Nordic Satellite AB (NSAB) has awarded Lockheed Martin a contract to build its next geostationary direct broadcast satellite, Sirius 4, Lockheed Martin announced Jan. 12. Set to launch in 2007, Sirius 4 will take over for the Sirius 3 and 3 satellites in the Nordic and Baltic markets, providing direct-to-home broadcast and interactive services. It also will enhance coverage in Eastern Europe and Russia and complement coverage of sub-Saharan Africa.
Parsippany, N.J.-based DRS Technologies Inc. has received new orders worth about $36 million to provide 3,600 additional Applique Computer Systems to the U.S. Army's Force XXI Battle Command, Brigade and Below (FBCB2) program, the company said Jan. 13. The orders were awarded by the Army's Communications-Electronics Command (CECOM) in Fort Monmouth, N.J., as part of a five-year contract won by DRS in June 2004.
REHEARSAL: Arianespace conducted a rehearsal for the requalification flight of its Ariane 5-ECA heavy-lift rocket on Jan. 12 at the company's launch site in Kourou, French Guiana, the company announced. The rehearsal included the entire launch countdown and tests of all launcher equipment and ground facilities. The actual flight is scheduled for Feb. 11, 2005. The first flight attempt for the ECA variant failed in 2002, destroying Eutelsat's $250 million Hot Bird 7 satellite and prompting a redesign of the rocket's Vulcain 2 main engine (DAILY, Dec. 13, 2002).
The Pentagon's top acquisition official is stressing the importance of defeating the threat of improvised explosive devices, or IEDs. Michael Wynne, acting undersecretary of defense for acquisition, technology and logistics, issued an unusual plea asking that "U.S. industry, laboratories, and inventors generate as many creative ideas as possible to counter" the devices.
In observance of the Martin Luther King Jr. Day holiday, Aerospace Daily & Defense Report will not publish on Jan. 17. The next issue will be dated Jan. 18.
A subsidiary of Dayton, Ohio-based MTC Technologies Inc. will provide Sustainment System Engineering and Acquisition Management Support Services (SSE and AMS) for the Nuclear Treaty Monitoring Directorate of the Air Force Technical Applications Center (AFTAC) under a five-year contract worth up to $15 million, the company said Jan. 12. The award was made to MTC's subsidiary, Command Technologies Inc.'s Kemerait Engineering Group (KEG).
Italy, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom have expressed interest in possibly buying the CH-47F, the newest version of the Boeing Co.'s Chinook helicopter, a company official said Jan. 12. Several other countries, including Egypt, Greece and Spain, are also seen as potential candidates to purchase the CH-47F, said Jack Dougherty, director of Chinook programs at Boeing, who spoke at an Army-sponsored press briefing at the Pentagon.
AFFORDABLE RADAR: The Affordable Ground Based Radar (AGBR), produced by Raytheon Co., successfully performed air surveillance and tracking of simulated and real airborne targets during a Marine Corps test in December, the company said Jan. 13. The radar was tested while rotating at both 30 and 60 revolutions per minute. The test results bolster the idea for a battlefield sensor mounted aboard a Humvee, the company said. Further AGBR testing and evaluation are under way.
The U.S. Navy has been experimenting with a converted commercial container ship and trying out its plug-and-play modularity strategy under the Sea Basing forward basing concept, Vice Adm. David Brewer III told the Surface Navy Association's national symposium Jan. 12. The former S-class container ship, which could carry 6,000 containers in its previous commercial configuration, is called the Stockton, said Brewer, head of the Military Sealift Command. As part of its 12-month reconfiguration, command and control modular elements were built in.
The Boeing EA-18G electronic attack jet under development for the U.S. Navy is nearing completion of wind-tunnel testing, according to a company spokeswoman. The tests began in June 2004 and are expected to wrap up by early February, the spokeswoman said Jan. 13. Several facilities are being used to verify that the aircraft's design is aerodynamic. The EA-18G, a derivative of the F/A-18F Super Hornet strike fighter, underwent a preliminary design review in October (DAILY, Oct. 25, 2004). The Navy has not yet announced the results.
NETWORK CAPACITY: A subsidiary of broadband satellite products provider Hughes Network Systems Inc. of Germantown, Md., has launched a new 500,000 euro ($663,554) dedicated Network Operations Center (NOC) at its European teleport in Griesheim, Germany, the company said. Hughes Network Systems Europe's NOC will support additional satellite transponder capacity made available in December to satisfy growing demand for satellite broadband services. The NOC will support broadband access, LAN interconnection, and IP multicasting, the company said.
San Diego-based National Steel and Shipbuilding Co. (NASSCO), a General Dynamics subsidiary, will build two more T-AKE combat logistics force ships for the U.S. Navy under a $586 million contract option, the company said Jan. 11. NASSCO has now been awarded a total of eight ships with a contract value of $2.5 billion. The T-AKE contract includes options for four more ships.
Irish Minister for Defence Willie O'Dea signed a contract for four new Bell Agusta Aerospace Co. AB 139 utility helicopters for the Irish air corps, the defense ministry said Jan. 12. The helicopters, which will be built at Agusta's facilities near Milan, Italy, will be delivered in 2006 and 2007 for 49 million euros ($65.2 million), the ministry said. Ireland also plans to buy two light utility Eurocopter EC135s, and a contract for those is expected to be signed "shortly," the ministry said. They are to be delivered later this year.
The European Space Agency's (ESA) Huygens probe is nearing the end of its 20-day journey to Saturn's moon Titan, where on Jan. 14 it is to descend through the atmosphere and make humanity's first hard-landing attempt in the outer solar system.
EADS North America is holding a competition for a new aerial refueling tanker production facility and will make a site selection at the end of this year, company officials said Jan. 12. A request for information on potential center locations was issued to all 50 states on Jan. 12. An industry day is planned for Feb. 15 in the Washington area, and responses to the RFIs are due March 30. A request for proposals will be released in the second quarter of this year, said EADS North America Chairman and CEO Ralph Crosby.
The U.S. Missile Defense Agency's Ground-based Midcourse Defense (GMD) program plans to proceed with five flight-tests in 2005 after concluding that a minor software change will fix a problem that arose in a late 2004 test, an official said Jan. 12. Two of the upcoming tests will involve missile shoot-down attempts, said Air Force Lt. Gen. Henry "Trey" Obering, MDA's director. In a third test, an intercept is possible but not planned.
CARRIER VEHICLES: Belgium has ordered 220 Dingo2 all-protected carrier vehicles worth 170 million euros ($223.3 million) from Krauss-Maffei Wegmann of Munich, Germany, the company said Jan. 10. There is an option to buy 132 more vehicles. The first Dingo2s are set for delivery in late 2005. Additional deliveries are scheduled from 2006-2011. The vehicles will be built in Munich. Dingo2s hold a crew of up to eight and protect against hand-held weapons, artillery fragments, and anti-personnel and anti-tank mines.
Toronto-based Field Aviation Co. Inc. will supply the Swedish Coast Guard with three highly advanced Dash 8 Q300 Maritime Surveillance Aircraft (MSA) under a contract worth more than $80 million, the company said Jan. 11. The contract was awarded by the Swedish Defense Materiel Administration. All three aircraft are scheduled to be delivered in 2007.
Preliminary results from recent tests show the Lockheed Martin F/A-22 Raptor is proving to be up to "80 times better" than the Boeing F-15 it is designed to replace, a U.S. Air Force official said Jan. 12. The difference between the two air-to-air fighters is "staggering," Air Force acquisition chief Marvin Sambur told the Defense Writers Group. "The combination of supercruise, stealth and advanced avionics gives the F/A-22 a considerable capability advantage over everyone else," Sambur said.
Defense departments will spend about $28.5 billion on key electronic warfare systems over the next decade, including work on systems for the EA-6B Prowler, its EA-6G "Growler" replacement and the Joint Strike Fighter, says a new report from Forecast International Inc.
