DELTA IV HEAVY: The first flight of Boeing's Delta IV Heavy rocket has been re-scheduled for Dec. 21, according to a spokesman. Several earlier launch attempts were postponed due to weather and technical issues (DAILY, Dec. 14). If the Dec. 21 window is missed, the team can try to launch again the following day. Capable of lifting up to 28,950 pounds (13,130 kilograms) to geosynchronous transfer orbit, the Delta IV Heavy is the most powerful rocket developed since the Saturn V, according to Boeing.
SIGNED: President Bush signed legislation to revamp the nation's intelligence community on Dec. 17, calling it "the most dramatic reform of our nation's intelligence capabilities" since 1947. The law creates a director of national intelligence, to be appointed by the president.
PROPOSALS DUE: Proposals from five information technology systems integrators for the Marine Corps' logistics modernization program are due Jan. 10, says a Marine Corps official. The invitation for bids went out Dec. 8. The systems integration work is for the Global Combat Support System (GCSS), the modernization's key technology enabler. The Marine Corps plans to pare down its 240-plus logistics systems to fewer than 100 systems (DAILY, Dec. 1).
ENGINEERS WANTED: Lockheed Martin Corp.'s Syracuse, N.Y., facility will hire up to 500 new engineers in 2005, the company says, to support work on the Medium Extended Air Defense System and Advanced Hawkeye radar program, among others. The new jobs are in addition to 750 positions the company previously announced it would need to fill in Owego, N.Y., if its US101 helicopter is tapped for the presidential helicopter fleet over rival Sikorsky's VH-92. A decision on the program is expected in January (DAILY, Nov. 18).
Hungary has agreed to purchase 40 Raytheon-built AIM-120C-5 Advanced Medium Range Air-to-Air Missiles (AMRAAMs) and related equipment from the United States under a $25.3 million contract, the Magyar Nemzet news service reported Dec. 16. The missiles will arm the Hungarian air force's new JAS-39 EBS-HU Gripen aircraft. The weapons are set to be shipped between 2006 and 2007.
The first F-110 engine for the F-15K Strike Eagle that Boeing is building for South Korea has been delivered, Boeing said Dec. 17. The Samsung Techwin Co.-built engine was delivered to the Republic of Korea air force at a ceremony in Changwon, South Korea. It will be sent to Boeing's F-15K assembly facility in St. Louis, a company spokesman told The DAILY.
Metal Storm CEO Charles Vehlow has resigned following recent major surgery, the electronic ballistics company said Dec. 17. Ian Gillespie, the company's general manager, has been appointed CEO pending the outcome of a selection process to appoint a new CEO, the company said.
DEFENSE PRODUCTION: A committee studying possible changes in India's defense purchasing procedures and ways to encourage greater private sector participation in defense production will submit a report to the government by the end of December, the Indian Ministry of Defence says. The committee also is examining ways to increase India's defense exports, defense minister Shri Pranab Mukherjee says.
Wyle Laboratories, the portfolio company of private investment firm Littlejohn & Co., will acquire General Dynamics' aeronautics services business. The combined company will have projected revenues of about $450 million and will provide technical testing and support services for the aeronautics and defense industry, as well as NASA and the Defense Department, the companies said Dec. 17.
DOD CONCEPTS: The U.S. Defense Department is developing a series of "concepts" to guide its military transformation efforts, according to the Government Accountability Office. Documents are being drafted to address those concepts, which include seven "integrating" concepts: joint command and control, joint logistics, joint forcible-entry operations, integrating air and missile defense, global strike, sea-basing and undersea superiority. At least some of the documents could be finished in time to influence the 2005 Quadrennial Defense Review.
Jan. 10 - 12, 2005 -- GOVCON: 4th Annual Government Convention on Emerging Technologies, "Enabling the National Security Community," Anaheim, Calif. For more information call 1-888-603-8899 or go to www.federalevents.com. Jan. 24 - 26 -- The ION National Technical Meeting, The Catamaran Resort Hotel, San Diego, Calif. For more information go to www.ion.org. Jan. 25 - 26 -- JPEO-CBD Advanced Planning Briefing for Industry, The DC Convention Center, Washington, D.C. For more information go to www.ndia.org.
The U.S. Missile Defense Agency is trying to cut the weight of the High Altitude Airship's (HAA) power and propulsion systems, as well as the fabric that will form the airship's exterior, MDA officials said Dec. 17. The agency also is pursuing unspecified steps to better understand the high-altitude, thin-atmosphere environment in which the gas-filled airship will operate, the officials said.
The U.S. Air Force planned to use a small Boeing unmanned aerial vehicle in a convoy route reconnaissance demonstration in the Nevada desert that apparently was set for Dec. 18.
ICBM WORK: Northrop Grumman Mission Systems of Clearfield, Utah, will do engineering and refurbishment work on 96 Minuteman III stages, as well as test fire missiles, the U.S. Department of Defense said Dec. 16. The work will be done under a $248.8 million contract awarded by the Ogden Air Logistics Center, Hill Air Force Base, Utah. The work is to be finished by April 2007.
Textron Systems Corp. of Wilmington, Mass., has been awarded a $115.7 million contract by the Headquarters Air Armament Center, Eglin Air Force Base, Fla., to provide 341 Sensor Fuzed Weapons to the United States and Oman, the Defense Department said Dec. 16. The work will be finished by March 2007.
The Pentagon has decided to wait a few more weeks to disclose the results of a study on U.S. Air Force tanker modernization options. The Defense Department had been scheduled to brief Capitol Hill the week of Dec. 20 on the results of the analysis of alternatives (AOA), which RAND Corp. conducted for DOD. But congressional and defense sources said Dec. 17 that the briefings have been moved to mid- or late January. A Pentagon spokeswoman attributed the delay to unspecified "scheduling conflicts."
SALES, INCOME UP: Net sales and net income for Wood Dale, Ill.-based AAR Corp. grew in the second quarter of fiscal 2005, the company said Dec. 17. Net sales for the aviation overhaul, trading, and manufacturing services provider were up 12%, to $178.7 million from $159.5 million in the second quarter of FY 2004. Net income rose to $4.8 million, or 15 cents per share. Military sales jumped 16% and commercial aviation sales increased 14%.
Battelle has developed a money-saving way to predict the fatigue life of welded structures often used to reinforce military aircraft and ships, the company said.
EUROFIGHTER SALES: A new production pact among the Eurofighter Typhoon's four partner nations will have a "tremendous effect" on the aircraft's potential for sales to other countries, according to Eurofighter GmbH, the industry consortium that serves as the Typhoon's prime contractor. Germany, Italy, Spain and the United Kingdom signed an agreement Dec. 14 to buy 236 more aircraft for themselves.
Europe's Huygens probe received the final green light for its descent into the atmosphere of Saturn's moon Titan, following a joint review by the European Space Agency (ESA) and NASA on Dec. 16. "It all looks good," Huygens Mission Manager Jean-Pierre Lebreton said during a press conference Dec. 16. "We got the green light to proceed to the next step."
FLIR Systems Inc., which develops and manufactures thermal imaging systems and cameras, unveiled its fiscal year 2005 preliminary financial outlook and announced a two-for-one stock split on Dec. 16. The Portland, Ore.-based company said it expects FY '05 net revenue to be $545-560 million and net earnings to be $2.25-2.35 per share.
COOPERATION: The visit of Chinese Prime Minister Jiabao Wen to the European Space Agency's research and technology center in the Netherlands helped emphasize "the importance of China as a partner in space," ESA says. ESA and China have cooperated on space ventures for more than 25 years, including last year's establishment of a joint research program using data from ESA's Envisat satellite. China also will work closely with ESA on Europe's Galileo satellite navigation program, ESA says.
Outgoing NASA Administrator Sean O'Keefe offered succinct advice for his successor during a Dec. 17 press conference formally announcing his departure: "Take the president's vision for space exploration, support it, and implement it." President Bush's plan to return astronauts to the moon by 2020 and prepare for a human landing on Mars represents "a great legacy" that the next administrator will inherit, he said. The next administrator "has the opportunity now to build on that baseline ... I wish my successor well in that task," he said.
