Aerospace Daily & Defense Report

Michael Bruno
Sikorsky Aircraft Corp. said May 6 that South Korea has chosen its S-92 helicopter for its presidential mission and the Stratford, Conn., company will deliver three of its VIP variant helos beginning in 2007. The S-92 was selected over the AgustaWestland EH101 in a competition conducted by the Korean Ministry of National Defense. The competition served as a rematch of a U.S. bid that Sikorsky lost to Lockheed Martin Corp.

Michael Bruno
The new improvised explosive device (IED) jamming technology being speeded to Iraq still will not be a panacea and U.S. military officials already are seeing new IED tactics by insurgents. "From the beginning we have sought the technological solution, regardless of the cost, to try to find the device that would both detect and destroy the IEDs before our troops came within range," Lt. Gen. James T. Conway, Joint Staff director of operations, said at a Pentagon press conference May 5. "We still haven't found the defeat mechanism.

Staff
May 9 - 11 -- The 3rd Annual Conference on Integrated Defense Architectures, "Needs, Initiatives, Opportunities, Challenges, Tools & Techniques," Holiday Inn Rosslyn at Key Bridge. For more information call (310) 563-1223 or go to www.technologytraining.com. May 9 - 12 -- 13th Global Demilitarization Symposium & Exhibition, John Ascuaga's Nugget, Sparks, Nev. For more information go to www.ndia.org.

Staff
JSF MATING: The center and forward fuselage for the first F-35 Joint Strike Fighter flight-test jet were mated May 4 in Fort Worth, Texas. Prime contractor Lockheed Martin supplied the forward fuselage and Northrop Grumman built the midsection. The Lockheed Martin wing and BAE Systems aft fuselage are to be added to the aircraft in the coming weeks. Photo courtesy Lockheed Martin.

By Jefferson Morris
As part of its effort to accelerate the Crew Exploration Vehicle (CEV), NASA has advanced the selection of the CEV prime contractor by more than two years, from late 2008 to early 2006.

Staff
DEFENSE SPENDING: The federal government's defense-related outlays through April were about 8% higher than in the same period last year, $273 billion versus $254 billion. That's a rate of growth well below the double-digit increases recorded in the past three fiscal years, the Congressional Budget Office said in its latest monthly federal budget review. Including spending from the $82 billion supplemental appropriations measure expected to get Senate approval this week, CBO estimates that fiscal 2005 outlays will total $2.5 trillion.

Michael Bruno
Integrated Coast Guard Systems LLC, the joint venture leading work on the U.S. Coast Guard's Deepwater recapitalization effort, is pushing ahead with work despite a growing dispute between the White House and Capitol Hill over funding the program. ICGS, a combination of Lockheed Martin Corp. and Northrop Grumman Corp., has issued a broad industry announcement (BIA) seeking suppliers with technologies and products that could support Deepwater. The BIA was issued May 4.

Staff
Kaman Corp. of Bloomfield, Conn., posted a 291% jump in net earnings and a 7.3% hike in net sales in the first quarter of 2005, the company said May 6. First quarter '05 net earnings were $4.7 million, or 21 cents per share, compared with $1.2 million, or 5 cents per share, in the first quarter of 2004. Net sales for the first quarter of 2005 were $263.3 million, compared with $245.2 million in the first quarter of 2004.

Staff
DELAYING INEVITABILITY: Lockheed Martin and Boeing's proposed Atlas/Delta merger may delay the government's downselect to a single expendable military launcher, but probably won't save enough money to delay it indefinitely, according to Troy Thrash, division director of space and telecommunications for Futron Corp. "If nothing else, I think it's going to make it less important that the downselect happens very quickly," Thrash says.

Staff
DIVIDEND: United Industrial Corp. said May 6 that its board of directors has declared a dividend of 10 cents a share, payable May 30 to stockholders of record as of close of business on May 19.

Staff
EADS Defence & Security Systems of Amsterdam plans to buy the professional mobile radio business of Finland-based Nokia, EADS said May 4. Financial terms were not disclosed. The purchase's closing is expected before the end of 2005, pending regulatory approval, the company said. EADS would take over Nokia's PMR business, including its Terrestrial Trunked Radio (TETRA) infrastructure and terminals.

Marc Selinger
The F-35 Joint Strike Fighter program underwent a high-level review at the Pentagon May 5. Results of the Defense Acquisition Board (DAB) meeting may not be available for days or weeks. The DAB was expected to scrutinize the multiservice aircraft's progress toward a February 2006 critical design review and an August 2006 first flight. Excess weight has been a key issue, but program officials insist they have largely resolved the matter.

By Jefferson Morris
Contractor teams are awaiting word from NASA on its new acquisition strategy for the Crew Exploration Vehicle (CEV), which newly appointed Administrator Michael Griffin seeks to accelerate to close any gap in U.S. manned spaceflight capability following the retirement of the space shuttle in 2010. The front-runners in the competition are a team led by Lockheed Martin and a team led by Northrop Grumman and Boeing. The teams expect NASA to spend the next month or two re-evaluating the program before getting back to industry with the changes.

Staff
San Diego-based General Atomics has chosen Lockheed Martin as weapon system integrator for the High Energy Liquid Laser Area Defense System (HELLADS), Lockheed Martin said May 5. General Atomics' Photonics Division is contracted with the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) to work on the lightweight laser. Lockheed Martin will support General Atomics in developing and demonstrating the laser in a weapon system that can be integrated on several potential platforms.

Staff
Fairfax, Va.-based Argon ST Inc.'s Reconnaissance Systems Group has been awarded a $73.5 million contract to design, develop and integrate a sensor subsystem for the Aerial Common Sensor (ACS) platform, the company said May 5. The contract was awarded by Lockheed Martin Integrated Systems and Solutions. ACS will replace the current Intelligence, Surveillance, Reconnaissance (ISR) aircraft, including the Army's Guardrail Common Sensor, the Airborne Reconnaissance Low aircraft and the Navy's fleet of EP-3 aircraft.

Staff
Aviation Technology Group Inc. has installed specially modified Williams FJ33-4-15M turbofan engines into a Javelin executive jet prototype, the company said May 5. "The team at ATG is focused on building the Javelin and hitting our milestones," Charlie Johnson, the company's chief operating officer, said in a statement.

Michael Bruno
U.S. military forces have 31 five-ton gun trucks in Iraq but more are needed to save the lives of military personnel, a weapons laboratory official told the House Armed Services Committee on May 5. Steven DeTeresa of the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory said $40,000 removable armor kits added to cargo trucks in Iraq already have saved some lives against improvised explosive devices (IEDs). The Vietnam-era troop transport vehicle, which sports multiple high-caliber machine guns, provides survivability and firepower that "far exceed" modern Humvees.

Staff
VEHICLE SERVICING: United Defense of Santa Clara, Calif., has been awarded an $8 million contract modification to service vehicles returning from Iraq, the company said May 5. The contract was awarded by the U.S. Army Tank-automotive and Armaments Command. The contract covers armored personnel carriers, self-propelled howitzers, artillery ammunition resupply vehicles, and Bradley Fighting Vehicles from the 1st Cavalry Division. The work will include vehicle inspections, replacement of damaged or worn parts, and annual upkeep. The work will be done at Fort Hood, Texas.

Rich Tuttle
Australia soon will pick either the Boeing Standoff Land Attack Missile-Expanded Response (SLAM-ER) or the Lockheed Martin Joint Air to Surface Standoff Missile (JASSM) to equip its F/A-18 Hornet and AP-3C Orion aircraft, an Australian official said. A third candidate, Europe's Taurus, is no longer in the competition, said Air Commodore Graham Bentley, the Royal Australian Air Force attache at the Australian Embassy in Washington.

Staff
The U.S. Navy and Army have awarded Markland Technologies Inc. two contracts worth up to $36 million, the company said May 4. The first award, worth up to $11 million, was made by the Naval Surface Warfare Center Dahlgren Division. It is for system design, engineering support and systems integration for a new, unidentified land-based Marine Corps vehicle. It is the first award Markland has received from the Navy, the company said.

Staff
LCA ADVICE: A parliamentary defense consulting committee reviewed India's Light Combat Aircraft (LCA) Tejas this week, and said the Indian air force should expedite user trials to induct the aircraft early, according to the India Press Information Bureau. They also said the defense ministry should develop a marketing strategy for export sales of the aircraft.

Michael Bruno
House Rep. Harold Rogers (R-Ky.) late May 4 shot a warning toward the Homeland Security Department - and the White House - by slashing $466 million off the Bush Administration's fiscal 2006 Coast Guard budget request for its Deepwater program and cutting funding back to its pre-Sept. 11 level.