Irvine Sensors Corp. has been awarded a $1.3 million follow-on contract to develop an improved version of its Personal Miniature Thermal Viewer (PMTV), the company said Sept. 7. The PMTV gives soldiers the ability to see in adverse battlefield conditions or total darkness. The thermal video viewer weighs less than half a pound and is battery-operated and handheld. It also features an eyepiece and display. The PMTV uses Irvine Sensors' Cam-Noir infrared uncooled camera technology.
PARTNERS: The Boeing Co. and CEA Technologies, an Australian radar and communications company, have signed a memorandum of understanding to cooperate on global missile defense, Boeing said Sept. 7. The cooperation could lead to future joint research and development of missile defense technologies, Boeing said.
NASA's Genesis spacecraft completed its final course correction on Sept. 6 in preparation to release its sample capsule containing solar particles into Earth's atmosphere on Sept. 8. The Lockheed Martin-built spacecraft spent two years trapping solar atoms on delicate wafers of gold, sapphire, silicon and diamond. The samples will shed light on the composition of the sun and the origins of our solar system, according to Don Burnett, Genesis principal investigator at the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, Calif.
Responses to a U.S. Army request for proposals that aims to show how small unmanned aerial vehicles can work together to perform the duties of a single pointman for soldiers in an infantry company are due Oct. 1, a slip from the original date of Sept. 17. The Army Aviation Technology Directorate at Fort Eustis, Va., announced the change in a Sept. 3 notice.
MBDA signed an initial production contract with Eurocopter to equip all versions of the Tiger assault and NH90 multirole helicopters with the advanced SAPHIR-M decoy self-protection system, the company said. MBDA is jointly owned by BAE Systems, Finmeccanica and the European Aeronautic Defence and Space Co. (EADS). Eurocopter is wholly owned by EADS.
U.S. Marine Commandant Gen. Michael Hagee said he is disappointed in defense contractors charged with developing new technologies and equipment for the military's movement toward jointness and interoperability. Hagee said defense companies promise that their products will be interoperable, but that isn't always the case. "What disappoints me about industry is their focus on their product," Hagee said. "We're told, 'don't worry, it will work, and if it doesn't we'll fix it.'"
Defense and aerospace companies are required to follow the first data management standard, recently released by the Government Electronics and Information Technology Association (GEIA), the organization said Sept. 3. "Through military specifications, the government told defense contractors how to deal with acquiring and delivering data, but this [standard] goes beyond that requirement to specify an integrated process throughout the product and data life cycles," GEIA spokesman Chris Denham told The DAILY.
Raytheon Co. expects to enter low-rate production of its new extended range Standard Missile-6 sometime in mid-2009, according to Jeff McKeel, the company's director of air and missile defenses. McKeel said the numbers of the Extended Range Active Missile (ERAM) that will be produced will be in the "low double digits," with some of the projectiles used in early tests at White Sands Missile Range, N.M.
Israel's attempt to launch a reconnaissance satellite was unsuccessful Sept. 6 after a third-stage rocket malfunction, the Israeli government announced in a statement. A special team is being established to investigate the Ofek-6 satellite's failed launch, which cost Israel $50 million, the Jerusalem Post reported.
The U.S. Army's Tank-automotive and Armaments Command (TACOM) is conducting a market survey to determine the availability of nondevelopmental tactical navigation systems for integration on Stryker vehicles, the Program Management Office Stryker Brigade Combat Team (PM-SBCT) said in a Sept. 1 Federal Business Opportunities notice. Survey documentation is due by Sept. 30, and a solicitation is expected to be issued between fiscal 2006 and fiscal 2008, if funding is available, the program office said.
Northrop Grumman and NASA have completed a nine-month series of tests to test the viability of a reusable cryogenic fuel tank made from composite materials, the company announced Sept. 7.
The damage done by Hurricane Frances to NASA's Kennedy Space Center (KSC) in Florida could jeopardize plans to return the space shuttle to flight in March or April, according to the agency. "We all know it's going to [make] some impact to the overall return to flight," NASA spokesman Allard Beutel told The DAILY.
Army RQ-7A Shadow Tactical Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (TUAV) systems have surpassed 10,000 flight hours and 2,500 sorties while performing surveillance and reconnaissance for coalition warfighters in Operation Iraqi Freedom (OIF), according to AAI Corp., prime contractor for the Shadow TUAV program. AAI delivered 19 Shadow TUAV systems, 15 to Army and National Guard operational units and four to the Army's TUAV training center at Fort Huachuca, Ariz., the company said.
GENESIS CATCH: NASAís Genesis mission is on track to drop its sample capsule into Earthís atmosphere for mid-air recovery by a helicopter Sept. 8, according to the agency. Launched in 2001, the Lockheed Martin-built spacecraft spent two years orbiting a libration point between the Earth and the sun while trapping solar particles on delicate wafers of gold, sapphire, silicon and diamond. The samples will shed light on the composition of the sun and the origins of our solar system, according to NASA (DAILY, Aug. 25).
The European Aeronautic Defence and Space Co. (EADS) is making progress addressing key concerns that the U.S. Air Force has expressed about the Airbus KC-330 refueling aircraft, company officials said Sept. 3.
LONDON - Thales and BAE Systems are conducting a $193 million assessment phase to select a final design for the United Kingdom's two new aircraft carriers, the HMS Queen Elizabeth and the HMS Prince of Wales. Each ship may carry around 50 aircraft, which would make them the largest warships ever operated by Britain's Senior Service. They are to replace the navy's three Invincible-class, Cold War-era carriers and enable British forces to operate independently of host nation support, a cornerstone of the country's defense doctrine.
Configuration changes and a lack of accurate analysis methods combined to doom NASA's Helios unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV), according to the just-released final report on its June 2003 loss. Built by AeroVironment Inc. of Monrovia, Calif., the 247-foot wingspan Helios was a highly flexible flying wing designed to demonstrate technologies for solar-powered, high-altitude/long-endurance (HALE) aircraft. It flew in two configurations - one designed for very high altitudes, one for long-duration flights.
EW CUTTER: Construction is scheduled to begin Sept. 9 on the U.S. Coast Guard's Maritime Security Cutter, Large (WMSL), according to Deepwater program contractor Integrated Coast Guard Systems. The ship, which will be built by Northrop Grumman's Ship Systems sector at its Pascagoula, Miss., shipyard, is the first multimission cutter to be introduced into the Coast Guard in the past 25 years. The $250 million production contract was awarded to ICGS this summer.
LOOKING AT FRANCES: The European Space Agency's Envisat satellite is "taking apart" Hurricane Frances, according to ESA. "Because of Envisat's multisensor capability, we can slice right through the hurricane with just a single satellite," says Jose Achache, ESA's director of Earth observation programs. Data from the satellite indicates cloud structure and height at the top of the hurricane, thermal conditions that influence its intensity, and other factors, ESA says.
Boeing Co. has won an $891.6 million contract modification from the U.S. Air Force to provide support services for the C-17 airlifter fleet, the company said Sept. 2. The contract was first awarded in July 2004 and has a potential value of $4.9 billion. It contains four options, and this modification is the first to be exercised.
Sept. 7 - 8 -- 8th World Summit for Satellite Financing, Hotel Inter-Continental, Paris. For more information contact Linda Zaiche, email [email protected] or go to www.euroconsult-ec.com. Sept. 9 -- 6th World Summit on the Space Transportation Business, Hotel Inter-Continental, Paris. For more information contact Linda Zaiche, email [email protected] or go to www.euroconsult-ec.com.
With their Phase II obligations complete, competing teams led by Lockheed Martin and Northrop Grumman are awaiting a downselect decision to kick off the next phase of the Unmanned Combat Armed Rotorcraft (UCAR) program.
