A TRW-built laser vaporized two 150mm projectiles in the first successful use of a directed energy weapon against artillery rounds, Army and industry officials said Nov. 5. The Mobile Tactical High Energy Laser (MTHEL) testbed scored both hits during live-fire tests Nov. 5 at the High Energy Laser Systems Test Facility at White Sands Missile Range, N.M. "From an Army standpoint, this shows that this [weapon] has a lot of versatility," William Congo, spokesman for the U.S. Army Space and Missile Defense Command, told The DAILY.
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.
NEW DELHI - Pakistan may seek to buy missile defense systems from the United States, according to a diplomat with the Pakistan High Commission here. The diplomat said Islamabad is interested in buying the Patriot Air Defense System, the Hawk missile system or the Nike Hercules system. A spokeswoman with the Defense Security Cooperation Agency (DSCA) said the agency has had no contact with Pakistan on the issue. The diplomat said "preliminary" talks have begun with unspecified U.S. officials.
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.
FLYBY: NASA's Galileo spacecraft is undertaking a "sprint" into the inner reaches of Jupiter's system, including a visit near the tiny moon Amalthea, NASA said Nov. 5. The measurements may be the last taken by the spacecraft, which launched in 1989 and reached Jupiter in 1995. Galileo also will make its closest pass to Jupiter, flying 44,500 miles above the visible cloud tops.
Northrop Grumman will continue work on the Total System Support Responsibility (TSSR) contract for the U.S. Air Force's E-8C Joint Surveillance Target Attack Radar System (Joint STARS) aircraft, the company said Nov. 4. The one-year, $98.5 million contract is for the third year of the seven-year program. Northrop Grumman was awarded the TSSR contract, which has a total estimated value of more than $500 million, two years ago (DAILY, Sept. 21, 2000).
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.
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.
ENGINE SALES: International Aero Engines (IAE) will provide V2500 engines to Air China, IAE senior partner Rolls-Royce announced Nov. 4. The company said its share of the work is worth $30 million. IAE is a consortium that includes Pratt & Whitney of the U.S., Aero Engines Corp. of Japan, and MTU Aero Engines of Germany. The engines will be used to power Air China's new fleet of eight Airbus A319 twinjets.
The 15 unmanned ground systems that are being designed to receive data from satellites in the National Polar-orbiting Operational Environmental Satellite System (NPOESS) could be relocated if conditions warrant such a move, according to an industry source.
Credit analysts with Standard & Poor's have upgraded the ratings outlook for ITT Industries, whose defense segment manufactures the Army's Single Channel Ground and Airborne Radio System (SINCGARS). Analysts affirmed the company's "BBB+" corporate credit rating in a Nov. 1 report and raised its ratings outlook from stable to positive.
The Defense Department's buyers of weapons, other goods and services gained sweeping powers to govern the acquisition process and contractors received long-promised protections against risky contracts and unwanted research and development costs, under interim Pentagon guidelines adopted last week. Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz suspended the series-5000 acquisition regulations in a memorandum dated Oct. 30, directing the Pentagon to rewrite the acquisition rulebook by Feb. 27.
Northrop Grumman and TRW will begin sending their shareholders a proxy statement Nov. 5 containing information about Northrop Grumman's proposed acquisition of TRW. The statement, which was approved by the Securities and Exchange Commission last week, details the transaction terms on which shareholders of both companies will vote on Dec. 11.
Northrop Grumman has delivered more than half of a recent order for 16 Litening Extended Range (ER) targeting pods for use on Air National Guard F-16s, the company announced Nov. 4. The $19.3 million contract, received in late September, calls for completion of Litening ER pod deliveries by September 2003, but the company expects to have all the units delivered by the middle of this month.
NASA's Stardust spacecraft successfully completed a close flyby of asteroid Annefrank on Nov. 1, in a rehearsal of procedures the spacecraft will use during its scheduled January 2004 encounter with comet Wild 2. During the flyby, Stardust passed within roughly 3,300 kilometers (2,050 miles) of the asteroid, which is four kilometers (2.5 miles) wide. Flight controllers later received radio signals confirming the spacecraft's health through the Canberra, Australia complex of NASA's Deep Space Network (DSN).
Northrop Grumman may benefit in two ways from its recently announced joint venture with German warship builder Howaldtswerke Deutsche Werft, according to senior naval analyst Stuart Slade of Forecast International/DMS. The first is that Northrop Grumman will be able to leverage the design and construction expertise of HDW and its Swedish subsidiary, Kockums AB, in building smaller warships.
Defense Department auditors challenged the Navy's decision last spring to resume flight tests on the V-22 Osprey despite knowing its fuel cells failed to meet military crashworthy standards. The MV-22 returned to flight in May after a nearly 18-month hiatus caused by two crashes in 2000 that killed 23 Marines. But the Pentagon's Office of Inspector General (OIG) "expressed concerns" about returning the V-22 to flight with non-crashworthy fuel cells in a May 22 memorandum, according to an OIG report dated Oct. 24.
The Army Materiel Command (AMC) is creating a new subordinate command aimed at speeding up the fielding of new technology. With little fanfare, AMC set up the Research, Development and Engineering (RDE) Command on a provisional basis Oct. 1 at Aberdeen Proving Ground, Md. Maj. Gen. John Doesburg, commanding general of the Army Soldier and Biological Chemical Command at Aberdeen, is leading the provisional command.
LCA WORK: BAE Systems will supply digital flight control computer equipment for India's Light Combat Aircraft (LCA), the company said Nov. 4. The contract was awarded by India's Aeronautical Development Establishment (ADE), for work that will be worth about $20 million, the company said.
NEW DELHI - The Indian Ministry of Defence has approved the purchase of the Russian-made Smerch rocket launcher system and the induction of the advanced version of the indigenously built multiple rocket launcher system, Pinaka. India approved the Smerch system after successfully testing it in June and July in the desert region of Rajasthan, according to a senior defense ministry official. India plans to buy about 15 of the systems.
Armored vehicle manufacturers in the United States are unlikely to benefit significantly if the United Kingdom Ministry of Defence (MOD) decides to move forward with the development of the Future Rapid Effects Systems (FRES) program, according to a senior U.S. weapons analyst. FRES, which is the conceptual stage, involves the replacement or upgrading of 5,000 to 8,000 combat vehicles. The program could be worth as much as 2.5 billion pounds ($3.9 billion).
