Rolf Bartschi has been promoted to sector vice president and chief nuclear engineer, waterfront nuclear engineering and test, in the Newport News, Va., sector. Danny Hunley has been promoted to sector vice president, trades, education and training, in the Newport News sector. Northrop Grumman also announced the following changes in its Electronic Systems sector: Charles J. Brinkman has been named vice president, Surveillance & Remote Sensing.
The Bush Administration's fiscal 2006 budget request does not fund $3 billion worth of Air Force requirements, including $41 million for advanced targeting pods and $97 million for Large Aircraft Infrared Countermeasures (LAIRCM), according to a document obtained by The DAILY late March 1. Other items on the unfunded priority list include $164 million for unspecified "additional capability" on the Predator A unmanned aerial vehicle, and $77.5 million to accelerate the newer Predator B.
The U.S. Navy will expand the existing SeaPort Enhanced (Seaport-e) multiple-award contract vehicle to include the Space and Naval Warfare Systems, the Naval Supply Systems and the Naval Air Systems commands as additional ordering offices, and officials have issued a request for proposals from industry.
Armor Holdings Inc. of Jacksonville, Fla., has been awarded two contracts worth $50.6 million to provide the U.S. Army with protective body armor plates and spare armor components for up-armored Humvees, the company said March 1. Armor Holdings will produce body armor worth about $31.4 million that will be delivered through August, 2005, the company said. The work will be done by Armor Holdings' Aerospace and Defense Group in Phoenix, Ariz.
Northrop Grumman Corp. has agreed to pay $62 million to settle a 16-year-old complaint filed by four company employees and the U.S. Justice Department that it overcharged the Air Force on a B-2 stealth bomber contract. The agreement will settle all claims, including that Northrop Grumman inappropriately accounted for scrap parts at its Rolling Meadows, Ill., facility in the 1980s. The company also agreed to pay attorney fees and reimburse the government for legal costs.
Aircraft targeting pods, night-vision equipment, radios and rockets are among the U.S. Marine Corps' needs that did not get funding in the Bush Administration's recently unveiled fiscal 2006 budget proposal, according to the Marines.
Butler National Corp. of Olathe, Kansas, has reported revenue increases of 167% and 158% for the third-quarter and nine-month periods ending Jan. 31. The company, which manufactures and provides support systems for commercial and military aircraft, had three-month revenue of $7 million, $4.4 million better than the $2.6 million in revenue for the same period in 2004. Nine-month revenue was $18.1 million, compared with $7 million for the same period in 2004, an $11.1 million improvement, the company said.
Boeing Co. has completed its previously announced sale of Torrance, Calif.-based Boeing Electron Dynamic Devices Inc. to L-3 Communications of New York, Boeing Co. said March 1. Financial terms were not disclosed. The purchase was first announced last November (DAILY, Nov. 23, 2004). EDD will continue to provide Boeing with satellite components and other products and services, Boeing said in November.
Titan Corp. pleaded guilty and agreed to pay more than $28 million to settle a Securities and Exchange Commission investigation of violations of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA), the SEC said March 1. According to the SEC, Titan funneled about $2 million through its agent in Benin, Africa, to the election campaign of the then-incumbent president, among other actions.
AMMO ORDERS: MECAR S.A., a Belgian defense unit of Vienna, Va.-based Allied Defense Group Inc., has been awarded contracts worth more than $8 million by repeat customers in South America, the Middle East, and the Far East to provide 76mm, 90mm and 106mm ammunition, the company said March 1.
A potential labor strike at Lockheed Martin's Marietta, Ga., plant could undermine attempts to reverse cuts in U.S. Air Force purchases of the F/A-22 Raptor and C-130J Super Hercules, both of which are built at the factory, an aerospace expert said March 1. A lengthy strike or significant concessions by company management to avoid a worker walkout could increase costs and give the impression that the two programs are not well run, lending ammunition to critics of the two aircraft, said Richard Aboulafia, an aviation consultant at the Teal Group.
NAVY HOUSING: The Shaw Group Inc. on March 1 said its half-owned affiliate, American Eagle Northwest LLC, completed $226 million in private placement revenue bond financing for its Navy Northwest Housing Privatization Project. The bonds will be used to pay for design, demolition, construction, renovations and infrastructure placement for roughly 3,000 residential housing units for certain U.S. Navy installations near Puget Sound, Washington. C.E.I. Investment Corp. of Meriden, Conn., owns the other half of American Eagle Northwest.
Global Flyer pilot Steve Fossett's attempt to become the first person to fly an aircraft around the world solo without refueling is under way. Fossett took off from Salina Municipal Airport in Kansas Feb. 28 and at press time was flying over Africa at 48,000 feet altitude. The rest of his 80-hour trip was scheduled to take him over the Middle East, China, Japan, and the Pacific Ocean before re-entering the U.S. just south of Los Angeles.
STOCK SPLIT: The board of directors of military electronics provider Engineered Support Systems Inc. of St. Louis has approved a 3-for-2 stock split which will be made in the form of a 50% stock dividend. The extra shares will be distributed on April 15 to shareholders of record on March 15.
L-3 Communications said on March 1 that its Link Simulation and Training division was awarded a $13.3 million follow-on Lot II production contract from the U.S. Navy to build the first P-3C Tactical Operational Readiness Trainer (TORT) at Naval Air Station Jacksonville, Fla.
The Senate Budget Committee will estimate fiscal 2006 funds for ongoing U.S. military operations in Iraq, Afghanistan and elsewhere and place an amount in a "reserve fund" as part of the ongoing budget process for next year, committee leaders said March 1. The move - not explicitly opposed by Defense Department officials - would come as Pentagon leaders have told Congress that estimating future war costs is so difficult that they are not prepared to speak beyond the current $82 billion supplemental request for additional FY '05 spending needs.
SECURITY: Northrop Grumman Corp. has been awarded a $33 million delivery order to provide security products to U.S. Air Force bases in Southwest Asia, the company said March 1. Northrop Grumman's Mission Systems sector will survey sites, install systems, and provide support services to help protect military personnel in Iraq, Kuwait, Afghanistan and Qatar.
Integral Systems Inc. of Lanham, Md., has been chosen by the U.S. Air Force to develop the initial version of the Rapid Attack Identification Detection Reporting System (RAIDRS), a ground-based method of characterizing attacks on friendly satellites. The company, which specializes in satellite ground systems, was awarded $4 million of a $23.8 million contract for the work on Feb. 25.
Northrop Grumman Corp. will operate and maintain lasers and support systems used to test the effects of lasers against physical threats under a $46.9 million follow-on contract from the U.S. Army Space and Missile Defense Command, the company said March 1.
NEW DELHI - The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) is talking with NASA about including a miniature synthetic aperture radar and a spectrometer as part of the international payload to be included on India's first lunar mission, Chandrayan-1. The lunar orbiter mission, approved in 2003 (DAILY, Sept. 18, 2003) is scheduled to be launched in 2007. "We have begun discussions with them [NASA], but implementation will depend on the bilateral agreements between India and the U.S.," said P.S. Goel, director of ISRO's Satellite Center.
The Pentagon's Defense Acquisition Board (DAB) will meet May 24 to review the futuristic CVN-21 aircraft carrier, a U.S. Navy spokesman told The DAILY March 1. Previously, the board had been slated May 5 to discuss program concerns outlined by the Pentagon's office of the Director of Operational Test & Evaluation (DOT&E). But that changed due to "fluid" board scheduling.
U.S. Air Force program managers should make greater use of tools that quantify the costs associated with schedule delays, according to Lt. Col. Ross McNutt, director of the Research and Development Management Program at the Air Force Institute of Technology (AFIT). Researchers have discovered that the dollar value of lost program schedule time is not intuitive, according to McNutt. Informal estimates of the value of time made by different personnel often differ by factors of 50 to 100, he said.
Lockheed Martin's Archbald, Pa., facility, which produces laser-guided weapon systems for the U.S. Air Force and Navy, has been named the winner of the 2005 Shingo Prize for excellence in manufacturing by BusinessWeek magazine. The prize is administered by Utah State University's college of business and several nonprofit and corporate organizations. It focuses on lean manufacturing, which aims to eliminate waste.
