POSTPONED: The launch of NASA's much-delayed Demonstration of Autonomous Rendezvous Technology (DART) spacecraft has been delayed again, due to availability problems with the launch range and "the lingering effects of solar activity," NASA said Nov. 3. A new launch date is being reviewed.
A Pentagon policy shop is questioning the Defense Department's decision to pick only one supplier for the Small Diameter Bomb (SDB), saying the United States needs a broader industrial base to keep its technological edge in such precision weapons.
Defense programs that are not transformational could get canceled in coming years, those with performance and development issues will be scrutinized and new starts will get pushed to the right, said Jim Albaugh, president and CEO of Boeing Integrated Defense Systems. Albaugh spoke on Nov. 3 at the Goldman Sachs Global Capital Goods Conference in New York. "Programs must emphasize mobility, integrated command and control, precision strike, and global situational awareness, or else they're at risk of being canceled," he said.
General Electric and Rolls-Royce, which are developing the F136 alternate engine for the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter, have been awarded a $122 million contract to establish a "bridge" between the propulsion system's pre-system development and demonstration (pre-SDD) and SDD phases, the Defense Department announced late Nov. 3. The contract will "protect SDD program milestones and mitigate technical, schedule and cost risk," DOD said.
Lockheed Martin has been selected as the Common Submarine Radio Room (CSSR) software design and interim software support agent for the Seawolf-class submarine, the company said Nov. 2.
Hewlett-Packard and Lockheed Martin have formed a strategic global alliance to compete for international defense and homeland security contracts, the companies said Nov. 3. "Lockheed Martin is the largest defense contractor and HP is the largest government IT [information technology] contractor and has a large footprint outside the United States," Art Johnson, senior vice president of corporate strategic development for Lockheed Martin, told reporters.
Lockheed Martin's Sniper XR/PANTERA advanced targeting pod (ATP) data downlink capability has been successfully flight-tested on a Norwegian F-16 aircraft, the company said Nov. 3. The test, conducted at Bodo Air Force Base in Bodo, Norway, was the first flight for the Sniper XR-based downlink capability.
The Syracuse Research Corp. won a $2.3 million increment on Oct. 29 as part of an $8.7 million research and development contract for the Army's Lightweight Counter Mortar Radar (LCMR) Enhancement program, the U.S. Department of Defense said Nov. 3. Work will be performed in Syracuse, N.Y., and is expected to be completed by Oct. 31, 2006. Contract funds will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year.
In a combined training effort, the Swedish navy will provide the U.S. Navy with a Swedish advanced diesel submarine and crew for U.S. Navy fleet anti-submarine warfare (ASW) training, the U.S. Department of Defense said on Oct. 29. The two navies will stress integrated and focused ASW training and assessment of the U.S. Navy's fleet ASW operations, as well as tactics, doctrine, and ASW education, the Defense Department said. The partnership will begin in early 2005.
The Department of Defense's addressable operations and maintenance (O&M) budget is forecast to grow from $34 billion in fiscal 2006 to $42 billion in fiscal 2015, the Government Electronics and Information Technology Association (GEIA) says in its 40th annual 10-year forecast of defense spending. The total O&M budget will grow to $159.6 billion in fiscal 2015 from $140.6 billion in fiscal 2005, GEIA said Oct. 29.
Oto Melara's "Super Rapid," the U.S. Navy's first missile-firing gun system, has been delivered to the United States from Italy, the company said Nov. 1. The Super Rapid is a modular, 76mm gun system able to fire regular ammunition and to launch guided missiles, the La Spezia, Italy-based company said, and can shoot down cruise missiles.
RESULTS: Commercial space company Spacehab of Houston will release its fiscal year 2005 first-quarter results on Nov. 9, the company said. Spacehab reported a net loss of $2.3 million for the fourth quarter of fiscal 2004 (DAILY, Sept. 9), and recently said that NASA has refused to pay its $87.7 million claim for the loss of the Research Double Module, which was lost when the shuttle Columbia was destroyed. NASA has said it owes Spacehab only $8 million (DAILY, Oct. 8).
General Dynamics Amphibious Systems (GDAMS) won a $135.9 million modification contract to continue the system development and demonstration (SDD) phase of the U.S. Marine Corps' Expeditionary Fighting Vehicle (EFV), the Department of Defense said Nov. 1. "This contract is in support of the work that assists the Marines during the operational assessment phase, which will run from March through the second quarter of 2006," Peter Keating, vice president of communications and public affairs for General Dynamics Land Systems, told The DAILY.
General Dynamics Network Systems won a $3.8 million delivery order to upgrade and expand the telecommunications voice networks at the Army's Fort Richardson, Fort Wainwright and Fort Greely, Alaska, under the Long Term Life Cycle Support contract, the company said Nov. 2. Under this order, General Dynamics will engineer, furnish, install, and test voice-switching upgrades, including telephone switch expansions, a telephone management system and installation of Enhanced 911 service.
The Boeing Co. has been tapped to design and test the Massive Ordnance Penetrator (MOP), a large bomb designed to penetrate and destroy hardened and deeply buried targets. The Defense Department announced late Nov. 1 that the Air Force Research Laboratory has awarded a $20 million, multi-year contract to Boeing for the MOP program, which is funded by the Defense Threat Reduction Agency (DTRA). The initial increment of $500,000 is for work that is to be completed by February 2005.
HERCULES DELIVERED: Lockheed Martin has delivered the first KC-130J Super Hercules aircraft ordered under a joint U.S. Air Force/Marine Corps multiyear acquisition program, the company said Nov. 2. The aircraft will be delivered to Marine Aerial Refueler Transport Squadron 252 at the Cherry Point, N.C., Marine Corps Air Station.
Cubic Corp.'s defense segment will support the U.S. Army's National Simulation Center (NSC) at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, under a contract that could be worth up to $95 million over five years. The contract increases the scope of the company's two previous NSC contracts, awarded in 1995 and 2000, the company said. Under those contracts, Cubic helped the Army develop requirements for computer-based training simulations.
NO DATE: No date has been set for the preliminary design review (PDR) of the Space Based Surveillance System's Pathfinder spacecraft, a Boeing official said Nov. 2. Boeing announced Nov. 1 that the integrated baseline review for the first SBSS satellite has been completed. The PDR had been planned for October (DAILY, Oct. 4), but in the wake of a congressional budget cut, Boeing is working with the Air Force on a new schedule, a company spokesman said.
Finland's Patria and Sweden's GSE Partners have set up a small joint venture to maintain turboshaft engines for customers in the Nordic countries and Europe, the companies said Nov. 1. The new company, Engine Service Partners AB, is based in Arboga, Sweden, and is offering tailored life-cycle support for Rolls-Royce Model 250 and Gnome engines.
Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) will be "ubiquitous" in the future and stratospheric airships will stay aloft for years at a time as communications platforms, according to a speaker at the 49th annual Air Traffic Control Association Conference on Nov. 2 in Washington.
The Government Accountability Office (GAO) has until Jan. 28 to make a recommendation on the bid protest filed by Space Imaging of Thornton, Colo., following the company's loss of the $500 million NextView contract to rival Orbimage of Dulles, Va.
