The Sikorsky MH-60S Knighthawk, the first of the U.S. Navy's two future combat helicopters, was approved for full-rate production Aug. 28, authorizing the Navy to buy up to 237 through 2010. The Navy's proposed fiscal 2003 budget includes a request for the procurement of the first 15 full-rate production models of the MH-60S, slated to replace Boeing's H-46, Bell Helicopter Textron's H-1 and Sikorsky's H-3 and HH-60H. About 30 Block I MH-60S models are now flying in the Navy fleet.
The Boeing Co. and Lockheed Martin Aug. 29 were awarded more money as part of their ongoing work leading ballistic missile defense "national teams." Boeing received an additional $125 million for systems engineering and integration work, and Lockheed Martin got another $108 million for battle management, according to the Department of Defense. The national teams provide the Missile Defense Agency with independent analysis and technical assistance with the architecture of the ballistic missile defense system.
NASA's acceptance of 23-year old pop star Lance Bass for training in Houston does not represent a change in policy regarding space tourism and commercialization, according to Chief Astronaut Charles Precourt. Bass is tentatively scheduled to occupy the third seat on the Soyuz 5 taxi mission when it blasts off to the International Space Station (ISS) Oct. 28, along with Commander Sergei Zalyotin and Flight Engineer Frank DeWinne. The purpose of the flight is to deliver a fresh Soyuz to the station to serve as an emergency return vehicle.
NEW DELHI - Indian officials are disputing statements from Rosoboronexport, the Russian arms export agency, that they have bought substandard spares for the Indian air force's fleet of MiG-21 aircraft, which could be a factor in the aircraft's high accident rate in India. Rosoboronexport Director General Andrei Belyaninov said in Moscow Aug. 27 that India has been buying numerous secondhand MiG spares and equipment from the former Soviet republics, parts he said are passed off as new.
DOUBLE LAUNCH: An Arianespace Ariane 5 launcher successfully carried two satellites to orbit on Aug. 28 from Kourou, French Guiana. Flight 155 carried the Atlantic Bird 1 telecommunications satellite and the MSG-1 weather satellite. Arianespace's next launch is set for Sept. 6, when an Ariane 44L is scheduled to launch an Intelsat 906 telecommunications satellite.
COUNTERMEASURES SALE: BAE Systems North America completed the sale of its expendable defensive countermeasures business to Esterline Technologies for $67.5 million in cash, the company said Aug. 29. The company said it sold the chaff and flare business because it is focusing on systems integration, not providing components.
Sen. John Warner (R-Va.), ranking Republican on the Senate Armed Services Committee, has asked committee chairman Carl Levin (D-Mich.) to hold hearings on possible U.S. military action against Iraq. In an Aug. 27 letter to Levin, Warner said Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and Air Force Gen. Richard Myers, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, should be the first witnesses.
The Navy wants to more than double its annual spending on aircraft purchases by fiscal 2009 but cut its planned buys of F/A-18E/F Super Hornet fighters and V-22 Osprey tiltrotor aircraft for the next few years, according to a document obtained by The DAILY. An Aug. 22 draft of the Navy's FY '04 budget proposal calls for spending $17.2 billion in FY '09 to buy new and remanufactured aircraft, up from $8.2 billion in the FY '03 budget request, which Congress is now considering. The number of aircraft procured would rise from 83 in FY '03 to 273 in FY '09.
After two profitable quarters, Spacehab Inc. announced Aug. 29 that it lost money in the fourth quarter of 2002 and posted a net loss for the year of $2.4 million. That compares with a net loss of $12.8 million for 2001. Revenues for the fourth quarter of 2002 totaled $28 million and $102.8 million for the year, compared with revenues of $29.9 million for the fourth quarter of 2001 and $105.3 million for the year.
Integrated Coast Guard Systems issued a broad industry announcement Aug. 29 for new technologies and product capabilities in support of the Coast Guard's Integrated Deepwater Program. The Coast Guard in June awarded ICGS - a joint venture of Lockheed Martin Naval Electronic Systems and Northrop Grumman Ship Systems sector - a contract worth $11 billion to modernize the service's cutters, fixed-wing aircraft, helicopters and command, control, communications, computers, intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (C4ISR) systems (DAILY, June 26).
The Boeing Co. said Aug. 29 it won't resume negotiations with the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers (IAMAW) next week, as the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service had requested. "At the end of the scheduled talks, both sides had presented their final proposals and the process was ready to move to a vote," Boeing said in a statement released Aug. 29. "There is nothing left to negotiate."
After Northrop Grumman's decision to withdraw a protest it launched earlier this year, the Air Force is set to move ahead with a contract to TRW Inc. for management and sustainment services to the Air Force Weather Agency. The contract, potentially worth $119 million, is set to kick off in September, according to TRW. "We are just about to start performing on the contract, hopefully next week," Al Ronn, TRW's program manager, told The DAILY Aug. 29.
The Marine Corps' newest targeting tool is set to get added capabilities when the Boeing Co. links a developmental close air support system with the Navy's fleet of F/A-18 Super Hornets. The Advanced Close Air Support System, or ACASS, has been under development since 1998 at the Marine Corps Warfighting Lab in Quantico, Va. It is designed to give forward air controllers the ability to automatically hand off targeting coordinates to strike aircraft.
BEARINGS: NASA workers are replacing cracked bearings on Space Shuttle Crawler Transporter No. 2, NASA said. Problems with the transporters have helped delay the mission of Atlantis, which now won't fly before Oct. 2.
The military response to the Sept. 11 attacks should sustain the upward trend of defense spending and may improve the profitability of some defense companies in the intermediate term, according to a report released Aug. 28 by Standard & Poor's.
PRAGUE - The Slovak air force is making progress toward complying with NATO force standards by 2006, a senior air force commander told The DAILY Aug. 28. Jozef Krakovsky, commander of operational planning for the Slovak air force general staff, said targets include dramatically increasing pilots' flying hours and improving their communication skills.
Rep. Todd Tiahrt (R-Kan.) is urging the Boeing Co. to stop threatening to shut down its commercial airplane operations if workers go on strike, saying such "inflammatory rhetoric" could sour efforts to produce a new labor contract. Boeing's threats are "irresponsible and certainly not in the best interests of contract negotiations," Tiahrt wrote in an Aug. 23 letter to Boeing Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Phil Condit. "I am hopeful that cooler heads will prevail and that an equitable agreement will be achieved."
NASA's Ultra Long Duration Balloon (ULDB) will take another crack at circumnavigating the Earth this December, now that engineers believe they've solved a number of problems that plagued two previous attempts last year.
Northrop Grumman's earnings would be hurt less if TRW Inc.'s Automotive unit is sold rather than being spun off to shareholders, according to a report from Deutsche Bank. Media reports have said TRW is close to reaching an agreement with the Blackstone and Carlyle groups to sell its Automotive unit for a reported $5 billion. TRW would not comment on those reports.
A White House advisory panel is recommending the federal government dramatically increase science and technology spending and improve interagency coordination of nanotechnology and other research efforts.
