SHIFTING PERCEPTION: Asked if there is a shift in congressional perception to awarding U.S. defense contracts to overseas-based firms, EADS North America Chairman and CEO Ralph Crosby says it's hard to tell, but the recent presidential helicopter competition could be an indicator. Concern over the EADS bid for Air Force tankers helped bump the company out of an earlier competition for the work, although it expects to be able to compete again, but "the presidential helicopter award really is the paradigm one ought to look at," Crosby says.
SUB WORK: The U.S. Navy has awarded General Dynamics' Electric Boat Corp. of Groton, Conn., a $77 million contract modification for consolidated design agent, planning yard, engineering and technical support for active nuclear submarines. The work will be done in Groton, Conn.; Bangor, Wash.; Kings Bay, Ga.; Newport, R.I.; and Quonset, R.I. It is expected to be finished by September 2007.
Acting U.S. Deputy Defense Secretary Gordon England is expected to propose killing the Air Force variant of the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter and directing the Air Force to buy the Navy's carrier variant (CV) instead, according to a well-connected defense expert.
Northrop Grumman cut the ribbon Nov. 18 on a new 110,000-square-foot facility near Offutt Air Force Base, Neb., which combines its four local Nebraska sites into a single headquarters. The facility houses about 400 employees, who will work with another 350 colleagues at the base.
PAC-3 PROBE: It may take weeks for the U.S. Army to determine why a Nov. 11 intercept test of the Patriot Advanced Capability-3 (PAC-3) missile system ended in failure, the Army says. Investigators are analyzing data collected during the test, in which two PAC-3 interceptors missed a short-range ballistic missile target (DAILY, Nov. 14).
Nov. 22 - 25 -- 2nd European Hydrogen Energy Conference and Exhibition. For more information go to www.ehec.info. Nov. 29 -- National Defense Industrial Association's Missile Defense Quarterly Luncheon, Sheraton National, Arlington, Va. For more information call 703-522-1820 or go to www.ndia.org. Dec. 6 - 8 -- Aerospace Defense Finance Conference, Credit Suisse First Boston Aerospace & Defense Group Headquarters, New York, N.Y. For more information go to http://www.aviationweek.com/conferences.
The last of 25 U.S. Navy Sea King helicopters to be refurbished under a multiyear contract was delivered Nov. 2, the Navy announced Nov. 18. In November 1999, IMP Aerospace of Canada won a Navy contract for overhaul, repair, engineering and flight line support services of its 60-aircraft H-3 Sea King fleet, as well as similar services for other Foreign Military Sales H-3 customers.
F-117A FATE: Will the U.S. Air Force's 52 F-117A Nighthawks be retired early? Although the stealth fighter is currently slated to stay in service until 2017, officials involved in the Pentagon's Quadrennial Defense Review are considering moving up that date, says Diana Filliman, director of the F-117 systems squadron. According to Filliman, who spoke Nov.
KEY: Satellites are key to post-disaster communications, Futron Corp. and GVF, the nonprofit association of the global satellite communications sector, say in a new "white paper" intended to provide public and private sector response and relief agencies information about the technology. Wireless communication deployment often is a first priority in disaster response, but the terrestrial wireless infrastructure may have been destroyed, as in post-Hurricane Katrina New Orleans, or nonexistent, as in the Pakistan earthquake.
The Senate late Nov. 17 passed a House-approved bill to authorize the U.S. Navy to contract with Northrop Grumman Corp. for the nuclear refueling and complex overhaul of the aircraft carrier USS Carl Vinson. The bill, pushed by shipbuilding advocate Rep. Jo Ann Davis (R-Va.), would allow $89 million in fiscal 2006 funds to be used to start work on the contract immediately. Because the Senate adopted the House's version, the measure is ready for President Bush to sign.
The Senate on Nov. 18 passed a continuing resolution funding several federal agencies, including the Defense Department, until Dec. 17. The House did the same a day earlier. Congress is struggling to work through four remaining spending bills that account for 78 percent of government appropriations. The latest continuing resolution, actually an extension of one that ran out Nov. 18, funds the affected agencies at generally lower levels than pending fiscal 2006 spending legislation.
NAVAL RESEARCH: Navy Adm. Mike Mullen, chief of naval operations, has assigned Rear Adm. William E. Landay III as chief of naval research and director of test and evaluation and technology requirements in the CNO office. Landay currently is program executive officer for littoral and mine warfare.
Authorizers from the House and Senate met late Nov. 16 to start working on an agreement for the Coast Guard's fiscal 2006 policy bill, but they adjourned after only reading opening statements and it is uncertain when they will meet again. Nevertheless, Rep. Don Young (R-Alaska), said he will keep pushing the Bush administration to speed up the Coast Guard's Deepwater recapitalization program, including further boosting annual appropriations.
Experiments to test software for rotary wing UAVs were a "good step" in developing the autonomy of such vehicles, but "lots of challenges" remain, a Georgia Institute of Technology professor involved in the project said. Prof. Daniel P. Schrage, director of the Center of Excellence in Rotorcraft Technology in the School of Aerospace Engineering, described the experiments and screened an accompanying video on Nov. 17 during the Helicon 2005 conference in Washington. The event was sponsored by the Institute for Defense and Government Advancement.
The U.S. Navy's F/A-18E/F Super Hornet program is proposing to buy up to two dozen more fighters than currently planned, according to a program official.
The Army's Aerial Common Sensor Project Manager Team is in Denver meeting with Lockheed Martin officials to discuss the three options the company presented the Army to try to move ahead with the troubled program, the Army said Nov. 17. Company officials met with Army acquisition chief Claude Bolton on Nov. 14 to present three options and a platform recommendation, the Army said. That evening, the Army ACS team flew to Denver and on Nov. 15 began discussing the options and "determining the feasibility of moving ahead."
The Aegis Ballistic Missile Defense (Aegis BMD) system shot down a medium-range ballistic missile Nov. 17 in its first test against a target whose warhead separated from its booster rocket, the U.S. Missile Defense Agency said.
The Senate unanimously passed a bill Nov. 16 to direct the Interior Department to carry out a study for establishing memorials in Texas to the fatal Columbia space shuttle mission, after agreeing to a modified version that authorized the study rather than the actual memorials.
Sen. Gordon Smith (R-Ore.) on Nov. 15 got Senate backing to exempt manufacturers of unidentified "force-protection equipment needed to prevent combat fatalities in Iraq and Afghanistan" from Berry Amendment requirements.
Honeywell's Spectra Shield composite material is being used to armor 164 U.S. Marine Corps Sea Knight helicopters, the company said Nov. 17. Armor technology company ArmorWorks is using the material in Light Weight Armor Replacement System kits for the helicopters. It expects to complete the work in December. Honeywell said Spectra Shield is based on Spectra fiber, which is 10 times stronger than steel but light enough to float.
SpaceDev said it will begin work on a large hybrid rocket motor under a $2.7 million contract from the U.S. Air Force. The Poway, Calif.-based company will design, develop and test a small common booster that can produce about 100,000 pounds of thrust, nearly nine times more than the motor the company built for the SpaceShipOne, which won the Ansari X Prize last year for the first commercial space flight. The company will own the technology it develops, although the Air Force will keep some licensing rights, SpaceDev said.
SENSOR TESTING: Northrop Grumman has begun initial flight-testing of the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter's Electro-Optical Distributed Aperture System sensors, which are to warn pilots of incoming aircraft and missiles, provide day/night vision and support navigation, the company said Nov. 17. On Nov. 11, the BAC 1-11 test bed aircraft flew with three of the sensors installed.
Boeing has delayed the launch of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's GOES-N weather satellite until February at the earliest due to an ongoing strike by its Delta booster program work force. About half of the company's Delta work force went on strike just after midnight on Nov. 2 after a three-year contract between Boeing and the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers District 725 expired (DAILY, Nov. 3).
