United Kingdom-based Satamatics said the U.S. Coast Guard has approved the use of its Ocean Alert Ship Security Alert System for use by U.S.-flagged vessels, the company said Nov. 11. Ocean Alert uses satellite relays to provide ship location and security alerts, such as if a hatch is opened without authorization, the company said.
SUBMITTED: Lockheed Martin U.K. Ltd. has submitted a proposal for the next phase of the British navy's Merlin helicopter program, the company says. The Merlin Capability Sustainment Plus program is aimed at cutting costs and solving obsolescence issues by investing in new technology, the company says. That technology also would provide improvements such as an open computing architecture system with memory storage and processing speeds more than 250 times greater than current systems, Lockheed Martin U.K. says. "Merlin is at the core of our business in the U.K.
C-130 PROTESTS: The Government Accountability Office (GAO) plans to weigh in by about mid-February on Lockheed Martin's protests over Boeing's selection to be prime contractor for the Air Force's C-130 avionics modernization program (AMP) and Small Diameter Bomb (SDB). Lockheed Martin submitted the complaints Nov. 10. BAE Systems and L-3 Communications are expected to file similar protests over the C-130 AMP program in the near future.
The two major space-based observatories planned for NASA's "Beyond Einstein" program are proceeding with development despite severe funding constraints that already have caused a two-year slip in the launch of the first mission. Beyond Einstein is dedicated to answering fundamental questions about the origin, evolution and eventual fate of the universe. The centerpieces of the program are the Laser Interferometer Space Antenna (LISA) and Constellation-X missions, both of which will study black holes.
The U.S. Defense Department may be nearing completion of a roadmap on directed energy (DE) programs. Ron Sega, DOD's director of defense research and engineering, is expected to receive a presentation Nov. 29 on the proposed roadmap, which his office has been developing at the request of Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, according to a Pentagon spokeswoman. If Sega endorses the document, it will be delivered to Rumsfeld's deputy, Paul Wolfowitz, for his review.
The U.S. Defense Department's F-35 Joint Strike Fighter program has begun testing the aircraft's communication, navigation and identification (CNI) system on a full-scale model of the stealthy fighter.
The Excalibur contractor team of Raytheon Missile Systems and Bofors Defence of Sweden successfully fired a GPS-guided 155mm artillery shell earlier this month in Tucson, Ariz., Raytheon announced Nov. 11. The shell hit less than 11 feet from an aim point 12.4 miles (20 kilometers) away, which is well within the performance specification for Excalibur, Raytheon said.
The secretary of the Navy should systematically evaluate the feasibility and cost-effectiveness of rotating crews, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) said in a Nov. 10 report. One rotating crew concept the Navy is experimenting with is called "Sea Swap," which increases forward naval presence by keeping a single ship hull continuously present in a given area of operations - in this case for 18 months - while swapping crews at six-month intervals. Traditional overseas ship deployment is for six months. (DAILY, Oct. 29).
C-130J FACILITY: Lockheed Martin has chosen the Italian firm Officine Aeronavali Venezia S.p.A (OAN) to operate the first C-130J heavy maintenance facility. Venice-based OAN will conduct scheduled and unscheduled C-130J maintenance at a newly built facility in Brindisi, Italy. The facility will work on the 22 C-130Js operated by the Italian air force's 46th Air Brigade at Pisa.
Mission managers for NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity have decided that a proposed route out of Endurance crater is too treacherous and instead favor having the rover retrace its steps to leave the same way it came in. Opportunity has been exploring the stadium-sized crater in Mars' Meridiani Planum region since June. Within Endurance, Opportunity has found evidence of a wet environment in the area's distant past.
Net sales for engineered products supplier Hawk Corp. jumped 23.2 percent and income from operations grew 14.3 percent in the third quarter of 2004, the company said Nov. 11. The Cleveland-based firm reported net sales of $59.4 million in the third quarter of 2004, compared with $48.2 million in the same period last year.
A host of enhanced command-and-control, munition and sensor technologies are needed to improve air-, land- and sea-based assaults on enemy ground forces, according to a Pentagon advisory panel. In a new report, "Integrated Fire Support in the Battlespace," a Defense Science Board task force says the Defense Department should keep developing navigation upgrades and more affordable seekers and data-links so that munitions are better able to destroy moving targets.
General Dynamics Armament and Technical Products won a $23.4 million contract from the U.S. Army's TACOM/ARDEC Picatinny Arsenal for the production of 130 enhanced-capability reactive armor vehicle sets for the Bradley Fighting Vehicle System, the company said Nov. 9. Total contract value could reach $46.7 million. General Dynamics' partner, Rafael's Ordnance Systems of Haifa, Israel, will share half of the production workload.
The AH-64D Longbow Apache helicopters in Operation Iraqi Freedom need modernized target acquisition and display systems (MTADS), new aircraft safety equipment (ACE) and upgraded engines, Army Lt. Col. Doug Gabram, commander of the 1-101st Aviation Regiment, said Nov. 10. Gabram spoke at the Institute for Defense and Government Advancement's Helicon conference in Washington.
Elbit Systems of Haifa, Israel, has won a $43 million contract from the Romanian Defense Ministry to supply eight IAR-99 lead-in trainer aircraft, the company said Nov. 10. Romanian aircraft manufacturer Avioane Craiova and other Romanian industries will cooperate in fulfilling the contract over three and a half years, Elbit Systems said.
A Soyuz 2-1a launch vehicle had a successful first flight on Nov. 8 from the Plesetsk Cosmodrome, Russia, the European Space Agency said Nov. 9. The modernized version of the launcher incorporates a digital control system to provide additional mission flexibility and enable control of the vehicle with a larger fairing, said ESA, a partner in the flight along with Russia's Starsem and Arianespace.
Lockheed Martin's choice of Alliant Techsystems (ATK) to supply solid rocket motors for its Boost Vehicle-Plus portion of the Ground Based Missile Defense system gives ATK a leg up in the missile defense business, but will have little effect on the makeup of the U.S. rocket motor industry where there has been talk of consolidation for some time, industry officials said.
Titan Corp. is in line to receive a Navy contract to complete development of the Affordable Weapon System, a low-cost supplement to the Tomahawk cruise missile. The San Diego company, which has been working on AWS since 2002, soon will receive a contract "to complete the [system's] development through the fabrication and testing of 100 missiles and two launchers," according to a Nov. 10 FedBizOpps notice from Naval Sea Systems Command.
Orbital Recovery Ltd. has completed its second round financing for the ConeXpress Orbital Life Extension Vehicle (CX OLEV), which should allow for production of the first "space tug" to begin early next year, according to the company. Orbital Recovery now is fully funded following the addition of Swedish Space Corp. and SENER of Spain as investors, the company announced Nov. 11. Dutch Space of the Netherlands is the lead investor (DAILY, Dec. 1, 2003).
The U.S. Air Force and Navy should consider adopting an Army system that keeps controlled or classified spare parts from being sent improperly to other countries, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) said in a report issued Nov. 9.
NASA's X-43A "Hyper-X" team is poised to break its own airspeed record Nov. 15 during the third and final flight of the hypersonic demonstrator, which will shoot for Mach 10. The X-43A program achieved the fastest flight of an air-breathing aircraft March 27 during a successful Mach 6.83 (5,000 mph) flight off the coast of California (DAILY, March 30). The Mach 10 (7,000 mph) flight attempt will follow a flight path roughly similar to the March flight.
