LRIP CONTRACT: Lockheed Martin will begin production of six MH-60R helicopters for the U.S. Navy under a second low-rate initial production contract (LRIP), the company said July 15. The LRIP contract includes the initial release of $17 million to buy long-lead components. Full funding for the LRIP 2 contract, which calls for six aircraft, is expected to be part of the fiscal 2004 defense budget later this year, Lockheed Martin said. Four engineering and manufacturing development and five LRIP 1 aircraft have been built.
The Boeing Co. said July 15 it plans to refocus its launch vehicle business to attract more government and military contracts rather than commercial customers. The company also said it would take a $1.1 billion charge against second-quarter earnings due to weak demand in the commercial space market and manufacturing-related problems at the company's Boeing Satellite Systems unit.
NEW DELHI - India's coast guard has ordered 65 Advanced Light Helicopters (ALH), to be delivered in the next three years, from Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd. (HAL) for $155 million. Once the coast guard receives the aircraft, its fleet of single-engine Chetak helicopters will be phased out, a senior service official said.
The launch of the first satellite in the National Polar-orbiting Operational Environmental Satellite System (NPOESS) will be delayed 21 months due to budget cuts, creating the potential for a gap in satellite coverage, congressional hearing witnesses said July 15. The Bush Administration's fiscal 2004 budget request, released in February, reduced the system's FY '04-FY '07 funding by $130 million because of financial constraints, the General Accounting Office's David Powner told the House Science Committee.
LONDON - A pending decision on how to proceed with the Royal Air Force's advanced jet trainer (AJT) program could determine whether BAE Systems stays in the trainer aircraft business. A decision on the AJT is expected before the parliamentary recess begins July 18. With few orders for its Hawk trainer remaining to be filled, BAE Systems needs the Ministry of Defence's 1 billion pound ($1.625 billion) contract for 31-45 AJTs to keep its Hawk production facility from closing. The facility is located at Brough, in Yorkshire.
PRAGUE - The 32nd tactical air force base in Namest nad Oslavou effectively will close later this year as part of wide-ranging army reforms designed to cope with planned cuts in the Czech military budget.
The "Buy American" provisions inserted into the House fiscal 2004 Defense Appropriations bill could hurt suppliers of space components and parts as much as suppliers of military aerospace products, according to analysts. Many U.S. manufacturers and suppliers of launch vehicles and satellites have become dependent upon parts and components made in Canada, Germany, France, Spain, Britain, Italy and even Russia, said James Lewis, senior fellow and director of technology policy at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington.
PATUXENT RIVER, Md. - The Department of Defense plans to deploy some of its unmanned aerial vehicles with the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to help train border patrol and transportation security personnel on UAV operations. The deployment, set to take place within the next few months somewhere along America's southern border, comes at the request of Gordon England, deputy secretary for homeland security at DHS and former secretary of the Navy.
X-31 AWARD: The Boeing Co. and the X-31A team will receive the von Karman award from the International Council of the Aeronautical Sciences (ICAS) at a July 15 ceremony in Dayton, Ohio, the company said July 14. The X-31A, an international experimental aircraft, was designed with a thrust vectoring control system to make it more maneuverable.
A House panel plans to consider the fiscal 2004 NASA appropriations bill this week, the first time lawmakers will take up major legislation for the agency since investigators scrutinized the Feb. 1 loss of the Columbia space shuttle. Meanwhile, the Senate late July 14 began debate on the FY '04 defense appropriations bill, the final step for the legislation before it heads to a conference with the House.
RAINBOW LAUNCH: International Launch Services (ILS) is scheduled to launch the Rainbow 1 satellite for Cablevision Systems Corp. on July 17, ILS said July 14. The third Atlas V launch will mark the debut of the booster's 521 configuration, which includes two Aerojet strap-on solid rocket motors. Lockheed Martin Commercial Space Systems Co. built the Rainbow 1 direct-broadcast satellite.
Upgrading "bunker buster" munitions so they can report back as they strike hardened or buried targets is the goal of a new U.S. Air Force development effort beginning this week. The idea behind the effort, called the Fuze Integrated Bomb Damage Information Demonstration (FIBDID), is to insert a wireless transmitter in the warhead's fuze and a repeater device that ejects before the munition strikes the target, said Steve Smith, program director at the Air Force Research Laboratory's Munitions Directorate at Eglin Air Force Base, Fla.
Northrop Grumman Corp. said July 14 it has received a contract from the U.S. Space and Naval Warfare (SPAWAR) Systems Center to continue research and development work on one of the Navy's primary command, control, communications, computers, intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (C4ISR) systems. The $3 million, five-year contract could be worth nearly $17 million if all four contract options are exercised.
The Boeing Co. is in line to produce seven new CH-47F Chinook helicopters, a move that would help offset a reduction in the existing fleet caused by upgrading Chinooks to more capable models for special operations duties. A Boeing spokesman said the seven could be followed by additional new CH-47Fs, but this depends on funding.
NEW DELHI - India has ordered 36 Smerch multiple launch rocket systems (MLRS) worth $450 million from Russia, and Russia has agreed to sell them, according to an Indian defense ministry official. The systems, which can strike targets up to 90 kilometers (56 miles) away, are to be deployed along the border with Pakistan. India already has deployed short-range Prithvi missiles along the border.
GOLDEN EYE: Aurora Flight Sciences' GoldenEye unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) is still awaiting its first flight at company facilities in Manassas, Va., while engineers continue to tweak the aircraft's thrust vectoring system and work to integrate its avionics. First flight is expected within a few weeks. The flight will be a low-altitude hover lasting three to five minutes, most likely followed by some slow-speed sideward and rearward flight.
Goodrich Corp. will install its Integrated Mechanical Diagnostics, Health & Usage Management Systems (IMD-HUMS) on U.S. Navy MH-60R and MH-60s helicopters, the company said July 14. The installation on the newest variants of the Sea Hawk helicopter are part of a modification to a contract awarded in 1997, the company said. It expects to have test aircraft outfitted at the Patuxent River, Md., test facility early next year.
As Congress begins a review of a $15.5 billion U.S. Air Force proposal to lease 100 Boeing 767-200 tankers, the service's top weapons buyer said a more affordable multi-year procurement is not feasible. Marvin Sambur, assistant secretary of the Air Force for acquisition, on July 14 presented details of the 13-page briefing on the proposed deal that was sent to Congress July 11 (DAILY, July 14). "Financially, what we showed here is that leasing is not a dumb thing to do," Sambur told reporters at a Pentagon briefing.
U.S. Army Space Command probably will be renamed Army Strategic Command to reflect its revised list of responsibilities, according to Army Lt. Gen. Joseph Cosumano, who heads the command.
The Senate Appropriations Committee has added $202 million to the Coast Guard's $500 million fiscal 2004 budget request for the Deepwater modernization effort, an increase that proponents say is needed to keep the program on track.
VXX STUDY: Sikorsky is delivering a study to the U.S. Marine Corps on how the company's S-92 helicopter could be adapted to serve as a presidential transport, according to S-92 Program Manager Nick Lappos. Competing contractor Lockheed Martin delivered a similar report on the Lockheed/AgustaWestland/Bell Helicopter US101 in June. Sikorsky expects a total buy of up to 23 aircraft in the program, known as the Vertical Lift Aircraft (VXX).
PRAGUE - The Czech Republic will protect its airspace over the next five years with 12 older supersonic fighters and two training aircraft, the government agreed at a meeting on July 9.
