A series of studies aimed at reducing the weight of the U.S. Defense Department's F-35 Joint Strike Fighter probably will be finished in about seven to nine months, or by early calendar 2005, according to a spokeswoman for the program office. The aircraft's first critical design review (CDR), originally scheduled for April 2004, has been put on hold until the studies are completed. The CDR is now forecast for sometime in 2005.
PARTNERS: SkyWay Communications Holding Corp. and its wholly owned subsidiary, SkyWay Aircraft Inc., have entered into a sales and marketing partnership with Titan Corp., the company said. Titan Corp. will market and sell SkyWay's high-speed airborne network services to U.S. government agencies, including the departments of defense and homeland security. The product could be used for advanced air combat and flight control services, and the company anticipates contracts worth up to $500 million over the next two years.
TIMKEN CO. of Canton, Ohio, has acquired the assets of supplier Alcor Engine Co. Inc. and affiliate Advance Repair Technologies. The acquisitions have been combined in a Timken subsidiary called Timken Alcor Aerospace Technologies Inc. Alcor, of Gilbert, Ariz., manufactures and repairs components used in turbine engines. A Timken spokesman said Timken Alcor will remain in Arizona and be run by its current leadership.
The Department of Defense's long-standing problems with its business systems "adversely affect the economy, effectiveness, and efficiency of its business operations and have prevented DOD from being accountable across all of its major business areas," says a May 17 General Accounting Office (GAO) report. In 2001, GAO recommended that DOD develop an enterprise architecture to guide and constrain its almost $20 billion annual investment in business systems and establish investment controls.
Sen. Rick Santorum (R-Pa.) plans to push an amendment to the fiscal 2005 Department of Defense authorization bill that would give the U.S. Army four-year authority to buy command-and-control vehicles using sale proceeds from M109 howitzers. The Senate is in recess until June 1, and is scheduled to resume consideration of the defense bill when it returns.
TANKS: Australia has requested a possible sale of 59 M1A1 Abrams Integrated Management tanks and related equipment for $475 million, the Defense Security Cooperation Agency has notified Congress. Australia would use the equipment to modernize and "harden" its army, DSCA said in a May 21 statement. The principal contractors for the deal would be General Dynamics Land Systems, United Defense Ltd. Partners, Oshkosh and Stewart & Stevenson.
ACQUIRED: Curtiss-Wright Corp. has acquired the assets of NOVA Machine Products Corp., of Middleburg Heights, Ohio, and Trentec Inc., of Cincinnati, Ohio, the company said May 24. NOVA supplies safety-related fasteners to the U.S. nuclear power industry and the Department of Energy, and Trentec has fabrication and nuclear components businesses. "... NOVA and Trentec will extend penetration into the commercial power generation and DOE market segments, supported by Curtiss-Wright's established sales and marketing resources," Martin R.
SELLING: Boeing Capital Corp. (BCC) plans to sell its Commercial Financial Services business to GE Commercial Finance, the company said May 24. The transaction, expected to close in the second quarter, includes about $2 billion in assets, Boeing said. The Boeing unit provides lease and loan financing for commercial assets that include business aircraft and marine vessels, but BCC President Walt Skowronski said it would be "better positioned for growth within the GE Commercial Finance portfolio."
NORTHROP GRUMMAN CORP.'s Space Technology sector was awarded the Contractor of Excellence Award from NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md., the company said. As the winner in its category, Northrop Grumman will automatically be entered into competition for the George M. Low Award, NASA's top award to the aerospace industry for quality and performance, the company said. Northrop Grumman Space Technology is the prime contractor for the James Webb Space Telescope and Aura and Acqua, two satellites that are part of the Earth Observing System.
TEXAS INSTRUMENTS has earned Rockwell Collins' Linear and Logic Commodity Supplier of the Year. Rockwell Collins Chairman President and CEO Clay Jones presented the award to Texas Instruments Vice President Steve Kelley at an annual supplier conference in Dallas.
Marotta Controls has won the National Aeronautic and Space Administration's George M. Low Award for supplier excellence for the second time, the company announced May 4. The Montville, N.J., company received its latest award for the outstanding performance of its Cold-Gas Micro-Thrusters, which were designed for use on NASA's Space Technology 5 (ST5) small satellite project. Astronaut Dr. Ellen Baker presented the award to Marotta Controls Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Tom Marotta and President and Chief Operating Officer Mark Laurenzi.
The U.S. Army's Rapid Equipping Force has asked Armor Systems International to send its peel-and-stick armor kits into Afghanistan this week. The REF originally had ordered the kits for use in Iraq, but recently determined a greater need for them in Afghanistan where dangerous conditions persist, according to officials from Armor International Systems, the manufacturer for the armoring panels.
PRAGUE, Czech Republic - A tender for 243 armored wheeled transporters was postponed yet again by the Czech ministry of defense after an independent audit found that the ministry lacks sufficient resources to conclude the deal successfully. The ministry, which originally planned to launch a tender worth nearly $1 billion by the end of last year, recently postponed the purchase until the end of May after calling for modifications to the tender documentation (DAILY, April 23).
A key decision-making session for the Medium Extended Air Defense System (MEADS) was canceled last week, and no new date has been announced. The Pentagon was expected to assemble a high-level U.S. Defense Acquisition Board (DAB) May 21 to give the go-ahead for the next phase of MEADS. Instead, a team of people associated with the system's development held a meeting simply to get a program update, said Maj. Gary Tallman, a spokesman for the U.S. Army.
Boeing plans to market the A160 Hummingbird as a ship-based unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) to the U.S. Navy and Marine Corps, according to Kim Michel, director of the company's Advanced Unmanned Systems division. Boeing bought the rights to the A160 when it acquired its manufacturer, Frontier Systems of Irvine, Calif., earlier this month (DAILY, May 5). Frontier Systems had been developing the long-endurance vertical takeoff and landing (VTOL) UAV in conjunction with the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA).
The Naval Sea Systems Command (NAVSEA) awarded CVN-21 prime contractor Newport News Shipbuilding a $1.4 billion construction preparation contract for work on the Navy's next-generation aircraft carrier, the company announced May 21. The award is a three-year contract for advanced procurement of material, design and engineering, and advance construction of CVN-21. It includes a fee earnable to $161.9 million, which allows for cost, schedule and performance incentives, the Department of Defense said.
Four LOCKHEED MARTIN subcontractors have won the Small business Administration (SBA) Administrator's Award of Excellence and are in the runn for SBA's Subcontractor of the Year Award. Summa Technology, a Huntsville, Ala., aircraft parts designer, is working on the F/A-22 flight rudder system. Jennings Engineering, Los Osos, Calif., provides flight control systems, software and test services for unmanned aerial vehicles. Epps Air Service Atlanta, Ga., supplies S-3 Viking and P-3 Orion aircraft maintenance and nondestructive testing.
The selection of a prime contractor for the Aerial Common Sensor (ACS) has been delayed at least another month, according to U.S. Army and industry sources.
A team led by Boeing is seeking funding from the U.S. Department of Defense to flight test a new type of helicopter blade that could reduce vibration by up to 80 percent, according to the company. The Smart Material Actuated Rotor Technology (SMART) rotor system drives the on-blade trailing edge flaps to reduce vibration and noise and improve aerodynamic performance. Full-scale whirl tower testing was conducted by Boeing at its Mesa, Ariz., rotorcraft facility last October.
DSCA DIRECTOR: U.S. Air Force Maj. Gen. Jeffrey Kohler is President Bush's nominee to be the next head of the Defense Security Cooperation Agency (DSCA), which oversees roughly $13 billion a year in foreign military sales. If confirmed by the Senate, Kohler, now director of plans and policy for U.S. European Command in Stuttgart, Germany, will replace Air Force Lt. Gen. Tome Walters, who is retiring (DAILY, April 5).
O&M: Frank Lanza, chairman and CEO of L-3 Communications, says the Department of Defense's operations and maintenance (O&M) funding should be strong "for the next five years minimum" for things like follow-on spares and maintenance. He spoke last week at the Aerospace & Defense Finance Conference in New York, and other speakers at the conference seem to agree. "Most of DOD money in Iraq is being spent on O&M - spares, maintenance, the service side of the business," says Pierre Chao, senior aerospace and defense adviser at Credit Suisse/First Boston.
JSF LEADER: Navy Rear Adm. Steven Enewold, the second-ranking official for the Defense Department's F-35 Joint Strike Fighter, is scheduled to move up to the JSF program's top spot June 17. Enewold, whose promotion previously had been forecast for sometime in May or June, will replace Air Force Maj. Gen. John "Jack" Hudson, who is being reassigned as assistant deputy undersecretary of the Air Force for international affairs.
DATE CHANGE: The date for the Wings Club's 62nd dinner-dance in New York has been changed from Tuesday, Oct. 12 to Friday, Oct. 15, the club said May 21. "The date change was made to accommodate club members that will be attending the National Business Aviation Association Inc. annual meeting and convention taking place earlier that week," club President Ken Gazzola said in a statement. The dinner-dance will take place at the Waldorf-Astoria. Gordon Bethune, chairman and CEO of Continental Airlines, will receive the 2004 Distinguished Achievement Award.
DEEPWATER PLUG: President Bush is committed to implementing the U.S. Coast Guard's Integrated Deepwater Program "in full," Vice President Cheney says. "Deepwater will introduce the replacement or modernization of up to 90 cutters, 200 aircraft and UAVs, and state-of-the-art communications and logistical support systems that dramatically increase the Coast Guard's control over the approaches to our nation," Cheney said in a commencement address at the service's graduation ceremony in New London, Conn., last week.
