Space and defense contractor SpaceDev of Poway, Calif., reported its fourth straight quarter with operating profit on March 29, but interest expense on a revolving credit line pulled its overall earnings into the red. Revenue for the year was up 65%, to $4.9 million, compared with $3 million for 2003. Revenue for the fourth quarter of 2004 was $1.4 million, up 60% from the same period in 2003.
The U.S. Marine Corps has awarded Goodrich Corp. contracts to provide 28 diagnostic kits on CH-53E Super Stallion helicopters, the company said March 29. Financial terms were not disclosed.
NASA has rescheduled the launch of its Demonstration of Autonomous Rendezvous Technology (DART) mission for April 15 from Vandenberg Air Force Base, Calif. Several previous launch attempts in October and November 2004 were scrubbed due to weather, range availability, launch vehicle contamination and questions over whether the DART spacecraft would be able to withstand the loads associated with the ignition of the second stage of its Pegasus launch vehicle (DAILY, Nov. 17, 2004). All those issues have been resolved.
ARMY AM General L.L.C., South Bend, Ind., was awarded on March 23, 2005, a $24,416,957 modification to a firm-fixed-price contract for M1113s and M1097A2s for the High Mobility Multipurpose Wheeled Vehicles. Work will be performed in South Bend, Ind., and is expected to be completed by Dec. 31, 2007. Contract funds will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. This was a sole source contract initiated on July 17, 2000. The U.S. Army Tank-Automotive and Armaments Command, Warren, Mich., is the contracting activity (DAAE07-01-C-S001).
Boeing is distancing itself from a news story last week in which a company executive was reported as saying the Delta IV expendable rocket could be reintroduced into the commercial market as early as the end of this year.
Cyclone Aviation Products Ltd., a subsidiary of Haifa, Israel-based Elbit Systems, has completed its purchase of Israel Military Industries Ltd.'s Aircraft Systems Division for $7 million, Elbit Systems said March 27. The acquisition was first announced on Jan. 4.
REFLECTORS: Northrop Grumman Corp.'s AstroMesh deployable reflector system successfully deployed aboard Inmarsat's I-4 satellite, which launched March 11, the company said. This is the first of three reflectors delivered by Northrop Grumman's Astro Aerospace unit for satellite builder EADS Astrium, and the fourth AstroMesh to be deployed in space, the company said March 28.
Congress could be heading into the latest round of annual defense authorization and appropriations without clear knowledge of proposed defense acquisition program costs, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) said. In a March 28 report for the chairman and ranking Democrat of the Senate Appropriations Committee's defense subcommittee, the GAO said the Defense Department could report to Congress more complete and more timely information beyond what is required by law.
The United Kingdom Ministry of Defence (MOD) has decided to make AgustaWestland's Future Lynx program the "preferred option" for the Land Find and Maritime (Surface) Attack elements of the Future Rotorcraft Capability plan, as long as the government and the company can agree on "acceptable contract conditions and prices," the MOD said.
OPEVAL: The V-22 Osprey program has officially begun an operational evaluation (OPEVAL), a key test phase, a U.S. Navy spokesman said March 28. The OPEVAL, which got under way March 25, is expected to last about four months. The test phase is supposed to lead to full-rate production approval in the fall and an initial fielding of the tiltrotor aircraft, by the Marine Corps, in 2007. The Air Force and Navy also plan to buy the V-22. The OPEVAL, whose start was approved by the Navy in February (DAILY, Feb.
The U.S. Defense Department's office of the deputy under secretary of defense for industrial policy is carrying out a global shipbuilding industrial base benchmarking study, expected to be completed later this year, according to industry sources. The state of the U.S. defense shipbuilding industry has come under renewed congressional concern this year as the Navy proposes to build fewer, more capable ships (DAILY, March 3).
Northrop Grumman Corp. has returned the aircraft carrier USS Dwight D. Eisenhower (CVN 69) to the U.S. Navy after completing its midlife refueling and overhaul, the company said March 25. The Navy received the Eisenhower after four days of sea trials and operational tests to make sure the ship's two nuclear propulsion plants are mission capable, the company said.
SHIP WORK: U.S. Navy officials on March 23 approved a plan for more than $2 billion worth of work to alter and modernize surface ships and aircraft carriers in fiscal 2006, and said they found $203 million in "savings" across the Future Years Defense Plan. A three-tier decision-making process culled a backlog of more than 25,000 pending alterations, some more than 25 years old. "This is truly a first for the Navy," said Rear Adm. Denny Dwyer, program executive officer for carriers and head of the Entitled Modernization Process.
Philadelphia-based MCA Solutions is promoting its software against the U.S. Navy's legacy systems for running the service's spare parts system, and says it could allow the service to save billions on its inventory.
Acting Pentagon acquisition chief Michael Wynne will take over managing 21 major Air Force acquisition programs to "ensure continuity of program oversight" while the service undergoes a leadership transition, the Defense Department announced March 28. The programs, all designated acquisition category (ACAT) 1C, include the Advanced Medium Range Air to Air Missile (AMRAAM), the C-17 Globemaster III, the Evolved Expendable Launch Vehicle (EELV) and the Transformational Communications Satellite (TSAT) program (see chart on Page 7).
Lockheed Martin is in line for a contract to enhance the capability of the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) system. Among upgrades in the planned "Block 08" development are remote operation of launchers from beyond-line-of-sight distances and launching of missiles with information from non-THAAD sensors, according to a March 28 FedBizOpps pre-solicitation notice.
Aviation Week's Web portal, at http://www.aviationnow.com, has added a "find a supplier" feature that allows aviation and aerospace professionals to find suppliers for specific parts or services worldwide. Drawn from the World Aviation Directory & Aerospace Database, the search capability includes 15,000 manufacturers, distributors and maintenance providers in 6,000 product and service categories, the group said. No registration is required to use the service.
The High Altitude Airship (HAA), which is being developed to provide long-endurance surveillance and communications relay, is being taken off the fast track.
Ball Aerospace & Technologies Corp. of Boulder, Colo., said it has completed the focal planes, the most "technically challenging" part of the Ozone Mapping and Profiler Suite (OMPS). The OMPS is one of more than a dozen instruments that will fly as part of the National Polar-orbiting Operational Environmental Satellite System (NPOESS).
International Space Station (ISS) Commander Leroy Chiao and Flight Engineer Salizhan Sharipov conducted a four-and-a-half hour spacewalk March 28, installing communications equipment on the outside of the Zvezda Service Module and deploying a small experimental satellite.
