LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. - The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is expected to release a request for proposals (RFP) within the next month or two for an unmanned aerial vehicle to fly border surveillance missions.
LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. - Maj. Gen. James Pillsbury, head of the U.S. Army's Aviation and Missile Command (AMCOM), is seeking to accelerate the implementation of condition-based maintenance (CBM), which would require maintenance of aircraft components only when they show signs of wear. Most inspections of Army aircraft today are performed according to regular schedules, which require automatic inspections whether a component is showing signs of trouble or not.
Australia has increased its defense budget to $17.5 billion Australian dollars ($13.5 billion) for the 2005-06 fiscal year with an infusion of $507.3 million, Robert Hill, the defense minister, said May 10. "Australians can be confident that our defense organization is now better placed than it has ever been to meet the complex security challenges we face," Hill said. Australia will spend: * $139.3 million to protect its offshore gas and oil platforms on the North West Shelf
The U.S. Air Force is almost done designing an initial set of upgrades to the F/A-22 Raptor and will soon start similar work on a later package of improvements, the service said May 10.
While a repeat of the Darleen Druyun case is unlikely, there's nothing to prevent it, according to the Defense Science Board. To make sure it doesn't happen again, the Defense Department must "simplify and streamline" its acquisition system, DSB said in a new report. Druyun, the former Air Force principal deputy assistant secretary, tilted work to Boeing Co. In the wake of the scandal, a DSB task force reviewed the acquisition processes of the military services and some Pentagon agencies, and met with a number of outside experts.
El Segundo, Calif.-based Computer Sciences Corp.'s Space Coast Launch Services LLC has been awarded a 10-year contract worth up to $335 million to provide space command operations, maintenance and sustainment support to the U.S. Air Force's 45th Space Wing for unmanned space vehicle launches, the company said May 10.
Raytheon Co. and EADS North America have set up a partnership to compete for a contract to produce the U.S. Army's Future Cargo Aircraft, Raytheon said May 10. Raytheon's Space and Airborne Systems (SAS) business and the EADS CASA North America business unit will lead the effort, Raytheon said. FCA would provide the Army with a new fixed-wing transport aircraft capable of rapid-response intratheater missions with cargo, equipment and soldiers, as well as medevac duties and airdrop delivery, Raytheon said.
Draper Laboratory officials said the lab's nonprofit status has helped it develop cutting-edge technology without having to worry about shareholders, and also positions it well for the future as guidance and control systems are becoming more needed throughout the aerospace and defense industries. The lab's groundbreaking work in micro-electromechanical systems (MEMS) has helped it create technology such as a hardened guidance system small enough to fit on munitions such as those fired by five-inch Navy guns, and tough enough to withstand 15,000 Gs.
The Government Accountability Office (GAO) is adding forensic auditors to its Office of Special Investigations to create a larger, "high-impact" unit for addressing government programs of concern. The unit, led by GAO's Greg Kutz, will focus on selected high-risk areas within federal agencies and financial management of government programs. The Defense Department has eight high-risk areas of its own, and shares in another six across the government, far more than any other federal entity (DAILY, Jan. 26).
Congress should return NASA's aeronautics budget to 1998 levels to help assure the United States' leadership in aviation, a report by the National Institute for Aerospace says. NASA needs an average five-year annual increase of $885.5 million in its aeronautics budget, the report says, which would roughly double what the agency has requested for aeronautics for fiscal 2006 (DAILY, Feb. 8).
The U.S. Air Force is scheduled to stand up a squadron May 20 at Kirtland Air Force Base, N.M., to train pilots to fly the CV-22 Osprey. The 71st Special Operations Squadron, part of the 58th Special Operations Wing, will begin its work with several flight simulators. It is due to receive its first aircraft by June 2006, said Ward Carroll, spokesman for the Navy-led V-22 program office. "They'll be coming alive little by little," Carroll said May 9.
Northrop Grumman Corp. has placed a purchase order with Aurora Flight Sciences of Manassas, Va., to produce the company's first Hunter II unmanned aerial vehicle, Northrop Grumman said May 9. The order will serve as a test and demonstration system, the company said. The Hunter II will be built at Aurora's manufacturing facility in Starkville, Miss.
SERVICES CENTER: NASA on May 9 awarded a 10-year contract worth up to $230 million to Computer Sciences Corp. of Falls Church, Va., to support the NASA Shared Services Center (NSSC). The NSSC will be located at the Stennis Space Center, Miss., and handle a variety of activities now being done at each NASA center and headquarters. Initial operations of the consolidated NSSC are set for October 2005. Human resources, information technology, procurement and financial management functions will switch to the NSSC from October 2005 through September 2008.
Lockheed Martin Corp. was not a member of the AgustaWestland team that competed for the South Korean presidential helicopter program. Sikorsky Aircraft Corp. announced May 6 that its S-92 helicopter won that competition over the AgustaWestland EH101, as reported in the May 9 issue of The DAILY. The EH101 is the base of the US101, which in January was chosen over the Sikorsky VH-92 to stock the next fleet of U.S. presidential helicopters.
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.
