LaBarge Inc. will supply electronic subsystems for Northrop Grumman's Multi-role Electronically Scanned Array (MESA) radar system, the company said March 30. The company will manufacture antenna switch phase shifter (ASPS) units for the system under a $5.4 million contract from Northrop Grumman Electronic Systems. The subsystems will go into airborne early warning and control aircraft being built for Australia and Turkey.
A-10 WORK: Lockheed Martin will provide kits to enable A-10 aircraft to use "smart" weapons under a $37.8 million Air Force contract. The kits will enable the A-10 to use precision weapons, including the Joint Direct Attack Munition and Wind Corrected Munitions Dispenser, as well as advanced targeting pods, the company said.
An FAA research and development (R&D) official is concerned about NASA's future commitment to aircraft safety and environmental mitigation R&D, given the agency's dwindling aeronautics budget over the next few years. According to Joan Bauerlein, FAA's director of air traffic organization operations planning R&D, one of her "major objectives" is to get FAA and NASA to collaborate more closely on R&D work.
Jeremiah Gertler and Christine Wormuth have been appointed senior fellows. David McGinnis has been named a senior associate in the international security program.
Adm. Robert J. Kelly (USN-Ret.) will retire from the board of directors effective April 1. James E. Reed will succeed Kelly as president of VSE's wholly owned subsidiary Energetics Incorporated, effective April 1.
NEW DELHI - The Bush Administration's offer of U.S. military aid to India is more substantial than the one offered to Pakistan, but India is apt to feel militarily insecure with its rival, an analyst says. "No matter how much military India acquires, it is likely to feel insecure vis-a-vis Pakistan. That variable has become an inexplicable fact of Indo-Pak strategic affairs," said Ehsan Ahrari, an Alexandria, Va.-based independent strategic analyst.
Fielding of the first unit to be equipped with the Army's High Mobility Artillery Rocket System (HIMARS) began earlier this month, Dan O'Boyle, a spokesman for the Army Program Executive Office, Missiles and Space, told The DAILY March 30. The HIMARS is being deployed with the 18th Airborne Corps at Fort Bragg, N.C. In addition, three prototype HIMARS launchers were used by the 18th Airborne in Operation Iraqi Freedom, he said.
Vice Adm. Joe Dyer (USN-Ret.) has been appointed to the board of directors. Dyer is executive vice president and general manager of iRobot Inc.'s government and industrial division.
Stephen T. Catanzarita has been appointed vice president and comptroller. Michael L. Cauldwell has been named senior vice president. Therese C. Mohn has been appointed treasurer.
The U.S. Navy has begun flight-testing an improved version of the AN/AAR-47 missile warning system, an official at prime contractor Alliant Techsystems (ATK) said March 30. The Navy, in conjunction with the Air Force, began the tests earlier in 2005 and plans to do more later this spring, said Steve Myers, vice president of the Clearwater, Fla., operations of ATK Missile Systems Co. "So far, everything is working just as planned," Myers told The DAILY.
The U.S. Air Force Research Laboratory plans to mount mirrors on a crane later this year to determine whether they would be useful for reflecting laser energy. Boeing SVS is expected to deliver two relay mirrors to Kirtland Air Force Base, N.M., in late spring, an AFRL spokesman said March 30. The Air Force intends to test the hardware on a tall crane at Kirtland in late summer.
Greg Albert has been named vice president and general manager of the Aircraft Landing Systems business. Peg Billson has been appointed vice president and general manager of the Airframe Systems business. Roger Wolfe has accepted a position with another company. Billson is replacing Wolfe.a
If Northrop Grumman Corp. loses a proposed competition to build the Navy's future DD(X), it could cut $600 million to $1 billion from the company's 2006 sales outlook, as well as have a smaller affect on 2005 estimates, an analyst said March 30. However, "we believe that if the Navy does decide to sole-source the DD(X) program, Northrop Grumman is well positioned to be the winner, although program delays could still occur," said Eric Hugel, an industry analyst with the investment bank Stephens Inc.
NASA and space shuttle external tank manufacturer Lockheed Martin successfully completed the Design Certification Review (DCR) for the tank that will be used for the shuttle's return to flight mission, STS-114, the company announced March 29.
Excess capacity and slim profit margins likely will lead to further shrinking of the defense fuze industrial base through 2008, the Defense Department said, so it is considering boosting its science and technology research funding for both government and industry.
A new Defense Department report to Congress recommends DOD pay $30-$45 million for a multiyear, cost-sharing program with private industry to build a primary U.S. metal production facility for beryllium, a natural element deemed a "strategic and critical material," especially to produce nuclear weapons or defense products "essential to transformational warfare."
NASA needs to form a detailed plan for the retirement of the shuttle in order to retain skilled technicians as it winds down, according to an industry panel led by the Aerospace Industries Association.
SEA RADAR: The Sea-Based X-Band (SBX) radar, a key element in the U.S. Defense Department's planned national missile shield, is slated to achieve a major goal in the next 30 days, weather permitting, with the placement of a Raytheon-built radar atop a modified oil-drilling platform, according to DOD officials. The mating will occur in Corpus Christi, Texas, where a huge crane will pick up the radar and place it atop the platform. Following sea trials in the Gulf of Mexico, the self-propelled, slow-moving SBX will move around South America to the Pacific Ocean.
FIRST FLIGHT: SaabTech's Reconnaissance Pod System for the Gripen fighter had its first flight on March 24 at Linkoping, Sweden, the company said. The pod will allow JAS 39 Gripens to replace AJSF 37 Viggen reconnaissance aircraft assigned to the Swedish air force's rapid reaction force, Saab said. Flight-testing and evaluation will continue at Linkoping for about a year and the pod is scheduled to enter service in 2006.
