The European Commission has given final approval to Honeywell International's purchase of United Kingdom-based Novar plc, Honeywell said March 31. In December, Honeywell announced its intention to buy Novar, a $2.7 billion nondefense company, for $2.4 billion (DAILY, Dec. 14). Honeywell will integrate Novar's Intelligent Building Systems unit, which had 2003 revenue of $1.2 billion, into its Automation and Control Solutions division, which builds sensors and switches for the housing and automotive industry and other markets.
SEASPARROW: Raytheon-built Evolved SeaSparrow Missiles and Standard Missile-2s successfully intercepted targets mimicking anti-ship missiles during exercises conducted in early March, the company said March 31. The missiles were fired from a Netherlands navy air defense and command frigate in the Atlantic Ocean and had six successful intercepts.
The Department of Defense identified armor production as a possible industrial base risk for the Army and its Future Combat Systems (FCS) program in its most recent industrial capabilities report to Congress. Other risks cited include those associated with the Joint Tactical Radio System (JTRS), software cyber security and soldier systems, according to the report.
BETTER REPORTING: The Defense Department could give Congress more complete information on defense program cost overruns, the Government Accountabilty Office (GAO) said in a recent report (DAILY, March 29), such as by reporting "a full history of unit cost performance in constant dollars. ..." The report also said that DOD reporting of changes to program baselines could be more timely. The following charts are from that report.
Although the U.S. Defense Department does not plan to announce the results of a major review of the Air Force F/A-22 Raptor for at least several more days, sources said March 31 that the Lockheed Martin-built aircraft received approval to enter full-rate production.
DEEPWATER: Rep. Frank LoBiondo (R-N.J.), chairman of the House Transportation Committee's Coast Guard subcommittee, will hold a hearing April 20 to review, and likely challenge, the Coast Guard's revised baseline plan for its Deepwater recapitalization effort, according to LoBiondo's spokesman. LoBiondo is concerned that the service's timeline is not fast enough because assets are deteriorating at an accelerated rate. Other lawmakers have attacked the plan as inadequate for similar reasons (DAILY, March 30).
The production decision for the U.S. Navy's Advanced SEAL Delivery System (ASDS) has been postponed again, this time until December, as problems over the special forces submersible's lithium ion battery continue to plague development, according to a new report from congressional investigators.
While the U.S. Army works on possible improvements to its interim Stryker vehicle, it should finish up-armoring the 750 M113 armored personnel carriers "sitting in Kuwait" and send them to Iraq, said Eric Miller, senior defense investigator for the Washington nonprofit Project on Government Oversight (POGO).
General Dynamics Network Systems has been awarded a $36 million task order to support and sustain U.S. Air Force voice, video and data networks and equipment, the company said March 31. The Combat Information Transport System Life Cycle Support Services order was issued under the U.S. Air Force's Network-Centric Solutions (NETCENTS) contract.
Pratt & Whitney is on track to begin building the first flight-test engine for the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter this summer in Middletown, Conn., a company spokesman said March 31. Pratt & Whitney plans to deliver the engine to the JSF program in December to support the aircraft's first flight in August 2006. A total of 20 F135 flight-test engines are planned. A recent F135 review overseen by the U.S. Defense Department's JSF program office found that the engine is meeting its goals, the company said.
LRIP APPROVED: Michael Wynne, the acting undersecretary of defense for acquisition, technology and logistics, signed an acquisition decision memorandum (ADM) on March 31 approving low-rate initial production for up to 40 new UH-60M Black Hawk helicopters, according to an information paper on the ADM. The Army told The DAILY of the decision earlier this month, although the final numbers approved were not available until the ADM was released (DAILY, March 17). The ADM also approves advanced procurement for the first full-rate production lot. Sikorsky Aircraft Corp.
WATCH LIST: The Defense Department has identified four important, "unusual" technologies that while not likely to be part of the U.S. defense arsenal, could pose challenges to U.S. military personnel if possessed by potential adversaries, according to the Pentagon's 2005 Industrial Capabilities Report to Congress. The four technologies are: Metal Storm Ltd.'s million-rounds-per-minute gun; electrohydraulic cavitation devices; towed fabric balloon pressure sweep; and rigid polyurethane foam.
United Defense Industries Inc.'s Southwest Marine shipyard has been awarded a five-year contract worth up to $44 million to perform maintenance and other work on seven Ticonderoga-class Aegis cruisers in San Diego, the company said March 31. Besides maintenance, the work will include planning, nine Selected Restricted Availabilities and two Dry Docking Selected Restricted Availabilities, Arlington, Va.-based UDI said.
Metal Storm Ltd.'s new CEO acknowledged the recent volatility of the company's stock, but said there's nothing the company knows about "that has not been publicly disclosed which would explain the movements in price."
With the Stafford-Covey Return to Flight Task Group awaiting data from NASA that probably won't be available until mid-April, it now appears unlikely that the group will meet its original goal of delivering its final report one month before the space shuttle's next flight.
Most of the 54 major defense programs surveyed by the Government Accountability Office (GAO) "are costing more and taking longer to develop than planned," the congressional watchdog agency said in an annual report. The programs, worth a total of $800 billion, mostly "proceeded with less knowledge at critical junctures than suggested by best practices, although some programs came close to meeting best practice standards," the report says.
The threat from cruise missiles "is real and growing, but not unmanageable," according to a report from the Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments. "The United States clearly has the wherewithal to improve greatly its defenses against anti-ship and land attack cruise missiles," it says. "What is needed is a holistic approach to the problem."
LaBarge Inc. will supply electronic subsystems for Northrop Grumman's Multi-role Electronically Scanned Array (MESA) radar system, the company said March 30. The company will manufacture antenna switch phase shifter (ASPS) units for the system under a $5.4 million contract from Northrop Grumman Electronic Systems. The subsystems will go into airborne early warning and control aircraft being built for Australia and Turkey.
A-10 WORK: Lockheed Martin will provide kits to enable A-10 aircraft to use "smart" weapons under a $37.8 million Air Force contract. The kits will enable the A-10 to use precision weapons, including the Joint Direct Attack Munition and Wind Corrected Munitions Dispenser, as well as advanced targeting pods, the company said.
An FAA research and development (R&D) official is concerned about NASA's future commitment to aircraft safety and environmental mitigation R&D, given the agency's dwindling aeronautics budget over the next few years. According to Joan Bauerlein, FAA's director of air traffic organization operations planning R&D, one of her "major objectives" is to get FAA and NASA to collaborate more closely on R&D work.
Jeremiah Gertler and Christine Wormuth have been appointed senior fellows. David McGinnis has been named a senior associate in the international security program.
Adm. Robert J. Kelly (USN-Ret.) will retire from the board of directors effective April 1. James E. Reed will succeed Kelly as president of VSE's wholly owned subsidiary Energetics Incorporated, effective April 1.
