The Atlantic Fleet, now under way with its Sea Swap experiment, is incorporating lessons learned from the Pacific Fleet's Sea Swap that finished last spring, Cmdr. Robert Randall of the guided-missile destroyer USS Laboon told The DAILY. Sea Swap is an initiative that increases forward naval presence by keeping a single ship hull continuously present in a given area of operation - in this case for 18 months - while swapping crews at six-month intervals.
Aurora Flight Sciences is awaiting an award announcement in the Organic Air Vehicle II (OAV II) competition before it conducts the first transition flight for its OAV candidate, the GoldenEye ducted fan unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV). GoldenEye uses thrust vectoring to pitch forward and fly horizontally after taking off vertically (DAILY, Sept. 11, 2003). The GoldenEye-100 prototype had its first flight in September 2003, and now has completed its flight-test program, according to Aurora President John Langford.
NASA and Orbital Sciences Corp. have postponed the launch of the Demonstration of Autonomous Rendezvous Technology (DART) spacecraft after discovering particulate contamination in the spacecraft's Pegasus launch vehicle. During final flight preparations at Vandenberg Air Force Base, Calif., the closeout team discovered pieces of aluminum foil inside the rocket's fairing. The vehicle will be de-mated from its Stargazer L-1011 carrier aircraft and returned to the vehicle assembly building for inspection. NASA does not expect to launch before Nov. 4.
The U.S. Air Force has kicked off a study of options to replace the aging Minuteman III nuclear intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM), according to a service official. The Land Based Strategic Deterrent (LBSD) analysis of alternatives (AOA) got under way recently and is slated for completion by Sept. 30, 2005, said Col. Richard Patenaude, chief of the deterrence and strike division in Air Force Space Command's requirements directorate.
C-17 TRAINING: AAI Corp. will upgrade systems used to train maintenance technicians for the C-17 Globemaster III transport aircraft under a $23.5 million order, the company said Oct. 28. The upgrades will be installed on 26 C-17 trainers at three Air Force bases and one Air National Guard facility, the company said.
The first F/A-22 Raptor made for a deployable unit rolled off the assembly line Oct. 27 at prime contractor Lockheed Martin's plant in Marietta, Ga. The jet, Raptor 4041, will undergo post-production preparations and flights before being delivered to the 27th Fighter Squadron at Langley Air Force Base, Va., in early 2005. The Air Force announced about a year ago that the squadron would be the first deployable unit to fly the F/A-22 (DAILY, Oct. 16, 2003).
Northrop Grumman Corp. will continue system and software development work on the Force XXI Battle Command Brigade and Below (FBCB2) Blue Force Tracking system under a $40 million, five-year Army contract, the company said Oct. 27.
Lockheed Martin said the Littoral Combat Ship (LCS) it is building for the U.S. Navy will be equipped with the European Aeronautic Defence and Space Co.'s EADS TRS-3D radar for air and sea surveillance and weapon assignment. The radar also will be fitted to the U.S. Coast Guard's Maritime Security Cutter, Large (WMSL) for air search, the companies announced at the Euronaval exhibit in Paris Oct. 27.
Northrop Grumman Corp. said Oct. 27 that its third-quarter income rose to $291 million, a 46 percent increase over the $200 million reported for the same period last year. Third-quarter sales increased 11 percent, to $7.4 billion from $6.7 billion reported for the same period last year.
The U.S. Navy will finalize its involvement in the Army-led Aerial Common Sensor (ACS) program later this year, providing the Navy an opportunity to put forth additional requirements for the intelligence-gathering aircraft, a program official said Oct. 27.
EDO Corp. of New York has been chosen to develop and design fixed-wing, dual missile launchers for the Joint Common Missile (JCM) on F/A-18E/F Super Hornet aircraft, the company said Oct. 27. EDO has been authorized to do $1.9 million in start-up work under Phase 1 of the project, and the company said it could make up to $100 million over the life of the JCM program.
The Missile Defense Agency (MDA) has awarded Poway, Calif.-based SpaceDev a second task order worth about $8.3 million to develop and design as many as six networked micro-satellites to support national missile defense, the company said Oct. 26. The second task order is part of an existing $43 million contract with the MDA. The order went into effect on Oct. 1 and the work is expected to be finished by January 2006, the company said.
Rheinmetall Defence Electronics of Bremen, Germany, has demonstrated a reusable, autonomous micro air vehicle that fits in a backpack, the company said Oct. 26. The Carola P50 has been demonstrated to representatives of Germany's Bundeswehr and federal agency for defense technology and procurement, according to the company, which has set up the spin-off company Mavionics GmbH of Braunschweig to market it.
The U.S. Army decided this week to eliminate the Loitering Attack Missile (LAM) component of the Non-Line-of-Sight-Launch System (NLOS-LS), Raytheon and Lockheed Martin officials told reporters Oct. 27. Raytheon and Lockheed Martin are developing NLOS-LS as the NetFires Limited Liability Co. The system is part of the Army's Future Combat Systems (FCS) and its deployment schedule was accelerated last July to start during Spiral 1 of FCS, which is in 2008, with production in 2009 to 2010.
Boeing reported that net income for the third quarter jumped from $256 million to $456 million, or 78 percent, driven largely by "a very strong quarter" for the Integrated Defense Systems (IDS) business, CEO Harry Stonecipher said Oct. 27. Boeing reported $13.2 billion in revenues for the quarter, up 8 percent from 2003's $12.2 billion quarterly report.
Bigelow Aerospace still is drawing up the rules that will govern the $50 million "America's Space Prize" competition, according to Bigelow corporate counsel Michael Gold. Announced last month, the prize will be awarded to the first private team that sends astronauts to low-Earth orbit before the end of the decade. Former hotel entrepreneur and Bigelow Aerospace founder Robert Bigelow is putting up half of the $25 million purse himself, and is seeking sponsors to cover the rest.
The draft request for proposals (RFP) for the U.S. Army's Light Utility Helicopter (LUH) is due out around Oct. 28, with an industry day to follow within seven days, Paul Bogosian, deputy program executive officer for Army aviation, said on Oct. 27. The Army's future Armed Reconnaissance Helicopter (ARH) is in the final approval phase of its capabilities document, said Lt. Col. Neil Thurgood, Army ARH product manager.
EFV TESTING: The Expeditionary Fighting Vehicle (EFV) has been undergoing testing at the Marine Corps Air Ground Combat Center in Twentynine Palms, Calif., and is preparing to enter the operational assessment phase, the Marine Corps said last week. The EFV, built by General Dynamics Land Systems, can carry a reinforced rifle squad, or 17 Marines, and a crew of three. Its main armament is the MK-46 30mm weapon system.
The U.S. Army is studying a range of systems that could be used to counter the kinds of rocket, artillery and mortar (RAM) threats that American troops face in Iraq, according to service and industry officials. Michael Schexnayder, an acquisition official for the Army's Space and Missile Defense Command, said he plans to compile a set of near- and long-term options and present them to Army leaders before Christmas.
AEROSPACE CORP., El Segundo, Calif. J. Bruce Chudoba has been promoted to associate principal director in the Electronic Programs Division in Chantilly, Va. Valerie I. Lang has been promoted to principal director of the Systems Acquisition Subdivision in El Segundo. BOEING CO., Chicago Mike S. Zafirovski, president and chief operating officer of Motorola Inc., has been elected to the board of directors. DIMENSIONS INTERNATIONAL, Alexandria, Va.
DART: NASA has rescheduled the launch of its Demonstration of Autonomous Rendezvous Technology (DART) spacecraft for Oct. 28 during a five-minute launch window opening at 2:16 p.m. EDT. The launch is scheduled take place from Vandenberg Air Force Base, Calif., aboard a Pegasus XL rocket. NASA plans to feed lessons learned from DART into its proposed Hubble Space Telescope servicing robot.
Lessons and technology from Scaled Composites' SpaceShipOne are being applied to the supersonic manned aircraft the company is developing for the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency's (DARPA) RASCAL program, according to Jacob Lopata, chief executive officer for RASCAL prime contractor Space Launch Corp.
The steering problem that first began affecting NASA's Mars Exploration Rover (MER) Spirit on Oct. 1 continues to puzzle mission controllers, occurring intermittently as the team attempts to drive the rover from rock to rock.
