SHARE THE UCAV: Boeing probably should not be the sole supplier of Unmanned Combat Air Vehicles (UCAVs) to the Department of Defense, according to Merluzeau. Already the prime contractor for the Air Force's UCAV program, the company also is competing with Northrop Grumman to build the carrier-based Navy UCAV. "We believe that the acquisition of [only] Boeing platforms ... might be a problem, due to the acquisition cycle of UCAVs," Merluzeau says.
NIMA SUPPLIERS: The National Imagery and Mapping Agency is expected later this month to revise the slate of companies supplying it with geospatial intelligence. Geospatial intelligence includes imagery, terrain elevation data and other forms of information about the Earth. The supplier selection process is highly secretive, but sources say they believe NIMA plans to consolidate the work among fewer prime contractors than it uses now.
GERMAN SPENDING: Over the long term, Germany is likely to increase its defense spending, according to Jacqueline Grapin, president of the European Institute. "In the short term, you have the conjunction between the current economic difficulties and certain campaign promises made during the elections," she says. As the economy improves, Germany will have more reason to sustain and perhaps increase defense spending, Grapin says. "Certainly they don't want to be criticized for doing too much. Nor do they want to be criticized for doing too little.
LONDON - Gripen International, the Anglo/Swedish consortium marketing the JAS Gripen, has submitted its first counter-trade claims to the Offset Coordination Office in the Hungarian Ministry of Economy and Transport. Hungary signed a 10-year, $490 million lease agreement for 12 single-seat JAS 39A Gripens and two twin-seat JAS 39B combat trainer versions in November 2001. The company's offsets are worth about 39 billion Hungarian forints ($165 million), and involve four partner companies, according to Gripen International.
ITT Industries' defense segment is having a record year and its revenues for 2003 are expected to grow 5 to 7 percent, the company said Dec. 5. Company Chairman, President and CEO Lou Giuliano said in a conference call with investors and analysts that revenues for the Defense Electronics & Services segment are expected to total nearly $1.5 billion, which will account for nearly 31 percent of the company's overall 2002 revenues.
GETTING CROWDED: The International Space Station (ISS) may get more crowded in the next few years, according to NASA and its international partners. Station partners meeting in Japan Dec. 6 approved a program plan that calls for "an expanded scientific program" on ISS beginning in 2006/2007, which would include "significantly increased quantity of permanent crew," up from the current three.
The Defense Department's proposal to transfer $104 million from various programs to the Patriot Advanced Capability-3 (PAC-3) account is running into resistance from the Senate Appropriations defense subcommittee, a source said Dec. 6.
The U.S. Air Force is slashing the number of F/A-22s it plans to buy to pay for a 20-month extension of the current development phase, an estimated $700 million delay triggered by unresolved software and fin buffet problems, an Air Force official said Dec. 6. Marvin Sambur, Air Force assistant secretary for acquisition, didn't specify how many of the planes could be cut, but once cited a reporter's suggestion of fewer than six as a fair estimate.
The Greek government is expected to award a $200 million-plus contract in coming days to integrate security command centers for the summer 2004 Olympic Games in Athens, sources said Dec. 6. An industry source said the Greek defense ministry, the procurement agency for the command center project, likely will announce the winning company the week of Dec. 9-13. Pierre Kosmidis, a spokesman for the Olympic organizing committee, said an announcement is expected to occur "within the next few days."
MINIMAL RISK: The financial risks to Boeing and United Technologies are minimal if United Airlines files for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, according to a report from Merrill Lynch. Senior aerospace and defense analyst Byron Callan says Boeing Capital Corp., Boeing's financing division, may have financed between 10 and 12 of United Airlines' 777 twin-aisle jets delivered in 2001-02. "There is a risk if UAL defaults on finance obligations for these aircraft and Boeing has to find new customers for the aircraft," Callan says.
A senior defense official has told Congress that the Bush Administration's fiscal 2004 defense budget will not give the go-ahead to an Air Force proposal to lease 100 Boeing 767 air refueling aircraft, a source said Dec. 6. But the official did not indicate whether the Administration is getting ready to kill the proposal or is simply delaying a decision until sometime after it releases its FY '04 budget in early February, the source told The DAILY.
A recently released U.S. Commerce Department report says several market opportunities exist for suborbital reusable launch vehicles (RLVs), and others may be emerging. Emerging markets include military surveillance, commercial earth imagery, fast package delivery, high-speed passenger transportation, advertising/promotion and space tourism, according to the report. Although the space shuttle is the only RLV in existence, several private companies are working to develop much smaller suborbital RLVs, according to the report.
The North Atlantic Treaty Organization's (NATO) proposed rapid response force represents NATO's "best and last chance" to remain relevant in the 21st century, according to Richard Kugler, distinguished research professor at the Center for Technology and National Security Policy.
SATELLITE STUDY: Sens. James Inhofe (R-Okla.) and Daniel Akaka (D-Hawaii), members of the Senate Armed Services Committee, want the General Accounting Office to review whether the Defense Department's practices for buying commercial satellite services promote competition in the industry. Intelsat was required to convert from an intergovernmental organization to a private firm under a two-year-old federal law designed to promote competition for satellite communications services. But some Intelsat competitors contend that DOD's procurement practices still favor Intelsat.
Dec. 10 - 12 -- Association of the United States Army Space and Missile Defense Symposium Exhibition - "Integrated Air and Missile Defense in a Transforming World." For more information contact Christine Ferraro at (703) 907-2687 or [email protected]. Dec. 10 - 12 -- 2002 USAF Aircraft Integrity Program Conference. Harbor Resort, Savannah, Ga. For more information call (937) 255-5458 or go to www.asipcon.com.
NEW DELHI - Russian President Vladimir Putin and Indian Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee discussed defense cooperation during a summit here this week, including joint production of the anti-ship supersonic cruise missile BrahMos and air-to-air tactical missiles for the Indian air force, Indian defense ministry sources said.
HIMARS ACCELERATION: A potential move to speed up production of the U.S. Army's C-130-deployable High Mobility Artillery Rocket System (HIMARS) would be decided within the fiscal 2004 budget, a Lockheed Martin spokesman says. The wheeled artillery launch system was on a list of acceleration targets this fall, and the company briefed the possibility to the Pentagon's deputy acquisition chief Michael Wynne.
Boeing Rocketdyne's RS-83 hydrogen-fueled reusable engine program is closing up shop in anticipation of NASA not renewing its contract in May 2003, while the team prepares to shift its focus entirely to the kerosene-fueled RS-84. Under its restructured Space Launch Initiative (SLI), NASA is de-emphasizing hydrogen engines and placing greater emphasis on more technically challenging kerosene engines to power future reusable launch vehicles (RLVs), in part to align itself better with Defense Department needs (DAILY, Nov. 20).
An Atlas IIA rocket successfully launched NASA's Tracking and Data Relay System-J (TDRS-J) satellite from Cape Canaveral, Fla., Dec. 5. Liftoff from pad 36A took place at 9:42 p.m. EST. TDRS-J separated from the rocket 30 minutes later, and an hour after launch NASA's Deep Space Network ground station in Australia received the first signals from the spacecraft. For the next two weeks, transfer orbit operations will boost the 7,039-pound (3,196-kilogram) satellite into a geosynchronous orbit 22,300 miles above the equator.
A U.S. proposal that NATO members play a military support role in a possible war against Iraq is "not unreasonable," a NATO policy planning official said Dec. 5. Accepting such a role would require "countries like Germany, for example, to either opt out, in the sense of 'constructive abstention' ... or they redefine what they mean by military involvement," the official, Michael Ruhle said in an interview before addressing a meeting held by the European Institute in Washington.
Resolutions coming from the recent NATO Summit in Prague have laid the groundwork for the European countries to begin addressing new security threats, according to a senior NATO official. "Prague recalibrated NATO's agenda in line with the security environment post-9/11 and therefore, also in line with the two dominant U.S. concerns: terrorism and weapons of mass destruction," Michael Ruhle, head of NATO policy planning said.
