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.
'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.
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.
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 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.
One of the biggest challenges for Raytheon Space and Airborne Systems over the next five years will be driving the cost down on its cutting-edge aerospace products, according to Jack Kelble, president of the business unit. "It's a very competitive market. Northrop Grumman does an excellent job of producing [radar] arrays at a reasonable costs," Kelble said in an interview Jan. 9. "We're both working to drive down the costs of arrays."
Rep. Randy "Duke" Cunningham (R-Calif.), a member of the House Appropriations Committee's defense subcommittee, is threatening to oppose some of the Defense Department's missile defense programs if the Air Force does not get enough money to buy the Lockheed Martin F/A-22 Raptor.
NEW DELHI - India's short-range Agni-1 was test-fired Jan. 9 from a mobile launcher on Wheeler's Island in the Bay of Bengal, according to a senior official with the Indian defense ministry. "The launch of the one-stage missile is expected to help defense scientists validate some crucial technologies, like guidance and telemetry systems," the official said.
In its latest Operational Evolution Plan (OEP), the FAA calls on the air travel industry to help foot the bill for equipment modernizations that will help the National Airspace System (NAS) keep pace with future demand. Although air traffic demand has been down following the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, the FAA expects traffic will return to pre-Sept. 11 growth patterns between 2005 and 2007. FAA estimates the OEP will allow for a 45 percent capacity increase by 2013.
NOMINATIONS: President Bush will nominate former congressman Paul McHale of Pennsylvania to be assistant secretary of defense for homeland security, the White House said Jan. 9. Bush also will nominate Christopher Ryan Henry, the corporate vice president for strategic assessment and development at Science Applications International Corp. (SAIC), to be deputy undersecretary of defense for policy.
Alliant Techsystems (ATK) has acquired Composite Optics Inc. (COI), of San Diego, the company said Jan. 9. COI builds telescope structures, mirrors, satellite structures, antenna reflectors and other equipment, which is in place on spacecraft such as NASA's James Webb Space Telescope and Mars Global Surveyor and the U.S. Air Force's Airborne Laser.
NEW DELHI - Indian and U.S. officials plan to hold a space conference in India later this year to foster space cooperation between the two countries. The conference will build on an agreement made last year during Indian Prime Minister Atal Behair Vajpayee's visit to Washington, when the two countries decided to foster cooperation in space technologies such as satellite navigation services, environmental monitoring and the Global Positioning System.
RAISED: Standard & Poor's changed its outlook on Rockwell Collins from negative to stable, the ratings service said Jan. 9. "Rockwell's strong balance sheet, fairly conservative financial policy, and growing military business are expected to offset the impact of the continued decline in the commercial aerospace market on the firm's solid credit profile," S&P analyst Christopher DeNicolo said in a statement. S&P affirmed the company's ratings, including its "A" long-term corporate credit rating and "A-1" short-term rating.
Rep. Duncan Hunter (R-Calif.), the new chairman of the House Armed Services Committee (HASC), said Jan. 9 that he hopes to boost funding and oversight for weapons programs and that he has appointed new subcommittee overseers for aircraft, missile defense and military space. The existing five subcommittees will be replaced with six new ones: tactical air and land forces; strategic forces; projection forces; readiness; terrorism, unconventional threats and capabilities; and total force.
The Army's special operations aviation component will expand its capability by removing some current non-core duties, according to a senior defense official. A shortage of Army special operations pilots and aircraft has hampered plans to increase the size of the force, which has been in high demand in the war on terror and stands to play a key role in a potential conflict in Iraq.
JSF WORK: Rolls-Royce has contracted with Philips Aerospace of the Netherlands to supply fan cases for the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter's F136 engine, the company said Jan. 9. The companies had signed a memorandum of understanding to work together during the Paris Air Show in 1999. The first F136 engine is to begin testing in 2004, with production units available beginning in 2010, according to the company.
Boeing Phantom Works has demonstrated that the 20-year-old Link 16 airborne network can be converted into an "Internet-like" connection for dramatically improving collaboration on time critical strikes, the company said. Capping a nearly four-year development effort, a recent demonstration involved a link between a strike node aboard the F-15E1 Advanced Technology Demonstrator and a command and control node (C2) on the 737 Avionics Flying Laboratory, said Don Winter, director of network-centric operations at Phantom Works.
The replacement of Goodrich Chairman and CEO David Burner by current Chief Operating Officer Marshall Larsen is unlikely to result in significant changes for the company over the next two years, according to a U.S. aerospace analyst. Goodrich announced Jan. 9 that Larsen would replace Burner as CEO on April 15 during a company board of directors meeting. The board approved the succession plan early last year, Goodrich officials said.
Through its proposed Advanced Theater Transport (ATT) and Light Aerial Multipurpose Vehicle (LAMV) concepts, Boeing is offering the Army alternatives to rotorcraft for battlefield mobility, according to company officials. Boeing is marketing the ATT to meet the Army's Advanced Maneuver Transport (AMT) requirement, which translates to the ability to vertically lift one 20-ton vehicle in the Army's Future Combat Systems (FCS) program. Sikorsky and Bell Helicopter Textron are working on large rotorcraft concepts for AMT (DAILY, Jan. 9).
The Air Force has plans to field a new high-band signal intelligence (SIGINT) payload on its Global Hawk fleet in fiscal 2005, but details of the military's overall SIGINT acquisition strategy still are not settled.
CNES, Paris Arnaud Benedetti has been named director of communications and education. CORDIEM, Arlington, Va. Harvey Smart has been named senior account manager for the Americas, and Vic Petty has been named account manager for the Americas. ENTELA, Grand Rapids, Mich. Paul Muia has been named sales manager for the company's Canadian office in Toronto. FAIRCHILD CONTROLS, Frederick, Md. Marc Lienard has been appointed vice president of business development.
AIA ELECTIONS: Vance D. Coffman, the chairman and CEO of Lockheed Martin Corp., has been named chairman of the Aerospace Industries Association's board of governors. Alan R. Mulally, president and CEO of Boeing Commercial Airplanes, has been named vice chairman of the board. John W. Douglass was re-elected president and CEO of AIA, and George F. Copsey was re-elected secretary-treasurer.
