Vice Adm. Phillip M. Balisle, commander of Naval Sea Systems Command, said the combination of contractors and government workers in the nation's shipyards has created a stable, flexible work force in an unpredictable environment.
Through internal discussions and input solicited in requests for information (RFIs), NASA continues to consider many of the organizational changes recommended by the Aldridge commission in June, according to Administrator Sean O'Keefe.
Metal Storm Ltd. will take the lead role in a U.S. Navy program to develop a system for defeating rocket-propelled grenades (RPGs), the company said Aug. 31. The program is part of a Phase 1 Small Business Innovation Research award to the Australian company's U.S. subsidiary, Metal Storm Inc. It is intended to demonstrate the feasibility of producing an anti-RPG system that would incorporate Metal Storm's electronically fired stacked ammunition system with a sensor, mount and fire control system provided by Raytheon Co.
DELAYED: The sentencing for former Air Force and Boeing official Darleen Druyun has been moved to Oct. 1, the U.S. Justice Department said Aug. 31. Druyun pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy in April for covering up her job negotiations with a Boeing executive while overseeing aerial tanker negotiations between Boeing and the U.S. Air Force (DAILY, April 21). Boeing fired Druyun and Chief Financial Officer Mike Sears, who had negotiated with her for the job (DAILY, Nov. 25, 2003). She could receive a maximum of five years in prison and a $250,000 fine.
The aircraft division of Naval Air Systems Command awarded a $15.5 million contract modification for the procurement of 270,000 hours of engineering and technical services to BAE Systems Applied Technologies Inc., in Rockville, Md. Paula Sandin, a spokeswoman for BAE Systems, said the contract would provide telecommunications for fixed, transportable and ground mobile systems. System support includes design, development, integration, installation, test and evaluation, fielding, certification, maintenance and logistics.
The European Aeronautic Defence and Space Co. (EADS) has won a $1 billion contract to provide 12 new NH-90 troop lift helicopters to the Australian army, the contractor and the Australian government announced Aug. 31. EADS was awarded the project over Sikorsky and its UH-60M Black Hawk variant.
NASA-funded astronomers have discovered two new planets outside of our solar system that are smaller than any previously discovered, giving scientists more hope of finding Earth-like planets during future NASA planet-hunting missions such as Kepler and Terrestrial Planet Finder (TPF).
The USS Momsen, the Navy's newest guided missile destroyer, which was commissioned Aug. 28, is the first warship equipped with Lockheed Martin's Remote Minehunting System (RMS), the company said. The RMS uses an unmanned, semisubmersible vehicle that can be operated remotely. The RMS uses a variable depth sensor to transmit information to the ship using real-time data links, Lockheed Martin said.
Guinness World Records has recognized the world speed record set by NASA's "Hyper-X" X-43A experimental aircraft during its successful Mach 6.83 flight over the Pacific Ocean in March, NASA announced Aug. 30. Traveling at almost seven times the speed of sound (nearly 5,000 miles per hour), the unmanned 12-foot demonstrator flew for 11 seconds under power from its supersonic-combustion ramjet (scramjet) engine during a flight March 27 (DAILY, March 30).
Lockheed Martin successfully completed land-based testing of the first deployable Aegis Ballistic Missile Defense Long Range Surveillance and Tracking capability, the company said Aug. 31. The land-based test was conducted Aug. 27 at the U.S. Navy Combat System Engineering Development Site in Moorestown, N.J. It used simulated interfaces with the Missile Defense Agency's Ground-based Midcourse Defense segment and ballistic missile defense Command and Control, Battle Management and Communications systems.
The U.S. Air Force plans to release a request for proposals next month for concept studies of the Orbital Deep Space Imager (ODSI) system, intended to enhance space situational awareness. The Air Force's Space and Missile Systems Center at Los Angeles Air Force Base, Calif., wants "statements of capabilities" from companies interested in performing the studies. It would award up to three contracts for the studies, which will help prepare for the Key Developmental Parameter-A (KDP-A) phase.
A electronic malfunction in a steering mechanism is believed to have caused the Arrow missile defense system to miss its target during a flight-test last week, an Israeli government official and a contractor said Aug. 30.
The U.S. Navy's first exercise validating its new Fleet Response Plan, Summer Pulse '04, successfully simulated two carrier strike groups surging and seven simultaneously deployed, a Navy spokeswoman told The DAILY. "We had seven carrier strike groups under way simultaneously for this exercise," said Lt. Erin Bailey.
The U.S. Navy should reopen a competition between PURVIS Systems Ltd. and Northrop Grumman Defense Mission Systems Inc. to provide support for anti-submarine and anti-mine programs, the Government Accountability Office said in a decision released Aug. 30.
Raytheon's Electronic Systems unit has been awarded a sixth full-rate production contract for 30 AN/ALR-67(V)4 Radar Warning Receivers for F/A-18E/F Super Hornets, the Department of Defense announced Aug. 30. The Goleta, Calif.-based unit is expected to complete the work in September 2008 under the $43.3 million contract, awarded by the Naval Air Systems Command, Patuxent River, Md.
CAPITAL: Satellite and rocket builder SpaceDev of Poway, Calif., received $2.5 million from selling 250,000 shares of stock to the Laurus Master Fund, and increased its revolving credit facility to $1.5 million, the company said Aug. 30. The money will be used fund the continued growth of the business and help it get "new and larger contracts under more favorable terms," SpaceDev Chief Financial Officer Richard B. Slansky said in a statement.
The Boeing Co. delivered its 500th AH-64D Apache Longbow helicopter to the U.S. Army on Aug. 30 and also celebrated the delivery of the 22nd and final AH-64D maintenance trainer to the Army, the company said. The Army accepted the 500th Apache Longbow in a ceremony at the Boeing facility in Mesa, Ariz., where it was produced. The 22nd Apache Longbow maintenance trainer officially was delivered in July.
Alliant Techsystems (ATK) said its acquisition of the PSI Group is expected to close in late September, after federal regulatory review and approval under the Hart-Scott-Rodino Act, which is "currently ongoing." The deal previously had been expected to close in August. ATK announced its plan to acquire PSI Group in July (DAILY, July 14). PSI provides satellite components and propellant tanks, and ATK said buying the company would boost its military space work.
Vice Adm. Phillip M. Balisle, commander of Naval Sea Systems Command (NAVSEA), said the U.S. Navy is streamlining ship maintenance operations and channeling those savings into future Navy assets and combat capabilities. "There is a big difference between savings and cost avoidance," Balisle said during an Aug. 30 forum on shipbuilding and maintenance. Balisle said the Navy's SHIPMAIN initiative has allowed the service to change its maintenance process, finding inefficiencies and improving performance within individual organizations.
Lockheed Martin has delivered eight Virtual Combat Convoy Trainers (VCCTs) to the U.S. Army to help prepare soldiers for convoy operations and to familiarize them with roadside threats such as improvised explosive devices (IEDs), the company said Aug. 30.
India conducted the third flight test of its nuclear-capable Agni-II missile on Aug. 29, the Indian Press Information Bureau said. The Agni-II was launched from a rail mobile launcher and met all mission objectives, including guiding its payload to a target 1,200 kilometers (746 miles) away, according to mission director Shri R.N. Agarwal. The first prototype Agni-11 was tested in 1999, the second in 2001, the information bureau said.
