The completion of a study on U.S. Air Force tanker modernization options has been delayed, possibly for months, according to the Defense Department. DOD was planning to give Congress the results of the tanker analysis of alternatives (AOA) by mid-February. But the department ended up canceling those briefings to give the Air Force and RAND Corp. more time to finish the study, DOD spokeswoman Cheryl Irwin said Feb. 8.
The first flight-test of the U.S. Missile Defense Agency's Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) system has been delayed again because of lingering effects from budget constraints and propellant problems, according to a senior defense official. The test had been scheduled for the January-March quarter and now is slated for the April-June quarter, the official said. The event was delayed earlier from September 2004 to January-March (DAILY, June 7, Sept. 30).
MISSILE PURCHASE: The U.S. Army will receive Army Tactical Missile System (ATACMS) Block IA Unitary missiles under a $45 million contract awarded to Lockheed Martin Corp., the company said Feb. 7. The contract was awarded by the U.S. Army Aviation and Missile Command. The work will be done at Lockheed Martin facilities in Dallas and Horizon City, Texas. Delivery is scheduled for 2006.
Plans to develop a standoff jammer for the B-52H bomber are moving ahead with a U.S. Air Force notice that it plans to issue a request for proposals for a lead systems integrator to carry out the pre-system design and development phase of the program. A two-year contract would be awarded in about July, according to a Feb. 4 FedBizOpps notice from the Aeronautical Systems Center at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio. A pre-solicitation conference is slated for Feb. 16-17, the notice said.
The U.S. Missile Defense Agency is proposing to upgrade three radars to defend the homeland against a short- or medium-range ballistic missile launched from a ship offshore, according to a senior defense official.
General Dynamics Electric Boat of Groton, Conn., will perform $58 million in submarine work under two contract modifications awarded by the U.S. Navy, the company said Feb. 4 Electric Boat received a $41 million contract modification to do research and development work on the Virginia-class submarine program. The company will perform development studies for Virginia-class design improvements and continue to evaluate new technologies for succeeding Virginia-class subs, the company said.
The U.S. Air Force has authorized International Launch Services (ILS) of McLean, Va., to start operations for the launch of a classified national security payload, the company said Feb. 7. The launch will take place in mid-2007 on an Atlas V vehicle from Cape Canaveral, Fla. The launch is designated NROL-24 for the National Reconnaissance Office and is one of seven first assigned to ILS and the Lockheed Martin Atlas V launcher under the Air Force's Evolved Expendable Launch Vehicle (EELV) program.
House Armed Services Committee Republican and Democratic leaders on Feb. 7 both provided lukewarm reactions to President Bush's fiscal 2006 defense budget proposal of $419.3 billion, although each pointed to different funding-priority concerns. "I am generally pleased with the budget request for national defense. President Bush and [Defense] Secretary Rumsfeld are continuing their commitment to military modernization and the well-being of our men and women in uniform," HASC Chairman Duncan Hunter (R-Calif.) said in a statement.
NASA Administrator Sean O'Keefe is citing the National Academies' recent report on the Hubble Space Telescope to justify NASA's decision to cut funding for Hubble servicing, saying the agency's favored robotic servicing mission became too difficult to support in light of the panel's findings. Little faith In their December final report, panel members expressed little faith in NASA's ability to pull off the challenging robotic mission in time to save Hubble, recommending instead that the agency mount another shuttle servicing mission.
DIGITAL RADIOS: Washington-based EFJ Inc. subsidiary EFJohnson has been awarded a $1 million contract to supply the Defense Department with Project 25 digital radios and accessories, the company said Feb. 7. The Association of Public-Safety Communication Officials International Project 25 is a joint effort of U.S. federal, state, and local governments that receives support from the U.S. Telecommunications Industry Association.
Raytheon has tested the third software increment for the ground control segment of the National Polar-orbiting Operational Environmental Satellite System (NPOESS), the company announced Feb. 7. Raytheon is developing the ground segments for NPOESS prime contractor Northrop Grumman. The testing marks a major milestone leading to the NPOESS Preparatory Project (NPP) satellite, scheduled to launch in 2006, Raytheon said. NPP will act as a bridge to the operational NPOESS system, scheduled to begin launching in 2009.
The Pentagon plans to unveil its proposal for war-related funding during the week of Feb. 14-18, Defense Department officials said Feb. 7. DOD's $75 billion fiscal 2005 supplemental appropriations request, designed mainly to sustain operations in Afghanistan and Iraq, is expected to include money to maintain and repair vehicles, increase force protection and improve the detection of improvised explosive devices, Pentagon Comptroller Tina Jonas said. The Army's restructuring efforts also are slated to receive funding.
Sweden-based Bofors Defence AB has been awarded an 11 million euro ($14 million) contract to provide Finland's navy with two 57mm Mk 3 Naval Guns, the company said Feb. 7. Bofors will produce and install the guns for Finland's patrol ships of the Squadron 2000 class. Bofors also is completing an earlier contract for the production of the first two 57mm guns for the same ship class.
SAN DIEGO - U.S. forces in Iraq are using a device emitting high-energy, nonlethal acoustic beams to identify and turn back potential enemies before they get within lethal range, said an official with the company that produces the device. Since March, Marine, Army, and Navy units have been using American Technology Corp.'s (ATC) Long Range Acoustic Device (LRAD), Carl Gruenler, the company's vice president of Government and Force Protection Systems, told The DAILY Feb. 3.
Reps. Jim Saxton (R-N.J.) and Marty Meehan (D-Mass.), the ranking Republican and Democrat on the House Armed Services Committee's terrorism and unconventional threats subcommittee, have urged Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld to fill the vacant position of assistant secretary of defense for networks, integration, and information (ASD-NII). The ASD-NII serves as the Defense Department's chief information officer and oversees the largest computing system in the world. DOD has not had an ASD-NII for more than a year.
Bell/Agusta Aerospace Co. said Feb. 7 that SEACOR Holdings Inc. has ordered 20 AB139 helicopters, the largest AB139 order so far. The order raises the Bell Helicopter-Agusta joint venture's backlog to 100 helicopters, the company said. Delivery of the aircraft is to begin later this year and be completed by 2009. They initially will be used to support offshore oil operations in the Gulf of Mexico, Bell/Agusta said.
NASA's fiscal year 2006 budget request would boost funding for space exploration to $3.165 billion from $2.684 billion in FY '05, while putting the agency's aeronautics budget on a fairly steady decline through FY '10. The agency's exploration systems area includes all the technologies NASA is developing to return astronauts to the moon by 2020 and pave the way for a human Mars landing. By FY '10, its annual budget is slated to rise to $5.125 billion.
Goodrich Corp. said its military and space sales grew by almost 14% in the fourth quarter of 2004. The company reported a quarterly net income of $37 million on sales of $1.3 billion, up from $23 million reported for the same period in 2003. For the full year, Charlotte, N.C.-based Goodrich reported net income of $172 million on sales of $4.7 billion, up from $100 million of income on $4.4 billion in sales reported for 2003.
VOICE SYSTEMS: L-3 Communication Systems East of Camden, N.J., has been awarded a $19.8 million contract to furnish the Navy with six FY 04/05 MarCom Integrated Interior Voice Communication Systems (IVCS) for installation on DDG 51 Class Aegis destroyers. The systems provide a computer-controlled voice communication system for reliable and survivable interior voice communications in Navy combatant ships.
