The Army plans to change the leadership of its new Research, Development and Engineering Command (RDECOM) every two years to ensure that research and development programs are consistent with the service's transformation objectives. "RDE Command is about a new way of doing business, implementing a system-of-systems approach to traditional research and development," RDECOM spokesman Mickey Morales said.
The military services have told Congress that they could use hundreds of millions of dollars more than the Bush Administration's fiscal 2004 budget requests to buy aircraft, aircraft parts, missiles and other weapon systems. The services said the budget request goes a long way toward meeting their needs but that dozens of programs are still underfunded.
SPACE REVIEW: More than two years after it was published, the U.S. Air Force is making plans to review the implementation of the Space Commission report chaired by Donald Rumsfeld, who currently is the Secretary of Defense. "It's probably time to circle back and make sure we've implemented the things that we said we wanted to do," Gen. Robert H. "Doc" Foglesong, the Air Force Vice Chief of Staff, said March 6 during a Pentagon town hall meeting, which included Rumsfeld.
The V-22 program has put a critical series of flight tests on hold replacement of German-made hydraulic tubes that program officials say are defective. The move grounds the program's five operating aircraft while two new suppliers are certified and 20 tubes in each aircraft are replaced. The final series of high-rate-of-descent tests, which could determine whether the program survives, should resume after March 20, officials said.
ELASTICITY: A recent Futron Corporation study of the world launch market (DAILY, March 6) has found dramatic variation across market sectors when it comes to price elasticity of demand. "Most of today's markets, both commercial and governmental, are virtually unaffected by even massive reductions in launch prices," according to the report. In the case of government launches, launch demand is "virtually insensitive to launch price," it says.
Computer Sciences Corporation, which announced March 7 that its acquisition of DynCorp is complete, says the purchase strengthens CSC's position in the federal market, including the defense and homeland security segments.
QUESTIONING: Columbia Accident Investigation Board (CAIB) member Roger Tetrault thinks certain areas of NASA's human space flight program may not have the appropriate "questioning attitude" with regard to safety. The former president of Electric Boat and former chairman of McDermott International, Inc., Tetrault comes from a nuclear Navy background. In the nuclear Navy, "they've had to adopt certain attitudes and qualities over the years, particularly a questioning attitude about, 'Prove to me that it's right,'" Tetrault says. "I know ...
BA609 FLIES: The BA609 civil tiltrotor had its first flight March 7 in Arlington, Texas, according to joint developers Bell Helicopter and Agusta. During the 36-minute flight, the nine-passenger aircraft hovered at an altitude of 50 feet, performed left and right pedal turns and forward and aft flight maneuvers, and took off and landed four times, according to the companies. The BA609 is expected to be certified by the FAA in 2007 with first deliveries to begin immediately following.
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HEMAT CONTRACT: Under a long-term contract, the U.S. Army has awarded an $8.7 million contract to Engineered Support Systems, Inc. for production of M989A1 Heavy Expanded Mobility Ammunition Trailers (HEMAT), according to Michael F. Shanahan, Sr., Chairman and CEO. The HEMAT is a high mobility trailer with a payload capacity of 11 tons that is designed to transport multiple-launch rocket pods, conventional ammunition and fuel bladders and pods.
MILITARY BALANCE: Responding to military threats from adversaries using non-conventional tactics and weapons could result in a more balanced military fielded by the U.S., according to senior aerospace and defense analyst Byron Callan of Merrill Lynch. "The 1990s were viewed as the triumph of airpower. We believe this could prove transitory," he says.
INTERNAL MISUNDERSTANDING: Northrop Grumman's announcement last week that it would have to pay an additional $100 million in interest payments and prepayment penalties on debt associated with TRW Automotive appears to be the result of an "internal misunderstanding" and not lax oversight, according to aerospace and defense analyst Byron Callan of Merrill Lynch. The announcement marks the second time in six months that accounting-related issues have resulted in changed projections for the company.
SOURCING AGREEMENT: The European Aeronautic Defence and Space Co. (EADS) and the Snecma Group signed a long-term sourcing agreement March 7 to better meet end-customer needs, the companies said. Snecma is the most profitable of EADS suppliers, accounting for revenues of nearly 500 million euros ($550 million) in 2002.
The Defense Information Systems Agency (DISA) is close to issuing the first of two requests for proposals (RFPs) to support the $862 million Global Information Grid-Bandwidth Expansion (GIG-BE) program. The latest acquisition notice says the first RFP could be posted anytime after the morning of March 6.
SPACE HEARINGS: The Defense Department's fiscal 2004 budget request for space programs will receive formal scrutiny on both sides of Capitol Hill the week of March 10-14. The Senate Armed Services strategic forces subcommittee plans to hear testimony March 12 from several space officials, including Air Force Undersecretary Peter Teets and Navy Adm. James Ellis, commander of U.S. Strategic Command. The next day, the House Armed Services Committee is scheduled to hold a hearing with Ellis, as well as Air Force Gen.
Raytheon Co. announced after the close of trading March 5 that projected earnings for 2004 would fall short of expectations due to higher pension expenses. The announcement makes Raytheon the second major defense contractor to lower its earnings-per-share estimates. Northrop Grumman Corp. lowered its 2003 earnings-per-share estimate on March 5 due to higher interest expenses on debt inherited from the acquisition of TRW Inc. (DAILY, March 6).
House Science Committee Chairman Sherwood Boehlert (R-N.Y.) and NASA Administrator Sean O'Keefe appeared before a Senate Government Affairs subcommittee March 6 to present their plan for helping NASA overcome its workforce challenges.
The Air Force is close to refining a design and migration strategy for a secure new communications gateway system programmed to replace almost its entire inventory of 124 radios over the next decade. The airborne cluster of the Joint Tactical Radio System (JTRS) is shaping into a family of 10-20 radio sets relying on commercial off the shelf hardware components and software-defined programming.
The weapon system for the Missile Defense Agency's Airborne Laser is proving to be about 30,000 pounds heavier than expected a few years ago, but the extra weight is not expected to affect plans to attempt the program's first ballistic missile shootdown in December 2004, the ABL program director said late March 5.
NEW DELHI - All guided missiles being developed under India's Integrated Guided Missile Development Programme (IGMDP) have gone through successful flight trials, Defense Minister George Fernandes told Parliament March 5. The short-range Prithvi I missile has been inducted in the Indian army while the short-range Prithvi II and Dhanush missiles are being fielded in the air force and navy. Fernandes said the Akash short-range air defense system and Nag anti-tank missile have gone through successful flight tests recently. Agni on track
The field of companies vying to be prime contractor for the Missile Defense Agency's new ground-based interceptor program narrowed from three to two late March 5, as Lockheed Martin Corp. and the Boeing Co. announced they will team up rather than compete separately. Lockheed Martin will lead the team and Boeing will be the main teammate. MDA is developing the interceptor to shoot down missiles in their boost phase.
The Pentagon's air warfare strategy for Iraq has all but ruled out the use of the military's new arsenal of warheads that are designed to destroy chemical and biological agents, according to statements by military officials during the last week.
Rep. Curt Weldon (R-Pa.) blasted NASA's aeronautics research and development (R&D) budget request during a House Space and Aeronautics Subcommittee hearing in Washington March 6, saying he's "ashamed" of the agency's lack of commitment to rotorcraft research. "Rotorcraft is being seen around the world as a major growth area," Weldon said. "Eurocopter and companies like Agusta are doing very well, while our industrial base in this country shrinks and shrinks and shrinks."
