The U.S. Army is "absolutely enthusiastic about what the Stryker has done in its performance" in Iraq and is considering whether to go to a seventh Stryker Brigade, top Army officials said recently. "It also has demonstrated the highest operational readiness [OR] of any system that we have had over there," Army Secretary Francis J. Harvey told the House Armed Services Committee on Feb. 9. "It is routinely above 95 percent in OR rate, always above 90 to the best of my knowledge, and it is one of the most survivable vehicles we have."
The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency's Tactical Technology Office (TTO) is seeking proposals from industry for new technologies in the areas of space, unmanned vehicles, tactical multipliers and urban warfare/low-intensity operations.
Northrop Grumman Corp. is expanding its planned unmanned systems center in Jackson County, Miss., to include the building of RQ-4 Global Hawk UAV subassemblies for the U.S. Air Force, the company said Feb. 18. Los Angeles-based Northrop Grumman had originally planned to manufacture only the Fire Scout UAV for the U.S. Navy and U.S. Army at the facility, located at Trett Lott International Airport.
Raytheon Co. is expected to receive a U.S. government contract within days to build another batch of targeting pods for F/A-18s, Navy and company officials said Feb. 22.
The first flight of Bell Helicopter's full-scale Eagle Eye unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) demonstrator should take place in Texas within the next three months, according to Robert Dompka, Bell's director of tiltrotor UAV programs. The Eagle Eye tiltrotor UAV is being developed for the Coast Guard as part of its Deepwater recapitalization program. The Coast Guard plans to buy 69 Eagle Eyes, which would be deployed on its new National Security Cutters and Offshore Patrol Cutters.
General Dynamics Armament and Technical Products of Charlotte, N.C., has been awarded a $21 million contract option to produce 45 M2HB Machine Gun Overhaul Kits for the U.S. Army, the company said Feb. 22. The contract was awarded by the U.S. Army Tank automotive Command, Rock Island, Ill. The option was exercised under a contract awarded in September 2004. The contract's total value is now $42 million.
South Korea will spend $4.5 billion to produce hundreds of new helicopters to replace its aging UH-1H fleet, the Ministry of National Defense said Feb. 19. The Korean Helicopter Program (KHP) will begin in December and also include research and development. A manufacturer will be chosen by September. Domestic and foreign bidders will be considered. The research and development phase is set to be finished by 2010, and manufacturing will begin in 2011, the ministry said.
Switzerland's army may buy $127 million in telecommunications equipment from Israel, the Swiss Information Service said Feb. 19. The purchase would be the first from an Israeli company since 2002. Israel and Switzerland reduced military cooperation after Israeli forces reoccupied towns in the Palestinian territories in April 2002. The type of equipment was not disclosed. Switzerland purchased surveillance equipment from Israel in the late 1990s.
Congress should think of the U.S. Army's recently revamped Future Combat Systems (FCS) program as a "strategy" more than a system, top Army officials have said, and fund the fiscal 2006 budget request so the Pentagon can pull out useful technologies for quick application. "We're taking the benefit of FCS a lot sooner than we otherwise would have, because it was too far out," Army Secretary Francis J. Harvey told the House Armed Services Committee Feb. 9.
LONDON - The United Kingdom Ministry of Defence (MOD) has awarded a $15.8 million contract to Systems Development (UK) to study the feasibility of using a Low Cost Loitering Carrier (LCLC) on the battlefield. Ostensibly designed as a standoff precision weapon, the LCLC could loiter over the battlefield for more than 12 hours, or attack targets up to 180 miles away with high accuracy. The weapon also is intended to be an affordable means to strike time-sensitive targets, such as Scud missile launchers, from the sea or from land.
Boeing has completed 60 hours of operational ground testing with a new, more powerful transmission design for the AH-64D Apache Longbow helicopter, the company announced Feb. 22. The new design creates more power without increasing the size of the transmission and could be applied to a variety of other helicopter drive systems, according to Boeing. The tests are sponsored by the Army's Applied Aviation Technology Directorate (AATD).
INDUSTRIAL CONCERNS: Gen. John Jumper, U.S. Air Force chief of staff, says more attention should be given to the health of the aerospace industrial base when proposals are considered for reducing aircraft purchases. While discussions about shipbuilding cuts often factor in the impact on the ship industrial base, "I don't hear the debate about airplanes and the aerospace industry," Jumper says. "We need to have that debate because if I count them right, I think we have more shipyards in this country than we do factories that produce airplanes.
Feb. 22 - 23 -- AFCEA Homeland Security Conference, Ronald Reagan Building, Washington, D.C. For more information go to www.afcea.org. Feb. 23 -- The Technical Support Working Group (TSWG) and Advance Planning Briefing for Industry (APBI), Omni Shoreham Hotel, Washington, D.C. For more information go to www.ndia.org. Feb. 24 -- Women In Defense National Conference, Hyatt Regency Reston, Reston, Va. For more information contact Ann M. Saliski at (703) 247-2577, email [email protected] or go to www.ndia.org.
EQUIPMENT FUNDED: Money to "start resetting the equipment needs" for the U.S. Army Guard and Reserve is contained in the fiscal year 2006 defense budget and supplemental budget requests, a Reserve affairs official says. "In looking at the numbers, there is money in all the budgets of all the services for the Guard and Reserve to start resetting the equipment needs for the equipment that they left behind, and the equipment you need for training sets here, and the equipment that needs to be repaired," says Tom Hall, assistant secretary of defense for Reserve affairs.
RADAR TEST: Lockheed Martin and Spanish shipbuilding firm IZAR have successfully completed initial testing of the first Aegis Weapon System equipped with SPY-1F radar aboard the Norwegian frigate Fridtjof Nansen (F-310), Lockheed Martin said. The testing took place at IZAR's shipyard in Ferrol, Spain. It was the start of Integrated Weapon System testing for the first of Norway's five new Aegis-equipped frigates. Lockheed Martin is integrating all IWS system elements, including weapons, communications, and sensors, for the Fridtjof Nansen-class frigates.
Irvine Sensors Corp. has introduced a tiny visible-spectrum camera suitable for military and commercial use, the Costa Mesa, Calif.-based company said Feb. 18. The camera, dubbed MVC, draws on design techniques and supplier links from previous company products. The MVC is about 1 inch by 1 inch by three-quarters of an inch and uses a 752-by-480 pixel imaging chip.
ORLANDO, Fla. - A top U.S. Air Force general says that export restrictions on the F/A-22 Raptor should be re-examined during the Defense Department's upcoming Quadrennial Defense Review (QDR). Current law bans the export of the high-tech "air dominance" fighter, but the Air Force might argue that allowing foreign sales of the Lockheed Martin-built F/A-22 would increase economies of scale, reducing the cost of each aircraft for the Air Force and allowing the service to buy more.
Lockheed Martin Corp. of Bethesda, Md., has agreed to buy information technology products and services provider the SYTEX Group Inc. (TSGI) for $462 million, Lockheed Martin said Feb. 18. The purchase, subject to government approval, is expected to close in early 2005.
The Senate Armed Services Committee on Feb. 18 named its subcommittee chairmen for the 109th Congress, with Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) - a sometimes fierce critic of U.S. Air Force acquisition decisions - named to lead the Airland panel. Other new subcommittee chairs include Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas), Emerging Threats and Capabilities; Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), Personnel; and Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.), Strategic Forces.
SLED TEST: Lockheed Martin and BAE Systems successfully conducted a sled test of an Army Tactical Missile System (ATACMS) using a Broach penetrating payload, Lockheed Martin said Feb. 17. BAE Systems' Broach is a candidate for the ATACMS Block I Unitary system, which recently won a contract to produce the Block Is for the U.S. Army. The test, conducted in the United Kingdom, showed that the Broach warhead can be integrated into a ballistic missile and that its lethality is enhanced by high-speed impact.
BIG YEAR: The military will "work through three major processes that will have a far-reaching impact on our future force posture" this year, says Gen. Richard Myers (USAF), chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
ANTI-FRAUD GROUP: U.S. Attorney Paul J. McNulty, who prosecuted former Boeing Co. executives Darleen Druyun and Michael Sears, says he's "spearheading a procurement fraud initiative to promote the early detection and prevention of procurement fraud associated with the increase in contracting activity for national security and other government programs." The Procurement Fraud Working Group will include representatives from agencies including the FBI, the National Reconnaissance Office and the departments of Defense, Homeland Security, State and Transportation.
