A new study by Futron Corp. ranks Lockheed Martin's Atlas V rocket first in overall customer satisfaction among launch vehicles capable of putting payloads in geostationary orbit, with chief launch services competitor Arianespace's Ariane 5 vehicle coming in third.
The U.S. Army's requirements for the Future Cargo Aircraft (FCA) will be completed within the next few months by the Joint Requirements Oversight Council and a request for proposals (RFP) is expected in 2006, with an award in 2007, an Army aviation official told The DAILY. The Army plans to procure the FCA to replace 43 C-23 Sherpa intra-theater fixed-wing support aircraft, but eventually would like to buy 128 FCAs. The Sherpas will be retired from the fleet from 2007 through 2013, he said.
In fiscal 2006, investment in U.S. military vehicles and technology will reach around $8.7 billion, while fiscal 2007 funding is projected at $8.1 billion, the Government Electronics and Information Technology Association (GEIA) predicts in its 40th 10-year defense forecast.
Armor Holdings Inc. of Jacksonville, Fla. has agreed to purchase Temecula, Calif.-based Bianchi International for $60 million in cash, Armor Holdings said Nov. 10.
SIMULATORS: Ornskoldsvik, Switzerland-based Land Systems Hagglunds has received an order from Switzerland's government for army CV90 combat vehicle training simulators, the company said Nov. 9. Terms were not disclosed. The equipment will be used to train crew and technical staff. It will consist of chassis and turret trainers. The original 186-vehicle CV90s contract was placed in 2000. The order included command and infantry variants, the company said. Land Systems Hagglunds is a subsidiary of BAE Systems.
Lockheed Martin Corp. will continue to provide operations and maintenance for the C-130 Aircrew Training System (ATS) under a $28.8 million contract modification extension, the company said Nov. 9.
The U.S. Air Force's F/A-22 Raptor has moved a step closer to full-rate production. The Defense Department announced Nov. 10 that acting Pentagon acquisition chief Michael Wynne has approved unspecified exit criteria the program must meet for full-rate production to occur. Lockheed Martin is producing almost two Raptors a month, a rate that would rise to almost three a month under full-rate production.
ARMOR HOLDINGS INC., Jacksonville, Fla. Tony Russell has been appointed chief technology officer. KAMAN CORP., Bloomfield, Conn. John J. Tedone has been named assistant vice president, internal audit. MESSIER SERVICES AMERICA, Sterling, Va. Ian Longstreth has been appointed vice president of sales and marketing. MRC PRECISION OPTICS, Sarasota, Fla. Stephen C. Hobert has been named vice president of sales and marketing. SAFELINK CORP., Bellevue, Wash.
The U.S. Air Force is seeking more details from companies that submitted concepts for a potential hunter-killer unmanned aerial vehicle, a service representative said Nov. 10.
Roseland, N.J.-based Curtiss-Wright Corp. has acquired the Government Marine Business Unit (GMBU) division of Flowserve Corp. for about $28 million in cash, Curtiss-Wright said Nov. 10. GMBU, of Phillipsburg, N.J., designs and manufactures highly engineered, critical function pumps for U.S. Navy nuclear submarine and aircraft carrier programs and non-nuclear surface ships. It had 2003 sales of about $26 million, Curtiss-Wright said.
House and Senate backers hope to bring a bill to a vote next week during Congress' lame-duck session that would extend FAA's commercial aviation regulation authority to manned space flight, congressional sources told Aerospace Daily affiliate Aviation Daily. Congress has been taking a hard look at legislation covering passengers in space, a trend certain to continue gaining momentum with the success in October of the SpaceShipOne flight under the auspices of the Ansari X-Prize.
RADAR KITS: The U.S. Army Air and Missile Command has awarded ThalesRaytheonSystems Co. a $13.1 million contract for the production and integration of more than 20 AN/MPQ-64 Sentinel Radar Modernization kits, the company said Nov. 10. The AN/MPQ-64 Sentinel Radar is a highly mobile, ground-based air defense radar. The kits will provide increased detection and acquisition ranges, improved target classification and greater detection of smaller targets.
X-47B TESTS: Northrop Grumman completed a series of low-speed wind tunnel tests Sept. 22 on its X-47B unmanned combat aerial vehicle design, the company announced Nov. 9. The tests, which used a scale model, were conducted at company facilities in Hawthorne, Calif. The company is developing the X-47B for the Joint Unmanned Combat Air System (J-UCAS) program, which is developing an unmanned strike/reconnaissance aircraft for the Air Force and Navy. The tests were the first in a series of wind tunnel tests planned under the J-UCAS operational assessment (OA) program.
BODY ARMOR: Ceradyne Inc. of Costa Mesa, Calif. has received a $4.2 million delivery order from the Defense Supply Center in Philadelphia to provide lightweight ceramic body armor, the company said Nov. 9. The order was made under a contract announced in September 2003.
The deputy commander of U.S. European Command is expressing confidence that the Defense Department will begin to replace the service's aging fleet of refueling aircraft despite prolonged delays in pursuing the proposed acquisition.
Contracts from United Industrial Corp.'s defense sector have increased, boosting third-quarter sales, the company said Nov. 9. United Industrial's third-quarter net sales increased 42.5 percent to $98.7 million, compared with $69.3 million for the third quarter last year. Income from continuing operations for the quarter increased 176.5 percent to $7.7 million, compared with $2.8 million for the third quarter of 2003, the company said.
The U.S. Air Force has awarded Lockheed Martin a $29 million contract to modify one C-130J aircraft for the Pennsylvania Air National Guard, with options for two more planes, the company said Nov. 9.
Spacehab has filed a $79.7 million claim against NASA for the loss of the company's Research Double Module (RDM), which was destroyed when Columbia was lost on Feb. 1, 2003. Spacehab filed an $87.7 million claim for the module and related equipment with NASA in January (DAILY, Jan. 21). NASA responded by saying that its liability is limited to $8 million under the terms of its contract with Spacehab. The agency paid Spacehab $8.2 million (which included $200,000 of interest) in October. Spacehab is considering whether to appeal NASA's decision.
MORE JOBS: Aerospace companies have added 7,500 new jobs since June, bringing employment in the industry to 587,600 nationwide, the Aerospace Industries Association said Nov. 9. This shows an increase after a 50-year low that was hit in February, AIA said.
Recent scrutiny of the concept of lead system integrator, in which one contractor takes charge of integrating all aspects of a complex military system, is being sharpened by Boeing's troubles with defense programs, one analyst said. Loren Thompson of the Lexington Institute in Arlington, Va., said there's no evidence that Boeing has made any missteps as lead system integrator of the Army's big Future Combat Systems program, but "there's still just this generalized feeling that something suspicious is going on."
El Segundo, Calif.-based Computer Sciences Corp. has won a four-year, $52 million contract to support Defense Department biometrics, the company said Nov. 9. CSC will provide the Biometrics Fusion Center (BFC) with technical support including educational outreach; program management; conformance testing and standards requirements; application research and biometric technology; and product evaluations, the company said.
Lockheed Martin has delivered the flight structure and key payload support equipment to Northrop Grumman for the assembly of the first spacecraft for the Advanced Extremely High Frequency (AEHF) program. A team of engineers and technicians from Lockheed Martin Space Systems, the AHEF system prime contractor, and Northrop Grumman Space Technology, the payload provider, will continue installing components and preparing the first flight payload.
Northrop Grumman and Boeing have agreed to join forces to pursue NASA's Crew Exploration Vehicle (CEV) program as well as the other human and robotic space systems that will make up Project Constellation, the companies announced Nov. 9.
