CKEM: Lockheed Martin was tapped by the U.S. Army to develop the Compact Kinetic Energy Missile (CKEM), the company said June 3. The company competed with a Northrop Grumman-led team for the program, a next-generation hypervelocity anti-tank weapon. Lockheed Martin will proceed as sole contractor under a $21.3 million, 36-month CKEM Advanced Technology Demonstration (ATD) contract, with the remainder of the contract valued at $60 million, the company said. Once the ATD program is completed in 2006, a two-year system development and demonstration phase is scheduled.
The international Cassini-Huygens spacecraft is now less than 10 million miles from the planet Saturn as it prepares to swoop through the planet's rings and perform a critical orbital insertion maneuver June 30. Launched in 1997, the $3 billion mission is the most sophisticated spacecraft ever launched to the outer planets. NASA built Cassini, while the European Space Agency (ESA) developed the Huygens probe.
NASA officials provided details about how a robotic servicing of the Hubble Space Telescope (HST) could work during a meeting in Washington June 2, while touting the concept as a way for the program to "take back" its destiny from the uncertainties inherent in shuttle servicing.
Prospects for Malaysia to become the first international buyer of the Boeing F/A-18E/F Super Hornet are generating differing opinions. Although the Malaysian government continues to maintain publicly that it is interested in the strike fighter, U.S. Air Force Lt. Gen. Tome Walters, head of the Defense Security Cooperation Agency (DSCA), said June 3 that Malaysia seems unlikely to acquire the American-made aircraft, partly because the country's large Muslim population strongly opposed the U.S.-led Iraq war.
U.S. and British companies have won nearly all of the subcontracts awarded by the prime contractors and their teammates for the development of the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter, according to a new report by the General Accounting Office.
No shortfalls of U.S. intelligence-gathering technologies have been found by Congress as it reviews the 9/11 attacks and preparations for the war in Iraq, Rep. Porter Goss (R-Fla.), chairman of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, told The DAILY June 3. Goss said the United States has an abundance of intelligence-gathering capabilities and that research and development are progressing. "There are people coming to my office everyday with a new technology," Goss said. "The question is, how do we use it?"
The E-2C Hawkeye is a carrier-based early warning and command and control aircraft. Its mission is to extend perimeters of a task force by detecting enemy units and by vectoring interceptors into attack positions. It also provides strike control, radar surveillance, search and rescue assistance, communications relay, automatic tactical data exchange, and has shown its value in drug interdiction missions.
A Stryker Brigade Combat Team (SBCT) studied in a Joint Readiness Training Center exercise conducted in May 2003 demonstrated superior network capabilities, a significant information advantage and increased force effectiveness compared with a non-digitized light infantry brigade, RAND Corp. officials said June 2.
Regulations that ban the export and sale of commercially available aerospace parts and components used on military aircraft are stifling the ability of U.S. suppliers to compete with their European counterparts, according to an industry group. House lawmakers and members of the Aerospace Industries Association met June 2 to discuss the barriers that small and moderate-size aircraft suppliers face in competing successfully in the global marketplace.
Lockheed Martin is "up and running" to build the first Littoral Combat Ship for the U.S. Navy, and plans to talk with House lawmakers to try to head off a budget cut that could delay the program, company officials said June 2.
UPGRADES: United Defense Industries will upgrade Bradley Fighting Vehicles and provide spare parts and Blue Force Tracking (BFT) kits under contracts totaling $218 million, the company said June 2. The awards include $191.1 million to remanufacture and upgrade 131 older vehicles and provide fire support vehicles and other equipment; $19.8 million for spare parts for Bradley A3 and A2 vehicles; and $7.1 million to provide BFT kits for A2 vehicles. Bradley vehicles in Iraq " proved to be an exceptional system both in the open desert and during urban operations ...
The Department of Defense is preparing the latest update to its unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) roadmap and expects to publish it at the end of this year, according to Dyke Weatherington, deputy in charge of DOD's UAV Planning Task Force. The previous UAV roadmap, dated 2002, was released in March 2003. In addition to information on several new UAV programs, the new roadmap also will contain a section on airships, according to Weatherington.
All soldiers assigned to future Operation Iraqi Freedom (OIF) and Operation Enduring Freedom (OEF) units will be subject to the Army's Stop Loss/Stop Movement policy, Lt. Gen. Frank Hagenbeck, the Army's deputy chief of staff for personnel, said June 2. Stop-loss restrictions prevent service members from retiring or leaving the service at their scheduled time, while stop movements prevent permanent changes of station (PCS) moves.
DRS TECHNOLOGIES, Parsippany, N.J. Steven L. Patterson has joined the company's headquarters office as vice president, internal controls. HONEYWELL, Morris Township, N.J. Thomas A. Szlosek will join the company as vice president, corporate controller, succeeding John Tus, who became vice president and treasurer last year. NASA, Washington Clint Herbert has been named deputy assistant administrator of the Office of Security and Safeguards. ORBIMAGE, Dulles, Va.
The U.S. Missile Defense Agency's plan to spend billions of dollars on a new boost-phase ballistic missile interceptor program is quietly undergoing a fresh round of scrutiny on Capitol Hill.
JDAM REQUEST: Israel has requested 5,000 Joint Direct Attack Munitions tail kits and 5,000 MK-84, MK-83, MK-82 and BLU-109 bombs to attach them to, the Defense Security Cooperation Agency notified Congress June 1. The order could be worth as much as $319 million, DSCA said. The proposed sale would "contribute significantly to U.S. strategic and tactical objectives" and allow Israel to keep its "qualitative edge," DSCA said.
NASA has set a due date of July 16 for contractors to propose designs for robotic spacecraft capable of servicing the Hubble Space Telescope (HST), de-orbiting it, or both. In a request for proposals released June 1 (DAILY, June 2), NASA is seeking designs for two types of Hubble servicing spacecraft - an HST Robotic Vehicle Deorbit Module (HRVDM) and a Hubble Disposal Vehicle (HDV).
The selection of two contractors for the Airborne and Maritime/Fixed Station (AMF) cluster of the Joint Tactical Radio System (JTRS) has been delayed about a month, to July.
Italy, one of the biggest international contributors to the U.S.-led F-35 Joint Strike Fighter program, is nearing a decision about how many JSFs it plans to buy, according to an Italian official. Italy, which has indicated only that it wants "more than 100" F-35s, is expected to pick a more precise figure "within months," said Italian air force Col. Aurelio Colagrande, who represents his government at the JSF program office in Crystal City, Va.
Industry officials said June 1 they expect a draft request for proposals for the network segment of the Transformational Communications MilSatcom (TCM) system to be issued in June or July. Three companies on May 28 received additional funding to refine the requirements for the network. Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman and Raytheon each got about $6 million from the Air Force for the effort.
Boeing has begun final assembly of the first F-15K Strike Eagle fighter aircraft for South Korea at facilities in St. Louis, the company announced June 1. During final assembly, the F-15K forward, center, and aft fuselage assemblies are joined, followed by the wing assemblies. Once the structural splice is completed, mechanical and electrical subsystems will be installed and checked out.
DRS Technologies, Inc. received a new contract to develop a prototype high-speed, permanent magnet generator to be installed in naval vessels, the company announced June 1. The Office of Naval Research (ONR) awarded the $5.9 million contract for an engineering demonstration model. Delivery of the initial system is expected in mid-2005. The generator would be capable of supporting the Navy's next-generation electric drive and mechanical drive ships, as well as the retrofit of existing ships, the company said.
