The official in charge of airborne communications for Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld critiqued Inmarsat's airborne satellite communications services at a conference June 4, expressing overall satisfaction while recommending the company provide DOD with bulk rates as usage explodes.
DAYTON T. BROWN, Bohemia, N.Y. Douglas K. Mang has been appointed vice president, Engineering and Test Division, and senior manager of the company's Washington, D.C. operations. DEFENSE FINANCE AND ACCOUNTING SERVICE, Arlington, Va.
The global supply chains established by large manufacturers are becoming increasingly complex and may be hindering flexibility, according to a new report by the consulting firm Deloitte & Touche. But that may be only partly true of the aerospace and defense industry, which has established international supply chains but has taken steps to improve efficiency. The report surveyed more than 500 companies in the aerospace and defense, automotive, telecommunications, and consumer products industries, among others.
LOCKHEED MARTIN will continue to perform phased depot maintenance for U.S. Navy P-3 Orion aircraft, the company said. The work will be done under a one-year contract with four one-year options, which could boost its value to $434 million. The company, which originally built the anti-submarine warfare and maritime surveillance aircraft, will perform the work at its Greenville Aircraft Center in South Carolina.
NEW DELHI - The Indian air force lost another MiG-21 fighter in a crash during a routine exercise in Rajasthan, which killed the pilot. A court of inquiry has been set up to investigate the incident, the latest in a string of Indian MiG crashes. Sources said the problem has been linked to the aircraft's engine. The air force has lost more than 200 MiGs in the last decade and there has been frequent criticism in the press and in parliament about the high accident rate, particularly for MiG-21s.
Stork Aerospace of the Netherlands has delivered the first complete tail section for NH Industries' NH90 helicopter, marking the start of series production for the program by Dutch industry, the company said. Dutch industry is contributing tail sections, cabin doors, wheel housings, landing gear and a software module for the main computer, Stork said. Final assembly of the helicopters will take place in NH90 partner countries France, Germany and Italy. The first series production helicopter is scheduled to fly in 2004.
The U.S. Army is moving forward on plans to develop the Viper Strike missile made by Northrop Grumman after the Senate passed an authorization bill adding funds for the program. Northrop Grumman and Army officials planned to meet late June 4 to discuss plans for starting a system development and demonstration program in fiscal 2004, said John Miller, the company's Viper program missile manager.
The U.S. Air Force on June 3 opened the competitive phase of a plan to develop a battle management command and control (BMC2) suite for the future E-10A Multi-sensor Command and Control Aircraft (MC2A). The system identifies moving ground targets and cruise missiles by fusing tracking data from an onboard advanced radar and a wide range of other surveillance nodes, including unmanned aerial vehicles.
LONDON - Lockheed Martin U.K. Ltd. will continue as prime contractor for systems integration of the Royal Navy's 43 EH101 Merlin HM.1 anti-submarine warfare (ASW) helicopters and will study major upgrades to the fleet, the Ministry of Defence said June 3.
Telemedicine systems that allow doctors to communicate with aircraft remotely via satellite are beginning to save lives and money, according to manufacturers Remote Diagnostic Technologies (RDT) Ltd. and TeleMedic Systems.
MH-53 UPGRADE: Modern Technologies Corp. will upgrade U.S. Air Force MH-53 Pave Low helicopters to the MH-53M configuration under a $46.7 million task order from Warner Robins Air Logistics Center's Special Operations Forces Program Office, the company said June 4.
Hoping to capitalize on its success with the U.S. Navy, Italian engine maker Isotta Fraschini Motori is seeking to generate additional business with other navies. Isotta Fraschini and FDGM Inc., subsidiaries of the Italian shipbuilding giant Fincantieri, built the non-magnetic diesel engines for the U.S. Navy's Avenger-class (MCM) and Osprey-class (MHC) minesweepers, beginning in the mid-1980s. Many of the 24 Avenger- and Osprey-class ships participated in minesweeping operations in the Persian Gulf as part of Operation Iraqi Freedom.
The U.S. Navy, Air Force and NASA are moving ahead in an effort to demonstrate the high-speed flight and performance needed for expendable supersonic vehicles. Technical proposals for the effort - Revolutionary Approach to Time Critical Long Range Strike Project (RATTLR) - are due July 7, cost proposals are due July 15, and up to six contracts will be awarded between September and December 2003. Thirty-six months of flight tests will follow.
Gen. Larry Welch (USAF, ret.), head of the federally funded Institute for Defense Analyses (IDA), gave his endorsement June 4 to House legislation that would create a commission to develop a broad strategy for the nation's nuclear arsenal. Welch, a former Air Force chief of staff, said such a commission would help "focus attention" on nuclear weapons programs, which require long-term planning because of their complexity.
Although Operation Desert Storm has been called the first "space war," Operation Iraqi Freedom (OIF) made the military's dependence on space assets even clearer, according to Maj. Gen. Robert Dickman (ret.), deputy for military space at the Office of the Undersecretary of the Air Force. "The former chief of staff of the Air Force at that time said Desert Storm was the first space war," Dickman said at the 2003 Inmarsat Aero conference in Tysons Corner, Va., June 3. "Iraqi Freedom probably was much more so."
STINGER CONTRACT: Raytheon Co. will manufacture 139 Stinger Block I missiles under a U.S. Army contract worth more than $16.4 million, the company said June 2. Deliveries start in January 2005 and end in April 2005, Raytheon said. "This award supports the U.S. Army's requirement to sustain Stinger missiles in the force through 2018," Paul Walker, Raytheon Missile Systems' vice president for the land combat product line, said in a statement.
Nuclear power and propulsion technologies such as those being developed under NASA's Project Prometheus will be essential to any future human mission to Mars, according to NASA's associate administrator for space science.
PATENTED: Lockheed Martin Corp. has been granted a patent for a three-axis flap control system that could "revolutionize" the steering of rocket-launched, hypersonic and supersonic re-entry vehicles, the company said June 3. Such vehicles could be used to defeat hard and deeply buried targets, the company said. The patent was issued Jan. 7.
TESTING: Lockheed Martin and Argon Engineering have performed the first airborne flight evaluation of Argon's Lighthouse Communications Intelligence processing capability in the high-density urban environment of Phoenix, Ariz., Lockheed Martin said. The team flew the Lighthouse sensor for more than 24 hours in eight flights, with results that verified the sensor is capable of handling the high dynamic signal densities of urban and military environments, the company said.
The Boeing Co. announced June 3 the selection of more than 20 international systems suppliers to help develop systems technologies for its new 7E7 jetliner.
EMS SATCOM of Ottowa, Canada, has received Inmarsat type approval for its new Fleet 55 maritime satellite terminal, the company said. The terminal provides global voice and data services and is the flagship product for the company's new Maritime Group. EMS Satcom is a division of EMS Technologies, of Atlanta, Ga.
