Authors of the fiscal 2003 defense appropriations conference report rejected or scaled back proposed funding cuts for several weapon systems, including the MK-54 Lightweight Hybrid Torpedo (LHT), the Advanced Tactical Laser (ATL) and the Titan space booster, after receiving written appeals from the Defense Department to fully fund those programs.
DEFENSE INDUSTRIES INTERNATIONAL, Los Angeles John E. Krings has been named as lead U.S. defense industry consultant. EADS, Amsterdam Pierre de Bausset has been appointed senior vice president of investor relations and financial communication. Fabrice Bregier will become president and CEO of Eurocopter, as of April 1, 2003. He will succeed Jean-Francois Bigay. Bregier also will become deputy to the president of Eurocopter as of Jan. 1, 2003. Marwan Lahoud will become president and CEO of MBDA.
The Boeing Co. lowered its delivery estimate of commercial aircraft for 2003 and said that for the first time in the company's history, revenue from defense-related sales likely will exceed revenue from commercial sales next year. During an Oct. 16 conference call with investors and analysts, Boeing officials said net income for the third quarter fell nearly 43 percent from a year ago due to slower commercial aircraft sales.
A Raytheon-built exoatmospheric kill vehicle (EKV) successfully intercepted a Minuteman II target in the latest test of the Missile Defense Agency's Ground-based Midcourse Defense (GMD) program, MDA said late Oct. 14. The test marked the fifth successful intercept, and the fourth consecutive one, for the GMD program, MDA said.
L-3 Communications Corp. Chairman and CEO Frank Lanza expressed concern Oct. 15 that funding cuts and program changes to the Army's transformation plans being contemplated by the Defense Department could prevent the service from fully transforming. Plans by the Army to develop its fast-moving Objective Force represent "a whole new world of doctrine and deployment" that is being studied by the prime contractors and the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), Lanza said during a third quarter conference call with investors and analysts.
The Army and TRW Inc. completed the first test drop of live Brilliant Anti-Armor (BAT) submunitions from a Hunter unmanned aerial vehicle last week, the company said Oct. 15. In a test at White Sands Missile Range, N.M., on Oct. 11, a Hunter UAV dropped two Northrop Grumman BATs, incapacitating a moving tank and destroying an armored personnel carrier, TRW said. The company and the Army had dropped two unarmed BATs in a test on Oct. 9, and in September dropped a simulated bat to ensure it would release cleanly from the Hunter (DAILY, Oct. 9).
LAUREL, Md. - Army Materiel Command (AMC) will look at alternative fuel sources, modular containers and fewer sizes of ammunition, an Army logistics official said here Oct. 15. The AMC is seeking to respond to critics that want gear, food and fuel shipped faster to the front, said Robert Whalen, who addressed the Precision Strike Technology Symposium at the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory. "If we want to reduce logistics, we've got to do something with these things," said Whalen, director of the Army Research Laboratory.
A House-Senate panel has added almost $30 million to the Bush Administration's fiscal 2003 budget request for the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter's interchangeable engine program, an increase designed to help keep the engine effort on track.
The Defense Department has announced President Bush's nominees to head the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA), hold the second-ranking job at Army Materiel Command, and handle acquisition issues at the Air Force. Navy Rear Adm. Lowell Jacoby has been acting director of the DIA since July and would take the job on a permanent basis if confirmed by the Senate. He also would become a vice admiral.
ENGINE TEST: The Boeing Co. has completed a key hot-fire test of the RS-68 engine, which powers the first stage of its new Delta IV booster, the company said. The test was part of a second launch dress rehearsal for the rocket's first flight, slated for mid-November, and was the last major Delta IV development milestone, the company said.
The Boeing Co. could lose its dominance of the narrow-body jetliner market for discount carriers if easyJet Airline Company Ltd., can operate its Airbus fleet for less than Boeing-made aircraft, according to a report from Deutsche Bank. The report, released Oct. 14, followed an announcement by easyJet that it has agreed to buy 120 A319 aircraft from Airbus Industrie, with options for another 120 A320 and A321 aircraft.
LAUREL, Md. - The Air Force is gaining interest in a replacement for its dwindling supply of 15,000-pound BLU-82 "daisy cutter" bombs, a senior Air Force armaments official said Oct. 15. An already low supply of daisy cutters shrank further during Operation Enduring Freedom, as the C-130-released weapon was needed to clear caves and psychologically sting Taliban forces. "We're essentially out of them, or almost out of them," said Steve Butler, director of engineering at the Air Armament Center at Eglin Air Force Base, Fla.
The Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) has launched an operational test and evaluation process for six upgraded AP-3C Orion patrol planes delivered by Oct. 14, according to the Australian Defense Organization (ADO). The RAAF's Maritime Patrol Group Acceptance Transition and Evaluation Unit must certify the reconnaissance aircraft's various roles and develop new tactics and procedures, ADO said in a statement. The evaluation will include training exercises with the Australian Navy's Collins submarines and Anzac frigates.
SUPPORT: CACI International will provide technical and engineering services to the Naval Surface Warfare Center's (NWSC) Dahlgren Division, in Dahlgren, Va., the company said Oct. 15. The work will be done under a $48.5 million contract, the company said. CACI will test fire control software, which ensures the precise targeting of Trident submarine missiles. NWSC Dahlgren supports the Trident fire control systems through its K Department.
PRAGUE - High winds were responsible for a Czech military search and rescue helicopter crash at the Line air force base near Plzen last month, a preliminary air force commission report has concluded. Three mechanics were injured when a W-3A Sokol helicopter flipped over during engine tests on the ground (DAILY, Sept. 26).
NEW DELHI - The Indian navy has decided to mount the BrahMos missile on its eight Tupolev Tu-142 maritime surveillance aircraft instead of its Ilyushin IL-38s, after a recent crash between two IL-38s left the aircraft in short supply. Two of the navy's five IL-38s were destroyed in an Oct. 1 collision during an air show in Goa (DAILY, Oct. 3). The BrahMos, a supersonic anti-ship cruise missile also called PJ-10, was developed jointly by Russia's NPO Mashinostroeniya and India's Defence Research and Development Organization (DRDO).
A decade of looming international instability will be good for the NATO alliance and Europe's defense industry, NATO Secretary General Lord Robertson said in London Oct. 14. Describing his vision of the alliance in 2015, Robertson said member nations will be spurred into bumping up defense investments and consolidating the industrial base by a "guaranteed supply chain of instability.
The military space business rollercoaster of recent years may soon disappear as a glut of satellite replacement programs tapers out over the next decade, an industry analyst said Oct. 14. The value of unclassified military space contracts in fiscal 2002 jumped 170 percent over fiscal 2001, according to a new report by the Teal Group. The increase continues a series of up-and-down years for military satellite makers and space services providers.
NEW DELHI - The Indian navy has set up an overhaul center for its fleet of Sea Harrier maritime attack aircraft. The center is being set up at the naval aircraft yard at Kochi in southern India, at a cost of $64.5 million. A senior Indian navy official told The DAILY that the Sea Harriers' Pegasus engines, built by Rolls-Royce, previously had to be sent to company facilities in the United Kingdom for repairs and overhaul.
