A ceremony to mark the completion of the production phase of the Gripen fighter aircraft being built for the Czech Republic was held in Sweden last week by aircraft maker Gripen International, the company said Nov. 26. Saab AB of Sweden and BAE Systems of the United Kingdom jointly own Stockholm-based Gripen International. The ceremony was held at Saab's factory in Linkoping, Sweden.
Sweden-based Saab Bofors Dynamics AB has signed a contract with Latvia worth 185 million kronor ($27.5 million) to provide the country's air force with the RBS 70 Air Defence Missile System, the company said Nov. 25. Latvia will receive the most modern version of the missile system, which fulfills NATO requirements and includes a night sight and aircraft identification equipment, the company said. Latvia is the 17th country to purchase the RBS 70. Finland and Australia are recent buyers.
Rainbow DBS Company LLC of Bethpage, N.Y. has awarded a contract to Lockheed Martin to build its next five geostationary telecommunications satellites, Lockheed Martin said Nov. 29. Terms of the agreement were not disclosed. Rainbow DBS Company LLC is a subsidiary of Cablevision Systems Corp., also of Bethpage, N.Y.
Northrop Grumman Corp. has won the first unrestricted competitive solicitation task order under the Network Centric Solutions (NETCENTS) program for technical support for computer hardware and software updates and upgrades. The U.S. Air Force is the contracting agent. The task order is valued at about $1 million over five years, the company said Nov. 29. The Air Force NETCENTS program is a five-year indefinite delivery/indefinite quantity contract to provide information technology products and services.
OAV II: DARPA has awarded contracts for Phase I of the Organic Air Vehicle II program to Aurora Flight Sciences Inc. of Manassas, Va., BAE Systems Aircraft Controls Inc. of Los Angeles, Calif., and Honeywell Defense and Space Electronics Systems of Albuquerque, N.M. The OAV II program is preparing the technology of ducted-fan unmanned aerial vehicles for inclusion in the Army's Future Combat Systems.
Germany's Bundestag has approved a 23.9 billion euro ($31.7 billion) defense budget for 2005, and the budget is expected to grow gradually over the following three years, the German Ministry of Defense said Nov. 24. The largest percentage of the budget is for operating expenditures, which accounts for 73.1% of the total, the GMD said. About 12 billion euros ($15.9 billion) will go to personnel expenditures.
Richard B. Slansky has been appointed president and granted a seat on the board of directors. Slansky will continue serving as chief financial officer and corporate secretary.
TURBULENCE: "Too much turbulence" in military jobs helped former Air Force acquisition official Darleen Druyun consolidate her bargaining power, Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld says. The government is investigating several deals the disgraced official negotiated, to see if she gave Boeing preferential treatment before taking a job there (DAILY, Oct. 13). "It turns out that during her tenure, the secretary of the Air Force changed two or three times ...
STACKING BOOSTERS: Technicians at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida have begun stacking the solid rocket boosters for the shuttle Discovery's return-to-flight mission, STS 114, NASA says. The boosters are being assembled atop the Mobile Launch Platform, which is inside the Vehicle Assembly Building. The next step will be to join the external tank to the boosters, according to NASA. Launch of the shuttle is scheduled for May 2005.
Companies in Germany and the Netherlands will continue developing the Boxer family of armored utility vehicles although the British company Alvis has pulled out of the program. Germany's Artec GmbH is the prime contractor for the vehicles, and is working with Germany's Kraus-Maffei Wegmann and Rheinmetall Landsysteme and the Dutch company Stork.
IED THREAT: Attacks on American forces in Iraq will continue, and "perhaps intensify as the Iraqi election approaches," Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld says. One component of those attacks is the use of improvised explosive devices (IEDs). "Over the past two weeks, a single military unit found 191 weapons caches, and 431 improvised explosive devices in one sector of Fallujah alone. Soldiers and Marines have found large IED-making facilities, and facilities for making vehicle-borne bombs," Rumsfeld says.
The European Space Agency's Huygens probe, which is orbiting Saturn onboard the Cassini spacecraft, successfully passed its 16th in-flight "checkout" on Nov. 23, the last one planned before it separates from Cassini in December. Preliminary analysis of the checkout data showed that the procedure went as planned, ESA said. Huygens is scheduled to dive into the atmosphere of Saturn's moon Titan after being released from Cassini on Dec. 24 (DAILY, Oct. 25).
RESTRUCTURING: The Air Force awarded Northrop Grumman Mission Systems a $10.4 million contract to "provide for a restructure" of the Minuteman III missile's Propulsion System Rocket Engine Life Extension Program, the DOD said Nov. 24. The restructuring of the work to refurbish the missile's liquid propulsion stage is "due to government testing delays and program budget shortfalls," DOD said. The work is to be completed by October 2006.
South Korea has developed a radar system that can take pictures of enemy terrain regardless of weather conditions, a South Korean defense ministry research institute said Nov. 23. The Korea Miniature Synthetic Aperture Radar (KOMSAR) can detect enemy facilities hidden in hilly terrain within a range of 15 kilometers (9.3 miles) and take high-resolution pictures, the Agency for Defense Development (ADD) said. The earth observation radar currently used by the South Korean military doesn't work properly at night and in rainy or foggy weather.
NASA has chosen Astronaut John Phillips and Cosmonaut Sergei Krikalev to serve as the Expedition 11 crew to the International Space Station (ISS), the agency announced. Their six-month stay is set to begin in April 2005 and should encompass the shuttle Discovery's return-to-flight mission (STS-114), which is scheduled to visit the station in May.
Two programs initiated by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency - one to disrupt an enemy's command organization, the other to increase the effectiveness of friendly battlefield command structures - ultimately could complement each other, a DARPA spokeswoman said.
George Caufman has been named compliance director. Sven Lofstrom has been appointed director of technical programs. Mike Robbins has been named director of business development. Renee Wilson has been appointed general manager.
Vance D. Coffman will retire from the board of directors in April 2005. Robert J. Stevens, Lockheed Martin president and CEO, will be elected as chairman of the board in April.
