The U.S. Navy has released a broad agency announcement (BAA) seeking proposals for research support as the service rethinks and recapitalizes its maritime and littoral intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) mission requirements. In particular, the Navy wants to hear industry's ideas for the role and capabilities that unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) will play as the service pursues the U.S. initiative called Maritime Domain Awareness - essentially command and control of the seas.
BRIDGE BOATS: The U.S. Marine Corps Systems Command has awarded Aluminum Chambered Boats Inc. of Bellingham, Wash., an $8.4 million contract modification for 31 bridge erection boats (BEB), associated trailers, warranties and training. A total of 54 out of a maximum 66 BEBs have been ordered under the contract. The contract work will be performed in Bellingham and should be finished by June 2006.
Boeing has received an $8.3 million contract modification from the U.S. Army that will extend its shipment of Avenger gunner consoles through October 2008, the company said June 6. The consoles are spare parts for Boeing's Avenger short-range air defense fire units, use Stinger missiles and 50-caliber machine guns, and which are deployed worldwide. The consoles provide power, circuitry and a gunner interface, and are built in Huntsville, Ala., Boeing said. The modification brings the contract's total value to $10.7 million, Boeing said.
Phoenix, a Mars lander, has been given the green light to prepare for launch in August 2007, NASA said June 2. The $386 million mission is the first in the Mars Scout Program of competitively selected missions intended to be relatively low-cost complements to the aerospace agency's core Mars exploration program.
The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency initiated a study of aircraft carrier manpower allocation and usage on May 31, and expects to develop an analytical approach by June 30, a U.S. Navy official told The DAILY. "Promising, high-payoff technologies for follow-on DARPA evaluation" will be identified by Oct. 31, Naval Sea Systems Command spokesman Kevin Sykes said.
LONDON - Pakistan has been quietly developing a comprehensive nuclear command and control system, amid concerns over the security of its deterrent stockpile, given the country's role in the global war on terror and the popularity of some radical Islamist elements within its borders.
EXPANDING: Northrop Grumman Corp.'s Aurora, Colo., facility has been expanded, which will facilitate the company's 30% increase in employment in two years and "position the company for future growth," Northrop Grumman says. The company added an 80,000-square-foot addition to its intelligence and defense business in Aurora. The company expects another 150 jobs by 2006 at the site, which develops algorithms and data management techniques for military and intelligence organizations.a
The House Armed Services Committee's projection forces subcommittee will host a public hearing on the U.S. Navy's nuclear submarine force in Groton, Conn., on June 13. The lawmakers will hear from Adm. Kirkland H. Donald, director of the Naval Nuclear Propulsion Program, and Vice Adm. Charles L. Munns, commander of Naval Submarine Forces.
The U.S. Air Force announced plans June 3 to create a "family" of Global Hawk and Predator unmanned aerial vehicles in North Dakota, saying the state has many ideal conditions for UAV training. Air Force officials also revealed that Air Force Special Operations Command (AFSOC) intends to stand up its first Predator squadron, which will be based in Nevada.
The U.S. Navy is planning for a vertical takeoff and landing unmanned aerial vehicle (VUAV), now called the Marine VUAV, to follow the Pioneer UAV, according to Capt. Paul Morgan, program manager for U.S. Navy unmanned aerial vehicles. However, the Pioneer program will have to be sustained for the Marine Corps until 2012 or even 2015, a plan Morgan said he expects top defense officials to approve over the next month. Morgan spoke June 3 at the Navy Program Executive Office for Strike Weapons and Unmanned Aviation's industry day in California, Md.
U.S. Navy officials should release the concept of operations for the proposed Multi-mission Maritime Aircraft (MMA) by the fall, said James Lackey of the Naval Air Systems Command's Maritime Surveillance Aircraft Program. Currently, the officials are moving from a systems function review to a preliminary design review, slated for September. Lackey told attendees of the Navy Program Executive Office for Strike Weapons and Unmanned Aviation's industry day on June 3 that the program is on schedule and within budget.
Australia has signed a contract to purchase 12 MRH-90 helicopters for its army from Australian Aerospace, a subsidiary of Eurocopter and EADS, Eurocopter said June 2. EADS announced last August that it had won the $1 billion contract to provide the troop lift helicopters (DAILY, Sept. 1, 2004).
JSF MATING: The aft fuselage for the first F-35 Joint Strike Fighter flight-test jet is scheduled to be mated to the rest of the fuselage June 9 in Fort Worth, Texas, according to JSF prime contractor Lockheed Martin. The aft fuselage, built by BAE Systems in Samlesbury, England, arrived in Fort Worth on May 31 (DAILY, June 2). The Lockheed Martin forward fuselage, Northrop Grumman center fuselage and Lockheed Martin wing were united in May. The aircraft's BAE Systems tails are to begin arriving in Fort Worth within the next few weeks.
DENVER - Lockheed Martin has mapped out an evolutionary development plan for its Atlas launch vehicle that would steadily increase performance to ultimately exceed that of the Apollo program's Saturn V, a company official said. Just as today's Atlas V has its roots in the Atlas ICBM of the 1950s, the "future Atlas evolution" will proceed in a logical manner, with each new phase providing simple and reliable vehicles, according to George Sowers of Lockheed Martin Space Systems Co. here.
Defense contractor L-3 Communications has agreed to buy security information technology company Titan Corp. in a deal worth about $2.65 billion, Titan Corp. said June 3.
SPACE FINDINGS: Scientists using NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory to study the source of X-ray flare on Saturn say the ringed planet, and the even larger Jupiter, may act as mirrors reflecting explosive activity from the sun. "The bigger the planet and nearer to the sun, the more solar photons it will intercept, resulting in more reflected X-rays," says Anil Bhardwaj, a planetary scientist who led the study team. "These results imply we could use giant planets like Jupiter and Saturn as remote-sensing tools.
MORE WORK: Orbit International Corp. expects its new Tulip Development Labs subsidiary to pick up more work under a new contract to deliver keypanels to the Towed Artillery Digitation's digital fire control system. Orbit acquired the Quakertown, Pa.-based Tulip in April, and reported the $575,000 contract June 3. "Follow-on orders of significant magnitude are likely," Orbit says. The fire control system is intended to improve the accuracy and reaction times of the new M777 Lightweight Towed Howitzer.
COOPERATING: The European Space Agency and the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts have agreed to long-term cooperation, strengthening the use of ESA's space-based Earth observation program, the agency says. "ECMWF has established a worldwide reputation for its extensive use of satellite data in the field of numerical weather prediction," says Dominique Marbouty, director of the forecast center.
FIRST FLIGHT: The second of two RQ-4A Global Hawk unmanned aerial vehicles built for the U.S. Navy tentatively is scheduled to take its first flight June 7-10, according to a spokeswoman for prime contractor Northrop Grumman. The UAV, named N-2, is slated to fly from Northrop Grumman's production site in Palmdale, Calif., to Edwards Air Force Base, Calif. The first of the Navy's RQ-4As took its first voyage in October. The two Global Hawks eventually will be used in a maritime demonstration to help the Navy determine how to use UAVs for reconnaissance.
A400M DECISION: A decision is expected later this year on whether Malaysia will replace its air force's aging C-130H transport aircraft with Airbus Military's A400M. Defense ministry officials have been in talks with Airbus since 2003 on the possible buy (DAILY, Feb. 3), and a ministry official said the air force would like to acquire the A400Ms. Airbus has been offering generous industry packages to potential buyers for A400M-related work, which could be of interest to Malaysia.
June 5 - 7 -- SATS 2005: A Transformation in Air Travel, "Demonstration of the capabilities of the Small Aircraft Transportation System project," Danville Regional Airport, Danville, Va. For more information contact September Moon Productions at 248-355-3700, email [email protected] or go to www.sats2005.com.
NEW HOME: NASA's DC-8 "suborbital laboratory" jet aircraft will be operated by the University of North Dakota, Grand Forks, under a plan to create a National Suborbital Education and Research Center at the school. The aircraft likely will be transferred this fall, NASA said June 2, and will be housed at Grand Forks Air Force Base.
SMALLER NET: U.S. Navy efforts to network its disparate platforms will focus on a "small number" of weapons and sensor-surveillance systems, including the F/A-18 aircraft, the E-2 and the DDG destroyer. ForceNet, the Navy's part of the Defense Department's Global Information Grid, is trying to prove its value in a matter of years instead of decades, says Capt. Rick Brennan, who spoke at the Navy Program Executive Office for Strike Weapons and Unmanned Aviation's industry day on June 3 in California, Md.
