The Inventus System One (S-1) unmanned aerial vehicle had a "flawless" first flight on Oct. 21 from a dry lake bed near Las Vegas, UAV builder Lew Aerospace Inc. said Oct. 22. The $269,000 Inventus S-1 system is designed to have a maximum loiter time of 30 hours, a range of 2,000 miles and a top altitude of 10,000 feet, according to the company, which is marketing the UAV for defense, law enforcement, government and other uses.
The operational evaluation of the Evolved SeaSparrow Missile (ESSM) has been delayed by five months, to March 2003, because a ship slated to test fire the Raytheon missile will not be available on schedule, according to the U.S. Navy, which is developing the ESSM with several countries.
TITAN BUY: Titan Corp., which provides information and communications systems to military and other government buyers, said Oct. 23 it has completed the acquisition of Wave Science Inc., which builds radio components and communications systems, for $8.5 million cash. The company has expertise in analog and digital systems and in cryptographic design for radio products used by the U.S. military, Titan said.
Australian companies could reap more than $150 million over the next decade from work related to the development phase of the Joint Strike Fighter [JSF], Australian government officials said Oct. 23. Terms of the Australian government's entry into the JSF's system design and development phase call for Australian companies to receive contracts worth more than the country's $150 million investment in the program, according to the freshly minted agreement.
The team of BAE Systems and Lockheed Martin plan to ask the Defense Department for about $5 million for further testing of the TRACER armored reconnaissance vehicle, a senior Lockheed Martin officials said. That amount represents the "lion's share" of the $8.5 million the Army has allocated for the testing of armored reconnaissance vehicles, said Ken McGinty, TRACER program director for Lockheed Martin Missiles and Fire Control.
MOSCOW - The Russian State Commission cleared a Soyuz FG launch vehicle to launch Oct. 30 carrying a Soyuz TMA-1 spacecraft to the International Space Station, despite a recent Soyuz booster launch failure. A Soyuz-U launch vehicle, which is similar to the FG, exploded shortly after liftoff from the Plesetsk Cosmodrome last week (DAILY, Oct. 17).
Congress likely will approve a $10 billion war reserve fund in the future, although lawmakers left it out of the $355.1 billion fiscal 2003 defense appropriations bill President Bush signed Oct. 23, an aerospace and defense financial analyst said. "Congress doesn't like having a lot of free money floating around," said Tom Baranauskas, a defense budget analyst for Forecast International/DMS. However, lawmakers likely will approve the fund down the road, especially if military action against Iraq occurs, he said.
At least five months before the High Mobility Artillery Rocket System [HIMARS] completes its development cycle, top Defense Department and Army officials are discussing options for speeding up the Lockheed Martin program, a company executive said Oct. 23.
AMERICAN SCIENCE AND ENGINEERING, Billerica, Mass. Ernest J. Moniz, a professor of physics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, has been elected to the company's board of directors. BEARING INSPECTION INC., Los Alamitos, Calif. Drew Baker has been promoted to vice president of marketing and repair development. BOEING TRAVEL MANAGEMENT, Bellevue, Wash. Craig Saddler has been named president. BOMBARDIER BUSINESS JET SOLUTIONS, Dallas
NASA's early efforts to develop next-generation nuclear power systems for spacecraft are proceeding well, according to Nuclear Systems Initiative (NSI) Program Executive Ray Taylor, although congressional cuts in NSI's budget probably will put it behind schedule.
Two European shipbuilders have signed an agreement with Northrop Grumman Corp. to develop a stealthy warship that could become the Navy's Littoral Combat Ship. As part of the agreement, Howaldtswerke Deutsche Werft AG (HDW) of Germany and its Swedish subsidiary, Kockums AB, will team with Northrop Grumman's Ship Systems Sector to design, build and sell Visby-class corvettes.
Accelerating the development of the Medium Extended Air Defense System (MEADS) by three to five years isn't as simple as pouring more money into the program, as one of the project's sponsors once hoped, a top executive of the international joint venture MEADS International said Oct. 22. "It's not a question of [adding] more funding to accelerate it," said Klaus Reidel, MEADS' executive vice president. "You can give us more money, [but] we don't think you can significantly reduce the schedule."
A B-1B Lancer bomber fitted with the Block E upgrade had its first operational flight test from Dyess Air Force Base, Texas, on Oct. 22, the Air Force said. The Block E upgrade allows the B-1B to drop three weapon types on a single pass (DAILY, Oct. 22). In the past, the B-1B could only be loaded with one type of weapon. Six more operational flight tests are to be flown from Dyess, the Air Force's Flight Test Center (AFFTC) at Edwards Air Force Base, Calif., said in response to questions from The DAILY.
DECOY TESTS: BAE Systems' AN/ALE-55 Fiber Optic Towed Decoy successfully completed a recent series of flight tests on the U.S. Navy's F/A-18E/F Super Hornet, the company said Oct. 22. In the flight tests, conducted at Naval Air Station Patuxent River, Md., the ALE-55 was subjected to combat-like flight maneuvers, including multiple exposures to the aircraft's engine afterburner plume. The decoy has been tested on the F/A-18E/F and the B-1B Lancer. After experiencing problems last year during B-1B tests, it had a series of successful tests over the summer (DAILY, Aug.
Failure to fully equip the six interim Stryker brigades could reduce the Army's flexibility and prevent it from transitioning to its Objective Force by the end of the decade, according to a senior Army official. "The reason for the Stryker brigades is to help fill a capability gap," Maj. Gen. David Melcher said in an Oct. 22 presentation at the Association of the U.S. Army annual meeting in Washington.
NASA does not know how the delay of the system requirements review for its $4.8 billion Space Launch Initiative will affect the program's schedule, an agency spokesman said Oct. 22.
The latest restructuring of the RAH-66 Comanche program could deal a blow to the Army's Objective Force plan by delaying the roll out of the first fully modernized units by about two years, the Army's Comanche project director said Oct. 22.
Northrop Grumman hopes to fire a dummy Hellfire missile from its RQ-8A Fire Scout unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) before the end of the year in a test that probably will be sponsored by the Army, according to a company official. The Fire Scout team already has figured out how to hang the Hellfire missile from a rack that attaches to the aircraft's skids, according to Tim Beard, Northrop Grumman's director for unmanned systems business development.
Longbow International, a joint venture of Lockheed Martin Corp. and Northrop Grumman Corp., is looking to ring up its first sale of the Cobra Radar System (CRS), which is designed for the Bell AH-1Z Cobra attack helicopter.
Northrop Grumman Corp. is nearly done developing its Tactical Unmanned Aerial Vehicle Radar (TUAVR) and is ready to begin producing it in small quantities if someone wants to buy it, a company representative said Oct. 22. "We do have little cleaning-up things to do ... but it's ready to transition into an LRIP [low-rate initial production] type program," Northrop Grumman marketing manager Nicholas Ceradini said at a press briefing at the Association of the U.S. Army annual meeting in Washington.
The Boeing Co., head of one of four teams competing in Phase 1 of the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency's (DARPA) Unmanned Combat Armed Rotorcraft (UCAR) program, announced its team members Oct. 22. UCAR is to be an all-weather, autonomous rotorcraft designed for low-altitude armed reconnaissance and attack missions.
ARIANESPACE held a launch system rehearsal for the next launch of its Ariane 5 booster. In the rehearsal, which took place Oct. 15-16, the company simultaneously filled the two cryogenic stages and then ignited the Vulcain main engine and operated it for 14 seconds. Passing this test milestone will allow the company to set a launch date, which will be no earlier than Nov. 20, according to Arianespace. The flight will mark the debut of the heavier-lift Ariane 5, able to carry 10 tons of payload, compared with the current booster's 6.5 ton capability.
NEW DELHI - The ministry of defense plans to expedite its decision-making for defense procurement, George Fernandes, the minister of defense, said Oct. 21. Fernandes addressed an Indian military commanders conference here and said the defense ministry has adopted structural changes recommended earlier this year by a group of ministers. Fernandes said the changes will help speed procurement decisions to meet the urgent requirements of the air force.
The European Space Agency has decided to extend the mission of its Proba spacecraft for another year, and is planning a follow-on spacecraft, ESA said Oct. 22. Proba, which stands for Project for On-Board Autonomy, launched one year ago from Sriharikota, India. The small box-shaped spacecraft - it measures 24x24x31.5 inches and weighs 207 pounds - has been able to carry out many functions on its own, including guidance, navigation, control and payload management, ESA said.
