The Securities and Exchange Commission has begun an informal investigation into the accounting practices of Raytheon Aircraft, which builds the Hawker and Beechcraft line of commuter aircraft, Raytheon officials said Jan. 13. Officials with Raytheon could not be reached for comment by presstime. But in a Jan. 13 statement, officials said they "believe the accounting practices at RAC [Raytheon Aircraft] are appropriate, and [the company] will cooperate fully with the SEC's informal inquiry." The investigation covers the period from 1997 to 2001.
President Bush has tapped retired General Dynamics President Charles McQueary to be undersecretary for science and technology at the Department of Homeland Security. McQueary's nomination, announced by the White House late Jan. 10, drew immediate praise from Rep. Sherwood Boehlert (R-N.Y.), chairman of the House Science Committee, which helped write legislation creating the department.
NEW DELHI - India's Agni-1 ballistic missile could be used by the Indian army even though it has had only two test flights, V.K. Aatre, head of the Defence Research and Development Organization (DRDO), told The DAILY. India tested the Agni-1 for the second time on Jan. 9, just a day after Pakistan inducted its Hatf-5 missile into its army. The short-range version of the missile, which has a range of about 700 kilometers (435 miles), had its first test in May
The Coast Guard is leaning away from buying Northrop Grumman's Global Hawk unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) as part of its Deepwater recapitalization effort, and is considering General Atomics' Predator to fulfill its high-altitude surveillance requirements, according to the Coast Guard's UAV program manager.
FACTORY WORK: Spectrum Astro has completed the financing for its new, 115,200-square-foot "Factory of the Future," the company said Jan. 13, and work on the facility will accelerate. The Gilbert, Ariz., facility, dedicated to building space and missile defense systems, is due to be finished by February 2004.
SEE AND AVOID: Autonomous "see and avoid" capability will be essential for unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) as they become more prevalent on future battlefields, according to Joseph Thomas, vice president of UAV programs for AAI Corporation. "One of the tenets of aviation that I've [lived] with all my life is 'see and be seen,'" Thomas says. "That's your first responsibility - to keep your head on the swivel, make sure you see what's out there, and avoid it. Now a UAV can't do that ...
An article in the Jan. 6 issue of The DAILY incorrectly described which Raytheon units received $443 million in Navy contracts in December. Two contracts totaling $205 million went to Raytheon Missile Systems and $238 million went to Integrated Defense Systems.
NEW DELHI - After conducting about 30 trials in the last six years, the Indian air force has threatened to abandon the indigenously developed Trishul air defense system, saying it is a poor performer. Trishul, intended as a quick-reaction air defense missile, is being developed by the Defence Research and Development Organization (DRDO) for all the military services.
Jan. 14 - 16 -- Naval Institute and AFCEA West 2002-From Change to Transformation, San Diego Convention Center, San Diego, Calif. For more information contact Kim Couranz at (410) 295-1067 or visit [email protected]. Jan. 23 -- Precision Strike Association presents Winter Roundtable 2003 - Global Strategy for Joint Precision Strike. Crystal Gateway Marriott, Salon A, 1700 Jefferson Davis Highway, Arlington, Va. For more information call Leslie Mueller at (301) 475-6513 or email [email protected].
The House member whose congressional district includes the Lockheed Martin F/A-22 and C-130 production lines in Marietta, Ga., has picked up a seat on the House Armed Services Committee (HASC), which will help him look out for the interests of those aircraft facilities. Rep. Phil Gingrey (R-Ga.), who won a new House seat in the November elections, also has Naval Air Station Atlanta and Dobbins Air Reserve Base in his district.
EASING THE STING: The Navy plans to spend more than $400 million on training systems to ease the sting of closing its controversial live-fire training base on Vieques Island, Puerto Rico. Military training at the Caribbean range will cease by May 1, Navy Secretary Gordon England says. Navy officials have found training alternatives that will cushion the loss of Vieques, and which include "new technologies and range announcements," according to a Navy statement.
'POLITICAL PROBLEM': Poland's decision to buy 48 F-16 Block 52 Fighting Falcons is of "no consequence" to Dassault Aviation, Dassault spokesman Gerard David says. Poland on Dec. 27 chose the F-16 over Dassault's Mirage 2000-5 MK 2 and Gripen International's JAS-39. The Polish decision represents a problem for Europe, David says. "For Dassault at this time, 75 percent of our turnover is for the Falcon business jet. We have lot of deliveries expected for the Rafale and the Mirage 2000-5, including the [United Arab] Emirates and Greece," he says.
NO DATE: A Pentagon review of the Air Force's progress in resolving troublesome glitches impairing the F/A-22 Raptor program is supposed to come this month, but so far no date has been set, an Air Force spokeswoman says. In December, the Defense Acquisition Board ordered the Air Force to report back on efforts to fix a fin buffet problem, a software glitch and its budget plans for its Lot 3 purchase. At the same time, the DAB approved the Air Force's plan to cut F/A-22 orders to pay for an estimated $700 million cost overrun.
The Boeing Co. said Jan. 10 it has made an acquisition that will help it serve the intelligence community. Boeing acquired Conquest Inc., an Annapolis Junction, Md.-based company that supplies enterprise architecture, systems engineering and software technology to the intelligence community. The company, founded in 1989, has 20 contracts worth more than $250 million over the next three years, company officials said.
The Norwegian Air Force has chosen an American supplier of information technology and engineering services to provide Link-16 training for its fleet of F-16 Fighting Falcons. Under the $6 million contract awarded in December, MATCOM International Corp., of Alexandria, Va., will instruct Norwegian F-16 pilots on the use of the Link-16 system and provide ground personnel with testing, evaluation, maintenance and systems management to deploy the system.
AGING AIRCRAFT: Even if the Defense Department carries out all of its current modernization plans for weapon systems, the age of Air Force airlifters, bombers and fighters will remain a concern, the Congressional Budget Office says in a new report. By 2020, each type of aircraft is expected to have an average age exceeding half its service life. For instance, mainly due to the aging C-130 fleet, the average age of airlifters is projected to rise to 29 years by 2020, nearly 40 percent above the top of the half-life range.
SALE COMPLETE: Boeing completed the sale of its plant in Spokane, Wash., to Triumph Group, the company said. The facility will continue to supply floor panels, air ducts and flight deck components to Boeing Commercial Airplanes.
NASA FUNDING: The Senate Appropriations Committee has postponed action on its remaining fiscal 2003 appropriations bills until at least the week of Jan. 13-17, because the Senate has been unable to reach agreement on how to organize itself for the new 108th Congress. The committee had hoped to meet Jan. 10 to approve revisions to its remaining fiscal 2003 appropriations bills, including NASA's (DAILY, Jan. 7). The Senate has even begun to consider skipping the Appropriations Committee and sending the revised bills directly to the full Senate in an effort to save time.
CLASSIFIED SESSION: The Senate Commerce Committee may meet in closed session on the potential problem of U.S. airliners coming under attack by shoulder-fired missiles. Sen. Bill Nelson (R-Fla.) said in a Jan. 9 committee hearing on the future of the airline industry that he favors "such a discussion in an appropriate classified fashion because that's something we've got to face." Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), who will assume chairmanship of the committee, apparently agreed.
L MINUS TWO: NASA will decide Jan. 14 whether the crack found in a fuel line support assembly during a routine inspection of the shuttle Discovery merits scrubbing the scheduled Jan. 16 launch of shuttle Columbia on STS-107 - a pure science mission that will carry Israel's first astronaut. The space agency has spent the past few weeks reproducing the cracks in test articles to determine whether the shuttles can fly safely with them (DAILY, Jan. 6). "They're in the home stretch," Johnson Space Center spokesman James Hartsfield says. "There's optimism that we can ...
GUN WORK: General Dynamics Armament and Technical Products will provide 40 M61A1 20mm Gatling Guns and ammunition feed systems to Boeing for the F-15, under an $18.9 million contract.
