Sept. 15 - 18 -- Air Force Association 2002 National Convention & Aerospace Technology Exposition. Marriott Wardman Park Hotel, 2660 Woodley Road, N.W., Washington, DC. For more information contact Melissa Braxton at (703) 247-5843 or Napoleon Byars at (703) 247-5850. Sept. 18 - 19 -- U.S. Maritime Security Expo & Conference - Jacob Javits Convention Center, New York City. For more information or to register visit www.maritimesecurityexpo.com.
PRAGUE - The Czech government formally shelved its plan to buy 24 new Jas-39 Gripen fighter aircraft from the BAE Systems/Saab consortium at a closed cabinet meeting on Sept. 11. The cabinet instead asked defense minister Jaroslav Tvrdik to submit, within the next few weeks, alternative ways of protecting the country's airspace so a decision can be made before the end of the year.
RUMSFELD ON IRAQ: Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld is scheduled to testify two times in Congress on possible U.S. military action against Iraq. Rumsfeld will go before the House Armed Services Committee Sept. 18. On Sept. 19, he will appear before the Senate Armed Services Committee, where he will be joined by Air Force Gen. Richard Myers, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
For the Navy's Multi-mission Maritime Aircraft (MMA) program, an effort that ultimately could see production of 187 planes for $15 billion to $20 billion, Boeing is proposing a variant of its 737-700 aircraft and Lockheed Martin is proposing a new version of it P-3 Orion.
JDAM ACCELERATION: Boe-ing will produce 18,840 Joint Direct Attack Munition (JDAM) kits under a $378 million contract, the company said Sept. 13. Boeing is expanding its production facility in St. Charles, Mo., to accommodate the increased kit orders. The company plans to deliver 2,800 kits a month by August 2003. They will be a mixture of 2,000-pound and 1,000-pound warhead kits, Boeing said.
CLOSING THE GAP: Assembling a special transformation force - and packing it with the latest command-and-control systems and newly acquired precision weapons - will help European militaries close the technology gap with the U.S., says a new policy paper from a transatlantic think tank. The so-called "spearhead force" would serve as a hi-tech catalyst for resource-poor European militaries, according to the report by the Atlantic Council of the United States. The U.S.
Integrated Defense Technologies Inc. announced Sept. 13 it plans to buy BAE Systems' Advanced Systems unit for $146 million cash. Company officials said they expect the deal to close during the fourth quarter of 2002. Based in Gaithersburg, Md., Advanced Systems designs and produces radio frequency surveillance equipment used in signals intelligence operations. Its products include receivers, tuners, demodulators and signal analyzers that perform signal intercept identification, location and analysis functions.
The Department of Transportation's Research and Special Programs Administration (RSPA) is keenly interested in using unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) to provide security over pipelines and hazardous material shipments within the U.S, according to RSPA Administrator Ellen Engleman. "Since 9/11, I see UAV platforms as an absolutely phenomenal opportunity to support safety and security applications," Engleman told The DAILY. Those platforms could include airships, high-altitude loitering UAVs, or low-altitude drones, she said, depending on the application.
ROBUST PRODUCTION: The market for light wheeled combat vehicles should remain robust for the next 10 years, according to Forecast International/DMS senior weapons analyst Gregory Fetter. Vehicle production should peak in 2007 with more than 1,800 vehicles being produced for a total value of $1.35 billion, Fetter says in a recently released report. Overall, 15,377 vehicles, worth more than $9.63 billion, are expected to be produced from 2002-2011, he says. The market is being driven by the U.S. Army's choice of a Piranha vehicle variant for its Interim Combat Brigades.
DEFENSE SECTOR TRENDS: The restructuring of the defense sector over the next two to four years likely will be a key issue for investors, according to senior Merrill Lynch analyst Byron Callan. Investors and industry observers should consider several key issues, he says. The first is that Defense Department efforts to secure more competition and innovation may favor small to medium-sized defense companies, and likely will attract commercial information and electronics firms, he says in a report released last week.
ROTORCRAFT STRIKE: A labor union strike at the Boeing Co.'s rotorcraft plant in suburban Philadelphia would be a blow to the multi-service V-22 Osprey tiltrotor aircraft and the Army's RAH-66 Comanche helicopter, which are already at risk of being terminated, Rep. Curt Weldon (R-Pa.) writes in a letter urging Boeing management and workers to resolve their differences. The union was threatening to strike as early as Sept. 14.
COOPERATION: The heads of India's Space Research Organization (ISRO) and Bhabha Atomic Research Center are urging more Indian-U.S. cooperation in space and nuclear energy. ISRO head K. Kasturirangan and Bhabha head Anil Kakodkar visited the U.S. ahead of Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee, who met with President Bush in New York on Sept. 12.
Changes in technology and doctrine are prompting the Air Force to consider changing the designation of the Raptor fighter from F-22 to F/A-22, an Air Force spokeswoman said. The change may be announced Sept. 17 at the annual Air Force Association convention in Washington. "Right now, we're considering [a] change in the designation of the F-22" to F/A-22, a designation like that of the Navy's Hornet, F/A-18, which has the ground attack mission as well as the air-to-air mission, the spokeswoman said.
Raytheon Co. has won a $24.1 million Navy contract for low-rate and full production of the Tactical Tomahawk strike weapon. The contract, awarded Sept. 11 by Naval Air Systems Command, comes less than a month after the first test flight of the missile near Point Mugu, Calif. After the Aug. 23 test, Raytheon quoted Navy Capt. Bob Novak, Tomahawk program manager, as saying that the event "represents the best in industry and government teamwork and allows execution of the low-rate initial production contract."
The Pentagon is opposing a Senate proposal that would put a senior defense official in charge of anti-corrosion efforts for all military equipment and infrastructure, saying the provision actually would make the Defense Department's job more difficult by adding an unnecessary layer of bureaucracy.
Boeing's Tracking and Data Relay Satellite-I (TDRS-I), which has had its orbit raising prolonged by several months due to a problem with a propellant tank, should finally reach geostationary orbit by the end of this month, according to the company. After two six-minute engine burns earlier this week, "we're getting very close" to the spacecraft's operational orbit of 22,300 miles, Boeing spokesman George Torres told The DAILY. "We're up over 16,000 [miles] on the perigee."
TEAMS PICKED: NASA has selected four teams to lead the development of advanced technology for in-space propulsion, the aerospace agency said. The awards, part of the In-Space Propulsion (ISP) program, cover four areas: aerocapture; high-power electric propulsion for nuclear systems; power conversion technologies for nuclear electric propulsion; and solar sails. Each team includes several principal investigators from NASA and industry.
BLAKEY CONFIRMED: The Aerospace Industries Association said Sept. 12 it welcomes the confirmation of National Transportation Safety Board Chairman Marion Blakey to head the FAA. The Senate confirmed Blakey to a five-year term on Sept. 11. "We look forward to working with Ms. Blakey on issues of pressing importance to the industry, including modernization of the air traffic system and further improvement in aviation safety and security," AIA President and CEO John W. Douglass said in a statement.
The Navy wants a 23 percent funding increase for aircraft depot maintenance in fiscal 2004 to maintain mission capable rates for its aging inventory of planes and helicopters, according to budget documents obtained by The DAILY.
LAUNCH: International Launch Services plans to launch the Hispasat 1D communications satellite on Sept. 18 from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, the company said. The satellite, built by Alcatel Space Industries of France, will be operated by Hispasat S.A. of Spain. The satellite is to be launched on an Atlas IIAS booster.
