Aerospace Daily & Defense Report

Staff
NAVAIR SUPPORT: Titan Corp. said Feb. 24 that it was one of multiple winners of a five-year blanket purchase agreement to provide business and financial management support services at the Naval Air Systems Command. Last month, CACI International Inc. announced it too won a piece of the contract (DAILY, Jan. 27). The total deal has a potential value of $135 million.

William Dennis
KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia - Composite Technology Research Malaysia (CTRM) has secured a $32 million contract to manufacture and supply composite panels to Goodrich Aerostructures Group for V2500 engines.

Marc Selinger
The U.S. Air Force said Feb. 24 that it will follow a recommendation from the Government Accountability Office (GAO) to hold a competition for the second phase of the Small Diameter Bomb (SDB) program. The Air Force said it expects to award a contract for the second phase, also known as Increment 2, in early fiscal 2006. Increment 2 calls for giving SDB the ability to hit moving targets.

Staff
In another blow to the Boeing Co. in the wake of the Darleen Druyun hiring scandal, the Government Accountability Office said Feb. 24 that the U.S. Air Force should recompete a portion of the C-130 Avionics Modernization Program (AMP) and should consider reopening the whole contract.

Rich Tuttle
Canada has decided not to proceed with the United States on a joint missile defense plan, the country's foreign minister said Feb. 24. Pierre Pettigrew said Canada would opt out of the multibillion-dollar scheme, putting an end to nearly two years of debate, according to press reports from Toronto. Pettigrew also said Ottawa would remain a close ally of Washington in the fight against global terrorism and continental security, the Associated Press reported.

Rich Tuttle
The United States and Russia have signed an agreement to help control the spread of man-portable air defense systems, or MANPADS, President Bush and Russian President Vladimir Putin announced Feb. 24 in Bratislava, Slovakia. "We agreed ... to combat MANPADS," which terrorists could use to shoot down commercial airliners, Bush said in a press conference with Putin that came as Bush was wrapping up a tour of Europe.

Staff
A number of efficiency-enhancing tools developed under NASA's recently completed Advanced Air Transportation Technologies (AATT) project are being used today in busy airports, according to the agency.

Staff
General Dynamics European Land Combat Systems has agreed with the government of Portugal on a $482 million (365 million euro) contract to produce 260 Pandur II eight-wheeled, all-wheel-drive (8x8) armored combat vehicles, the company said Feb. 22. Steyr-Daimler-Puch Spezialfahrzeug GmbH, a General Dynamics company in Vienna, Austria, will serve as program manager and system integrator. Other General Dynamics European Land Combat Systems elements in Europe will also participate. Vehicle co-production will take place in Portugal.

Michael Bruno
Connecticut's two Democratic senators will push to cancel the U.S. Navy's recent contract award to build the next fleet of presidential helicopters to an international team led by Lockheed Martin Corp. Sens. Christopher Dodd and Joseph Lieberman will introduce the Senate version of legislation already introduced in the House by Reps. Christopher Shays (R-Conn.) and Rosa DeLauro (D-Conn.). The senators plan to introduce the Senate version of H.R. 459 as soon as the Senate reconvenes Feb. 28.

Staff
Lockheed Martin has begun work on a $6.6 million study contract to develop military computer systems capable of performing cognitive tasks such as deduction, reasoning and learning. Lockheed Martin received the two-year contract for the Polymorphous Computing Agent Architecture (PCAA) program in September 2004. The program is sponsored by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) as part of its Architectures for Cognitive Information Processing program.

Staff
LASER DELIVERED: BAE Systems Avionics delivered to Lockheed Martin the first laser system for the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter's Electro-Optical Targeting System (EOTS) in Scotland on Feb. 23, Lockheed Martin said. BAE Systems Avionics, based in Basildon, England, is a subcontractor to Bethesda, Md.-based Lockheed Martin on the JSF program. The laser was delivered on schedule. The JSF EOTS laser system enables precision-range measurements and designates tactical targets for laser-guided weapons.

Marc Selinger
The Boeing Co. is considering changing its production strategy for KC-767 tankers to make the refueling aircraft more competitive for a potential U.S. Air Force acquisition program, company officials said Feb. 24.

Staff
ASW TARGETS: A Lockheed Martin Corp. subsidiary has entered into a joint venture with Granite State Manufacturing of Manchester, N.H., for a $14.9 million contract to manufacture the U.S. Navy's MK 30 MOD 2 Anti-Submarine Warfare (ASW) Target System. The contract's total value could exceed $100 million. MK 30 targets are used on acoustic tracking ranges for crew training of ASW-capable surface ships, submarines, fixed-wing aircraft and helicopters.

NASM

Marc Selinger
The V-22 Osprey has received the go-ahead to undergo an operational evaluation (OPEVAL), a key test phase that is now slated to begin in "mid-March or so" and last four to five months, a program spokesman said late Feb. 24.

By Jefferson Morris
Northrop Grumman completed its part of the U.S. Army's Extended Range/Multi-purpose (ER/MP) unmanned aerial vehicle fly-off at Fort Huachuca, Ariz., on Feb. 18, and competitor General Atomics is set to begin its demonstration flights Feb. 28. Northrop Grumman is offering the Hunter II UAV, based on the Israeli Heron UAV. The company brought three Hunter II demonstrators to Libby Army Airfield at Fort Huachuca and began flying demonstrations for Army officials on Jan. 31 (DAILY, Feb. 2).

Staff
Defense contractor EDO Corp. reported $536.2 million in revenue for 2004, up 16.4% from 2003 and a company record. Net earnings were $29.1 million, up 96.3% from the $14.8 million reported for 2003, the company said. "This has been a very successful year, in which we have surpassed all of our major financial goals, and have converted our revenue growth into a substantially improved net income," James M. Smith, EDO's CEO, said in a statement.

Staff
Anteon International Corp. of Fairfax, Va., has been awarded a five-year, $350 million contract to design and install live training ranges (LTR) and digital multipurpose battle area complexes for the U.S. Army, the company said Feb. 23. The contract was awarded by the U.S. Army Program Executive Office for Simulation, Training and Instrumentation.

Staff
The Boeing Co. will host an official rollout of the first KC-767 advanced aerial refueling tanker for the Italian Air Force on Feb. 24, the company said. It will take place at the Boeing-Wichita Development and Modification Center in Wichita, Kan. The rollout marks the completion of essential structural modification in preparation for flight-testing and certification, the company said.

Staff
A group of congressmen is sponsoring legislation that directs nine federal agencies, led by the Labor Department, to form a task force for developing strategies to expand public and private aerospace job training programs. The Aerospace Industries Association on Feb. 23 endorsed the proposal, saying it would ask the federal government to address a "looming shortage of qualified workers in the sector." The average age of U.S. aerospace employees is older than 50, AIA said. In 2008, 27% of aerospace workers will become eligible for retirement.

Staff
Douglas H. Patterson has been named vice president of Worldwide Sales and Marketing.

Rich Tuttle
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. - Air Force Space Command is eyeing the possibility of moving the satellite-tracking Space Control Center from its current location in Cheyenne Mountain to the command's headquarters at nearby Peterson Air Force Base, an Air Force spokeswoman said. "We're looking at options to meet new requirements, the best way to do business, and right now it's a proposed plan," Capt. Angie Blair said.