European defense company representatives called on the U.S. Dec. 16 to further streamline its process for granting export licenses to companies doing business with European firms. "U.S export controls are ... a deterrent to international collaboration," said Michael Bell, group head of Strategic Analysis at BAE Systems. The problem isn't getting the U.S. to approve the export of items on the Commerce Department's dual-use Control List or the State Department's Munitions List, Bell said.
The Defense Advance Research Projects Agency (DARPA) will launch flight tests next fall on an airborne node that packs communications relay, jamming and signals intelligence capabilities into a single unit, an industry official said Dec. 16.
The DAILY incorrectly described the Defense Department's hierarchy in a Dec. 16 story. The future undersecretary of defense for intelligence, who has not been named, will not outrank E.C. "Pete" Aldridge Jr., the undersecretary of defense for acquisition, technology and logistics.
Sen. Mike Enzi (R-Wyo.) plans to reintroduce legislation in 2003 to revamp the Export Administration Act, a Cold War-era law that restricts the export of dual-use products, or items that can have both military and civilian uses. The Senate in September 2001 passed an Enzi bill to overhaul the EAA, but comparable legislation stalled in the House. Lawmakers wrapped up the 107th Congress in November, so EAA legislation will have to be reintroduced when the 108th Congress convenes in January.
Credit analysts with Standard & Poor's have lowered the ratings on BAE Systems' short-term bond notes after the company acknowledged last week it had fallen behind on two key defense programs. Analysts lowered the company's commercial paper rating from "A-1" to "A-2" and placed its long-term "A-" corporate credit rating on CreditWatch with negative implications.
NEW DELHI - Forty-one flight tests of India's Light Combat Aircraft (LCA) have successfully been conducted using two technology demonstrator aircraft, Indian Defence Minister George Fernandes said Dec. 16. Fernandes said the lifting of U.S. sanctions on equipment used in the aircraft is helping move the program along, and he is hopeful the Indian air force will accept the LCA by 2006.
The Air Force is devising a new concept of operations (CONOPS) for lethal unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) in which they would be released into a theater and loiter until they are tasked by a larger network, according to Maj. Gen. Robert Chedister.
The Air Force is slated to announce cuts in manpower across its major commands on Dec. 17, a spokesman for the service said. "All the different commands ... are getting some sort of adjustment," said Capt. Peter Kerr of Air Force Headquarters at the Pentagon. "As far as I know, it is reductions," he said. The numbers will be detailed in an announcement slated for Tuesday afternoon, he said.
Arianespace has appointed the inquiry board that will investigate the Dec. 11 failure of the new, heavier-lift version of its Ariane 5 launch vehicle, the company announced Dec. 16. The heavier-lift configuration features an additional cryogenic upper stage that provides a 10-ton payload capacity, up from 6.5 tons for the previous version. This new variant had to be destroyed on its first flight 7.5 minutes after lifting off from Kourou, French Guiana, after an engine anomaly caused a problem with the vehicle's flight control system (DAILY, Dec. 13).
NEW DELHI - Antrix Corp. Ltd. (ACL), the marking arm of the state-owned Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO), has launched a marketing drive to export small remote-sensing satellites worldwide and forge links with aerospace and communications companies for hardware and other backup support.
The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency and unmanned aerial vehicle manufacturer AeroVironment Inc. soon will fly a fuel cell-powered micro air vehicle (MAV) with the potential to achieve multi-hour endurance.
The new undersecretary of defense for intelligence will be given a broad task - evaluating and improving the product of the military intelligence community - and a small staff, said a senior aide to Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld. Details of the controversial office's purpose and structure have been rare, but Richard Havers, Rumsfeld's special assistant for intelligence and an architect of the new office, provided new insight and a heated defense of the concept in remarks to the Shephard's UAV USA conference on Dec. 13.
ACQUISITION: Computer Sciences Corp. plans to buy the technology company DynCorp for $950 million, including the assumption of DynCorp's $273 million debt. DynCorp will become part of CSC's Federal Sector Unit. The move, which requires shareholder approval, will help CSC support the new Homeland Security Department, the company said.
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].
NORAD ROLE: The missile defense duties of the new U.S. Northern Command may be moved to the binational North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD), according to Army Lt. Gen. Edward Anderson, deputy commander of Northern Command and vice commander of the U.S. element of NORAD. The U.S. is discussing such a transfer with Canada, the other member of NORAD. Northern Command's roles, which still are being defined, include defending the U.S. against ballistic and cruise missiles. The U.S.
PRAGUE - The Czech cabinet may not discuss options for the modernization of its air force until the end of February, The DAILY has learned. Defense minister Jaroslav Tvrdik was due to present options for the future protection of Czech airspace to the government before the end of this year. But he is expected now to ask for an extension to ensure there is sufficient political support for the proposals, which include leasing used aircraft or buying new ones.
IMPLEMENTATION: Representatives from government agencies and the aviation and space industry are developing an "action plan" to implement the recommendations of the Commission on the Future of the U.S. Aerospace Industry, according to the Aerospace Industries Association (AIA). Officials from the departments of Commerce, State, Defense, Transportation, the FAA and NASA met with industry leaders last week to divide the report's nine recommendations into those that can be accomplished in the short term and those that need more time.
RETIRE 'C4ISR': Although it proved useful for organizing military thinking in the past, the term "C4ISR" (command, control, communications, computers, intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance) is now "damaging," according to Keith Masback, director of ISR integration at Army headquarters. The term is damaging, he says, "because we start to blend and confuse this idea of pipes and routers and switches, with [the] knowledge that has to travel on it.
NEW DELHI - BrahMos, a supersonic cruise missile being developed by an Indo-Russian joint venture, will undergo final trials in January at Balasore missile test range in eastern India. After the trials, the missile is slated to begin production by India's only missile development agency, the Defence Research and Development Laboratory.
WASTED TIME: A key aide to Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld blasts the military for what he says was at least three decades of slow progress on developing unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs). Richard Havers, Rumsfeld's special assistant for intelligence, says "we would have been far ahead of where we are today if the department had consistently kept a strong focus and desire to make this technology work." Havers spoke at a UAV conference in Virginia last week.
MORE FIRE SCOUTS: Chances are "rising" that the Navy will fund the production of additional Northrop Grumman Fire Scout unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), according to Paul Meyer, the company's vice president for business and strategy development. "It appears that the possibility is rising that the Navy will fund some additional systems in 2004 to continue exploitation of the technology and the capability," Meyer says. The Navy canceled production of the Fire Scout late last year.
TOO COSTLY: Installing electro-optic (EO) countermeasure systems on commercial aircraft to counter surface-to-air missile attacks likely would be too costly, according to a report from Merrill Lynch. "We are skeptical that the protection of large civil aircraft against [surface-to-air missile] threats will become a significant market for the companies we follow," senior aerospace and defense analyst Byron Callan says. Assuming a conservative $1 million cost per aircraft, U.S.
