DEEPWATER CONTRACT: L-3 Communications Systems has awarded EDO Corporation a subcontract to provide the Radio Frequency Distribution System for the early phases of the Coast Guard's Integrated DEEPWATER System. The initial contract is valued at $3.6 million, with a potential value of about $70 million over 20 years. EDO will equip up to 90 Coast Guard vessels with an RFDS, which will enable interference-free transmission among each ship's communications systems.
A production-series, single-seat Eurofighter Typhoon belonging to ALENIA AERONAUTICA has had its first flight, the Finmeccanica company said. The aircraft, IS001, has flown for 59 minutes piloted by the company's chief test pilot for combat aircraft, the company said July 12. Deliveries to the Italian air force of the single-seat aircraft are scheduled to begin at the end of the year, once type acceptance has been completed.
MAXWELL TECHNOLOGIES, INC. has added 21 additional form factors and configurations to its line of high-performance, radiation-hardened Synchronous Dynamic Random Access Memory (SDRAM) components for space applications, the company said July 12. Maxwell's new SDRAM products are fully qualified and radiation hardened for use in space. They feature configurations from 256 megabytes to 1.5 gigabytes, and enhanced memory widths for use in high-performance computer systems.
The United Kingdom Ministry of Defence (MOD) plans to boost defense spending by 3.7 billion pounds ($6.9 billion) by 2008 to modernize its forces. That is an increase of 1.4 percent a year, the MOD said in a statement.
SCIENCE APPLICATIONS INTERNATIONAL CORP.'s Security and Transportation Technology business unit has been awarded a research and development contract from the U.S. Army Material Command and the Robert Morris Acquisition Center at Aberdeen Proving Ground, Md., the company said July 12. SAIC will provide research and development for systems and items supporting U.S. Army and Department of Defense objectives. Three other contractors will share the five-year, indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract, which has a ceiling value of $400 million.
Correction: A July 12 story on L-3 Communications incorrectly stated the company's reported sales in 2003. The correct sales number for L-3 Communications in 2003 is just over $5 billion.
NEW DELHI - India plans to increase its defense spending by $2.3 billion this year, and in a major step toward free-market reforms, will raise its foreign direct investment (FDI) cap in civil aviation from 40 percent to 49 percent. "FDI has the potential to add a competitive edge," finance minister Palaniappan Chidambaram said in announcing the budget from the new government, which replaces an interim budget produced by the previous government. It covers the fiscal year that began in April.
GAO RECHRISTENED: An investigative arm of Congress, formerly known as the General Accounting Office, is now the Government Accountability Office. It's still known by the same initials: GAO. President Bush last week signed a bill that included a provision renaming GAO to reflect its role in holding the government accountable for its actions, a GAO spokesperson said July 12.
It might not be in L-3 Communications' best interest to acquire defense electronics company DRS Technologies, especially if L-3 raises its bid above $42 per share, said industry analysts. "There are a significant number of electro-optical houses and a select number of premier electro-optical houses out there," Jim McAleese, defense analyst at law firm McAleese & Associates, told The DAILY. "L-3 doesn't need DRS."
MORE SUPPORT: General Dynamics Information Systems will continue its support of the U.S. Joint Forces Commands' Joint Experimentation Program and Joint Futures Lab under a five-year, $479 million contract. The work, which will be performed in Suffolk, Va., includes exploring, testing and evaluating "new combinations of military doctrine, organization, training, materials, leadership, personnel and facilities," the company said. General Dynamics has supported the program and futures lab since 1998, the company said.
BAE Systems will deliver the first AN/ALR-94 baseline digital electronic warfare system for the F/A-22 Raptor fighter to a Lockheed Martin-Boeing avionics integration lab in October, according to Herbert Archer, BAE Sytems' program manager.
Aerospace component manufacturer TransDigm, of Cleveland, has completed the acquisition of Avionics Instruments Inc., of Avenel, N.J., the company said July 9. Avionics Instruments designs and builds power conversion devices for military and commercial aircraft, and will enhance TransDigm's market position for those products, the company said. TransDigm was founded in 1993 with the simultaneous acquisition of the Adel, Aeroproducts, Controlex and Wiggins businesses, the company said, and has been expanded since by further acquisitions.
MOSCOW - EADS Astrium and Tesat-Spacecom GmbH of Germany will team with the Russian Institute for Space Device Engineering (RNII KP) to produce satellite systems and subsystems and related ground equipment. The joint venture, announced last week during Russian President Vladimir Putin's meeting here with German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder, will be incorporated in Moscow, with 51 percent of the shares owned by RNII KP. The goal of the still-unnamed firm is to develop and build satellite communications and related equipment.
The planned deployment or cancellation of several new military devices is highlighted in a Pentagon "reprogramming" proposal recently submitted to Congress.
NASA has organized a series of internal and external analyses of the future of the Hubble Space Telescope (HST) in anticipation of presenting a full range of options to Administrator Sean O'Keefe next month. NASA predicts that without servicing, Hubble could become inoperative in as little as three years, after its batteries or stabilizing gyroscopes fail. Under pressure from Congress to keep the observatory operating for as long as possible, NASA has chosen to begin pursuing a robotic servicing mission that would launch in 2007.
AIR FORCE General Atomics-Aeronautical Systems, San Diego, Calif., is being awarded a $36,940,499 fixed price incentive firm contract to provide for four MQ-9A Air Vehicles. At this time, $27,705, 374 of the funds have been obligated. This work will be complete by December 2006. Solicitation began March 2004 and negotiations were completed July 2004. Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio, is the contracting activity (F33657-02-G-4035).
Some aerospace and defense companies are expected to meet or exceed second quarter earnings expectations, Stephens Inc. Investment Bankers said July 12. Second quarter earnings results, which are just starting to emerge, will continue to be released through July and August.
SIRENZA MICRODEVICES, INC. has announced the introduction of a variety of radio frequency (RF) components. They include: DC-20 GHz InP HBT Gain Blocks; DC-3500 MHz Mixer family; Frequency Multipliers and Dividers; Narrow Band and Broadband VCOs operating up to X Band; 20-100 GHz Double Balanced Schottky Diode Mixer family; and 2-16 GHz, 1/4 Watt Distributed Amplifier. The new products were showcased at the IEEE-MTTS Symposium and Exhibition earlier this month.
July 11 - 14 - AIAA/ASME/SAE/ASEE 40th Joint Propulsion Conference, Broward County Convention Center, Fort Lauderdale, Fla. Call (703) 264-7500, fax (703) 264-7657 or go to www.aiaa.org. July 17 -- National Aviation Hall of Fame Enshrinement Ceremony, Dayton Convention Center, Dayton, Ohio. For information contact Ron Kaplan at (937) 256-0944, email [email protected] or go to www.nationalaviation.org.
AIR FORCE Abacus Technology Corp., Chevy Chase, Md., is being awarded a $7,093,453.17 firm fixed price contract to provide for Command, Control, Communications, Computer (C4) contract. Location of performance is Kirtland Air Force Base, N.M. Total funds have been obligated. Solicitation began March 2004 and negotiations were completed July 2004. The 377th Contracting Squadron, Albuquerque, N.M., is the contracting activity (FA9401-04-R-0004).
ELEVATOR RACE: The nonprofit Spaceward Foundation of Mountain View, Calif., is collecting pledges to fund an X Prize-like competition intended to spur the development of space elevator technology, according to Spaceward Foundation Manager Metzada Shelef. The "Space Elevator Challenge" prize will be awarded to the first team that can haul 550 pounds (250 kilograms) of payload moving at 22.5 miles per hour (10 meters per second) up a 10-mile (16 kilometer) tether using a beamed power system.
