BETTER MAPS: Northrop Grumman Corp.'s Information Technology sector will help provide U.S. Army commanders with enhanced digital battlefield maps under a new contract, the company said Aug. 19. The work could be worth $7 million the first year and up to $100 million over a decade, the company said.
European Union commissioners on Aug. 19 approved the takeover of the Italian aerospace company Avio, formerly FiatAvio, by the Carlyle Group and Finmeccanica. Under the proposed takeover deal, Carlyle will control 70 percent of Avio's share capital with Finmeccanica controlling the remaining 30 percent. Finmeccanica and the Carlyle Group announced last month they planned to buy Avio for an estimated 1.5 billion euros ($1.76 billion). The deal was to be financed through a combination of debt and equity (DAILY, July 3).
TESTBED CONTRACT: The Boeing Co. is being awarded a contract worth up to $125.9 million to deliver a 767-400ER testbed for the U.S. Air Force E-10A Multi-sensor Command and Control Aircraft, Boeing announced Aug. 18. The final price still is being negotiated, the company said.
A more systematic approach to tackling a military-wide aging aircraft problem is the goal of a new acquisition effort the U.S. Air Force plans to launch soon. The Aeronautical Systems Center's Aging Aircraft Division is creating an open-ended contract vehicle to act as a clearinghouse for ordering new analyses and evaluations relating to the aging aircraft issue.
NASA and the Navy signed a memorandum of agreement (MOA) on Aug. 15 to exchange information on vendor and supplier performance to improve safety and mission assurance at both organizations. Under the agreement, NASA will have access to the Navy's Product Data Reporting and Evaluation Program and its Red/Yellow/Green Program, and NASA will grant the Navy access to its own corresponding contractor performance records.
FIRST RESPONDERS: Northrop Grumman has released new first responder command and control software for law enforcement, fire, emergency medical agencies and other incident management, the company said. CommandPoint, released by the company's Information Technology public safety business, is designed as a core application for emergency operations centers, the company said. "CommandPoint brings a state-of-the-art integration capability to both first responder and emergency management solutions," Skip Funk, president of Northrop Grumman Public Safety, said in a statement.
Arianespace's flight 162 has been delayed again to allow the Indian Space Research Organization more time to verify payload components on its INSAT-3E communications satellite. The launch had been scheduled for August, then was pushed to Sept. 3. No new launch date has been set, launch company Arianespace said Aug. 18. In addition to INSAT-3E, the Ariane 5 booster is scheduled to carry Eutelsat's eBird and the European lunar probe Smart-1.
The Defense Department's drive to field land- and sea-based midcourse missile defense systems has advanced on several fronts in the past few days, including the successful test of a new interceptor booster for the ground-based program and a major contract award for the ship-based element.
The U.S. Air Force Research Laboratory's (AFRL) Directed Energy Directorate has built a lightweight, one-meter mirror out of an ultra-thin material that could one day be used to build much larger mirrors for space-based surveillance and astronomy, AFRL announced Aug. 18.
DRS Technologies Inc. said Aug. 18 it will buy Integrated Defense Technologies, Inc., which DRS Chairman and CEO Mark Newman said will create "the industry's leading mid-tier defense technology company." DRS will acquire the company for about $373 million in cash and stock offerings. Integrated Defense Technologies (IDT), based in Huntsville, Ala., develops advanced electronics and technology systems and subsystems for U.S. military services.
Manufacturing problems with the Wideband Gapfiller Satellite (WGS) program won't cost the U.S. Air Force money but will delay the fielding of the full system by about seven months, the U.S. Defense Department disclosed in the latest Selected Acquisition Reports (SARs) sent to lawmakers. The SARs list of 73 top acquisition programs grew in the June 2003 reporting period to include the Army's Future Combat Systems as well as the Navy's AGM-88E Advanced Anti-Radiation Guided Missile Advanced Seal Delivery System and the E-2 Advanced Hawkeye.
PRAGUE - The Icelandic entrepreneur behind a planned $20 million aircraft maintenance hangar project at Ostrava airport in the Czech Republic insists the project still is on track despite a lack of funding.
The U.S. Navy has received four responses to its request for ideas on a potential replacement for the canceled Navy Area ballistic missile defense program, according to the service. Although the Navy declined to identify the respondents or reveal what they suggested, the service said the information that has been submitted "can support the formulation of the Navy's way ahead for ballistic missile defense.
Precision Castparts Corp. announced Aug. 18 it is acquiring SPS Technologies Inc. in a stock and cash deal worth nearly $575 million. SPS Technologies, based in Jenkintown, Pa., manufactures fasteners and precision components for the aerospace, automotive and industrial markets, and super alloys and specialty metals for aerospace and industrial components.
NEW DELHI - The Indian army has rejected the Indian-built surface-to-air missile system Akash ("Sky") and has asked the defense ministry to buy similar missiles from international vendors. An army official said Akash is unsuitable because its Rajendra radar has a limited coverage area and the missile battery moves too slowly to engage aircraft coming from opposite directions simultaneously.
One proposal to protect airliners from shoulder-fired heat-seeking missiles relies on the synchronization of relatively inexpensive infrared sources on an aircraft to fool a missile's guidance system, according to the president of a company advancing the idea. "What we have is a system that typically would have an infrared source on the wingtips and the tailtip," said Al Hastbacka, president of Sanders Design International Inc. of Wilton, N.H.
The U.S. Navy has offered several incentives to Northrop Grumman and General Dynamics as part of block-buy agreement to build six Virginia-class submarines between 2003 and 2007. The $8.7 billion agreement, announced Aug. 14, calls for the production of one submarine a year from 2003 to 2006 and two submarines in 2007 (DAILY, Aug. 15). General Dynamics' subsidiary Electric Boat and Northrop Grumman's Newport News Shipbuilding sector will have an equal workshare in the 30-ship construction program.
ADDITIONAL COSTS: Incorporating S-band radar technology into the Navy's DD(X) next-generation destroyer will increase the price of the ship by about $15 million, Hamilton says. Navy officials say S-band rather than L-Band radar technology will be incorporated into the DD(X). An additional $42 million non-recurring charge will be added to cover developmental costs. With the add-on costs, the average price per ship will be $1.2-1.4 billion. "As that design matures ... those prices will fluctuate.
JTRS FALLS SHORT: The Joint Tactical Radio System (JTRS), which is costing the Pentagon at least $14 billion to develop and produce, falls short of satisfying the military's long-term radio communications needs, according a new report by the Defense Science Board. JTRS, a family of 250,000 interoperable radios for troops and mobile systems, is "but a first step" toward a growing need for an agile network of wideband systems, says the report, released Aug. 14.
August 19 - 20 -- Space and Air Protection Conference, Aerospace Corporation, Los Angeles, Calif. Call (888) OLD-CROW or go to www.crows.org. August 25 - 27 -- Defense Supply Center Columbus Conference and Exhibition, "Transforming the DSCC Supplier Relationship," Greater Columbus Convention Center, Columbus, Ohio. For more information email Phyllis Edmonson at [email protected] or go to www.ndia.org.
The Air Force's Global Hawk has become the first unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) to receive a blanket certificate from the FAA authorizing high-altitude flights in any of the FAA's nine regions. Based at Edwards Air Force Base, Calif., the Global Hawk has previously operated under a FAA certificate of authorization (COA) that applied only to the Western-Pacific region. Each FAA region has a somewhat different COA process, and obtaining a COA can take 30-60 days.
Raytheon last week unveiled the first development model of its SeaRAM anti-ship missile defense system. SeaRAM, which combines the technology used in the Phalanx Block 1B Close-in Weapons System (CIWS-1B) with the Rolling Airframe Missile (RAM), is designed to replace the 20mm M61A1 Gatling Gun. The system can be operated in both anti-surface and anti-air modes. Its footprint is virtually the same as the Phalanx 1B with slightly more weight, said John Eagles, spokesman for Raytheon Missiles Systems.
NEW FUZE: A warhead and fuze for the U.S. Army's Advanced Precision Kill Weapon System (APKWS) designed to strike four classes of ground targets is the focus of a $3 million new research effort. The Army is seeking contractors interested in the early design work for a new warhead and fuze that can defeat infantry fighting vehicles, man-portable air defense systems, trucks and field fortifications and support military operations in urban areas, says an acquisition notice posted Aug. 14. Responses are due Sept.
