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.
The U.S. Defense Department says it is moving to meet congressional demands for an independent cost estimate of the Air Force's F/A-22 Raptor. DOD has hired the Institute for Defense Analyses (IDA) to conduct the review of the Lockheed Martin-built fighter aircraft, a department spokeswoman told The DAILY Aug 27. The study is on track for completion by Aug. 15, 2005, the deadline set by the fiscal 2005 defense appropriations conference report.
TORPEDOED: Saab Bofors Underwater Systems and the Brazilian navy have agreed to terminate a torpedo project that began in 1999, Saab said. The new torpedo system was to have been built for the navy's submarines, but Saab said the program ran into integration problems "due to third party proprietary rights."
The U.S. Air Force's next-generation Global Positioning System (GPS) III program is on track for a system requirements review (SRR) in the spring of 2005, followed by a milestone decision in the fall, according to program managers.
The U.S. Marine Corps has successfully tested and integrated the Northrop Grumman Corp.'s Litening Advanced Targeting (AT) system on the F/A-18D Hornet aircraft, the company said Aug. 27. The F/A-18D is the eighth U.S. platform with the system. The test culminated with the release of a laser-guided weapon that scored a direct hit on a target, the company said. The initial capability was achieved using Litening ATs borrowed from Marine AV-8Bs. The Marine Corps plans to procure 60 Litening AT pods to support its fleet of 72 F/A-18Ds.
UNCONTESTED: Northrop Grumman Corp. won't protest the U.S. Army's Aug. 2 decision to pick Lockheed Martin as the prime contractor for the Aerial Common Sensor (ACS) contract, a company spokesman says. Officials from the Army's Communications-Electronics Command (CECOM) briefed the companies on the reasons for the decision, says an Army representative.
Aug. 30 - Sept. 2 -- 2004 DOD Personnel Recovery Conference & Exhibition, Transforming Personnel Recovery, Hyatt Regency Crystal City, Arlington, Va. For more information contact Karen Angie Gress at (703) 247-2568, email [email protected] or go to www.ndia.org. Sept. 6 -- 2nd World Symposium on Market Forecasts for the Satellite Business, Hotel Inter-Continental, Paris. For more information contact Linda Zaiche, email [email protected] or go to www.euroconsult-ec.com.
Cyber Aerospace Corp., with its first-generation Individual Unmanned Air Scout (IUAS), is designing and building a new generation of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV), the company said Aug. 26. Cyber Scout is the first lightweight UAV designed for use by a single warfighter or a person who needs surveillance capability in remote or dangerous locations, the company said.
Members of a congressional conference committee charged with creating a final fiscal 2005 defense authorization bill will have to overcome their differences on "Buy America" legislation, base closures and Air Force tanker aircraft procurement. Lawmakers are scheduled to return to work on Sept. 7 from the August recess. In its first week back, the House is likely to choose its members of the conference committee that will reconcile the bill with the Senate version.
QUALITY ASSURANCE: The Aerospace Industries Association (AIA) Technical Operations Council (TOC) is helping small defense suppliers who can't afford to convert to new Department of Defense quality assurance standards, says Bruce Mahone, AIA's new assistant vice president of technical operations. DOD once had its own quality assurance standard to assure that a contractor's component was identical to all other parts of the same kind.
The U.S. Defense Department is warning Congress that a Senate proposal to put conditions on buying F/A-22 Raptors could force the Air Force to trim its next order.
RFP PENDING: A request for proposals for software for the Defense Enterprise Accounting and Management System (DEAMS) is expected within the next few months, according to the U.S. Transportation Command. DEAMS is a joint initiative involving USTRANSCOM, the Air Force and the Defense Finance and Accounting Service. The goal is to modernize accounting and financial management systems and business processes to be in compliance with the Defense Department's Business Management Modernization Program/Business Process Re-engineering (BMMP/BPR).
OTHER THREATS: The Combined Intelligence and Fusion Center (CIFC), established to support the needs of U.S. Northern Command and North American Aerospace Defense Command, handles other threats in addition to terrorism, according to center officials. The CIFC spends "a lot of time working on terrorism, but that's not all," says the official, who can only be identified as Mike. "There are other threats to North America, many of them traditional. Many of them have existed for a long time." For instance, the CIFC is "very involved" in ballistic missile defense, he says.
PLANETS FOUND: A team of planet hunters will announce the discovery of a new class of planets beyond our solar system on Aug. 31, NASA announced Aug. 26. The discovery represents "a significant and much-anticipated advance in the hunt for extra-solar planets," NASA said.
NO RESPONSE: U.S. Transportation Command Commander Gen. John Handy (USAF) says he has no response to a recent letter from Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) expressing dismay with comments McCain says Handy made in a national magazine article.
ADEQUATE FUNDING: The U.S. Northern Command (NORTHCOM) and North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) have been getting the money they need, says Gen. Ralph E. "Ed" Eberhart (USAF), who commands both.
AIR COMMANDERS: The U.S. Air Force's Air Combat Command (ACC) and Air Force Materiel Command (AFMC) are slated to get new commanders. President Bush has asked the Senate to confirm Lt. Gen. Ronald Keys, now the Air Force's deputy chief of staff for air and space operations, to succeed Gen. Hal Hornburg as head of ACC, which operates more than 1,200 aircraft. Hornburg is retiring Jan. 1. Bush also nominated Lt. Gen. Bruce Carlson, commander of the 8th Air Force, to replace Gen. Gregory Martin at the helm of AFMC, the weapon system development organization.
The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) has awarded Nanosolar Inc. a $10.3 million research and development contract to promote advances in the manufacture, device design and performance of solar electricity cells, the company said.
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. - The top intelligence official at U.S. Northern Command and North American Aerospace Defense Command here says his job is to tailor the information he sees for the chief of the two commands, currently Gen. Ralph E. "Ed" Eberhart (USAF). "There are a lot of intelligence people in Washington, and you could say, well, they could do all the jobs that our people do here," said the official, who, for security reasons, can be identified only as Mike.
