Lockheed Martin and EEI Manufacturing Services of Clearwater, Fla., have signed a three-year, mentor-protege agreement, Lockheed Martin said Feb. 14. EEI is a woman-owned, small disadvantaged, HUBZone business that builds printed circuit card assemblies. Under the agreement, Lockheed Martin will transfer electronic manufacturing technologies to EEI to allow it to build more complex circuit card assemblies for use in the Sniper XR advanced targeting pod, Joint Common Missile and MH-60 helicopter.
Several House lawmakers on Feb. 15 expressed support for President Bush's $81.9 billion supplemental request for ongoing military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan, as well as tsunami relief efforts, although members of both parties promised oversight to support soldiers and Marines. "We will be asking some tough questions to ensure that our military men and women have what they need to get the job done," House Appropriations Committee Chairman Rep. Jerry Lewis (R-Calif.) said in a statement.
The TFD Group, of Monterey, Calif., has acquired Northrop Grumman's Electronic Maintenance & Training Systems' development team, which is now part of TFD's Electronic Documentation Division. The new division develops and deploys interactive electronic technical manuals, computer-based interactive training system modules, simulation software and troubleshooting systems, TFD said Feb. 14.
Lawmakers on the Senate Armed Services Committee disagreed Feb. 15 over whether there is a requirement for the Robust Nuclear Earth Penetrator (RNEP), a nuclear bunker-buster. "I don't believe yet there is a military requirement for an RNEP," Sen. Jack Reed (D-R.I.), the ranking Democrat on the committee's emerging threats subcommittee, told panel witness Samuel W. Bodman, the new energy secretary. "It appears that DOE and DOD are moving forward to try to resolve those requirements."
India has expressed interest in buying up to 126 new fighter aircraft for its air force and is looking at several U.S. models, including the Boeing F-15, Lockheed Martin F-16 and Boeing F/A-18E/F, sources said Feb. 15. India also is considering several non-U.S. fighters, including the Eurofighter Typhoon, Gripen, MiG-29 and Mirage 2000, said Richard Aboulafia, an aviation consultant at the Teal Group. Plans for a formal competition apparently have not been announced.
DIVIDEND: EDO Corp.'s board of directors declared a regularly quarterly cash dividend of three cents per share, payable on April 8 to shareholders of record at the close of business on March 11, the company said. EDO Corp., based in New York, provides defense electronics, communications, aircraft armament and other systems.
L-3 Communications of New York and Italy's Alenia Aeronautica announced a joint venture to produce and support the C-27J military transport aircraft and pursue the U.S. Army's Future Cargo Aircraft (FCA) competition, L-3 said Feb. 15. L-3 Integrated Systems and Alenia North America will manage the venture, named Global Military Aircraft Systems (GMAS), which also will pursue other Defense Department and international work.
The U.S. Missile Defense Agency's Sea-Based X-band (SBX) radar program is expected to take a major step within the next few weeks when a Raytheon-built radar will be placed atop a modified oil-drilling platform, according to government and industry officials.
General Atomics Aeronautical Systems will provide on-site technical, logistical and operational support for its I-Gnat unmanned aerial vehicle under a $5 million contract modification, the U.S. Department of Defense said Feb. 15. The work will be performed in Adelanto and San Diego, Calif., and is expected to be completed by Dec. 31, 2005. The U.S. Army Aviation and Missile Command, Redstone Arsenal, Ala., awarded the contract.
Northrop Grumman Corp. and the U.S. Army are integrating hardware and software for the Integrated Meteorological System (IMETS), an automated system that can forecast battlefield conditions, the company said Feb. 15. Northrop Grumman's Information Technology sector has been the IMETS systems integrator since 1992, and is continuing work on the program under a one-year follow-contract. The contract has five option years.
SHIP REPAIR: Todd Shipyards Corp. said Feb. 14 that the U.S. Navy awarded a company subsidiary a $28.7 million contract modification for work on the USS John C. Stennis aircraft carrier (CVN-74), including alteration and repair of the ship's systems, shipboard equipment and ship hull preservation. The Navy also awarded Todd Pacific a $15.8 million modification for overhaul of the USS Ford (FFG-54). Todd built the Ford and delivered it to the Navy in 1985.
NASA's Ames Research Center in Moffett Field, Calif., has awarded a $13.4 million contract to Ball Aerospace and Technologies Corp. to build a photometer for the Kepler planet-hunting mission. Scheduled to launch in 2007, the Kepler mission is the first space mission specifically designed to detect Earth-size planets orbiting in the habitable zone of other stars. Ball also will build the spacecraft, under a separate contract.
General Atomics Aeronautical Systems Inc. (GA-ASI) is expanding into a new production facility in the Sabre Springs area of San Diego to meet increased demand for its MQ-1 Predator A and MQ-9 Predator B unmanned aerial vehicles, the company said Feb. 14.
EADS Military Aircraft delivered the first single-seat Eurofighter from German series production to the German air force, the company said Feb. 14. "Alongside the eight twin-seaters for pilot training that have already been delivered, the Luftwaffe now has the first single-seater Eurofighter destined for flight operations, ..." Johann Heitzmann, CEO of the company, said in a ceremony in Manching when the aircraft was delivered.
Tel-Instrument Electronics Corp. said Feb. 15 that its quarterly net income dropped from $137,187 in 2003 to $42,046 for the quarter ended Dec. 31. The drop was due to a delay in deliveries for existing contracts, as well as losses for the company's marine division. Tel-Instrument designs and builds avionics testing equipment and its marine division, Innerspace Technology, builds shipboard and underwater instruments.
RT Logic has delivered satellite equipment to Raytheon Co. for use on the National Polar-orbiting Operational Envionmental Satellite System's command, control and communications segment, the Colorado Springs, Colo.-based company said Feb. 14. The company shipped six payload pre-processor systems to process the NPOESS data downlink, and five telemetry and command modems, which are being installed at NASA's satellite ground station in Norway to process command, control and mission data.
Northrop Grumman has no plans to close any of its shipyards, according to company president and CEO Ron Sugar, despite the cuts in ship production outlined in the Navy's fiscal year 2006 budget. Northrop Grumman's Ship Systems division has four major shipyards - three along the Gulf Coast and one in Newport News, Va. For the time being, "we've got a significant backlog of orders in all of those yards," Sugar said during a press briefing in Washington Feb. 15.
NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Spirit has found a new class of rock that appears to have been shaped by water, bolstering the case for the Gusev Crater region having a watery past.
WARRIOR: General Atomics has controlled its Warrior UAV demonstrator from the Army's "One System" Ground Control Station (GCS), the company said Feb. 14. General Atomics and partner AAI Corp., which developed the One System GCS, began the flights in early January using their own funds. Control of the Warrior was handed off to the One System GCS in flight. A modified Predator UAV, the Warrior is competing with Northrop Grumman's Hunter II in the Army's Extended Range/Multipurpose UAV program.
United Defense Industries Inc. of York, Pa., has been awarded two contracts worth $68.2 million for the Bradley Fighting Vehicle program, the company said Feb. 14. The contracts were awarded by the U.S. Army's Tank-automotive and Armaments Command (TACOM).
