GETTING CLOSE: Global Military Aircraft Systems will open an office in Huntsville, Ala., to serve as the program office for the C-27J aircraft it is offering for the U.S. Army's Future Cargo Aircraft program. GMAS is a joint venture of L-3 Communications' Integrated Systems subsidiary and Alenia North America. Huntsville is home to the Army Program Executive Office for Aviation.
EDO Corp. of New York will design and develop pneumatic ejector bomb rack units for the U.S. Navy's P-8A Multi-mission Maritime Aircraft under a contract from P-8A builder Boeing. EDO has received a letter contract from Boeing while the final contract is being negotiated. The contract is expected to be worth up to $7.2 million and will include system design and development, qualification testing, documentation and training. The company already is under contract for the P-8A's sonobuoy-launching system (DAILY, Aug. 9).
PATUXENT RIVER, Md. - Construction of a major support facility for the U.S. Navy's VH-71A presidential helicopter program is under way at Naval Air Station Patuxent River. The 202,000-square foot building, which will have room for up to eight aircraft parked side by side, will be a center of test activity after it opens next year. It will later house repair and other support work. The program's offices, now located in a temporary structure at Pax River, also are scheduled to move into the new facility.
The U.S. Air Force will soon kick off an effort to give a new variant of the Joint Air to Surface Standoff Missile (JASSM) the ability to be redirected in flight.
REVENUE UP, INCOME DOWN: Intelligence and security services provider Analex Corp. of Alexandria, Va., said Nov. 3 that third quarter 2005 revenue rose 36 percent, but acquisition financing activities led to a net loss of $2.2 million. Third quarter 2005 revenue was $37.9 million, compared with $27.9 million in the third quarter of 2004. The company also suffered a net loss of $5.9 million in the third quarter of 2004.
Rockwell Collins and Honeywell have formed a limited liability company to market integrated guidance systems for precision-guided weapons, the companies said Nov. 3. The new company, Integrated Guidance Systems LLC, is a 50/50 joint venture.
Curtiss-Wright Controls will provide the Fighter Ordnance Hoist System and Ordnance Quick Latch System for the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter under contracts from F-35 builder Lockheed Martin, the company said Nov. 2. The contracts call for designing, developing and delivering the hardware under the JSF's system development and demonstration phase. The contracts are worth $2.2 million in the SDD phase, with a potential total value of more than $120 million.
Start-up program delays and rescheduled shipments led to a decline in sales and earnings for electronic products provider LaBarge Inc. in the first quarter of fiscal 2006, the company said Nov. 3. Net sales for the St. Louis-based company were $39.6 million in the first quarter of '06, compared with $43.6 million for the same period a year earlier, a 9 percent dip. Net earnings fell 13 percent, from $2.3 million, or 15 cents per share, to $2 million, or 13 cents per share, in the first quarter of FY '06.
(Editor's note: The following is excerpted from written responses by John J. Young Jr., nominated by President Bush to be director of defense research and engineering, to written questions from the Senate Armed Services Committee. He testified Oct. 25 and was confirmed by the Senate on Oct. 28). --------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Q: How will you determine whether there is an adequate investment in basic research to develop the capabilities the department will need in 2020?
The space shuttle program is facing a budget shortfall of $3 billion to $5 billion through its scheduled retirement date in 2010, NASA Administrator Michael Griffin told members of the House Science Committee during a hearing on Capitol Hill Nov. 3.
FOURTH: Space Adventures announced Nov. 3 that Hong Kong resident and Japanese entrepreneur Daisuke Enomoto will be the next private space tourist candidate. Following the completion of his orbital flight training, Enomoto is scheduled to visit the International Space Station aboard a Russian Soyuz spacecraft in October 2006. Enomoto would be the first Asian commercial space tourist and the fourth overall, following Dennis Tito, Mark Shuttleworth and Greg Olsen.
A panel of think-tank officials has suggested that the United States should not invest too much in protecting its space-based equipment but should look to unmanned aerial vehicles, airships and other aircraft to back up those spacecraft. The experts testified Nov. 1 before the House Armed Services Committee's asymmetric and unconventional threats gap panel. The subcommittee hosted a hearing on space security as part of the threat-and-capability assessment it is conducting in advance of the Defense Department's Quadrennial Defense Review.
The European Space Agency's industrial policy and navigation program committees have agreed to additional financing for the first phase of Europe's Galileo satellite navigation program, satellite builder Alcatel said Nov. 3. The initial phase of the program calls for putting four satellites in orbit to demonstrate key technologies for the system, aimed at giving Europe a system to rival the U.S. Global Positioning System. The additional financing is for EUR 400 million (USD $476 million), DAILY affiliate Aviation Week & Space Technology reported.
The Government Accountability Office has denied a contract award protest from Research Analysis & Maintenance of El Paso, Texas, which said the Army's Threat Systems Management Office (TSMO) failed to consider it for a support follow-on contract when it was the incumbent contractor. The TSMO provides realistic threat simulations for testing weapon systems and for training and exercises, including operating and maintaining foreign ground and air systems dating as far back as the early 1950s.
(Editor's note: The following is excerpted from written responses by Michael Wynne, nominated by President Bush to be secretary of the Air Force, to written questions from the Senate Armed Services Committee. He testified Oct. 6 and was confirmed by the Senate on Oct. 28). Q: In your view, what are the major challenges that will confront the secretary of the Air Force?
Spain has requested an Aegis Weapon System and related equipment that could be worth up to $550 million, the Defense Security Cooperation Agency said Nov. 2. Spain seeks one MK 7 Aegis system, a MK 41 Baseline VII Vertical Launch System and two MK 45 MOD 1 Gun Mounts. It also wants an AN/SLQ-25A Torpedo Countermeasure System, an Aviation Support System and a MK III Shipboard System Light Aiborne Multi-Purpose System, among others, DSCA notified Congress.
Aircraft marketer Gripen International has unveiled the first Gripen fighter for South Africa's air force. A rollout ceremony was held Oct. 28 in Linkoping, Sweden, as the fighter left the production line. The aircraft now will be prepared for a flight-test program to integrate South Africa's avionics and mission systems. Its arrival at South Africa's Test and Flight Development Center is set for mid-2006.
ON HER WAY: Shana Dale's nomination to become the new deputy administrator of NASA was approved by the Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation committee during a markup hearing in Washington Nov. 2, according to a committee spokeswoman. The nomination next will go to the floor of the Senate for a vote.
John Young Jr., the U.S. Navy's acquisition chief who was recently confirmed to head Defense Department-wide research and development, said Nov. 2 that canceling the DD(X) destroyer program would drive up the cost of the futuristic CVN-21 aircraft carrier.
Venezuela President Hugo Chavez said Nov. 1 that his government might give Lockheed Martin-built F-16 fighters to Cuba and China because the United States is breaking an aircraft parts agreement. Chavez said his country can do whatever it wants with the fighters because the U.S. is refusing to sell repair parts to his country, the Voice of America reported. Chavez made the comments at a ceremony announcing Venezuela's plans to launch a telecommunications satellite with China's help.
