PRAGUE - Swiss aerospace and defense specialist Ruag Electronics, in partnership with French company Gavap, has won a tender to supply more than 4,000 weapon laser-firing simulators and sensor equipment for the French army.
IT WORK: RGS Associates of Arlington, Va., said March 15 that the Navy awarded it a five-year, $26 million contract to provide information technology and change-management services across the Chief of Naval Operations staff. Industry partners on the contract include Virtual Workgroup Technologies, CACI International Inc. and Competitive Innovations LLC.
PRAGUE - The Czech Republic on March 16 approved the purchase of Raytheon Co.-made AIM-120 Advanced Medium-Range Air-to-Air Missiles (AMRAAMs) for its air force's new fleet of Jas-39 Gripen fighters, which are set to be delivered over the next few months. Financial terms were not disclosed. Czech officials declined to disclose the number of missiles being purchased. The missiles will be delivered by 2009.
The Patriot missile system was generally successful in Operation Iraqi Freedom, but some changes in its operation must be made, according to a Defense Science Board report. The system engaged all nine enemy tactical ballistic missiles that threatened the areas it was protecting, and eight of the engagements were successful, said the report, dated January 2005. The ninth engagement was probably successful, it said. "In an overall sense, the Patriot missile defense in OIF [was] a substantial success," the report said.
APPROVED: President Bush said he is looking forward to "working with the Senate so that all of my top priorities are included" in a war supplemental bill. The House approved an $81.4 billion version - down from Bush's $81.9 billion request - on March 16. The House cut some foreign assistance funds and beefed up money for equipment for the Army and Marine Corps.
Two House Armed Services Committee members, both ardent shipbuilding advocates, have written President Bush to protest the U.S. Navy's plan to compete production of the DD(X) multimission destroyer and award the work to one shipyard. Reps. Gene Taylor (D-Miss.) and Jo Ann Davis (R-Va.), who hail from shipbuilding states, told Bush that a winner-take-all competition, now planned for this year, would delay the destroyer by a year, add to its cost and could lead to industry layoffs.
NUCLEAR SUB: The U.S. Navy has awarded General Dynamics Electric Boat a $36.6 million contract modification for additional nuclear-submarine work. Initially awarded March 3, 2004, the contract could be worth more than $1.1 billion over five years if all options are exercised and funded, the company said March 15.
The U.S. Air Force is forming a special team to review cost estimates for the Space Based Infrared System-High (SBIRS-High) in light of a new round of cost growth, a top service official said March 17.
NEW NAME: EMS Technologies' Space & Technology/Atlanta Division has changed its name to Defense & Space Systems Division to reflect its increasing defense work, the company said March 16. The division provides microwave systems, including to customers such as Boeing, Lockheed Martin and Northrop Grumman, and defense work now makes up 70% of projected revenues for 2005.
Marine Corp Commandant Gen. Michael Hagee told senators March 16 that he would like one more LPD 17 San Antonio-class amphibious transport dock ship added to the Defense Department's latest Future Years Defense Program (FYDP). The program of record called for a dozen, but the latest FYDP outlined just nine. Nine is the minimum needed, he said, but that level represents some risk.
The House Science Committee March 17 approved bills that lawmakers said would help lead to discovering near-Earth asteroids and strengthening U.S. supercomputing capabilities. The bills, which passed the panel by voice votes, were reintroduced this year after passing the House during the 108th Congress but failing to make progress on Capitol Hill.
WILLING TO SERVE: Gordon England, currently secretary of the U.S. Navy, on March 16 said he would be "delighted" to be nominated as secretary of the Air Force if President Bush chooses him. Speaking to reporters about speculation that England is being considered for the post, the 73rd Navy secretary noted his aerospace background. He has served as president of General Dynamics Fort Worth aircraft company. "I know the industrial base," he said. Former Air Force Secretary James Roche and procurement chief Marvin Sambur left the service in January.
DRY DOCK CONTRACT: Arlington, Va.-based United Defense Industries Inc. has been awarded a $5.5 million contract by the U.S. Navy for dry docking phased maintenance of the USS Hurricane (PC 3) and USS Squall (PC 7), the company said March 17. The work includes installation of the combat craft retrieval system, underwater hull and superstructure preservation, underwater machinery and structural repairs, girder modification and ship service diesel generator maintenance. The two ships are in San Diego.
The International Space Station (ISS) program is weighing options for replacing a faulty remote power controller that has temporarily taken down one of the station's three control moment gyros (CMGs). The station uses the 800-pound CMGs, which spin at 6,600 rpm, for propellantless attitude control and maneuvering. Operating with two gyroscopes should not affect a scheduled March 28 spacewalk, or the anticipated arrival of the space shuttle in May when it returns to flight on mission STS-114, according to ISS Program Manager Bill Gerstenmaier.
The joint Surface Launched Advanced Medium Range Air-to-Air Missile (SLAMRAAM) is completing its systems engineering activities and moving into the design of hardware and software, Guy Shields, media relations manager for Raytheon Integrated Defense Systems, told The DAILY March 17. "It's basically still on schedule," he said. A preliminary design review is set for the coming months. "The critical design review is planned for late summer or early fall, and fielding is planned for the end of 2008," he said.
The U.S. Air Force Space Battlelab has backed away from the Near-Space Maneuvering Vehicle (NSMV) following a series of technical problems that have caused redesigns and scuttled flight attempts.
Topping the U.S. Special Operations Command's list of unfunded requirements are infrared suppressors to protect MH-47 Special Operations Aircraft against surface-to-air missiles, Army Gen. Bryan Brown told the House Armed Services Committee's terrorism and unconventional threats subcommittee on March 17. The next two list items are classified, he said at the hearing.
MOSCOW - The Baumanets microsatellite, a joint effort of Moscow's Bauman Technical University and NPO Mashinostroyenia of Reutov, Moscow region, is scheduled to be launched in December. The 200-pound, cubical spacecraft was developed by Bauman's Youth Space Center to mark the 175th anniversary of Russia's oldest technical university. Mashinostroeniya will build the hardware under a contract with the Federal Space Agency, which supported the project.
The U.S. Air Force is looking at ways to speed the acquisition of new tanker aircraft in case the Defense Department gives the go-ahead for such a program, according to a top service official.
This week, the U.S. Navy will shift $300 million away from the aircraft carrier USS John F. Kennedy, Navy Secretary Gordon England said, because the ship is to be decommissioned. England, testifying before the Senate Appropriations Committee's defense subcommittee on on March 16, did not elaborate on how the money would be used. But he said if the JFK were overhauled, as had previously been planned, it could serve another decade.
With the Army Future Combat Systems' (FCS) preliminary design review only three years away, the Government Accountability Office is warning that the program is in deep trouble. The number of critical technologies the Army says are mature has decreased from last year, Paul Francis, director of GAO Acquisition and Sourcing Management, told The DAILY March 17.
The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) and the U.K. Ministry of Defence (MOD) are collaborating on a program to determine the usefulness of unmanned combat air systems within future coalition operations, DARPA announced March 16. The effort began in December and is scheduled to end in July 2009. It will culminate in a demonstration involving live and simulated manned and unmanned vehicles from both nations operating in a coalition warfare exercise.
THEY'RE BACK: The House Science Committee on March 17 will consider several reintroduced bills that would try to promote efforts to find near-Earth asteroids, improve the energy efficiency of the U.S. metals industry and strengthen U.S. supercomputing capabilities. The bills - H.R. 1023, H.R. 1158 and H.R. 28 - passed the 108th House in nearly identical form.
ROOT CAUSE: Boeing and the Air Force have determined the root cause of the premature engine cutoff that marred the first flight of the Delta IV Heavy rocket in December. The culprit was the tank design in the area of the propellant feed line inlet, which restricted fuel flow and caused a cavitation, or bubble, of gaseous fuel that tricked the engine cutoff sensors into thinking the tanks were dry.
