The U.S. Air Force and NASA are negotiating the proposed reopening of the National Full-Scale Aerodynamics Complex (NFAC) at Ames Research Center in Moffett Field, Calif., which could occur as early as October 2005. The 40 by 80 by 120-foot NFAC is the largest wind tunnel in the world. Prior to closing in May 2004, the NFAC was the facility that the U.S. Army relied on for its full-scale rotorcraft testing. The shutdown of the NASA-owned facility was prompted by the agency cutting funding for rotorcraft research (DAILY, Aug. 8, 2003).
The U.S. Navy will christen the X-Craft as Sea Fighter (FSF 1) at the Nichols Bros. Boat Builders yard in Freeland, Wash., on Feb. 5, the Navy said. Rep. Duncan Hunter (R-Calif.), chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, will deliver the principal address, and his wife, Lynne Hunter, has been chosen as the ship's sponsor to break a bottle of champagne across the bow to formally christen the ship.
Lockheed Martin has been awarded a $532 million contract to provide 156 PAC-3 missiles to the U.S. Army, the Netherlands and Japan, the company said Jan. 31. These are the first international sales of PAC-3s, the company said. The contract includes launcher modification kits and kits of spares and other ancillary ground equipment.
Lockheed Martin on Jan. 31 announced its teammates in the upcoming competition to build NASA's Crew Exploration Vehicle, which include EADS Space Transportation, Honeywell, and Orbital Sciences. United Space Alliance and Hamilton Sundstrand will round out Lockheed's team, which is set to go head to head with a team led by Northrop Grumman and Boeing in the competition to build the spacecraft that will return astronauts to the moon by 2020.
AEGIS WEAPON SYSTEMS: Lockheed Martin will produce three Aegis Weapon Systems for the next three Arleigh Burke-class destroyers under a $208.7 million contract awarded by the U.S. Navy, the company said Jan. 31. The destroyers will be the 60th, 61st and 62nd ships of the class. Manufacturing work will be done in Moorestown, N.J. The Aegis, a naval surface missile defense system, is deployed on 68 U.S. Navy cruisers and destroyers around the world. Eighteen more ships are planned.
General Dynamics Land Systems of Sterling Heights, Mich., will retrofit 129 M1A2 Abrams tanks with an enhanced electronics package under a $161 million contract modification, the Defense Department said Jan. 28. The modification was awarded by the U.S. Army Tank-automotive and Armaments Command. The retrofitted tanks will modernize the U.S. Army's 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment, Fort Carson, Colo.
Aviation products producer Aerosonic Corp. of Clearwater, Fla., has been awarded a contract to provide the U.S. Army with 350 altimeters for UH60 Black Hawk and CH47 Chinook helicopters, the company said Jan. 31. The U.S. Army Aviation and Missile Command awarded the contract. The order is a second option on an original contract worth $19 million that was awarded in May 2002. Options extend through 2006.
RECEIVERS: Rockwell Collins Government Systems of Cedar Rapids, Iowa, has won a $59.2 million contract modification to buy 26,168 Defense Advanced GPS Receivers (DAGRs) and accessories. The work will be complete by April 2006. The Headquarters Space and Missile Systems Center, Los Angeles Air Force Base, Calif., awarded the contract.
A competition to provide Australia with a new air-to-surface standoff missile is slated to produce a winner in December 2005 and a contract award in February 2006, an industry source said Jan. 31. The missile will arm the Royal Australian Air Force's F/A-18 fighters and P-3 maritime patrol aircraft. Industry proposals, which are due April 19 (DAILY, Jan. 31), are expected to include Boeing's Standoff Land Attack Missile-Expanded Response (SLAM-ER), Lockheed Martin's Joint Air to Surface Standoff Missile (JASSM), and Europe's Taurus.
Aerospace components maker TransDigm Inc. of Cleveland has completed its acquisition of flight control and pressure valves producer Fluid Regulators Corp. of Painesville, Ohio, TransDigm said Jan. 31. Financial terms were not disclosed. Fluid Regulators' products are used in hydraulic, fuel, lubrication and related applications on a wide range of commercial and military aircraft including the F-16, C-5, AH64 Apache, C-17 and F-18.
General Dynamics Electric Boat has been awarded a $150 million contract modification by the U.S. Navy to convert the USS Michigan (SSBN-727) from a Trident ballistic-missile submarine to a Trident SSGN, a multimission submarine, the Defense Department said Jan. 28. Electric Boat will convert the USS Michigan at Puget Sound Naval Shipyard in Washington. Sixty-seven percent of the work will be performed in Puget Sound, 23% at Quonset Point, R.I., and 10% at Groton. It is expected to be finished by December 2006.
Lawmakers on Capitol Hill reacted within minutes-and even before the official announcement-as the U.S. Navy late Jan. 28 announced a $6.1 billion contract for a team led by Lockheed Martin Corp. to provide the next fleet of presidential helicopters. But what is less well known is whether any lawmakers will move to block or change the Navy contract, whose upset decision displaced Stratford, Conn.-based Sikorsky Aircraft Corp. (DAILY, Jan. 31).
Russia President Vladimir Putin has refused to rule out the sale of anti-aircraft missiles to Syria, saying the missiles are defensive and would not change the military balance in the region, the Jerusalem Post said. In a Jan. 27 interview in Krakow, Poland, Putin spoke about Israel's concern that the Igla SA-18 shoulder-held anti-aircraft missiles that Syria wants to buy from Russia could be used by terrorists.
Sikorsky had more at stake than did Lockheed Martin in the recent VXX presidential helicopter upset award that went to Lockheed Martin, according to industry analysts.
Bulgaria's ministry of defense has agreed to purchase 18 helicopters from the French-German consortium Eurocopter for the country's air force and navy, Eurocopter said Jan. 28. Financial terms were not disclosed. Bulgaria will receive 12 AS 532 AL Cougars for its air force and six AS 565 MB Panthers for its navy over a three-year period. The first three Cougars will be delivered by the end of 2006, the company said.
The VXX presidential helicopter bid team led by Lockheed Martin Corp. of Bethesda, Md., offered a proposal that included a larger internal cabin, lower cost and helicopters that would meet an expedited schedule, according to Navy officials who announced Lockheed Martin's win Jan. 28. "The Lockheed streamlining proposal was selected because it was judged more likely to meet these government requirements on schedule, with lesser risk, and at a lower cost," Assistant Secretary of the Navy for Research, Development and Acquisition John Young told reporters.
Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) is demanding greater cooperation from the Defense Department in his probe of a now-defunct Air Force proposal to lease Boeing KC-767 tankers, saying "DOD's production of documents has been riddled by disruption, obfuscation and delay."
DAB DELAY: A Defense Acquisition Board (DAB) review of conventional munitions capability has been moved from Jan. 27 to May 2, says the Defense Department. "The purpose of the Land Attack Weapons Capability Area Review is to provide DOD decision makers with a summary of the department's 'state of health' regarding its ability to engage enemy targets with conventional munitions," a DOD spokeswoman tells The DAILY.
TURBOSHAFT: Military rotorcraft programs, including re-engining efforts, will drive a slight upward trend for turboshaft engines in the near future, although the civilian market for such engines will be flat, says Forecast International. Military sales will account for $7.68 billion of the market's $11.26 billion in projected value, Forecast says. From 2005 to 2014, Forecast says 21,544 aviation turboshaft engines will be produced, 11,676 of which will be military engines.
