The number one problem facing the U.S. aerospace research and technology community is the lack of a unified vision spearheaded by strong leadership, according to a new report by the National Research Council's Committee on Aeronautics Research and Technology for Vision 2050.
LGTR: Lockheed Martin will deliver laser-guided training rounds (LGTR) and related equipment to the French air force under a $3 million contract, the company said Aug. 21. The contract includes four one-year options for LGTRs, which could bring the total value to $23.5 million. The LGTRs are used to train aircrews in place of more expensive laser-guided bombs.
NEW DELHI - India has decided to buy more than 100 air-to-air missiles from Israel, including Python-4 and Derby missiles. A senior ministry of defense official told The DAILY that a contract for the missiles should be signed in about a month. The official did not give details about the terms of the deal. The India air force asked the defense ministry to buy the missiles earlier this month (DAILY, Aug. 15).
NEW DELHI - At the urging of the Indian air force, the Indian defense ministry plans to buy 100 low-looking, transportable radar systems from overseas companies. The air force has been asking the ministry to buy the radars for two years, because the Indian army is not sharing its ground radars with the air force, a senior ministry official said.
HUNTSVILLE, Ala. - The Department of Defense plans to allow foreign countries to become participants in U.S. missile defense programs by contributing money or by providing "in-kind contributions," such as making military bases or radar stations available for those programs, Pentagon acquisition chief E.C. "Pete" Aldridge Jr. said Aug. 21.
FLIR Systems Inc. of Portland, Ore. will supply its Star SAFIRE II airborne thermal imaging systems for U.S. Air Force HC-130 search and rescue aircraft under a $3.5 million contract. The company will provide eight systems over the next two years, although options could boost that total to 37 systems through 2006, the company said Aug. 21. If all options are exercised, the work could be worth $16 million.
As part of the ongoing push for transformation, Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld said he wants to change the way the services justify procurement programs, by requiring them to demonstrate how their weapon systems fit into a joint concept of operations. Speaking Aug. 21 at Fort Hood, Texas Rumsfeld said he wants to require that "a joint operational concept be fashioned to test various proposals by the services to see the extent they can be rationalized and harmonized in a joint concept."
With no signs of life from NASA's Comet Nucleus Tour (CONTOUR), mission controllers plan to scale back their efforts to listen for signals from the spacecraft, which apparently broke into pieces after an engine burn Aug. 15. Telescopes have detected three distinct objects following parallel paths close to CONTOUR's planned trajectory, leading scientists to believe the spacecraft broke into pieces toward the end of the 50-second burn of its ATK Thiokol-built solid rocket motor.
MOSCOW - Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Kasianov signed a decree changing the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan from a military launch site to a civilian one. The decree gives the ministry of defense oversight of the Plesetsk and Svobodnyi launch sites, and puts the aerospace agency Rosaviakosmos in charge of Baikonur.
Lockheed Martin's High Mobility Artillery Rocket System (HIMARS) successfully completed two ripple-firings of six rockets each on Aug. 20, the company said Aug. 21. The firings, part of the program's engineering and manufacturing development phase, were conducted at White Sands Missile Range, N.M. Preliminary data indicated that all test objectives were achieved, the company said. One six-rocket test was conducted at ambient temperature, while the rockets in the other test were hot-conditioned.
SUPPORT: Anteon International Corp. will provide engineering and technological services support for imaging and sensor electromagnetic systems to the Naval Undersea Warfare Center (NUWC), Newport, Va., the company said Aug. 21. The work will be done under a U.S. Navy contract worth $46.3 million, according to the company.
HUNTSVILLE, Ala. - The Army plans to pick a contractor in late October to build the booster for its low-cost interceptor (LCI) program, according to a program official. At the 5th Annual Space and Missile Defense Conference here, David Tilson, manager of the LCI program, said late Aug. 20 that three companies - Atlantic Research Corp. (ARC), ATK and TRW - are expected to compete for the booster project.
HUNTSVILLE, Ala. - The Navy is creating a program to develop an over-the-horizon air defense missile that also could be used for a potential sea-based program to defend against ballistic missiles in their terminal phase, a Navy official said Aug. 21. The Extended Range Active Missile would have an active seeker and a range of 200-plus nautical miles, Navy Vice Adm. Phillip Balisle, commander of Naval Sea Systems Command, said at the 5th Annual Space and Missile Defense Conference and Exhibition here.
AVIALL, Dallas Alberto F. Fernandez has been elected a member of Aviall's board of directors. THE BOEING CO., Chicago Paul Walters has been named to the new position of regional vice president, Southeast Asia. ITT INDUSTRIES, White Plains, N.Y. Mark A. Steele has been appointed to the new position of president, ITT Industries - China. LOCKHEED MARTIN, Bethesda, Md. Thomas J. Jurkowsky has been named vice president of media relations and the corporation's chief spokesman.
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. - Officials are working to definitize the contract for the rebaselined Space-Based Infrared System-High (SBIRS-High) program by the end of the month, according to Gen. Lance W. Lord, commander of Air Force Space Command. The cost of the SBIRS-High program ballooned from $1.8 billion to $4.5 billion, putting it in violation of the Nunn-McCurdy Act, which says that any defense program growing 25 percent or more in cost must be either canceled or recertified by the Pentagon.
The loss of three months' time to a contract dispute won't prevent the companies designing the Navy's next-generation class of DD(X) destroyers from meeting program requirements, a senior Northrop Grumman official said Aug. 21. "The time frame has been compressed. But we have spent the intervening months planning how we could accomplish the amount of work to be done this year and next year," Rear Adm. Philip Dur (ret.), president of Northrop Grumman's Ship Systems sector, told The DAILY Aug. 21.
The first completely upgraded Marine Corps AH-1Z Super Cobra helicopter is expected to have its first flight by this weekend at Naval Air Station Patuxent River, Md. Dubbed Zulu Three, the aircraft will be the first Z-model Super Cobra to fly with an integrated all-digital cockpit featuring liquid crystal display panels. Zulu One, the first Z-model Super Cobra to begin flight testing, still retains older AH-1W Cobra avionics.
Rockwell Collins will provide multifunction displays for the Army's fleet of UH-60M Black Hawk helicopters under a contract that could be worth nearly $225 million over two decades, the company said Aug. 21. Rockwell Collins will provide the displays for more than 1,200 Black Hawks, the company said.
ATLAS AWAY: Lockheed Martin's first Atlas V launch vehicle successfully blasted off from Cape Canaveral, Fla., at 6:05 p.m. EDT Aug. 21, carrying Eutelsat's Hot Bird 6 satellite. The rocket is Lockheed Martin's entry in the Air Force's Evolved Expendable Launch Vehicle (EELV) program, which also includes Boeing's upcoming Delta IV (DAILY, July 29).
The Department of Defense has selected five more programs to receive fiscal 2002 funding under the Foreign Comparative Testing (FCT) Program, the DOD announced Aug. 21. The programs are being funded with additional, or "out of cycle" funds, allocated from FCT program money left over from FY '02. One Army program, two Navy/Marine Corps programs and two Air Force programs were selected to receive the funding.
NASA and AeroVironment of Monrovia, Calif., have signed an agreement to extend their partnership on solar-powered unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), which began under the agency's Environmental Research Aircraft and Sensor Technology (ERAST) program nearly a decade ago.
Aviation will top the list of discussion topics at the fourth and final public meeting of the Commission on the Future of the U.S. Aerospace Industry, to be held Aug. 16 at the headquarters of the U.S. Department of Commerce in Washington. During the all-day meeting, the commissioners will hear testimony and conduct deliberations on aviation, space, aerospace suppliers, and research, development, test and evaluation (RDT&E) infrastructure. All prospective attendees must carry a photo identification to be admitted.
HUNTSVILLE, Ala - The Army Space and Missile Defense Technical Center (SMDTC) probably will narrow the field of contractors working on a miniature kill vehicle for missile defense from three to one within the next year, SMDTC executive director Jess Granone said Aug. 20. SAIC/Raytheon, Lockheed Martin and Schafer are the current contractors for the program, now in concept development. The contractors have slightly different designs.
