A team of General Dynamics Ordnance and Tactical Systems and Alliant Techsystems (ATK) will produce 120mm tank ammunition for Australia under a $39 million contract, General Dynamics said Dec. 9. The ammunition will equip 59 M1A1 Abrams tanks that Australia has ordered from the United States. General Dynamics will provide its KEW-A2 tungsten APFSDS-T cartridges and ATK will provide the M830A1 multipurpose round, and both companies will manufacture training rounds.
Dec. 13 - 16 -- USSOCOM Chemical, Biological, Radiological & Nuclear Conference & Exhibition, "From Evolution to Revolution, Breaking the CBRN Paradigm While Winning the Global War on Terrorism," Tampa Marriott Waterside Hotel and Marina & Tampa Convention Center, Tampa, Fla. For more information go to www.ndia.org. Dec. 13 - 16 -- SSC '04 International Soldier Systems Conference 2004 & Exhibition, Boston Marriott Copley Place, Boston, Mass. For more information go to www.ndia.org.
FLIGHT-TEST: Lockheed Martin successfully conducted the third flight-test of a Guided Multiple Launch Rocket System (GMLRS) Unitary rocket on Dec. 9, the company said. The objectives of the test, conducted at White Sands Missile Range, N.M., included collection of flight thermal data; demonstration of the rocket under cold-conditioning; and demonstration of improved guidance software. All of the test objectives were achieved, the company said.
SUB VALVES: Curtiss-Wright Corp. of Roseland, N.J., has won a four-year, $10 million contract from General Dynamics Electric Boat to produce submarine safe ball valves for the U.S. Navy. The valves will be used for critical service systems in the Navy's Virginia Class Nuclear Powered Submarine Program. Curtiss-Wright's Flow Control unit will do the work at its East Farmingdale, N.Y., facility. Deliveries will begin in 2005.
Engineered Support Systems (ESSI) of St. Louis plans to buy Spacelink International LLC of Dulles, Va., the company said Dec. 9. Spacelink, which reported revenues of $95 million in 2003, has expanded from providing satellite ground terminals to being a full telecommunications company serving defense and intelligence agencies, ESSI said, which makes it an attractive buy.
SUBASSEMBLIES: EDO Corp. will continue production of subassemblies for Lockheed Martin's TB-29A towed array sonar systems under a $2.5 million contract, the company said Dec. 9. Towed arrays are used by surface ships and submarines to detect sounds emitted by other vessels. Under the contract, New York-based EDO will manufacture thousands of piezoelectric ceramic cylinders, hydrophones and microcircuits, and integrate them into dual acoustic-channel assemblies. The company has been providing equipment for the TB-29As since the early 1990s.
ENCOURAGING INNOVATION: Passage of the Commercial Space Launch Amendments Act of 2004 "ensures that we do not discourage innovators from entering this budding industry that holds great promise for both Oklahoma and our nation," says Sen. James M. Inhofe (R-Okla.). Inhofe had proposed two versions of the House bill that was approved by the Senate Dec. 8 (DAILY, Dec. 10).
The U.S. Missile Defense Agency's Kinetic Energy Interceptor (KEI) program plans to speed up some activities and slow others as part of a restructuring spurred by budget cuts and technological challenges, a program official said Dec. 10.
MANY KITS: Boeing has delivered the 10,000th Joint Direct Attack Munition (JDAM) tail kit, the company said Dec. 10. Boeing began producing the kits, which add GPS capability to Mk 80 bombs, in 1998, but production ramped up to 2,000 tail kits a month after the 9/11 terrorist attacks.
The Marine Corps will recompete for funding for two Light Armored Vehicle systems as part of the 2008 Program Objective Memorandum (POM), after they were cut from the 2006 POM, an official said. Funding for the LAV Advanced Anti Armor System (AAS) and Expeditionary Fire Support System (EFSS) was provided in the 2004 POM but was cut from the 2006 plan, Col. John Bryant, program manager for Light Armored Vehicles at the U.S. Army's Tank-automotive and Armaments Command, told The DAILY. "We'll recompete for them in the 2008 POM," he said.
AIRSPACE RESEARCH: Helping develop America's next-generation airspace management system will be a top priority for NASA's aeronautics directorate, says Administrator Sean O'Keefe. Along with the Federal Aviation Administration and Defense Department, NASA is a major player in the joint office developing the new system, which will be needed to keep up with projected growth in air traffic (DAILY, April 20). The office is "to the point now of parsing assignments ...
Two Pratt & Whitney PW6124A engines completed their first flight on an Airbus A318 on Dec. 9, the company said. The crew, flying from an airfield at Airbus' Hamburg, Germany, plant, tested the aircraft through its full flight envelope and the engines performed as expected, P&W said.
DOD BUYING: The Defense Department has a new tool to help ensure weapon systems can talk to each other. DOD has developed a 39-page questionnaire to assess whether a product it is considering buying is compatible with DOD communication networks, acting Pentagon acquisition chief Michael Wynne says. "If it isn't [compatible], we probably won't buy it unless it's an urgent need," Wynne says.
The Air Force Research Laboratory wants industry input on a nuclear-armed Enhanced Cruise Missile (ECM) that would meet requirements projected for beyond the year 2020. A new nuclear cruise missile apparently would allow conversion of some current nuclear types to the non-nuclear role. Responses to a request for information on ECM are due Jan. 7, 2005.
TURRET SYSTEMS: Curtiss-Wright Controls has been awarded a $16.1 million contract to provide Turret Drive Stabilization Systems (TDSS) for the Spanish army's Pizarro Armored Infantry Fighting Vehicle (AIFV), the company said Dec. 9. The follow-on order was received from General Dynamics Santa Babara Sistemas of Madrid, Spain, a business unit of General Dynamics Combat Systems Group. The TDSS revolves the turret, raises and lowers the gun barrel, and stabilizes the gun to keep its sight steady on a target when the vehicle is crossing rough terrain.
NASA is holding a formal retirement ceremony Dec. 10 at Dryden Flight Research Center in California for its B-52B "mother ship," which is ending its nearly 45-year career at the agency following last month's successful X-43A flight. The retirement ceremony will include the formal transfer of the B-52B by Dryden Director Kevin Petersen to Brig. Gen. Curtis Bedke, commander of the Air Force Flight Test Center. Tentative plans call for placing the aircraft on permanent display at Edwards Air Force Base.
The U.S. Army Stryker program now has enough resources to fund a seventh brigade, Col. Peter Fuller, project manager, Stryker Brigade Combat Team, told The DAILY, and combat experiences in Iraq are helping improve the Stryker vehicles.
DELTA DELAYED: The first launch of Boeing's Delta IV Heavy rocket has been delayed to Dec. 11 due to a weather front that is expected to move into the Cape Canaveral area on Dec. 10. The flight is a demonstration mission for the Air Force's Evolved Expendable Launch Vehicle program.
General Dynamics European Land Combat Systems has been selected by the government of Portugal to enter negotiations to provide 260 Pandur II eight-wheeled, all-wheel-drive combat vehicles, parent company General Dynamics said Dec. 9. The contract will be worth about $457 million, and deliveries could begin in 2006 "subject to successful negotiations," the company said.
Patria will supply solar panel structures to Alcatel Space for use on France's Pleiades remote-sensing satellite, marking a "strategically important opening" in the commercial satellite market, the company said Dec. 8. Solar panel structures are expected to become an important part of its space product portfolio, the Finnish company said. It also provided structure components and power units for the European Space Agency's Rosetta spacecraft, which was launched in March.
Lockheed Martin has begun wind tunnel testing the Surveilling Miniature Attack Cruise Missile (SMACM), a small, air-launched cruise missile designed to look for surface targets after being fired from outside enemy air defenses. Lockheed Martin expects to complete a 66-hour series of wind tunnel tests at an undisclosed location by the end of this week, according to a company spokeswoman. The firm hopes to know by next week whether the wind-tunnel effort has confirmed that the missile's design is aerodynamic. Flight-tests could follow in 2005.
