FCS ACQUISITION: The U.S. Army "could consider adding other types of contracting strategies that are appropriate" for its Future Combat Systems (FCS) program, says Michael Wynne, acting undersecretary of defense for acquisition, technology and logistics. FCS, expected to cost $120-128 billion through 2025, is being procured under Other Transaction Authority (OTA), exempting it from Federal Acquisition Regulation rules, including the Truth-in-Negotiations Act and Procurement Integrity Act.
NRO HEAD: Dennis Fitzgerald, deputy director of the National Reconnaissance Office, is expected to become the NRO's acting director with the March 25 retirement of NRO head Peter Teets.
LONDON - A United Kingdom Royal Air Force C-130K that crashed over Iraq in January, killing all 10 personnel on board, would have carried chaff and flare dispensers, along with a directional infrared countermeasures system, according to a retired RAF official familiar with the aircraft.
TRAINING ACCORD: The U.S. and Swedish navies have agreed to a joint training effort using a Swedish advanced diesel submarine and crew for U.S. Navy fleet anti-submarine warfare (ASW) training, the U.S. Navy says. A Swedish Gotland-class air independent propulsion (AIP) submarine will be used for the training in San Diego. U.S. Navy personnel will observe while riding on the Swedish sub, which will be Swedish-flagged, commanded, manned and operated. The two navies will conduct focused and integrated ASW training and assess the U.S.
The U.S. has agreed to sell Lockheed Martin-built F-16 fighter aircraft to post-9/11 ally Pakistan, prompting Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to tell President Bush that the move is a "great disappointment," according to the wire service Press Trust of India. Singh spoke with Bush about the sale on March 25, and warned that it could have "negative consequences" for India's security environment, Singh spokesman Sanjaya Baru was quoted as saying.
COYOTE FLIES: With four of six planned flight-tests now under its belt, the Navy's GQM-163A "Coyote" Supersonic Sea-Skimming Target (SSST) is preparing for a limited fleet deployment later this year. The fourth flight of the ramjet-powered missile took place March 24 at the Navy's test range at Point Mugu, Calif. All test objectives were met, according to Coyote manufacturer Orbital Sciences Corp.
Contractors involved in the futuristic DD(X) multimission destroyer said they conducted a successful guided test of the Long Range Land Attack Projectile (LRLAP), a 155mm Global Positioning System-guided, gun-launched system for ranges up to 83 nautical miles. The contractors this week announced the test, which was carried out Feb. 24. It successfully demonstrated proper deployment of aft fins, integrity of the airframe structure, rocket performance, canard deployment, GPS acquisition and controlled flight.
March 29 - 30 -- 43rd Goddard Memorial Symposium: Earth and Space Science: Exploring the Possibilities," Greenbelt Marriott, Greenbelt, Md. For more information call 703-866-0020, or go to www.astronautical.org. March 30 - 31 -- Avionics 05 Exhibition & Conference, Amsterdam. For more information go to www.avionics05.com. April 4 - 7 -- U.S. Space Foundation, The Broadmoor, Colorado Springs, Colo. For more information go to www.spacesymposium.org.
Boeing continues to analyze possible loads on latches that will hold the space shuttle's inspection boom in place inside the cargo bay, according to Stephen Oswald, vice president and space shuttle program manager at Boeing NASA Systems. Boeing makes the manipulator retention latches (MLRs) for the Canadian-built Orbiter Boom Sensor System (OBSS). The company was limited to installing three latches rather than four, which would have required more significant modifications to the shuttle and cost extra time.
IT SERVICES: Arlington, Va.-based CACI International Inc. said March 24 it was selected as the prime contractor to provide professional and information technology (IT) services to the Military Sealift Command (MSC). The award is worth $20.4 million and has a base of one year with two option years. CACI, which will lead a team of six contractors, said the award positions it to expand its core systems integration line of business.
A coherent European framework should be established to contribute to the space-based elements of a global situational awareness system, a report by space and security experts says.
SHUTTLE SCHEDULE: On March 28, NASA plans to move the space shuttle Discovery from the Orbiter Processing Facility to the Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB) at Kennedy Space Center, where it will be attached to its external tank and solid rocket boosters. Program managers had hoped to get to the VAB weeks earlier, but technical issues have delayed the move and eaten into schedule margins, according to Steve Oswald, Boeing's program manager for the space shuttle.
United Kingdom-based BAE Systems has been awarded a four-year, $834 million contract for full-rate production of 495 M777A1 howitzers for the U.S. Army and Marine Corps, the company said March 24. The contract was awarded by the Joint Program Office, Picatinny, N.J. BAE Systems received a low-rate production contract in November 2002 to produce 94 howitzers.
NASA plans to announce several more small Centennial Challenge prize competitions in coming weeks and will begin sharing information about larger prizes later this year, according to Program Manager Brant Sponberg. NASA announced the first two competitions - for high-strength tether materials and wireless power transmission - that will be held on an annual basis starting this year. The 2005 winner will receive $50,000 and the 2006 winner $100,000 (DAILY, March 25).
The Missile Defense Agency should take lessons learned from the Joint Strike Fighter (JSF) program when designing cooperative acquisition programs, said Lisa Bronson, director of the Defense Technology Security Administration (DTSA). "It's not good to develop systems and then decide to share them with allied partners later on. Instead, DOD needs to design the systems to share from the beginning," she said last week at the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics' Defense 2005 conference in Washington.
V-22 COSTS: Despite the Pentagon's recent decision to slow the growth rate for V-22 Osprey production - potentially curbing economies of scale - the program remains confident it can still meet its goal to lower the $71 million cost of the Marine Corps version to $58 million by 2010, says Dan Korte, director of the V-22 program for Boeing. The company builds the tiltrotor aircraft's fuselage in Philadelphia.
SPENDING UP: The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) has estimated that all of President Bush's budget proposals for defense would increase outlays by $31 billion in 2005, $139 billion over 2006-2010 and $336 billion over 2006-2015 compared with CBO's baseline projections. If Bush's $82 billion supplemental funding request is enacted, it will add about $28 billion to defense outlays in 2006 and smaller amounts after that. However, the CBO and the White House disagree over whether $11 billion worth of the spending should be defined as defense outlays over 2006-2010.
The U.S. Defense Department has cut the time it takes to approve technology transfer licenses to allies, said Lisa Bronson, director of the Defense Technology Security Administration. "In 1998, it took 42 days on average to process a license. In 2004, it took 21 to 22 days to get a munitions license. Also, we put certain licenses ahead [of others]. It is no longer a first in, first out" procedure, she said.
LPD TO SEA: Three San Antonio-class amphibious ships will join the U.S. Navy fleet over the next year, say Northrop Grumman Ship Systems (NGSS) representatives. The lead ship, LPD 17, will undergo sea trials late next month, while LPD 18 is 78% complete. LPD 19, the third ship expected to join the fleet next year, is 70% complete. LPD 20, another ship in the class that is coming on later, is 52% finished and LPD 21 is 18% done, they said.
EQUAL FOOTING: A Boeing representative says that industry and the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) have an equal chance of winning a Future Combat Systems contract for the program's Class II unmanned aerial vehicle. "In truth, both the DARPA vehicle and the [lead system integrator] vehicle will be evaluated, and the one that best meets Army requirements will be chosen," Mary McAdam tells The DAILY. Boeing and SAIC are the FCS lead system integrators.
NASA's Centennial Challenges program and partner the Spaceward Foundation announced their first four prize competitions March 23 for advances in strong, lightweight new tether material and wireless power technology. For the Tether Challenge, teams will develop high-strength materials that will be stretched in a head-to-head competition to see which tether is strongest.
Futuristic high-velocity weapons being researched will fundamentally alter U.S. sea power by giving sailors and Marines time-critical strike capability, the head of the Office of Naval Research (ONR) said March 24. The ONR is seeking a direct-fire, pre-prototype, 32 megajoules (mj) electromagnetic rail gun (ERG) that could project a so-called "dumb" warhead at speeds up to Mach 7, Rear Adm. Jay Cohen, chief of naval research, told an audience at the Navy League's Sea-Air-Space 2005 exposition in Washington.
