General Dynamics Advanced Information Systems has been awarded a $28 million contract by the U.S. Navy to provide system integration and design agent services for the Open Architecture Track Manager (OATM), the company said March 23. The track manager is an improved component within combat systems that receives and translates information from air, surface and subsurface sensors to create an integrated picture of the locations and paths of aircraft, ships and submarines in battle.
Allen Barber has been promoted to president. James J. Cataldo has been named chief financial officer. Robert A. Fleck has been appointed vice president of customer service. William J. Frain has been appointed senior vice president. Jay H. Payne has been hired as vice president of cargo. Steven Williams has been named managing director for Europe, the Middle East and Africa.
The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) completed the second phase of its Organic Air Vehicle II (OAV-II) program in July 2004, said Paul Eremenko, an associate with Booz Allen Hamilton, which DARPA contracted to run the program. Phase II of the program developed generic technologies and explored scalability, Eremenko said March 23 at the Institute for Defense and Government Advancement's UAV Summit in Washington. Preferred choice
Dave Ryan, head of Boeing Satellite Systems (BSS), predicts an upsurge in orders for commercial communications satellites toward the end of the decade, driven largely by replacement orders as current satellites are retired. The commercial satellite world still suffers from overcapacity in orbit, which has limited orders for new spacecraft to 15 or 16 per year. Ryan said he thinks that number could bounce back to the level of the late 1990s, roughly 20 to 30 new spacecraft per year, by 2007-2009.
Robert B. Sanders, recently named group vice president for Sypris' Electronics Group, also has been named president of Sypris Electronics. He will replace James G. Cocke.
Robert G. Richards will retire as CEO effective April 3. He will continue to serve as a director. John C. Carson has been chosen to succeed Richards. Carson is the company's president, chief operating officer and a director.
Lockheed Martin will provide 15 Multiple Launch Rocket System (MLRS) Future Fire Control Systems (FFCS) to the United Kingdom's Ministry of Defence, the company said March 21. The systems, when combined with a new Electric Launch Drive System, will give British forces a launcher capability similar to the U.S. Army's MLRS M270A1, Lockheed Martin said. The FFCS also will enable the U.K. to fire precision munitions, such as Global Positioning System-enabled versions of the Army Tactical Missile System Block 1A and the Guided Multiple Launch System.
MOSCOW - Officials from Russia and Kazakhstan are discussing developing a joint air launch complex, called Ishim. Danial Akhmetov, prime minister of Kazakhstan, and Yuri Solomonov, head of the Moscow Institute of Heat Engineering (MIT), met March 23 on the proposed complex, which could use MiG-31D fighter aircraft to launch the MIT-designed solid-fuel booster rockets to deliver small commercial satellites into low earth orbit. Akhmetov reportedly has ordered an Ishim feasibility study to be done as soon as possible.
Robert Bednarek and Alexis Livanos have joined the board of directors. Bednarek is executive vice president of corporate development for SES Global. Livanos is corporate vice president and president of Northrop Grumman's Space Technology Sector.
The U.S. Navy is expected to decide in the coming months whether to add a data-link to its Harpoon missile to allow operators to retarget the anti-ship weapon after it is launched. In-flight retargeting would help with attacking moving targets and avoiding accidental strikes on friendly forces.
On April 1, NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory plans to release a request for proposals (RFP) for the Space Technology 8 (ST8) spacecraft, set to launch in December 2008. ST8 is to provide in-space validation of new technologies as part of NASA's New Millennium Program. NASA already has chosen four teams to develop payload experiments for ST8 (DAILY, Feb. 2). JPL in Pasadena, Calif., manages the mission. A conference to discuss the RFP is planned for April 15.
MORE MONEY: The American Shipbuilding Association (ASA) said Congress should appropriate $983.7 million above President Bush's fiscal 2006 budget request for naval shipbuilding. If a 2014 delivery of the CVN-21 aircraft carrier is to be maintained, for instance, $86.7 million needs to be added to the program in FY '06, ASA said. Otherwise, a CVN-21 delay, and the proposed retirement of the USS John F. Kennedy, would drop the nation's aircraft carrier force from 12 to 10.
U.S. Navy Secretary Gordon England on March 22 signed off on a 30-year shipbuilding plan, formally laying down the service's current total fleet projection in calling for 260-325 ships, the U.S. Navy official responsible for acquisition said March 23.
The Future Combat Systems' lead system integrators are seeking industry input on a dismounted controller device (DCD) which would give soldiers an easy-to-use interface with remotely controlled FCS battle components. "It will allow the soldier to remotely control the operation of ground and air platforms, sensor, and intelligent munition systems in real time," said Boeing and Science Applications International Corp. (SAIC), which released an RFI on the system earlier this month.
The U.S. Air Force plans to kick off the next competition for the Evolved Expendable Launch Vehicle (EELV) program by releasing a draft request for proposals (RFP) in the fall or late summer and a final RFP in the October-December quarter, a service official said March 22. Contract awards for a total of about 18 to 24 launches are slated to occur sometime in 2006. Teets said the Air Force already is talking daily with the two EELV suppliers, Boeing and Lockheed Martin, and has developed a "framework" for conducting the acquisition.
NSC KEEL: A joint venture of Lockheed Martin Corp. and Northrop Grumman Corp. expects next month to lay the keel of the first Maritime Security Cutter, Large (WMSL), executives told reporters March 22. The April ceremony for the ship, also called the National Security Cutter, means the Deepwater recapitalization asset's production is on track (DAILY, Jan. 19). The first WMSL should be delivered by June 2007, with the second cutter a year later. Meanwhile, the joint venture expects the second HH-65 re-engined helicopter to be delivered in April as well.
UCV FIRING: Metal Storm Ltd. successfully completed live-fire demonstrations of its 40mm electronic ballistics system mounted on a Talon unmanned ground vehicle, the company said March 22. The Talon engaged several targets during the demonstrations at Picatinny Arsenal, N.J., including simulated enemy troops, an infantry carrier and a bunker.
The United Kingdom might pull out of the Lockheed Martin-led F-35 Joint Strike Fighter (JSF) program if it doesn't obtain the technology transfer rights it is looking for, warned BAE Systems CEO Michael Turner. "The U.K. is prepared to pay a reasonable price and apply strict security around that technology. But the U.S. should respect U.K. sovereignty to integrate the new weapons systems themselves," Turner said March 22. "If that doesn't happen, I wouldn't be surprised if the U.K. doesn't participate in the JSF," he said.
International Launch Services (ILS), which has taken the lead in the commercial launch market while chief competitor Arianespace has grappled with technical problems on its Ariane 5 ECA, expects the market to "even out" again in the coming years as competition heats up, according to ILS President Mark Albrecht.
