POLICY REVERSAL: A proposed pilot program to fund energy-saving upgrades for up to 10 weapons programs may be doomed even if the legislation is enacted, the program's supporters say. That's because the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) last month reversed its long-standing accounting policy for Energy Savings Performance Contracts (ESPCs), scoring the deals as new outlays rather than operations and maintenance charges. ESPC supporters say that's a mistake: ESPC-funded upgrades, by law, save more money in fuel bills than the cost of the upgrade.
MODEST OUTLOOK: Despite recent increases in defense spending, the long-term growth outlook for the U.S. defense industry is modest, says aerospace and defense analyst Robert Friedman of Standard & Poor's. The reason is that Congress is unlikely to approve outsized military spending over the long term, he says.
April 29 - 30 -- 2003 Annual Programs Review, "Transformation Roadmaps, Future of Precision Engagement," Scott Hall, Howell Auditorium, Defense Acquisition University, Fort Belvoir, Va. Contact Leslie Mueller at (301) 475-6513 or email [email protected]. April 30 - May 1 -- EW Analysis Conference, Army Research Lab, Adelphi, Md. Call (888) OLD-CROW or go to www.crows.org. May 5 - 7 -- Aerospace & Defense Finance Conference, Grand Hyatt New York Hotel, New York City. To register go to http://www.AviationNow.com/conferences.
DEFENSE MARKUPS: When Congress reconvenes the week of April 28-May 2 after a two-week recess, one of the first matters lawmakers will address is the fiscal 2004 defense authorization bill. The House Armed Services Committee plans to begin subcommittee markups of the bill May 1 and finish action on the legislation at the full committee level May 7 (DAILY, April 23). The Senate Armed Services Committee intends to start subcommittee markups May 6 and wrap up at the full committee level by May 9.
LAUNCHES: Orbital Sciences Corp. is scheduled to launch NASA's Galaxy Evolution Explorer (GALEX) spacecraft April 28 from Cape Canaveral, Fla. Arianespace said launch activity for its next Ariane 5 mission, which is to carry two satellites, has begun in Kourou, French Guiana. The mission is scheduled for early June.
The Boeing Co., prime contractor for the Airborne Laser program, has received a 10-year contract worth up to $500 million from the Missile Defense Agency to develop a ground-based test bed for the Airborne Laser (ABL) program. The Iron Bird test bed will support efforts to conduct troubleshooting and wargaming and evaluate advanced technology for the ABL, the Defense Department announced late April 24.
Fueled by a new $125.5 million contract, an international software upgrade program for the F-16 is moving forward after a nine-month delay. The U.S. Air Force is awarding the deal to Lockheed Martin Aeronautics and the contract includes F-16s owned by the European Participating Air Forces - Belgium, Denmark, Norway, Portugal and the Netherlands.
The European Aeronautic Defence and Space Co. (EADS) will push ahead with plans to expand in North America despite the recent transatlantic rift between the U.S. and France and Germany over Iraq, a senior EADS executive said April 25. Ralph Crosby Jr., chairman and CEO of EADS North America, told defense reporters in Washington that EADS plans to expand its manufacturing base in the U.S., primarily through acquisitions but also through partnerships with U.S. prime contractors.
RIDLEY PARK, Pa. - Boeing and Sikorsky dedicated a new production facility for the companies' RAH-66 Comanche reconnaissance/attack helicopter on April 25 here, where workers already are building the aft section for the first engineering and manufacturing development (EMD) aircraft.
President Bush plans to appoint James Albaugh, president and chief executive officer of Boeing's Integrated Defense Systems segment, to the President's National Security Telecommunications Advisory Committee (NSTAC), the White House announced April 24. NSTAC, which is chaired by Vance Coffman, chairman and CEO of Lockheed Martin Corp., advises the president on national security and emergency preparedness communications policy.
A Defense Information System Agency acquisition program running nearly four years behind schedule points to the hazards of using outdated contracting methods for high-risk technologies, Pentagon auditors say. The Defense Information System Agency (DISA) now plans to field a $34 million deployment planning software tool called the Joint Operation Planning and Execution System 21 (JOPES 21) in March 2004, 46 months after it originally was to be delivered.
RED HERRING: FAA regulations concerning the operation of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) in the national airspace are a "red herring" and aren't holding back commercial development, according to Aurora Flight Sciences Corp. President John Langford. "If you removed all restrictions tonight, you wouldn't see these things flying around tomorrow," Langford says. "It's not the FAA that's holding back the development of UAVs." The problem is one of simple economics, he says.
AFFORDABLE COSTS: Lockheed Martin's future growth could be hampered unless development costs on key aircraft programs are checked, according to senior aerospace and defense analyst Byron Callan of Merrill Lynch. Next-generation programs like the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter and F/A-22 Raptor play a dominant role in Lockheed Martin's growth outlook, Callan says. But cost growth remains an issue on the F/A-22, and while conditional approval resulted from the F-35's preliminary design review, the aircraft's weight gain was noteworthy, he says.
The U.S. Army's Tank-Automotive and Armaments Command at Picatinny Arsenal, N.J., has awarded technology development contracts to General Dynamics Corp. and Textron Inc. for the Intelligent Munitions System (IMS) program. General Dynamics Advanced Information Systems, a unit of the company's Information Systems and Technology group, was awarded a $31.5 million contract April 16 to develop and demonstrate key technologies for the IMS program, formerly known as Raptor.
MANASSAS, Va. - Aurora Flight Sciences Corp., which is building what could be the first unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) to fly on another planet, recently received approximately $2.5 million from NASA to perform a second high-altitude prototype demonstration on Earth. Led by NASA Langley Research Center in Hampton, Va., the Aerial Regional-scale Environmental Survey (ARES) mission is one of four finalists competing to go to Mars as part of NASA's 2007 Mars Scout program (DAILY, Dec. 18, 2002). NASA will select the winner in August.
PRAGUE - The United Kingdom Ministry of Defence (MOD) has confirmed it is talking to Czech officials over the possible sale or lease of used Tornado F-3 fighters from Britain, despite first issuing a denial. A defense ministry spokesman told The DAILY last week that it was "not true" that negotiations were under way following a report in Czech daily Pravo that Britain could supply up to 14 Tornado aircraft by 2006 on the basis of a Czech-U.K. inter-governmental agreement (DAILY, April 16).
MOSCOW - A Russian Proton vehicle launched a military satellite, Cosmos 2397, to geostationary orbit from Baikonur Cosmodrome, Kazakhstan, on April 24. The Lavochkin NPO-built satellite is intended to help replenish the country's early warning constellation. The Cosmos 2397 is a Prognoz-2 type and will be part of the Oko constellation, which also includes smaller Prognoz satellites.
The U.S. Army believes it may be on the verge of deploying a system that would reduce substantially the logistical difficulties and dangers of getting equipment and supplies to troops in the field, according to a senior Army official. The system, called Precision and Extended Glide Airdrop System (PEGASYS), is a Global Positioning System-guided parafoil that can be dropped from high altitudes and steered to precise locations on the battlefield at specified times.
A coming debate about the how the U.S. should proceed in the field of offensive warfare will contrast projected capabilities of satellites with the capabilities of tactical aircraft, and pit Strategic Command against the Air Force, one analyst said. Discussion of weapons in space, such as lasers to strike ground targets, will presage a serious look at the future of the tactical aircraft fleet, according to Robbin Laird of International Communications and Strategic Assessments (ICSA), Arlington, Va.
Although Congress has given NASA funds to begin developing the Orbital Space Plane (OSP) and next-generation nuclear power and propulsion systems, many lawmakers still have major concerns they want addressed before they will support those programs for the long term, according to a key congressional aide. The fiscal 2003 NASA appropriations act provides more than $100 million for the nuclear program, which recently has been renamed Project Prometheus and is designed to support interplanetary spacecraft (DAILY, Feb. 14).
A long-awaited plan for restructuring the 1.3 million-strong U.S. reserve force should be delivered by next fall for implementation in fiscal 2005, Thomas F. Hall, assistant secretary of defense for reserve affairs, said April 24. "I've met with [Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld] and he's not anxious to prolong this process," Hall said, briefing reporters at a Defense Writer's Group breakfast. "We've been given some stringent guidelines ... to make a proposal" within a year.
CACI BUY: IT and networking company CACI International said April 24 it plans to acquire Premier Technology Group (PTG), which provides intelligence analysis, information services and other support to the Defense Department and intelligence community. The deal is expected to close in May, CACI said.
