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.
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.
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 Defense Department has launched a study to evaluate options for protecting the Civil Reserve Air Fleet (CRAF) against shoulder-fired missiles launched by terrorists.
ALCOA GLOBAL BUSINESS SERVICES, Pittsburgh Rudolph "Rudi" P. Huber has been named to the new position of vice president and chief information officer. ANTEON INTERNATIONAL, Fairfax, Va. S. Daniel Johnson is slated to become executive vice president and chief operating officer, succeeding Mike Cogburn, who will retire in late August. BALL AEROSPACE & TECHNOLOGIES, Boulder, Colo. Carol Lane has been hired as vice president of the Washington, D.C. office. BELL HELICOPTER, Fort Worth, Texas
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 U.S. Coast Guard's Deepwater program received a political boost July 31 as Senate support solidified for a fiscal 2004 budget increase and a key lawmaker proposed starting a program acceleration in FY '05.
LONDON - BAE Systems has won a $1.3 billion order for Hawk trainers from the U.K. Ministry of Defence, beating Italy's Aermacchi M346 in a competition that BAE officials say will save some 2,000 British jobs. The MOD is said to have been under pressure from the Treasury to save money by selecting a foreign company, but such a choice would have threatened BAE's plant in Brough, Yorkshire (DAILY, July 30). BAE Systems will build 20 Hawk Mk. 128s, with an option to build another 24.
A key Pentagon leader has endorsed a yearlong push by a team of researchers to develop a fresh analysis on an emerging combat theory called "swarming," U.S. Joint Forces Command (JFCOM) officials say.
Boeing, Arianespace and Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (MHI) announced July 29 they are forming an alliance to provide a joint launch service for international commercial customers. Under the arrangement, customers will be given the choice of launching from launch sites operated by Sea Launch, Arianespace and MHI.
S-Band Radar: The Navy said July 30 that S-Band radar technology will be used in the volume-search radar aboard the DD(X) destroyer rather than L-Band radar technology. Higher frequency S-band technology improves the destroyer's ability to track aircraft and missiles and counterattack shore-based gun or missile batteries, the Navy said.
The Defense Department is opposing a House-passed proposal to review the U.S. nuclear arsenal, saying a major study of nuclear matters already has been done and that a new examination would be "disruptive and redundant."
Spacedev's CHIPSat microsatellite, launched last January for NASA, was an "eye opener" for other government agencies interested in the promise of small satellites, according to Jim Benson, CEO of the Poway, Calif., company. The suitcase-sized CHIPSat (Cosmic Hot Interstellar Plasma Spectrometer satellite) is examining the interstellar medium - the very hot, low-density gas found in the space between the stars - for clues about the formation and evolution of galaxies (DAILY, March 7).
General Dynamics on July 30 announced plans to acquire privately held Digital Systems Resources (DSR) Inc., a provider of surveillance and combat systems for submarines and surface ships. Terms of the deal were not disclosed. The sale is expected to close in 60 days, pending regulatory approval, company officials said. DSR, based in Fairfax, Va., employs nearly 450. It will become part of General Dynamics Advanced Information Systems, a unit of the company's Information Systems and Technology group.
A report to Congress July 30 offers new details of China's growing military power, including a fresh assessment of surface- and air-launched missile inventories. The report by the U.S. Defense Department, titled "Annual Report on the Military Power of the People's Republic of China," dated July 28, was released to the public and was delivered to lawmakers, who required the yearly assessment beginning in 2000.
NEW DELHI - India has decided to phase out its older MiG-21 fighters and license production of Mirage 2000-5 aircraft from France's Dassault, an official of the Indian Ministry of Defense told The Daily July 30. The decision comes in the wake of a long series of crashes involving India's MiG-21 aircraft. The decision to phase out the MiG-21s was disclosed to the Indian Parliament July 30 in a written statement by Defense Minster George Fernandes.
Around mid-November, NASA's Hyper-X demonstrator, the X-43A, will make a second attempt to fly at Mach 7 after being released by a modified Pegasus booster rocket in the skies over Edwards, Calif. The 12-foot Hyper-X is a scramjet-powered test aircraft designed to advance hypersonic (i.e., faster than Mach 5) air-breathing engine technology. The Orbital Sciences-built Hyper-X Launch Vehicle (HXLV), based on the company's Pegasus XL, boosts the X-43A to its release altitude of 95,000 feet after being dropped from the wing of a B-52.
BAE Systems North America has filed a lawsuit against Lockheed Martin Corp. seeking reimbursement of $40 million that BAE paid five years ago to settle a lawsuit. The case stems from a June 1997 lawsuit filed against Lockheed Martin by Cable and Computer Technology Inc., which was based in California. CCT and the former Lockheed Martin Sanders unit were competing for a subcontract that involved upgrading the mission control system on the B-1B bomber.
The U.S. Marine Corps is seeking to enlist other parts of the government to help it spur the development of a space vehicle that could transport troops from the U.S. to any point on the globe within two hours, a Marine general told a congressional panel July 30.
Raytheon Co. has been awarded a $32.4 million foreign military sales contract to produce five weapons control systems for the Royal Australian Navy's Collins-class diesel-electric submarines. Under the contract, Raytheon will develop five Combat Control System (CCS) Mk 2 weapon control systems, build an integrated test and training facility, and provide land-based development systems.
A senior special operations official is suggesting a possible new role for the Pentagon's growing fleet of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs): psychological operations, or "psyops." Psyops units, composed of Reserve and Guard personnel, are tasked with disseminating propaganda leaflets and broadcasting messages to discourage or intimidate opposing forces or civilians.
An F-5E fighter with a modified fuselage completed its first flight in Florida July 24, in preparation for a joint test program with the ultimate goal of developing aircraft that make quieter sonic booms.
