI) program, has begun a series of studies to assess the system's ability to conduct several types of missions beyond its main purpose. KEI initially is intended to shoot down long-range ballistic missiles in their boost phase of flight. But MDA has said that the mobile, land-based system might be useful in other phases of flight and against shorter ranges of missiles.
House Appropriations Committee Chairman Rep. Jerry Lewis (R-Calif.) has circulated subcommittee allocations for consideration by the full committee this week, including $363.4 billion for the defense subcommittee. That figure is $11 billion more than the fiscal 2005 enacted level but $3.3 billion below President Bush's fiscal year 2006 request. However, Lewis said in a statement that he shifted some national security funds out of the defense panel's jurisdiction while maintaining Bush's total request.
MORE HYPERSONICS: NASA Administrator Michael Griffin plans to increase the agency's support for hypersonic flight research. "I think it's important to the future of the United States, as much for military purposes as for civil purposes, and if we believe that NASA is a core element of the nation's aeronautics research program then we need to be doing more in hypersonics," Griffin says. Following the two successful flights of the X-43A demonstrator in 2004, NASA has no other hypersonic flight demonstrations on the horizon.
JSF MATING: The center and forward fuselage for the first F-35 Joint Strike Fighter flight-test jet were mated May 4 in Fort Worth, Texas. Prime contractor Lockheed Martin supplied the forward fuselage and Northrop Grumman built the midsection. The Lockheed Martin wing and BAE Systems aft fuselage are to be added to the aircraft in the coming weeks. Photo courtesy Lockheed Martin.
EADS BOOM: A new aerial refueling boom system developed by EADS is undergoing ground testing in Madrid, Spain, and is expected to begin flight-testing this fall, a company spokesman says. Although the boom initially will be flown on the Airbus A310, the aircraft's rear resembles that of the A330, which EADS plans to offer if the U.S. Air Force holds a competition for a new tanker. The Air Force prefers pole-like booms over the hose-based refueling systems that Airbus tankers have traditionally used.
May 9 - 11 -- The 3rd Annual Conference on Integrated Defense Architectures, "Needs, Initiatives, Opportunities, Challenges, Tools & Techniques," Holiday Inn Rosslyn at Key Bridge. For more information call (310) 563-1223 or go to www.technologytraining.com. May 9 - 12 -- 13th Global Demilitarization Symposium & Exhibition, John Ascuaga's Nugget, Sparks, Nev. For more information go to www.ndia.org.
