The U.S. Air Force has stopped grounding part of its Boeing B-1B Lancer fleet, deeming the bombers safe to fly after a recent landing gear collapse on one of the aircraft, a spokesman for Air Combat Command said Jan. 5.
CONTRIBUTIONS: Gregory H. Bradford, a self-employed international defense consultant and former chief operating officer of Washington-based EADS North America, has been named a Chevalier of the French Legion of Honor. He was cited for his contributions "to the development and enrichment of French-American industrial and commercial cooperation."
Michael Romanowski has been named vice president of Civil Aviation. J.P. Stevens has been appointed vice president of Space Systems and executive director of the Team America Rocketry Challenge.
After repeated delays late last year due to bad weather, Aurora Flight Sciences plans to conduct the first autonomous in-flight transition to forward flight for its GoldenEye-50 unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) in mid-January at a private airfield near Manassas, Va., a spokesman told The DAILY. A ducted-fan UAV with wings, the GoldenEye-50 uses thrust vectoring to pitch over into a horizontal orientation and achieve dash speeds up to 100 knots. It is a smaller cousin to the GoldenEye-100, which was designed for speeds up to 160 knots (DAILY, Sept. 11, 2003).
TRUCK ARMOR: Jacksonville, Fla.-based Armor Holdings Inc. has won a $53.5 million contract modification to provide add-on armor for various U.S. Army heavy trucks, the company said Jan. 5. The contract was awarded by the U.S. Army Tank-automotive and Armaments Command. The work will be done in Phoenix and is scheduled to be finished in 2005.
The Senate Republican Conference has tapped Sen. Ted Stevens (R-Alaska) to serve as the next chairman of the Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee. Organizing
Lawmakers on Capitol Hill are beginning to react to $30 billion in planned cuts in the Defense Department's budget over the next six years, with several saying the cuts outlined in Program Budget Decision No. 753 could hurt the Navy. "I am vehemently opposed to any cuts to the Navy's shipbuilding budget, most especially as our nation continues to fight a multifront, global war on terror," said Sen. Olympia Snowe (R-Maine), whose state is home to a substantial shipbuilding industry.
Electronic ballistics company Metal Storm Ltd. said Jan. 5 that is has not been given a contract award from the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), contrary to an announcement it made last month. Metal Storm said Dec. 21 that its "Metal Storm Weapons for Urban Environments" proposal was among 37 selected for awards under a DARPA program for developing technology for urban warfare (DAILY, Dec. 22). The researchers will receive between $130,000 and $2.7 million for initial six- to 12-month feasibility demonstrations, DARPA said.
Fairfax, Va.-based ManTech International Corp., which provides technologies for national security programs, has won a contract worth up to $76 million to provide training for C4ISR and other Defense Department systems, the company said Jan. 4. The contract has a five-year base period and eight six-month options. It was awarded by the Space and Naval Warfare Systems Center in San Diego.
General Dynamics Land Systems (GDLS) is working with the Israeli company Rafael on an active defense system (ADS) it might offer the U.S. Army for its upcoming request for proposals, a GDLS representative told The DAILY. "We are prepared to offer the Israelis' Trophy Active Defense System" when the Army Tank-automotive and Armaments Command (TACOM) releases its RFP for a Stryker ADS, said GDLS spokesman Pete Keating.
ENVIRONMENTAL SUPPORT: Versar Inc. of Springfield, Va., will provide the U.S. Army with architecture, engineering and environmental support services under a $3 million contract award, the company said Jan. 5. The contract contains an initial base year and two option years. It was awarded by the Norfolk District of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.
The U.S. Army has revised plans to begin full production of the Army Airborne Command and Control System (A2C2S), an on-the-move command and control system carried by the UH-60L Black Hawk helicopter. Last fall, the service was getting ready to release a request for proposals that would lead to full production of the A2C2S in fiscal year 2006. Now, according to a Jan. 4, 2005, FedBizOpps notice, "the government does not anticipate the release of [an RFP] for this requirement during FY '05."
The new German shipyard group ThyssenKrupp will cut about 800 jobs out of its 6,500-employee workforce, according to Deutsche Welle German radio. The cuts amount to one of every eight jobs in the consortium, which was formed when ThyssenKrupp Werften GmbH (TKW) bought Howaldtswerke-Deutsche Werft AG (DAILY, Dec. 12). TKW also controls the German shipyards Blohm & Voss and Nordseewerke, which builds civilian ships and military vessels and submarines.
A story in the Jan. 5 issue of The DAILY headlined "DARPA 'committed' to autonomous systems despite UCAR cancellation" should have said that Lockheed Martin is part of the Northrop Grumman-led Joint Unmanned Combat Air System (J-UCAS) team.
FMTV ENGINES: Engineered Electric Co. will build 452 model 3116 diesel engines for the U.S. Army's Family of Medium Tactical Vehicles under an $11 million contract from the Tank-automotive and Armaments Command, the Department of Defense said Jan. 5. The work is expected to be completed by January 2006.
EXTERNAL TANK: The first redesigned space shuttle external tank arrived at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida via barge on Jan. 5 in anticipation of the shuttle's scheduled return to flight later this year. The tank traveled from Lockheed Martin's Michoud facility in New Orleans. Design changes made in the wake of the Columbia accident include the installation of heaters at the bipod ramp area, which does away with the need to insulate the ramp with the kind of foam that broke loose and doomed Columbia. The tank will roll off the barge Jan.
Spacehab Inc. filed an appeal Dec. 29 with the Armed Services Board of Contract Appeals in Falls Church, Va., protesting NASA's "limited" response to its claim for the loss of the company's Research Double Module (RDM), the company announced Jan. 5.
Sweden-based AerotechTelub has signed a contract worth about 80 million kronors ($11.7 million) to produce vehicle computer systems for Land Systems Hagglunds AB's CV9035 NL Combat Vehicle, which is being purchased by the Netherlands' army, AerotechTelub said Jan. 4. The systems consist of computers, displays and video distribution units. Deliveries are set for 2006-2010.
NASA will continue to operate the Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM) through the spring of 2005, the agency announced Jan. 4. NASA already has extended TRMM four years past its original three-year mission, which ended in 2000. This latest extension follows the release of a National Academy of Sciences report strongly recommending that NASA keep TRMM operating until a decision on de-orbiting the spacecraft becomes "unavoidable."
