EGYPTIAN SPENDING: The Aerospace Industries Association is urging Congress to keep up its significant aid allotments to Egypt, noting that more than 90% of the country's military financing returns to the United States as defense procurements. In a June 24 letter to Reps. Jim Kolbe (R-Ariz.), chairman of the House Appropriations Committee's foreign operations subcommittee, and Nita Lowey (D-N.Y.), its ranking Democrat, AIA asked them to support President Bush's fiscal 2006 request of $1.3 billion for Egypt.
VEHICLE ENGINEERING: The Naval Research Laboratory has awarded Swales and Associates Inc. of Beltsville, Md., a $33.7 million contract for aerospace vehicle engineering technical services to support the definition, development, assembly, test and integration of aerospace platforms, structures, mechanisms and subassemblies. The engineering work will be performed in Washington and is supposed to be finished in a year.
BALTIMORE - The joint Air Force/DARPA Autonomous Aerial Refueling program has begun flight-testing using a Lear Jet as an unmanned aerial vehicle surrogate, and plans its final "graduation" demonstration in 2007. The program primarily is focusing on the Air Force's boom/receptacle style of aerial refueling, rather than the Navy's probe/drogue method. Begun in 2002, the program has more than 25 participating organizations, including the Air Force Research Laboratory, Boeing, Northrop Grumman, General Dynamics and NASA.
Japan has asked to buy nine Standard Missile-3 (SM-3) Block IA missiles with MK 21 Mod 2 canisters and related equipment, the Defense Security Cooperation Agency notified Congress on June 29. The deal could be worth up to $387 million, DSCA said, and includes ballistic missile defense upgrades to one Aegis Weapon System.
The House Science Committee's space and aeronautics subcommittee has sent a $16.5 billion fiscal 2006 NASA authorization bill to the full committee, but panel Democrats complained that they were not involved in the initial drafting.
AESA CONTRACT: Raytheon Co. has been given a $580 million, five-year contract to build 190 more APG-79 Active Electronically Scanned Array (AESA) radars for the U.S. Navy's F/A-18E/F Super Hornet, the company announced June 28. The contract award from the Boeing Co., the Super Hornet's prime contractor, covers two low-rate production lots and three full-rate production lots. Two low-rate production contracts for 20 units were awarded earlier. The Navy plans to buy a total of 415 APG-79 radars.
Metal Storm Ltd. will integrate its 40mm grenade launcher into a DP-4X vertical takeoff and landing unmanned aerial vehicle and conduct live-fire tests, the company said June 29. The work will be done under a $325,000 contract from DP-4X builder Dragonfly Pictures Inc. and a live-fire test is planned for September or October, with at least two or three to follow, Metal Storm CEO David Smith told The DAILY. The contract could be worth up to as much as $431,100.
USAF VICE: Lt. Gen. John Corley, a senior U.S. Air Force acquisition official, has been nominated by President Bush to become vice chief of staff of the Air Force, the Pentagon announced June 29.
NAVSEA CHIEF: U.S. Navy Rear Adm. Paul E. Sullivan has been nominated to succeed Vice Adm. Phillip M. Balisle as the next head of the Naval Sea Systems Command. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld announced Sullivan's selection for the Navy's shipbuilding command on June 29. Sullivan currently is NAVSEA deputy commander for ship design integration and engineering. He served as program manager for the Seawolf submarine from 1995 to 1998.
Kenneth J. Disken has been named senior vice president of human resources, and has been elected a corporate vice president by the board of directors. Stan Arthur, president of Lockheed Martin Missiles and Fire Control in Orlando, Fla., is retiring. Ron Abbott, the vice president for tactical missiles and Lockheed Martin Missiles and Fire Control in Dallas, will move to Orlando and become executive vice president for mission assurance, effective July 1.
NEW DELHI - The Indian Space Research Organization and the European Space Agency have signed an agreement for including European instruments on India's first scientific mission to the moon, Chandrayan-1, planned for launch in 2007 or 2008 atop India's Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle. The 525-kilogram (1,157-pound) satellite will be placed in a 100-kilometer (62-mile) polar orbit around the moon and is designed for a two-year life.
The Government Accountability Office has denied a protest by Metro Machine Corp. of Norfolk, Va., which said the Naval Sea Systems Command treated it unfairly in a recent competition. Norfolk Shipbuilding & Drydock Corp., also of Norfolk, won the work to repair, maintain and modernize naval amphibious assault ships homeported in Norfolk.
The U.S. Defense Department's Joint Non-Lethal Weapons Directorate (JNLWD) has received more than 130 proposals responding to its request for ideas for new nonlethal weapons, a JNLWD official said June 28. The JNLWD published the solicitation in December and is accepting submissions until November.
CLEANER CLEARANCE: President Bush on June 27 signed an executive order to streamline application procedures for granting national security clearances across federal agencies. The new process is led by the White House Office of Management and Budget and is supposed to lead to "uniform, centralized, efficient, effective, timely and reciprocal" processes across departments such as Defense, Homeland Security, State and Energy, the White House said June 28.
NEW CUTTER: The U.S. Coast Guard expects to have the final National Security Cutter operational requirements document, a high-level test and strategies plan, complete within two months, according to the U.S. Naval Sea Systems Command. Then, NAVSEA's Warfare Center Port Hueneme Division will offer recommendations to the Coast Guard for finalizing the document, and together they will craft the test evaluation master plan for the cutter. The Warfare Center should begin conducting combat system ship qualification trials aboard the new class of cutters in 2007, NAVSEA said.
STRENGTHENED: BAE Systems has been awarded a contract modification worth $143.1 million from the U.S. Army Tank-automotive and Armaments Command to remake and upgrade 59 M88A2 Hercules Improved Recovery vehicles, as well as provide system technical support and spares. The deal calls for 53 vehicles for the Army and six for the Marine Corps, the company said June 28. BAE Systems will deliver the renewed vehicles from August 2006 through November 2007.
EDO Corp. will continue to produce acoustic modules for the Light Weight Aperture Array sonar system on Virginia-class submarines under a $4 million contract from Northrop Grumman. The New York-based company will take fiber-optic acoustic sensor assemblies supplied by Northrop Grumman and integrate them into large multisensor acoustic modules that conform to the hull of the submarine, the company said June 28. The use of fiber optics provides noise-free data transmission and reduces weight significantly, EDO said.
A detachment of Belgium's unmanned aerial vehicle unit will help maintain stability in Bosnia-Herzegovina during its first operational deployment, the Belgian defense ministry said June 27. An 80th UAV Flight detachment and its Hunter-B UAV began arriving at Tuzla Eagle Base on June 22 and will be ready to fly reconnaissance missions by July 4. The detachment will provide reconnaissance and air-surveillance support in anti-trafficking and organized crime operations during its four-month mission, the ministry said.
