Lockheed Martin has received an $18.6 million Air Force contract for production of GBU-10 Paveway laser guided bomb kits. The contract follows the Air Force's determination in August that the company is qualified to build kits for the GBU-10 and GBU-12. Lockheed Martin said it will begin delivering the kits in August 2003 and will complete production in November 2003.
The chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff said Sept. 18 that the U.S. has fewer intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) aircraft than it needs, but funding provided in fiscal 2002 legislation and requested in the Bush Administration's FY '03 defense budget will help alleviate that shortage. "Obviously, there are some resources that we just don't have enough of," Air Force Gen. Richard Myers testified before the House Armed Services Committee. "We've had to prioritize" the use of those resources.
Three senators introduced legislation Sept. 17 aimed at promoting research and development of nanotechnology, an emerging field that could have a major impact on aerospace and many other sectors. Nanotechnology, which involves the manipulation of particles or devices the size of small groups of atoms, has the potential to produce lighter materials for aircraft and spacecraft, among other benefits.
DELIVERY: Northrop Grumman Corp.'s Electronic Systems sector delivered the first radar antenna for the U.S. Army's RAH-66 Comanche helicopter, the company said Sept. 18.
A recent contract to Boeing Co. for additional Joint Direct Attack Munitions (JDAMs) brings the company's contracts for such work within the past year to over $1 billion, according to a company spokesman. "From October of 2001 to September of 2002, we have received over $1 billion worth of contracts for JDAM," said Robert Algarotti, a spokesman for Boeing Integrated Defense Systems in St. Louis. JDAM is a guidance kit that converts existing unitary warheads into smart bombs.
BOEING, St. Louis Charles Toups has been named vice president, programs, at Boeing Satellite Systems of El Segundo, Calif., the satellite manufacturing arm of Boeing Integrated Defense Systems. Chris Stephens will succeed Toups as head of Boeing Electron Dynamic Devices in Torrance, Calif. INTELSAT, Washington, D.C. Jon Romm has been appointed vice president, Global Video Services, to head the company's new Video Services Business Unit. ITT INDUSTRIES, White Plains, N.Y.
NASA will include money in its fiscal 2004 budget request that could help it move the International Space Station beyond "international core complete" status, NASA Administrator Sean O'Keefe said Sept. 18. O'Keefe said NASA plans to achieve a "core complete" status involving U.S. modules, and then install modules, such as the European Columbus module, being built by station foreign partners.
Smaller amounts of growth in defense budgets beyond 2004, and the unintended consequences of military transformation, could negatively affect Lockheed Martin Corp.'s future growth prospects, according to a report from Merrill Lynch. The report forecasts that Defense Department spending on procurement and research, development, testing and evaluation (RDT&E) for the fiscal years between 2002-2009 could peak in FY '03.
General Dynamics' win this week of an Air Force contact marks the beginning of an effort to develop the High Speed Penetrator, a weapon intended to strike deep into buried and strengthened targets. GD's Ordnance and Tactical Systems unit, St. Petersburg, Fla., won the $5.3 million Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) contract Sept. 16.
The Defense Department will not make final weapons budget request decisions for fiscal years 2004-2009 until early November, a senior Pentagon official said Sept. 18. Stephen Cambone, director of Program Analysis and Evaluation, said his office is reviewing the Program Objective Memoranda submitted by the services last month to determine how well they fit with the Administration's plans to improve joint warfighting capabilities.
FIRST FLIGHT: The GE90-115B, an engine being developed by GE Aircraft Engines for Boeing's 777 aircraft, completed its first flight on Sept. 18 aboard the company's 747 Flying Testbed in Mojave, Calif.
DEMONSTRATION: Lockheed Martin Aeronautics Co. said it successfully demonstrated a new concept in aircraft maintenance by having an F-16 Fighting Falcon report faults while still far from home base. The Sept. 5 demonstration, at the company's Forth Worth, Texas, complex, showed how transmitting fault alerts before the aircraft landed could help expedite maintenance, the company said. Artificial faults were introduced into the aircraft's fault reporting system, which then transmitted them using an Iridium satellite communications system provided by Honeywell.
A Lockheed Martin concept for an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) that can be launched and recovered by a submerged submarine now is being funded by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA). Originally initiated with the company's own money, Lockheed Martin thinks the new UAV would be a good fit for the Ohio-class ballistic missile nuclear submarines that are being modified by the Defense Department for special operations (DAILY, April 1).
(Editor's note: The following is excerpted from a Sept. 17 briefing on the joint exercise Millennium Challenge 2002, held between July 24 and Aug. 15. The briefing was given by Gen. William F. Kernan, commander, U.S. Joint Forces Command). KERNAN: I must tell you that this is still a work in progress. There are literally thousands of data points out there that we ... have to assess. We're still in the process of doing that. It was a complex and very challenging environment. And first and foremost, it was an experiment.
A current shortfall in target drones used to help fighter pilots sharpen their air combat skills will only get worse in coming years, according to Lt. Col. Jeff Robertson, director of the Aerial Target System Program Office at Eglin Air Force Base, Fla. The number of subscale targets required per year for fighter pilot training, as well as missile testing, has historically been 40. In fiscal year 2004, there will be enough funding to buy only 35, Robertson said in a telephone interview.
PRAGUE - The Czech Republic is interested in joining the United States' missile defense program, defense minister Jaroslav Tvrdik told reporters Sept. 16 during a visit to the U.S. Tvrdik's comments came shortly after he met with Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld and Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage in Washington. "I offered the United States the opportunity of deploying the missile defense system on Czech soil," Tvrdik said, adding that the program would "broaden the spectrum" of his country's air defense.
The commander of U.S. Air Forces in Europe said Sept. 17 that his biggest equipment shortfall is in intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) assets, including unmanned aerial vehicles. "Those systems are our most serious concerns," Air Force Gen. Gregory Martin told the Defense Writers Group in Washington. Martin, whose command could soon support an attack on Iraq, said recent increases in the production of precision-guided munitions have allowed his forces to reduce their munitions shortage.
NORTHROP GRUMMAN ELECTRONIC SYSTEMS' Litening Extended Range (ER) targeting and navigation pod has successfully been integrated and flight tested on the A-10 Thunderbolt II aircraft, the company said. The Litening ER includes a 640x512-pixel forward looking infrared camera; a charge-coupled device television; a laser spot tracker/rangefinder; an IR marker and a laser designator. The A-10 is the third U.S. aircraft to be integrated with the Litening ER pod, after the Marine Corps' AV-8B Harrier II and the Air Force's F-16 Fighting Falcon.
NEW DELHI - Days after notifying Congress of the proposed sale of defense equipment to India, Washington has approved the sale of a major defense package to Pakistan, according to Pakistani diplomats here. The package includes seven used C-130E aircraft, which had been requested earlier (DAILY, July 19), as well as three P-3 Orion maritime surveillance aircraft, Harpoon missiles and other equipment, totaling about $400 million.
Northrop Grumman Corp. is moving ahead with plans to develop a variation of its Global Hawk unmanned surveillance vehicle with broader mission capabilities, according an official with the company's Integrated Systems sector. The new aircraft will feature a larger, 3,000-pound payload capacity; an enhanced wingspan for increased payload support; an open-systems communications architecture; and an improved aircraft management system, Paul Meyer, vice president of business strategy and development for Air Combat Systems, said Sept. 17.
FILINGS: Northrop Grumman submitted a Certificate of Substantial Compliance with the U.S. Justice Department and filed notification with the European Commission, both regarding its planned acquisition of TRW Inc. The time period for EU review is expected to expire Oct. 16, and Northrop Grumman said the acquisition is on track to close in the fourth quarter of this year.
Rep. Curt Weldon (R-Pa.) is urging the formation of new congressional panels to oversee the proposed Department of Homeland Security (DHS). At a Sept. 12 hearing of the House Rules Committee, Weldon suggested the creation of authorization and appropriations panels to provide oversight and funding for the department. Unless the current committee structure is changed, about 90 committees and subcommittees in the House and Senate will have jurisdiction over DHS.
Officials with Northrop Grumman's Integrated Systems sector are talking with U.S. Special Forces Command about adding features to the company's RQ-8A Fire Scout tactical unmanned vehicle for special forces applications. The applications could include reconfiguring the vehicle's rotor blade system from two to four, which would increase the flight time from five hours to eight, according to Paul Meyer, vice president of Business Strategy and Development for Air Combat Vehicles.
Northrop Grumman Corp. is studying how countermeasure and targeting technology it has developed for manned aircraft could be used on unmanned aerial vehicles, company representatives said Sept. 17.
