TECHEVAL DONE: The U.S. Navy's MH-60R will begin operational evaluation in May, said Lockheed Martin, which is the systems integrator for the Sikorsky-built helicopter and is providing digital cockpits for it. The MH-60R entered technical evaluation in August 2004 and U.S. Navy teams completed an evaluation of it on Feb. 15, Lockheed Martin said March 22. Delivery of the first four helicopters to the fleet is scheduled for December.
NASA plans to announce the first two Centennial Challenges prize competitions on March 23 at 7:45 p.m. Eastern time at the Fairmont Scottsdale Princess Hotel in Scottsdale, Ariz. Modeled on 19th century navigation prizes and early 20th century aviation prizes, the Centennial Challenges program aims to stimulate industry to produce breakthroughs in technologies that support NASA's goals.
British defense laboratory QinetiQ has been awarded a contract worth more than $5 million to supply LOKI torpedo countermeasures to Norway's navy, QinetiQ said March 22. The countermeasures will form part of the Norway navy's integrated torpedo defense suite on its new Fridtjof Nansen-class frigates. Steve Hendon, QinetiQ product manager for surface ship torpedo defense, said Norway's navy chose LOKI because of its acoustic performance, future proof design and ease of configuration.
The U.S. Navy and Congress should target a steady, total shipbuilding budget of $10 billion a year and take advantage of the current period of uncertainty to better define what it wants its fleet to become within the future networked U.S. military, Robert O. Work of the Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments said March 22.
The U.S. Defense Department plans to release an updated version of its road map for unmanned aerial vehicles by the end of April, a DOD official said March 22.
Intelligence and security services provider Analex Corp. of Alexandria, Va., has signed a nonbinding letter of intent to purchase software engineering and information technology firm ComGlobal Systems Inc. for $47 million in cash, Analex Corp. said March 22. The transaction could be completed in the next 30 days, Analex said.
The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) estimates that the cost of wear and tear on U.S. military equipment this year due to U.S. homeland defense and operations in Iraq and Afghanistan could rise to $8 billion, with the total backlog including the past two years reaching $13 billion to $18 billion.
Companies will have 30 days to respond to separate, final requests for proposals for the Class II and III unmanned aerial vehicle systems for the U.S. Army's Future Combat Systems, FCS lead system integrators Boeing and Science Applications International Corp. said March 22. Up to three contract awards for each class will be awarded in August for Phase I, for technology and risk-reduction demonstrations.
The U.S. Navy's planned Multi-mission Maritime Aircraft (MMA) fleet should sustain at least 80% availability initially, Navy and contractor officials said March 22, far above the current 65% availability of the ailing P-3s maritime patrol aircrafts.
With NASA in the final stages of preparation for the space shuttle's return to flight, the Boeing Co. is anticipating reductions in its shuttle work force by year's end, as well as the imminent shutdown of an operation in Palmdale, Calif., that builds external tank disconnect valves.
If the European Union (EU) decides to lift its arms embargo on China, the U.S. Congress will seriously restrict European countries from cooperating on U.S. military programs, U.S. officials warned March 21. "The Congress is going to spank, and spank hard," said Gregory Suchan, deputy assistant secretary of state for defense trade at the Bureau of Political-Military Affairs.
Companies have until April 4 to submit specific capabilities of how they would counter improvised explosive devices (IED) under a broad agency announcement (BAA) released by the Department of Defense's IED task force. The March 2 BAA seeks capabilities in detecting, neutralizing and mitigating IEDs. It specifically asks for technology in areas including blast effects and mitigation, explosives detection, explosive ordnance disposal and infrastructure protection.
The launch of the first Wideband Gapfiller Satellite (WGS) has been delayed for about three months due to a scheduling conflict and industry job cuts, the U.S. Air Force said late March 18.
COMPONENT REPAIR: Aviation and aerospace parts and services provider AAR Corp. of Wood Dale, Ill., has been awarded a contract by the U.S. Air Force worth up to $18.3 million over five years for the overhaul of certain augmentor module components for Pratt & Whitney F100 engines, the company said March 21. AAR will remanufacture the components and return them to Tinker Air Force Base, Okla. The components include divergent nozzle segment seals, convergent nozzle segment seals and divergent segment assemblies. The F100 engine is used in F-15 and F-16 aircraft.
U.S. Navy Secretary Gordon England, a contender to become secretary of the Air Force, said March 21 that he expects the current Quadrennial Defense Review (QDR) to closely examine tactical air assets across the Defense Department. England, who spoke to reporters at the Pentagon, said it is important to have a department-wide review of tactical aircraft (TACAIR) and to look at better integration, acquisition and capability.
Navy officials expect to receive software that will form the "backbone" of the Distributed Common Ground System on April 1, a service official said March 21. "That is a big day for us," said Lorraine Wilson, direct reporting program manager for the Distributed Common Ground System-Navy (DCGS-N). She spoke at a luncheon sponsored by BAE Systems.
Northrop Grumman Corp. has completed its purchase of Chantilly, Va.-based information technology provider Integic Corp., Northrop Grumman said March 21. Financial terms were not disclosed. The acquisition was first announced on Feb. 18 (DAILY, Feb. 22). Integic specializes in enterprise health and business process management products. The firm reported 2004 revenues of $161 million. Integic Corp. has become part of the Federal Enterprise Solutions business unit of Los Angeles-based Northrop Grumman's Information Technology sector.
MOSCOW - Space contractor Energia has announced that two candidates have been nominated to be its president: current chief Yuri Semyonov and rival Nikolai Sevastianov. Semyonov was nominated by stock-holding Energia employees, who control about 30% of the company. Sevastianov was nominated by the Kaskol group, a minority company shareholder with just more than 3%. Energia, Russia's only major space company that is not completely state owned, needs a new president by the end of May, when Semyonov's current tenure expires (DAILY, March 15).
The Government Accountability Office (GAO) has "no reason to question" the U.S. Navy's selection of OmniPhase Research Laboratories Inc. to provide testing equipment for the Aegis shipbuilding program, the GAO said in a decision released March 21. Competitor Aeroflex Test Solutions of Plainview, N.Y., had protested the award of continuous wave illuminator noise test sets (CWINTS), which measure the noise level of the Navy's Mk 99 and Mk 92 Aegis fire control systems, to Newport Beach, Calif.-based OmniPhase.
