The Tactical Tomahawk program is preparing to conduct its first launch from an underwater rig in the U.S. Navy's Pacific test range later this month, a Navy spokeswoman said. "We are on track and there should be launch soon," said Sandy Schroeder, spokeswoman for the Naval Air Warfare Center at Naval Air Station Patuxent River, Md. Schroeder declined to specify a date for the test, but said the Navy's original plans for an early November test still are "hopeful."
Sen. George Allen (R-Va.) said Nov. 7 that he expects to become chairman of the Senate Commerce Committee's science, technology and space subcommittee with the Republican takeover of the Senate, potentially boosting his efforts to increase funding for aeronautics research and development. Allen has been ranking Republican on the subcommittee. "It always helps to be on the majority side to get anything through," an Allen spokeswoman said.
Contrary to recent press reports, the Global Positioning System (GPS) constellation is healthy despite the loss of some redundant systems, according to the Air Force's chief engineer at the GPS Joint Program Office. "There's some perception that if I lose redundancy on a satellite, somehow the satellite is no longer operational, and that's simply not true," Col. Rick Reaser said during a presentation at the Air Traffic Control Association's 47th annual meeting in Washington Nov. 5.
The aerospace and defense industry is likely to contract even more over the next three or four years as the lack of work and need to remain competitive drive small and mid-tier companies to consolidate, industry observers say. The need to consolidate has its roots in the end of the Cold War, when U.S.-Soviet hostilities ceased and defense budgets began to fall, said Jon Kutler, chairman and CEO of Quarterdeck Investment Partners.
LAUNCH: Arianespace has scheduled the first launch of its heavier-lift Ariane 5 booster for Nov. 28, the company said Nov. 6. The booster, which can carry 10 tons of payload compared with the previous version's 6.5 ton capability, is slated to carry the Hot Bird 7 satellite for Eutelsat and Stentor, a technology demonstrator, for the French space agency.
A B-2 bomber that sustained $2.5 million worth of damage in a maintenance accident at Whiteman Air Force Base, Mo., nearly six months ago is still being repaired, an Air Force spokesman said Nov. 5. Five maintenance crewmen working on the plane's left main landing gear on May 15 were injured when the aircraft collapsed, according to a report released Nov. 4 by Air Combat Command.
Next week, Boeing's Unmanned Combat Armed Rotorcraft (UCAR) team will meet with the Army and the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) for a milestone session to decide, among other things, the preliminary design for the company's version of the aircraft.
ENGINE PICK: China Aviation Industry Corp. II has selected Pratt & Whitney Canada's PT6B-67A for its Z-8F helicopter upgrade program, the company said Nov. 6.
AEROSPACE CORP., El Segundo, Calif. Russell E. Averill has been appointed principal director in the Electronic Programs Division in Chantilly, Va. Harlan F. Bittner has been promoted to corporate chief architect/engineer and general manager of the Office of the Chief Architect/Engineer. David J. Gorney has been promoted to general manager of the Navigation Division. Michael P. Healy has been appointed to principal engineer in the Office of the National Security Space Architect, Fairfax, Va.
Congress should consider extending the deadline for the Quadrennial Defense Review to give new administrations more time to conduct the study, according to the General Accounting Office. The Bush Administration was required to submit its QDR to Congress on Sept. 30, 2001, just eight months after taking office. As a result, some issues, including force structure needs, were not assessed as thoroughly as some officials would have liked, the GAO wrote in a report released Nov. 5.
LAUNCH SET: Boeing's new Delta IV rocket remains on schedule for its Nov. 16 launch, the company said. The company said it successfully completed the mating of the Eutelsat W5 spacecraft to the Delta IV
NEW FACILITIES: Lockheed Martin Corp. has begun a $13.6 million capital investment project to build fuel test and flight operations facilities at its aeronautics plant in Marietta, Ga., the company said Nov. 6. "These new facilities will greatly increase our ability to quickly and efficiently prepare and deliver aircraft as we progress toward high-rate production," Bob Rearden, the company's vice president and F/A-22 program general manager, said in a statement.
DRS Technologies, maker of advanced electro-optical systems and ruggedized computers, said Nov. 6 that recent acquisitions helped boost the company's net earnings for the second quarter of 2003, which rose 71 percent over the same period a year ago. Net income for the company's second quarter, which ended Sept. 30, rose from $4.5 million a year ago to $7.7 million this year. Sales for the quarter rose 39 percent over a year ago, from $116.2 million a to $161.2 million this year.
RADAR ROLLOUT: Northrop Grumman Corp. rolled out the first Multi-role Electronically Scanned Array (MESA) radar antenna for Australia's Wedgetail airborne early warning and control system this week, the company said Nov. 6. The MESA was designed under contract to the Boeing Co., which is building the system for the Australian military. The MESA antenna will be tested through the first quarter of next year.
The results of the Nov. 5 congressional elections likely will have an impact on defense programs, but only at the margins, Capitol Hill sources said Nov. 6. The Bush Administration's missile defense program, a frequent target of Democratic criticism, could receive less scrutiny in the Senate now that Republicans will take over that chamber, but Bush has gotten most of what he wanted on missile defense even with a Democratic Senate, sources said.
Early doubts by the Defense Department's top acquisition official about using an F/A-18F Super Hornet derivative as a U.S. Navy radar jammer appear to be waning as a critical budget decision approaches, a Boeing Co. executive said Nov. 6. E.C. "Pete" Aldridge Jr., undersecretary for acquisition, technology and logistics, earlier this year panned a joint proposal by the Air Force and Navy to replace aging EA-6B Prowlers with the EA-18G Growler and a mix of bombers and unmanned planes, but program officials say they have detected a change.
Senior Lockheed Martin officials will travel to California next week to express support for the state's small and mid-sized aerospace suppliers, according to the non-profit California Manufacturing Technology Center (CMTC). The team will be led by Richard Briggs, the F/A-22 Raptor affordability integrator, who works for the company's Aeronautics unit based in Marietta, Ga.
HAMILTON SUNDSTRAND has teamed with Japan's Ishikawajima-Harima Heavy Industries (IHI) to support development of the HS engine control system for Rolls-Royce's Trent 900 engine. The engine control system includes the full authority digital engine control (FADEC), fuel metering unit, variable stator vane (VSV) actuator, fuel pump and permanent magnet alternator. IHI will be responsible for providing the VSV actuator and the input/output board for the FADEC. Hamilton Sundstrand became a partner with Rolls-Royce on the Trent 900 in November 2001.
The Senate should encourage the Bush Administration to seek arms cuts beyond those contained in a proposed treaty with Russia, according to Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman Carl Levin (D-Mich.). The Senate also should urge the President Bush to consider speeding up the reductions contained in the treaty, Levin wrote in an Oct. 7 letter to leaders of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, which is drafting a resolution to ratify the arms pact.
Raytheon Co. is gearing up for the first test of its High-Frequency Surface Wave Radar (HFSWR) against small jet aircraft posing as cruise missiles, company representatives said Nov. 5. In a 120-day test starting in late December or early January, Raytheon will demonstrate whether the radar can detect offshore cruise missiles well before they would reach targets on land, said James Bunnell, a Raytheon business development manager. The test will take place in Key West, Florida.
The Pentagon's Missile Defense Agency soon will retire the Airborne Surveillance Testbed (AST), a highly modified Boeing 767 that has been used since 1985 to collect infrared data on missile tests, according to MDA.
ORION UPGRADE: EADS CASA will modernize nine Lockheed Martin P-3 Orion aircraft the Brazilian air force bought from the U.S. Navy, the company said Nov. 4. It also will sell 12 C-295 aircraft to Brazil to replace that country's aging C-115 Buffalo transports, EADS CASA said.
DATA SHARING: The U.S. Air Force has awarded MacDonald, Dettwiler and Associates of Richmond, B.C., a $768,000 contract that will allow it to receive imagery from Canada's RADARSAT-1 satellite at its three Eagle Vision ground sites. Currently, only the Eagle Vision station in Ramstein, Germany, is able to receive data from RADARSAT-1.
