Rheinmetall Defence Electronics of Bremen, Germany, has demonstrated a reusable, autonomous micro air vehicle that fits in a backpack, the company said Oct. 26. The Carola P50 has been demonstrated to representatives of Germany's Bundeswehr and federal agency for defense technology and procurement, according to the company, which has set up the spin-off company Mavionics GmbH of Braunschweig to market it.
The U.S. Army decided this week to eliminate the Loitering Attack Missile (LAM) component of the Non-Line-of-Sight-Launch System (NLOS-LS), Raytheon and Lockheed Martin officials told reporters Oct. 27. Raytheon and Lockheed Martin are developing NLOS-LS as the NetFires Limited Liability Co. The system is part of the Army's Future Combat Systems (FCS) and its deployment schedule was accelerated last July to start during Spiral 1 of FCS, which is in 2008, with production in 2009 to 2010.
Boeing reported that net income for the third quarter jumped from $256 million to $456 million, or 78 percent, driven largely by "a very strong quarter" for the Integrated Defense Systems (IDS) business, CEO Harry Stonecipher said Oct. 27. Boeing reported $13.2 billion in revenues for the quarter, up 8 percent from 2003's $12.2 billion quarterly report.
Bigelow Aerospace still is drawing up the rules that will govern the $50 million "America's Space Prize" competition, according to Bigelow corporate counsel Michael Gold. Announced last month, the prize will be awarded to the first private team that sends astronauts to low-Earth orbit before the end of the decade. Former hotel entrepreneur and Bigelow Aerospace founder Robert Bigelow is putting up half of the $25 million purse himself, and is seeking sponsors to cover the rest.
The draft request for proposals (RFP) for the U.S. Army's Light Utility Helicopter (LUH) is due out around Oct. 28, with an industry day to follow within seven days, Paul Bogosian, deputy program executive officer for Army aviation, said on Oct. 27. The Army's future Armed Reconnaissance Helicopter (ARH) is in the final approval phase of its capabilities document, said Lt. Col. Neil Thurgood, Army ARH product manager.
EFV TESTING: The Expeditionary Fighting Vehicle (EFV) has been undergoing testing at the Marine Corps Air Ground Combat Center in Twentynine Palms, Calif., and is preparing to enter the operational assessment phase, the Marine Corps said last week. The EFV, built by General Dynamics Land Systems, can carry a reinforced rifle squad, or 17 Marines, and a crew of three. Its main armament is the MK-46 30mm weapon system.
The U.S. Army is studying a range of systems that could be used to counter the kinds of rocket, artillery and mortar (RAM) threats that American troops face in Iraq, according to service and industry officials. Michael Schexnayder, an acquisition official for the Army's Space and Missile Defense Command, said he plans to compile a set of near- and long-term options and present them to Army leaders before Christmas.
AEROSPACE CORP., El Segundo, Calif. J. Bruce Chudoba has been promoted to associate principal director in the Electronic Programs Division in Chantilly, Va. Valerie I. Lang has been promoted to principal director of the Systems Acquisition Subdivision in El Segundo. BOEING CO., Chicago Mike S. Zafirovski, president and chief operating officer of Motorola Inc., has been elected to the board of directors. DIMENSIONS INTERNATIONAL, Alexandria, Va.
DART: NASA has rescheduled the launch of its Demonstration of Autonomous Rendezvous Technology (DART) spacecraft for Oct. 28 during a five-minute launch window opening at 2:16 p.m. EDT. The launch is scheduled take place from Vandenberg Air Force Base, Calif., aboard a Pegasus XL rocket. NASA plans to feed lessons learned from DART into its proposed Hubble Space Telescope servicing robot.
Lessons and technology from Scaled Composites' SpaceShipOne are being applied to the supersonic manned aircraft the company is developing for the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency's (DARPA) RASCAL program, according to Jacob Lopata, chief executive officer for RASCAL prime contractor Space Launch Corp.
The steering problem that first began affecting NASA's Mars Exploration Rover (MER) Spirit on Oct. 1 continues to puzzle mission controllers, occurring intermittently as the team attempts to drive the rover from rock to rock.
Boeing plans to begin integrating weapons with its "optionally manned" MD 530F helicopter demonstrator in January and conduct live fire tests by March 2005, according to the company.
Lockheed Martin Corp. reported on Oct. 26 that its third-quarter net earnings of $307 million were up 41 percent from the same period last year, driven partly by updating work on C-5 Galaxy transports, sales of C-130J transports and work on the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter and F/A-22 Raptor programs. The company reported net sales of $8.4 billion for the period, up 4 percent over third-quarter 2003 sales.
Goodrich Corp. posted a strong $50 million third quarter profit on Oct. 26, up 47 percent from last year thanks to higher sales in all of its divisions including military and space, and executives raised projections for next year. The results topped analysts' average estimate for the quarter as revenue rose 10 percent, to nearly $1.2 billion.
The German parliament is expected to approve the design and development (D&D) phase of the tri-national Medium Extended Air Defense System (MEADS) in December, clearing the last in a series of political hurdles for the new D&D effort, an industry official said Oct. 26.
The launch of NASA's Demonstration of Autonomous Rendezvous Technology (DART) spacecraft has been delayed for at least two days because of a glitch that could have affected navigation accuracy, NASA said Oct. 26. The Multiple Paths, Beyond-Line-of-Sight Communications Satellite, with which DART was to rendezvous, had a temporary loss of Global Positioning System reception that could have affected the accuracy of the operation, NASA said.
United Defense, in its effort to provide the U.S. Army with soldier survivability technology, is developing a system to enhance situational awareness for manned ground vehicles and transparent armor, company spokesman Herb Muktarian told The DAILY. Eagle Vision is an enhanced situational awareness system to provide 360-degree visibility on the battlefield around a manned ground vehicle.
McLean, Va.-based Science Applications International Corp. (SAIC) has been awarded a $13.5 million contract to provide scientific technical system, analytical and engineering support services for the Saudi Arabian navy's Command, Control and Communications (C3), the company said Oct. 25. The contract could be worth up to $144.6 million if seven one-year options are exercised, the company said.
Competing teams led by Lockheed Martin and Northrop Grumman continue to await the delayed downselect decision in the Unmanned Combat Armed Rotorcraft (UCAR) program, which team leaders hope will occur by the end of this year or early next year.
The Charles Stark Draper Laboratory (CSDL) of Cambridge, Mass., has been awarded a $100.3 million contract to provide tactical engineering support for the United States' and United Kingdom's MK-6 guidance system and guidance system test equipment for the Trident II missile system, the company said Oct. 25. To support the effort, CSDL will issue four subcontracts:
The U.S. Army is considering an early fielding of Northrop Grumman's Fire Scout unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) in 2006, according to company officials. In 2003 the Future Combat Systems (FCS) lead systems integrator team of Boeing and Science Applications International Corp. chose the RQ-8B Fire Scout as the FCS Class IV UAV, the largest UAV in the program. Northrop Grumman is contracted to deliver seven Fire Scout vehicles to the Army for fielding as part of FCS in 2008, in anticipation of initial operational capability (IOC) in 2011.
