FLIR NEED: Combat experience in Operation Iraqi Freedom shows the U.S. Army's AH-64 Apache fleet urgently needs to upgrade Forward Looking Infrared (FLIR) sensors, says an after-action report compiled by the 3rd Infantry Division. The report urges the Army to buy and install second-generation FLIR systems "as soon as possible" for the Apache fleet. The deficiency was identified during the march to Baghdad, as aircraft faced enemy air defense artillery units hidden in palm groves and farms near the Euphrates River, the report says.
NATO has approved the bulk of a $7.7 billion design for Europe's first integrated command and control system after a three-week review, launching the start of a development and integration phase.
EELV FATE: Sen. Wayne Allard (R-Colo.), chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee's strategic forces panel, says he supports the Air Force's decision to punish the Boeing Co. for wrongfully obtaining documents from Lockheed Martin Corp., its main competitor in the Evolved Expendable Launch Vehicle (EELV) program. The punishment includes a reduction in launch contracts for Boeing (DAILY, July 25). But Allard continues to support the Air Force's policy of sustaining both Boeing and Lockheed Martin for the EELV program.
The U.S. Air Force and Boeing have chosen to delay the second Evolved Expendable Launch Vehicle (EELV) mission by at least a day to perform additional checks of insulation on the Delta IV launch vehicle. The Delta IV had been scheduled to launch the final Defense Satellite Communications System (DSCS) spacecraft, DSCS III B6, from Cape Canaveral, Fla., on Aug. 3. Liftoff has now been pushed back to Aug. 4 at approximately 7 p.m., although weather could push it back further, according to Boeing spokesman Robert Villanueva.
ADAPTIVE BEHAVIOR: The U.S. Army Research Laboratory (ARL) is seeking information on technology for developing adaptable tactical behavior in unmanned ground vehicles. Adaptable behavior means recognizing dynamic changes in the environment or tactical situation and using a combination of a priori and contextual information, and organic sensor data, to modify or recreate plans in real time. The behaviors may involve multiple unmanned systems, including combinations of air and ground vehicles.
Alliant Techsystems (ATK) has received a U.S. Air Force contract to develop a new weapon called Shredder that could dramatically bolster the military's ability to defeat chemical and biological weapons stored in hardened bunkers. The Air Force Research Laboratory's Munitions Directorate selected ATK for the $15 million effort after a nearly three-month competition that opened May 2. ATK so far has received a $1.9 million order for the Shredder program.
U.S. Special Operations Command says it will extend its CV-22 tiltrotor aircraft contract with the Bell-Boeing Joint Program Office to help ensure that various studies and analyses are completed well before the aircraft enters service, and to continue development of tactics required for clandestine missions. The CV-22 Trade Studies and Tactics Development contract will be extended for four more years, from 2004 to 2007, USSOCOM said in an Aug. 1 FedBizOpps notice.
INTEL BILL: The fiscal 2004 intelligence authorization bill, which would authorize funds for the National Reconnaissance Office (NRO), the National Imagery and Mapping Agency (NIMA) and other intelligence agencies, will head to a House-Senate conference committee after the August congressional recess, now that the Senate approved its version of the bill July 31. The House passed its version in June. Many of the details in the House and Senate legislation are not disclosed.
August 5 - 6 -- Naval-Industry R&D Partnership Conference 2003, "Technologies Enabling Naval Power 21," Ronald Reagan Building and International Trade Center, Washington, D.C. For more information go to www.naval-industrypartners.com. August 11 - 17 -- Technical Information Division Annual Symposium, "Creating Competitive Edge: Integrating & Measuring Maturity of Processes," The Royal Sonesta Hotel, New Orleans, La. Contact Simone L. Baldwin at (703) 247-2596, email [email protected] or go to www.ndia.org.
LAWSUIT: Boeing officials have asked the U.S. District Court in Orlando, Fla., to throw out Lockheed Martin's suit against the company, which says Boeing relied on proprietary Lockheed Martin information in the Air Force's Evolved Expendable Launch Vehicle competition. Boeing said Aug. 1 that the suit is "opportunistic litigation" designed to "damage Boeing's reputation."
Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) said July 31 that he is negotiating a confidentiality agreement with the Boeing Co. to obtain "sensitive" pricing information on the company's 767 aircraft, the kind the Air Force wants to lease to use as aerial refuelers.
Although Loral Space & Communications and Orbital Sciences Corp. have experienced financial difficulties, the business strategies pursued by each company has led to very different results, according to two space analysts. Loral, a provider of large telecommunications satellites and satellite services, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection on July 15 and agreed to sell nearly half its satellite fleet to Intelsat for cash (DAILY, July 16).
The Future Combat Systems and other Army systems could suffer if Congress approves a proposed cut in funding for the Army Evaluation Center, according to the Defense Department.
The Department of Defense (DOD) has mismanaged pilot programs intended to help DOD labs and test centers tackle their business and human capital problems, according to the General Accounting Office (GAO). "If DOD intends to use the pilot programs to address laboratory and test center issues, it will have to address the factors - both process and statutory - that blunted previous proposals made through the pilot programs," GAO wrote in a report released July 29.
The U.S. Navy's DD(X) next-generation destroyer program successfully completed a two-day system requirements review (SRR) on July 25, Raytheon Integrated Defense Systems said July 31. The company is in charge of the ship's electronic and weapon systems integration for the DD(X) National Team, which includes prime contractor Northrop Grumman Ship Systems. The team was awarded the DD(X) contract last year (DAILY, April 30, 2002).
CAE of Toronto will provide China Eastern Airlines with a Boeing 737-800 full-flight simulator equipped with the company's Tropos visual system under a $13 million contract, the company said July 30. The simulator is scheduled for delivery in December 2004 and the deal includes a suite of CAE Simfinity desktop trainers and simulation-based courseware, the company said. The sale marks the ninth simulator order for the company this year, CAE said.
The U.S. Army plans to resolve concerns raised by the Marine Corps about the combat performance of the Javelin anti-tank missile, which made its battlefield debut in Iraq, a division commander said. Although Marines have expressed support for the shoulder-fired weapon, Army Maj. Gen. Ray Odierno, commander of the 4th Infantry Division, appeared to confirm reports of problems voiced by some Marines returning from Iraq. "We have to work our way through that, because the Marines have said that," Odierno said.
Lockheed Martin is a step closer to completing development work for its bid for the hotly contested Multi-mission Maritime Aircraft (MMA) program, the replacement for the U.S. Navy's P-3C Orion fleet, the company announced July 31. Lockheed Martin's team has wrapped up an integration technology demonstration on critical systems in its proposed design, an armed platform derived from the P-3C. The demonstration marked a key milestone in the 14-month second phase of the MMA's component advanced development program.
DELTA LAUNCH: A Boeing Delta IV rocket is scheduled to launch the final spacecraft for the U.S. Air Force's Defense Satellite Communications System on Aug. 3 from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Fla., the company said July 31. A Delta IV Medium vehicle is to launch DSCS III B6 from Space Launch Complex 37B. The launch window opens at 6:58 p.m. EDT and lasts for 83 minutes. The Air Force said last week that Boeing will lose seven launch contracts under the Evolved Expendable Launch Vehicle program due to fraud committed by employees (DAILY, July 25).
The Defense Department has launched a study to evaluate options for protecting the Civil Reserve Air Fleet (CRAF) against shoulder-fired missiles launched by terrorists.
AURORA SENSORS: L-3 Communications WESCAM will provide MX-20 sensor systems for the Canadian Department of Defence's CP-140 Aurora Incremental Modernization Program (AIMP) under a $19 million contract, L-3 said July 31. The electro-optic/infrared video reconnaissance systems are in production and will be delivered in 2003 and 2004, the company said.
Raytheon Co. announced July 31 that construction is nearly complete on one of two power plants that cost the company millions more to complete than anticipated. The 800-megawatt Fore River power plant, in Weymouth, Mass., has been turned over to its owner, a unit of the energy company Exelon Corp. The plant was turned over to Exelon following the successful completion of "certain performance and reliability tests," Raytheon officials said in a statement.
