Metal Storm Ltd. and Lockheed Martin have signed an agreement to conduct studies and demonstrations to establish the feasibility of a Metal Storm torpedo defense system, according to Metal Storm. It said the evaluations will be conducted over a four-month period. Terms of the agreement were not disclosed.
EARNINGS: General Dynamics reported $4.8 billion in revenues for the third quarter of 2004, up from $4.4 billion in 2003. Net earnings were $322 million, up from $262 million last year. Aerospace group earnings more than doubled, from $50 million to $117 million. Combat systems earnings increased 15.5 percent.
PerkinElmer Inc.'s California-based Optoelectronics unit will provide two critical subsystems to Lockheed Martin for the Joint Common Missile, the company said Oct. 19. The unit will design and build the firing modules for the electronic safe and arm device (ESAD) fuze system and the power supply for the air-to-ground missile system. Production contracts for the work could be worth more than $100 million for domestic needs, with foreign military sales on top of that, the company said.
The U.S. Defense Department is wrestling with a host of procedural issues that must be resolved before it can begin deploying the Ground-based Midcourse Defense (GMD) system to destroy long-range ballistic missiles, an official said Oct. 20.
The Joint National Training Capability (JNTC) is poised to experience sizable growth over the next 12 months or so, a program official said Oct. 20. The program, which recently achieved an initial operational capability, has linked 18 training sites and conducted four events, said Greg Knapp, head of the JNTC office. In fiscal 2005, the JNTC plans to grow to 32 sites and hold 15 events. The program still is evaluating the recently completed FY '05 defense appropriations and authorization bills, but any impact is expected to be slight.
Abu Dhabi Ship Building (ADSB) of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) has awarded the Raytheon Co. a contract to produce and deliver MK56 Evolved Seasparrow Missile Vertical Launching Systems for the UAE navy, the company said Oct. 20. Financial terms were not disclosed. The launching systems will be installed on four Baynunah class corvettes, the company said. Two additional ships may be equipped under a contract option.
Labock Technologies Inc. of Weston, Fla., has shipped nearly 300 vehicle armor kits and six armored buses to Iraq over the past three months under a $20 million contract to support the country's reconstruction, the company said Oct. 19. The U.S. Navy, Army, Coalition Provisional Authority and several civilian contractors have received the armor and buses, Labock Vice President Fred Williams said in a statement. More than 700 additional armor kits were shipped to Iraq in the previous six months.
Snecma and EADS Space are considering merging the launcher and satellite space propulsion operations of France's Snecma Moteurs and Germany's EADS Space Transportation to boost the technical and industrial capabilities of Europe's space industry, Snecma said Oct. 20. The merger could involve liquid-propellant propulsion for launchers and satellites and electric propulsion for satellites. These operations are based at Vernon and Villaroche in France and at Ottobrunn and Lampoldshausen in Germany, and involve 1,250 French employees and 450 German workers.
BALLISTIC RECOVERY SYSTEMS, St. Paul, Minn. Mark B. Thomas has resigned as CEO. EUROPEAN SPACE AGENCY, Paris Jean-Jacques Dordain, ESA's director general, has been named chancellor of the International Space University. METAL STORM LTD., Brisbane, Australia J. Dennis Heipt, a former SAIC senior executive, and Bruce McComish, chairman of the investment bank Burdett Buckeridge Young Ltd., have been named to the board of directors. Jim MacDonald has been appointed chief financial officer and company secretary.
Technical, cultural, and budgetary hurdles still stand in the way of a battlefield-ready High Energy Laser (HEL) weapon system, according to a panel of industry and government officials. An operational laser weapon "has been one of those dreams everybody's had since lasers existed," according to Ed Pogue, director of the High Energy Laser Joint Technology Office. "I've got a videotape of things being blown out of the sky starting around 1972. And the question is, why aren't you there yet?"
Lockheed Martin is gearing up to test a small, air-to-surface cruise missile that could be launched outside enemy air defenses and loiter over the battlefield looking for targets. The company plans to begin wind-tunnel tests of the Surveilling Miniature Attack Cruise Missile (SMACM) in early November to ensure the design is aerodynamic. Flight-testing is to begin by March 2005. The missile will ride aboard an aircraft to ensure it does not hurt the plane's aerodynamics. Lockheed Martin is deciding what aircraft to use.
LASER FUTURES: In 10 years, the Department of Defense should be able to produce a 100-kilowatt, solid-state electric laser "that is fieldable, with a good beam control system, probably 20 percent efficiency, in about a 5,000- to 10,000- pound range," according to Ed Pogue, director of the High Energy Laser Joint Technology Office. "And it will be capable of doing a number of things." The same laser should be able to perform a variety of missions, from imaging to attack, according to Pogue.
Diehl BGT Defence GmbH & Co. of Uberlingen, Germany and General Atomics Aeronautical Systems Inc. of San Diego have agreed to cooperate on unmanned aerial vehicles, which will include offering General Atomics' Predator to the German military. Both companies will have an equal workshare in building UAVs for the German market, Diehl said last week. The RQ-1/MQ-1 Predator achieved a milestone of 100,000 flight hours during a routine combat operation over Iraq, General Atomics announced last week (DAILY, Oct. 18).
Defense contractors pitching unmanned underwater vehicles (UUV) to the U.S. Navy need to make them capable of being used by either surface ships or submarines, Rear Adm. William Landay, the program executive officer for Navy Littoral and Mine Warfare, told reporters at a recent Naval Sea Systems Command (NAVSEA) briefing.
The U.S. Air Force Space Command (AFSPC) has established a space training and education organization that will help create a new generation of space professionals, the Air Force said Oct. 18.
Paris-based Thales Avionics has won the flight management system (FMS) contract for Airbus Military's new A400M military transport, the company said Oct. 19. Terms of the contract were not disclosed. The FMS handles aircraft flight control during tactical missions and flight operations, particularly at low altitudes, and is the core of the avionics suite, Thales said. Thales will develop the FMS400 using an innovative software architecture and a platform derived from integrated modular avionics, the company said.
Saab will develop and produce a tactical support and training system for the Gripen fighter aircraft under a 500 million Swedish krona ($70 million) contract with the Swedish Defence Materiel Administration. The system, called planning, evaluation, training, rehearsal and analysis (PETRA), could be used for planning and evaluating missions, basic training, mission rehearsal and tactical scenario analysis, Saab said Oct. 18. PETRA will be delivered to Sweden, Hungary and the Czech Republic between 2004 and 2007.
Pratt & Whitney, which is developing the F135 engine for the U.S. Defense Department's F-35 Joint Strike Fighter, plans to start incorporating a significant new component into its propulsion system in December, according to a company spokesman.
The first delivery of a mine-protected 4x4 Cougar Hardened Engineer Vehicle (HEV) produced by Ladson, S.C.-based Force Protection Inc. has been made to U.S. Marines in Iraq, the company said Oct. 18. Thirteen more Cougars are set to be shipped before the end of this year. The Cougar can be used for reconnaissance, command and control, explosive ordnance disposal, as a lead convoy vehicle and for troop transport, the company said.
NEAR SPACE: The Air Force Space Battlelab has tentatively scheduled the first flight of the Near Space Maneuvering Vehicle (NSMV), or "V-Airship," for Oct. 29 from Tillamook, Ore. A 175-foot long, helium-filled balloon, the v-shaped NSMV was built by JP Aerospace of California. The flight will carry a small communications payload to an altitude of 100,000 feet. The first flight of the NSMV had been set for February, but was scrubbed due to bad weather.
The Defense Department is forming a Joint Rapid Action Cell (JRAC) to speed the fielding of materials urgently needed by warfighters. In a Sept. 3 memorandum, Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz directed acting Pentagon acquisition chief Michael Wynne and DOD Comptroller Tina Jonas to set up the JRAC to "to break through the institutional barriers" that prevent DOD from "providing timely, effective support" to troops deployed in Afghanistan, Iraq and the global war on terrorism.
Arotech Corp.'s vehicle-armoring subsidiary, MDT Armor, will launch its new ultralight armored combat vehicle at the 2004 Association of the U.S. Army's annual meeting and exposition in Washington next week, the company said Oct. 18.
