Japan's Astro-E2 observatory is set to launch July 6, carrying a NASA-developed X-ray detector and other X-ray imaging and detecting instruments. Astro-E2 will study phenomena that radiate predominantly in X-rays, including black holes, the ejecta of star explosions and the optically invisible gas between stars and galaxies. The spacecraft's main instrument is the X-ray spectrometer developed jointly by the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency's Institute of Space and Astronautical Science and NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, Md.
FMTV ORDERS: Stewart & Stevenson Tactical Vehicle Systems will provide the U.S. Army with 1,706 Family of Medium Tactical Vehicle trucks and trailers under a $219.1 million contract modification, the company said June 29. The work will be done in Sealy, Texas, and is expected to be finished in 2008. Deliveries are set from June 2006 through September 2008. The company will increase its 2006 production capacity to meet the delivery schedule. The contract was awarded by the U.S. Army Tank-automotive and Armaments Command, Warren, Mich.
Switzerland's cabinet has approved the sale of 180 M113 tanks which will go to Iraq, sparking protests that the deal hurts the country's longstanding principle of neutrality, the Swiss Information Service said June 29. The tanks, worth 12 million Swiss francs ($9.4 million), will be sold to the United Arab Emirates, which will give them to Iraq, Switzerland's State Secretariat for Economic Affairs said. The tanks are part of a Swiss army surplus and in good condition, it said.
JUDGMENT DAYS: The Bush Administration on June 30 sent Congress proposed legislation that would create two types of federal commissions, "sunset and results," to regularly review the performance of government agencies and programs and make recommendations for improvement. The Government Reorganization and Program Performance Improvement bill outlined seven-member commissions, which would be appointed by the president.
RECEIVER ASSEMBLIES: General Dynamics Armament and Technical Products has been awarded a $5.3 million contract to produce receiver assemblies for M2HB machine guns, the company said June 29. The receiver assemblies, which form the body of the weapon, will be used to refurbish machine guns at Anniston Army Depot, Ala. The assemblies will also be used as spare parts for fielded M2HBs. The work will be done at the company's Saco, Maine, facility. Program management will take place at the company's Burlington, Vt., facility.
LOS ANGELES - Project officials are anxious about unexpected outbursts from the comet 9P/Tempel 1 as the Deep Impact flyby and impactor spacecraft hurtle toward it for a July 4 EDT close approach and collision.
ASTM International plans to hold the next meeting of its unmanned aerial vehicle standards group in Dallas this November, according to ASTM Operations Manager Dan Schultz. Founded in 1898, ASTM specializes in the development of voluntary industry standards. The group kicked off an effort in 2003 to begin developing consensus technical standards for UAVs and related systems, with the goal of helping enable routine UAV flights in the national airspace (DAILY, Jan 21). Two so far
W. James McNerney Jr., Boeing Co.'s new chairman, president and CEO, gave some glimpses June 30 of how he will run the company. McNerney, 55, who was chairman and CEO of 3M, was named to replace Harry Stonecipher, who departed in March after an affair with a female executive. Stonecipher himself replaced Phil Condit, who left in December 2003 in the wake of a Pentagon contract scandal.
LANDING SYSTEMS: Herley Industries Inc. said June 29 that it received a $1.3 million, multiyear contract from the U.S. Navy for component repair of the Tactical Instrument Landing System (TILS) and the Automatic Carrier Landing Systems (ACLS). The systems are used on Navy F/A-18, EA-6B, F-14 and S-3 aircraft to provide pilots approach guidance information. The TILS is a manual system always used by the pilot, while the ACLS is used when the pilot requires assistance to land the aircraft, the Lancaster, Pa., company said.
In the next decade, terrorist groups "poised to attack the United States and actively seeking to inflict mass casualties or disrupt U.S. military operations" represent the most immediate challenge to the nation's security, according to the Strategy for Homeland Defense and Civil Support, released June 30.
President Bush's nominee to be the next chief of the U.S. Air Force on June 29 blamed the service's acquisition problems on too much downsizing, and committed to promoting the "traditional" procurement process. During a confirmation hearing by the Senate Armed Services Committee, Gen. Teed Michael "Buzz" Moseley, currently the Air Force vice chief, said the failed Boeing tanker lease deal should have undergone an analysis of alternatives beforehand and that more acquisition officials on the job could have helped.
SUPPORT SERVICES: Computer Sciences Corp. of El Segundo, Calif., has been awarded a contract worth up to $62.5 million to provide support services to the Missile Defense Agency's senior leadership, the company said June 30. CSC will furnish scientific, engineering and technical assistance services to the MDA director's executive management team, focusing on ballistic missile defense programs. The effort will include engineering analysis of missile defense capabilities, program and acquisition planning and analysis and related defense program support.
Leaders of the first U.S. Air Force unit to field the new Sniper targeting pod praised the Lockheed Martin-built system June 30, saying it helped them find enemy weapons that could have been used to kill Americans or Iraqis.
Following a two-day flight readiness review at Kennedy Space Center in Florida, NASA has chosen July 13 as the day it will attempt to launch space shuttle Discovery on mission STS-114 to the International Space Station. The agency has picked the first day of a launch window that extends through July 31. Primarily a flight to test new safety equipment and procedures in orbit, the mission will mark the first time the orbiter has flown since the loss of Columbia in February 2003.
Joe Davis has been appointed chief of strategic communications, and will oversee the offices of public, legislative and external affairs, as well as the Office of Education. David R. Mould has been named assistant administrator for the Office of Public Affairs.
ANTI-TORPEDO SYSTEM: The U.S. Naval Sea Systems Command has opted for three more AN/SLQ-25A torpedo countermeasure systems from ST Production Systems Inc. of Smithfield, Pa., under a $20.5 million contract modification announced June 28. The AN/SLQ-25A is a digitally controlled, modular design, electro-acoustic "soft-kill" countermeasure decoy system that defends ships against wake-homing torpedoes, acoustic-homing torpedoes, and wire-guided torpedoes. The units will be built in Smithfield and are expected to be ready by March 2007.
TANK SUPPORT: General Dynamics Land Systems has been awarded a $22.7 million contract modification to provide Abrams tank systems technical support (STS), the company said June 29. The STS program aims to maintain Abrams tanks at high operational readiness rates. It funds engineering studies and identifies improvements and the need for replacing obsolete parts, while keeping Abrams tanks current to their base configuration. The work will be done at General Dynamics Land Systems' headquarters in Sterling Heights, Mich., and is expected to be finished by July 31, 2006.
Gerard A. "Duke" Dufresne has been named sector vice president of the Airborne Early Warning and Electronic Warfare Systems unit, based in Bethpage, N.Y. He succeeds Philip A. Teel, who was named corporate vice president and president of the Ship Systems sector.
A British air force commander has high praise for the performance of a variant of the US101 presidential helicopter that he and his crew have been operating in Iraq. "The two words I'd use, to me I find it unbelievable. When I talk to people about what we're doing, they find it incredible," Royal Air Force Wing Commander Andy Turner said of the EH101 Merlin Mk3 helicopter.
The U.S. Army-led Aerial Common Sensor (ACS) program has concluded that it will need a larger airframe than the Embraer ERJ-145 regional jet that it selected less than a year ago, according to prime contractor Lockheed Martin. Responding to questions, Lockheed Martin told The DAILY in a statement June 29 that ACS designers have found "additional integration weight" that will prevent the program from using a modified ERJ-145.
Boeing Co., nearing the end of an effort to remanufacture AH-64A Apache helicopters it has delivered to the U.S. Army, is in line to remanufacture still more, a company spokeswoman said. By July 2006, Boeing is slated to complete a second five-year Army contract to remanufacture 501 of the 821 AH-64As it has delivered to the Army into the advanced AH-64D Longbow configuration.
BALTIMORE, Md. - The Navy is looking forward to having its two new Global Hawk unmanned aerial vehicles play major roles in the upcoming Trident Warrior and Joint Expeditionary Force Experiment exercises, an official said.
