NITZE COMMISSIONING: The U.S. Navy guided missile destroyer Nitze (DDG 94) will be commissioned March. 5. The Flight IIA Aegis destroyer and its crew of about 300 arrived in its permanent homeport at Naval Station Norfolk, Va., on Feb. 24. The Flight IIA upgrade program includes improvements over the first flight of destroyers such as the addition of two helicopter hangers for the SH-60 Seahawk Light Airborne Multi-Purpose helicopter. The Flight IIA design also features a zonal electrical distribution system and other shipboard improvements.
Aerospace component and assembly manufacturer Ducommun Inc. reported a dip in fourth-quarter 2004 sales due to a reduction in sales to NASA's space shuttle program, and CEO Joseph C. Berenato said the overall results were a "major disappointment."
Lockheed Martin Corp. came out on top in meeting the Small Diameter Bomb's (SDB) moving-target requirement before the Air Force dropped that requirement and picked the Boeing Co. as SDB's prime contractor, according to the Government Accountability Office. Early in the SDB competition, "Lockheed Martin was perceived as having a 'strength' and Boeing was considered 'weak' with regard to the moving-target requirements," also known as the program's Increment 2 or second phase, the GAO wrote in a document released Feb. 25.
House and Senate Appropriations Committee staff are preparing to deal with the restructuring of the House panel, but it's not clear what effect the changes will have on annual spending bills, an industry observer said.
TACTICAL VEHICLES: Stewart & Stevenson Tactical Vehicle Systems L.P. of Sealy, Texas, has been awarded a $6.4 million contract to produce 150 Family of Medium Tactical Vehicles. The work will be done in Sealy and is set to be finished by Nov. 20, 2005. The contract was awarded by the U.S. Army Tank-automotive and Armaments Command, Warren, Mich.
DRS Technologies Inc. of Parsippany, N.J., has been awarded a $21.3 million contract to provide the U.S. Army with digitization systems for M1A2 Abrams Main Battle Tanks and M2A3 Bradley Fighting Vehicles to better see the battlefield, the company said Feb. 28.
Japan's H-IIA rocket returned to flight Feb. 26, launching the Multi-functional Transport Satellite-1 Replacement (MTSAT-1R) spacecraft from the Tanegashima Space Center. Launch took place at 1:25 p.m. Pacific Time, with spacecraft separation occurring 40 minutes later. A scheduled launch attempt on Feb. 24 was postponed due to weather.
Safe Air Ltd., a subsidiary of Air New Zealand, will modify and support New Zealand C-130 Hercules aircraft under a contract from the Canadian company Spar Aerospace Ltd. The modifications are to extend the life of the aircraft by 15 years, Safe Air said, and include replacing structural components in the wing and fuselage, upgrading mechanical and electrical systems and installing new avionics.
Britain's Ministry of Defence has awarded VT Group plc of Southampton, England, a 30 million pound ($57.5 million) contract to build an Offshore Patrol Vessel for the U.K. navy, the MOD said Feb 25. The 80-meter (87.4 yard) ship is based on the VT Group-built River Class design and will replace the U.K. navy's two existing Castle Class offshore patrol vessels. The new vessel, with a helicopter deck and surveillance radar, will patrol the waters off the Falkland Islands, the MOD said.
The U.S. Navy has awarded Phoenix-based Honeywell International a contract to provide 17 Aircraft Integrated Maintenance Systems (AIMS) for CH-46E helicopters, the company said Feb. 24. Financial terms were not disclosed. The system performs vibration monitoring, rotor track and balance, engine performance checks and engine monitoring functions, the company said. It is produced at Honeywell's Chadwick facility in El Monte, Calif.
The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) plans to award up to three Phase 1 contracts for the Walrus cargo airship program in June, according to agency spokeswoman Jan Walker.
Although the U.S. Air Force continues to have a formal requirement to equip the Global Hawk unmanned aerial vehicle with a defensive subsystem, it has decided not to actively pursue such a device for now, citing funding constraints and limited room on the UAV. The Global Hawk program office and Air Combat Command's (ACC's) high-altitude reconnaissance division revealed the subsystem decision in a written response to questions from The DAILY.
ARMY SUPPLEMENTAL: The U.S. Army portion of the Bush Administration's fiscal 2005 supplemental appropriations request, now pending in Congress, contains $372 million to buy 13 AH-64 Apaches and five UH-60 Black Hawks, according to newly released information. The helicopters would replace aircraft lost in Iraq.
COMBAT SUPPORT: The Agile Combat Support Systems Wing (ACSSW), which manages combat support acquisition programs for the U.S. Air Force's Aeronautical Systems Center (ASC), has activated five units as part of a broader reorganization at ASC. The five units are the Aging Aircraft Systems Squadron, Combat Electronics Systems Squadron, Human Systems Group, Propulsion Systems Squadron and Simulator Systems Group.
Brazil has canceled its planned tender of a dozen new fighters, the country's air force said in a statement reported by the Agencia Estado Brazil newspaper. Brazil's F-X fighter program, to replace the country's aging fleet of Mirage aircraft, was estimated to be worth $700 million (DAILY, June 11, 2004). Competitors included Lockheed Martin's F-16 Block 50/52, the JAS-39 Gripen, the Embraer/Dassault variant of the Mirage, Sukhoi's Su-35 and MiG's MiG-29.
ITT Avionics of Clifton, N.J., will upgrade electronic countermeasures systems for B-52H aircraft under a $48.2 million contract award, the Defense Department said Feb. 23. The work will include the delivery and production of upgraded AN/ALQ-172 (V) line replaceable unit 1 receivers, line replaceable unit 4 transmitters, line replaceable unit 10 controllers, new line replaceable unit 21 control display units, yttrium garnett filter oscillator mixer modification kits, and spares and support equipment.
ARMOR KITS: The Oshkosh Truck Corp. of Oshkosh, Wis., has been awarded a $22.4 million contract to provide the Marine Corps with 124 ECP-59 MTVR armor kits for Medium Tactical Vehicle Replacement (MTVR) Standard Cargo vehicles. The majority of the work will be done by Plasan Sasa in Israel. The work is expected to be finished by December 2005. The contract was awarded by the Marine Corps Systems Command, Quantico, Va.
TEST MOTOR: The Office of Naval Research awarded General Atomics of San Diego a $46 million contract for detail design, fabrication and factory testing of a full-scale superconducting, direct current, homopolar motor for ship propulsion, the company said Feb. 24. GA will deliver a 36.5-megawatt, 120-rpm prototype motor, motor drive and support equipment for full-performance testing by the Navy. The system is designed to propel large vessels, such as destroyers, now in development.
The Danish air force is the first military to deploy a next-generation electronic warfare simulation system developed by Cubic Corp.'s defense segment, the San Diego-based company said Feb. 24. The company's High Density Signal Simulator (HIDESS) tests an aircraft's ability to handle virtually all known radar threats that it might face in combat, Cubic said. HIDESS generates signals such as surface-to-air missiles, air-to-air and air-to-ground threats, sending them to an aircraft's actual radar warning receivers and flight software.
PROGRESS: The Expedition 10 crew onboard the International Space Station (ISS) is preparing to jettison a trash-filled Russian Progress cargo ship on Feb. 27 to make way for the arrival of Progress 17 on March 2. After undocking from the aft end of the Zvezda Service Module, the old Progress will orbit the Earth for 10 days before re-entering the planet's atmosphere and burning up over the Pacific Ocean. Meanwhile, flight controllers on the ground successfully controlled the Canadarm2 without assistance from the ISS crew during a test on Feb. 24.
London-based Rolls-Royce has delivered its first MT30 marine gas turbine generator set to the U.S. Navy for the DD(X) destroyer, the company said Feb. 25. The MT30 will drive the DD(X) Integrated Power System Engineering Development Model, which will provide risk mitigation for the main shipboard and propulsion systems.
Budget pressures could hamper efforts to adapt U.S. air and space assets to the post-Sept. 11 war environment, a panel of air power experts said Feb. 24. Military air and space assets present "inherent" adaptability and flexibility, which allow them to be applied to vastly different operational environments, said a group speaking at the American Enterprise Institute in Washington. But questions remain over funding commitments and policies such as putting weapons in space.
