EADS GROWTH: The European Aeronautic Defence and Space Co. (EADS) will continue to push for growth outside Europe, co-CEO Rainer Hertrich tells the DAILY. The company's recent helicopter win in Australia (DAILY, Sept. 1) is an example of how "we are in the global position today," he says. Expansion in the U.S. is a mix of partnering with other companies and working alone, but Hertrich says the acquisition of U.S. companies still is a possibility. EADS is not "desperately looking," but "if there is an opportunity, we will do it," he says.
Several companies have been selected to receive delivery orders under a $4.7 billion contract for the Advanced Technology Support Program III (ATSP3), the Department of Defense said Sept. 9.
If NASA embarks on its plan to return humans to the moon, the agency's total funding needs through 2020 might be $32 billion greater than its current projections, according to a recent analysis by the Congressional Budget Office (CBO). A $32 billion increase would represent a 12 percent growth relative to NASA's total projected funding of $271 billion through 2020, according to the CBO's report. It would represent a 33 percent increase relative to the $95 billion NASA has projected for space exploration over that same period.
INSOURCING: EADS believes in "insourcing," Hertrich says, citing its creation of aircraft facilities in Alabama and helicopter facilities in Mississippi (DAILY, Aug. 4, 2003), and other work outside Europe that he says creates high-quality jobs. EADS was "nobody in Australia just three or four years ago," Hertrich says, and now has "won almost everything," to the extent that the contract wins are creating "a sort of EADS in Australia."
Aircraft electronics manufacturer Rockwell Collins anticipates revenues of about $3.2 billion in fiscal 2005, a 10 percent increase over projected fiscal year 2004 revenues, it said Sept. 9. Earnings per share are projected to be $1.85 to $1.95. Total segment operating margin for fiscal 2005 is expected to improve to about 17 percent, compared with about 16 percent projected for fiscal 2004, said Rockwell Collins Chairman, President and CEO Clay Jones.
WATCHKEEPER INTEROPERABILITY: The Boeing Co.'s role in the United Kingdom's Watchkeeper unmanned aerial vehicle program is becoming clearer. A company source says Boeing will be charged with ensuring that the UAV, which the British army will use for reconnaissance, will be interoperable with the U.S. military, particularly ground forces. It has not yet been determined whether Boeing's work will be limited to studies or whether the company will also produce hardware or software. In July, the U.K.
ITT Industries, Inc. of White Plains, N.Y. has been awarded a $63.7 million contract to produce and deliver Integrated Defensive Electronic Countermeasure (IDECM) Radio Frequency Countermeasure (RFCM) systems, the company said Sept. 9. The contract was awarded by the Naval Air Systems Command, Patuxent River, Md. The system will be deployed on F/A-18E/F fighter aircraft. ITT Industries' Avionics Division in Clifton, N.J., will do the work. ITT will produce systems for the Navy, support follow-on production and provide spares.
The second operational interceptor for the Ground-based Midcourse Defense (GMD) system was installed at Fort Greely, Alaska, late last week and will be joined by the third one "probably within the next 10 days or so," a Missile Defense Agency spokesman said Sept. 9. The first interceptor, Initial Defensive Capability 1 (IDC-1), was installed in an underground silo July 22 (DAILY, July 26). The second interceptor, IDC-2, was placed in the ground Sept. 4.
The Republic of Korea wants to buy depot maintenance support, services and equipment worth up to $70 million from L-3 Communications Integrated Systems of Greenville, Texas, the Defense Security Cooperation Agency (DSCA) said. The DSCA informed Congress of the possible foreign military sale on Sept. 7. The Korean government has asked for continuing technical services training, contractor maintenance and depot maintenance support for Peace Pioneer program equipment, spare and repair parts and other logistics support, the DSCA said.
Incoming rocket-propelled grenades (RPGs) were intercepted and destroyed during testing of United Defense Industries' Close-In Counter Measure (CICM) active protection system, the Santa Clara, Calif.-based company said Sept. 8. The system detected the RPGs after they were launched, tracked them, initiated countermeasures and defeated the weapons, the company said. The testing took place at the U.S. Army's Redstone Technical Test Center at Redstone Arsenal, Ala.
LAUNCH ORDERS: Arianespace has signed two new launch contracts with the DirecTV Group and also has been chosen by PanAmSat to launch the Galaxy 17 spacecraft, the company announced Sept. 9. The DirecTV contracts cover the launch of the Spaceway 2 satellite in April 2005 and an unnamed direct-to-home satellite. Galaxy 17 is expected to fly in late 2006. All three spacecraft will be launched on Ariane 5 rockets from Arianespace's spaceport in Kourou, French Guiana.
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. - Russian officials, in the wake of the loss of two airliners in that country to terrorist actions, have expressed interest in operations of the U.S. North American Aerospace Defense Command, according to Gen. Ed Eberhart, commander of NORAD and U.S. Northern Command. He said the United States and Russia might cooperate in this area.
EADS Astrium has been awarded a contract by communication satellite operator ARABSAT for a Satellite Control Center (SCC) to control the Arabsat-4A, Arabsat-4B, Arabsat-2B, and Arabsat-3A satellites, the company said this week. Europe-based EADS Astrium will deploy, install, validate, design, and integrate the SCC on Arabsat sites in Tunis, Tunisia and Dirab, Saudi Arabia. ARABSAT is based in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. The SCC is a state-of-the-art, fully integrated multimission control center, EADS Astrium said. Based on OPSWARE
Marine Corps Systems Command awarded Oshkosh Truck Corp. of Oshkosh, Wis., a $204 million delivery order under a previous contract for 920 ECP-58 MTVR Armor Kits. The contract calls for the production, delivery and installation of armor kits to be installed on the Medium Tactical Vehicle Replacement (MTVR) Standard Cargo vehicles. Oshkosh Truck Corp. is the sole manufacturer of the MTVR family of vehicles, which can carry a 7.1-ton payload cross-country or up to 15 tons on primary and secondary roads.
The cuts to NASA's fiscal year 2005 budget request contained in the House Appropriations Committee's NASA spending bill effectively would halt the agency's plans to develop a Crew Exploration Vehicle (CEV) and achieve new breakthroughs in in-space propulsion, according to Administrator Sean O'Keefe. "We can't do this at the levels that they've contemplated," O'Keefe told Senate lawmakers at a Sept. 8 hearing.
The F-35 Joint Strike Fighter is making or about to make progress on several key fronts, a spokesman for prime contractor Lockheed Martin said Sept. 9. Lockheed Martin recently began testing a new facility that will coat the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter to provide stealth and other characteristics. The 82,000-square-foot addition to Lockheed Martin's plant in Fort Worth, Texas, will use people and robots to apply coatings to the aircraft's exterior. A ceremony to dedicate the facility is slated for Sept. 14.
The U.S. Navy's top information technology official said the service is moving to more digitized business practices, networking people and organizations and allowing a more integrated warfighting team. Dave Wennergren, the Navy's chief information officer, told the Armed Forces Communications and Electronics Association on Sept. 9 that the Navy's future lies in electronic business services such as the Navy/Marine Corps Intranet (NMCI), the E-Business Operations Office and the Web Services Enterprise Portal.
NAVY TACAIR: Rear Adm. David Venlet is scheduled to formally take over Sept. 17 as the U.S. Navy's program executive officer for tactical aircraft programs, including the E-2, F-14 and F/A-18, a Navy spokeswoman said Sept. 9. Venlet will succeed Rear Adm. James Godwin, who has been appointed director of the Navy and Marine Corps Intranet (NMCI). Venlet has been commander of the Naval Warfare Center, Weapons Division, in China Lake, Calif.
B-2 RADAR: The U.S. Air Force is launching the next phase of a radar antenna replacement effort for the B-2 bomber. Northrop Grumman Corp. has received a $388 million contract for the system development and demonstration phase of the active electronically scanned array (AESA) antenna. Raytheon Co., which will build the antenna, is expected to get a $200 million SDD contract from Northrop Grumman, which will install the antenna.
Global military air transport is on the rise and will be worth $53 billion through 2013, according to a new report from Forecast International. Actual shipments and revenues will be higher during the second five-year period than in the first. The world's air forces will take delivery of 922 new transports, the analysis group said Sept. 9. "In the past 10 years, a lot of C-130s were built, but they were of lower value than will be the new deliveries," FI aviation analyst Bill Dane told The DAILY.
CAPITAL OFFICE: Ceradyne, Inc. opened a new office in the Washington area to support its lightweight ceramic armor business, with a strong focus on military ground-based vehicles, the company announced Sept. 8. Marc King will be the vice president of armor operations at the D.C. office. The company's headquarters is in Costa Mesa, Calif.
Northrop Grumman Corp. and the U.S. Army have demonstrated the first mobile operational deployment of the Distributed Common Ground System - Army (DCGS-A) with the system's Spiral 2, the company said Sept. 9. The DCGS-A is a system of ground stations that processes intelligence from a variety of sources and enhances open-system, multi-intelligence data sharing and interoperability among the U.S. armed services. Beyond 2006, the Army will be moving to the DCGS. In the interim, the service is using DCGS-A, which has spiraled-in capabilities (DAILY, July 1).
