AVIONICS TEST SET: Tel-Instrument Electronics Corp. announced March 31 that it was awarded a $17.3 million contract by the U.S. Navy for its multifunction avionics flight line test set. The small business set-aside contract calls for the systems engineering, design and integration, fabrication, testing and production of a communication/navigation radio frequency avionics flight line tester with sonobuoy simulator capabilities.
April 4 - 7 -- U.S. Space Foundation, The Broadmoor, Colorado Springs, Colo. For more information go to www.spacesymposium.org. April 5 - 7 -- 2005 Fuze Conference, "Safety and Reliability Through Technology - New Global Impact," The Westin, Seattle, Wash. For more information go to www.ndia.org. April 11 - 12 -- Technology Training Corp.'s Third Annual UCAVs, Armed UAVs & Precision Munitions Conference. Excalibur Hotel & Casino, Las Vegas, Nev. For more information call 310-563-1223 or go to www.ttcus.com.
Demand for ultra-high frequency spectrum access far exceeds what the Defense Department is capable of providing, according to Army Brig. Gen. Jeffrey W. Foley, Central Command's director of command, control, communications and computer systems. Programs are under way to maximize existing bandwidth while exploring new satellite initiatives and ways to tap into new portions of the frequency spectrum, he told the official DOD news service.
The Defense Department is considering a plan to increase investment in microwave power tube technologies, according to a recent report from the Pentagon's office of industrial policy. "The U.S. microwave tube industry is meeting the current DOD needs, but investments are needed for future applications," the 2005 Industrial Capabilities Report says.
JSF HELM: Bob Elrod, co-leader of Lockheed Martin's F-35 Joint Strike Fighter program, will retire June 30 and be replaced by Daniel Crowley, a training and simulation executive at the company, Lockheed Martin announced March 31. Crowley will share the F-35 helm with longtime JSF official Tom Burbage.
The European Commission has given final approval to Honeywell International's purchase of United Kingdom-based Novar plc, Honeywell said March 31. In December, Honeywell announced its intention to buy Novar, a $2.7 billion nondefense company, for $2.4 billion (DAILY, Dec. 14). Honeywell will integrate Novar's Intelligent Building Systems unit, which had 2003 revenue of $1.2 billion, into its Automation and Control Solutions division, which builds sensors and switches for the housing and automotive industry and other markets.
SEASPARROW: Raytheon-built Evolved SeaSparrow Missiles and Standard Missile-2s successfully intercepted targets mimicking anti-ship missiles during exercises conducted in early March, the company said March 31. The missiles were fired from a Netherlands navy air defense and command frigate in the Atlantic Ocean and had six successful intercepts.
The Department of Defense identified armor production as a possible industrial base risk for the Army and its Future Combat Systems (FCS) program in its most recent industrial capabilities report to Congress. Other risks cited include those associated with the Joint Tactical Radio System (JTRS), software cyber security and soldier systems, according to the report.
BETTER REPORTING: The Defense Department could give Congress more complete information on defense program cost overruns, the Government Accountabilty Office (GAO) said in a recent report (DAILY, March 29), such as by reporting "a full history of unit cost performance in constant dollars. ..." The report also said that DOD reporting of changes to program baselines could be more timely. The following charts are from that report.
Although the U.S. Defense Department does not plan to announce the results of a major review of the Air Force F/A-22 Raptor for at least several more days, sources said March 31 that the Lockheed Martin-built aircraft received approval to enter full-rate production.
DEEPWATER: Rep. Frank LoBiondo (R-N.J.), chairman of the House Transportation Committee's Coast Guard subcommittee, will hold a hearing April 20 to review, and likely challenge, the Coast Guard's revised baseline plan for its Deepwater recapitalization effort, according to LoBiondo's spokesman. LoBiondo is concerned that the service's timeline is not fast enough because assets are deteriorating at an accelerated rate. Other lawmakers have attacked the plan as inadequate for similar reasons (DAILY, March 30).
The production decision for the U.S. Navy's Advanced SEAL Delivery System (ASDS) has been postponed again, this time until December, as problems over the special forces submersible's lithium ion battery continue to plague development, according to a new report from congressional investigators.
While the U.S. Army works on possible improvements to its interim Stryker vehicle, it should finish up-armoring the 750 M113 armored personnel carriers "sitting in Kuwait" and send them to Iraq, said Eric Miller, senior defense investigator for the Washington nonprofit Project on Government Oversight (POGO).
General Dynamics Network Systems has been awarded a $36 million task order to support and sustain U.S. Air Force voice, video and data networks and equipment, the company said March 31. The Combat Information Transport System Life Cycle Support Services order was issued under the U.S. Air Force's Network-Centric Solutions (NETCENTS) contract.
Pratt & Whitney is on track to begin building the first flight-test engine for the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter this summer in Middletown, Conn., a company spokesman said March 31. Pratt & Whitney plans to deliver the engine to the JSF program in December to support the aircraft's first flight in August 2006. A total of 20 F135 flight-test engines are planned. A recent F135 review overseen by the U.S. Defense Department's JSF program office found that the engine is meeting its goals, the company said.
LRIP APPROVED: Michael Wynne, the acting undersecretary of defense for acquisition, technology and logistics, signed an acquisition decision memorandum (ADM) on March 31 approving low-rate initial production for up to 40 new UH-60M Black Hawk helicopters, according to an information paper on the ADM. The Army told The DAILY of the decision earlier this month, although the final numbers approved were not available until the ADM was released (DAILY, March 17). The ADM also approves advanced procurement for the first full-rate production lot. Sikorsky Aircraft Corp.
WATCH LIST: The Defense Department has identified four important, "unusual" technologies that while not likely to be part of the U.S. defense arsenal, could pose challenges to U.S. military personnel if possessed by potential adversaries, according to the Pentagon's 2005 Industrial Capabilities Report to Congress. The four technologies are: Metal Storm Ltd.'s million-rounds-per-minute gun; electrohydraulic cavitation devices; towed fabric balloon pressure sweep; and rigid polyurethane foam.
United Defense Industries Inc.'s Southwest Marine shipyard has been awarded a five-year contract worth up to $44 million to perform maintenance and other work on seven Ticonderoga-class Aegis cruisers in San Diego, the company said March 31. Besides maintenance, the work will include planning, nine Selected Restricted Availabilities and two Dry Docking Selected Restricted Availabilities, Arlington, Va.-based UDI said.
Metal Storm Ltd.'s new CEO acknowledged the recent volatility of the company's stock, but said there's nothing the company knows about "that has not been publicly disclosed which would explain the movements in price."
With the Stafford-Covey Return to Flight Task Group awaiting data from NASA that probably won't be available until mid-April, it now appears unlikely that the group will meet its original goal of delivering its final report one month before the space shuttle's next flight.
Most of the 54 major defense programs surveyed by the Government Accountability Office (GAO) "are costing more and taking longer to develop than planned," the congressional watchdog agency said in an annual report. The programs, worth a total of $800 billion, mostly "proceeded with less knowledge at critical junctures than suggested by best practices, although some programs came close to meeting best practice standards," the report says.
The threat from cruise missiles "is real and growing, but not unmanageable," according to a report from the Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments. "The United States clearly has the wherewithal to improve greatly its defenses against anti-ship and land attack cruise missiles," it says. "What is needed is a holistic approach to the problem."
