The Senate Appropriations Committee has cut NASA's $125.5 million fiscal 2003 budget request for the Nuclear Systems Initiative (NSI) by $13 million, or 10.4 percent, because it "believes that the necessary technology will be slow to ramp up," according to a report released July 26 to explain the committee's FY '03 VA-HUD-NASA appropriations bill.
ITT Industries has received a $113 million contract to provide earth terminals for the Wideband Gapfiller satellite system. The contract, which will support the Army's Project Manager Defense Communications and Army Transmission Systems (PM DCATS), has a base value of $17 million but includes options that bring it to more than $113 million, ITT said. The work will be carried out by the company's Systems Division in Colorado Springs, Colo.
Congress has approved the Bush Administration's request to provide $23 million in the fiscal 2002 supplemental appropriations conference report to continue developing a high-band signals intelligence (SIGINT) system for unmanned aerial vehicles, according to congressional sources.
TRW POST: TRW Inc. has named Roger G. DeKok as vice president and deputy general manager of its Command, Control and Intelligence Division, Fairfax, Va. DeKok, who will be based in Colorado Springs, Colo., retired from the Air Force in April with the rank of lieutenant general. He was vice commander, Air Force Space Command at Peterson Air Force Base, Colo. Before that, he served as deputy chief of staff for plans and programs at Air Force Headquarters in Washington.
FARNBOROUGH, England - Boeing and the Air Force are moving toward completing a proposed lease of 100 767s configured as aerial refueling tankers, but proving that the lease won't be more costly than a direct purchase is essential to the deal, according to John Sams, Boeing's program manager for 767 tankers. Office of Management and Budget regulations on leasing require there be a good business model for the lease, so its total cost does not exceed that of a direct purchase.
United Defense Industries on July 25 reported a 74 percent increase in second-quarter earnings, partly due to the Defense Department's $7.2 million payment for work on the Crusader artillery program.
FARNBOROUGH, England - Airbus will challenge the U.S. Air Force's decision to give another major mission aircraft contract to rival Boeing, according to a top executive of the European Aeronautic Defense and Space Co. (EADS).
The Senate Appropriations Committee July 25 approved a fiscal 2003 VA-HUD-NASA appropriations bill that fully funds the Bush Administration's request of $1.49 billion for the International Space Station and $3.2 billion for space shuttle operations and provides $120 million to revive the canceled Pluto-Kuiper Belt mission (DAILY, July 24, July 25). The committee made no significant changes in the bill approved July 23 by its VA-HUD-NASA subcommittee.
NEW DELHI - India's Agni-1 short-range ballistic missile requires one more test before it goes into serial production, Indian defense minister George Fernandes told parliament July 24. Development work on the 700-kilometer-range (435 mile) variant of the Agni-1 is complete and "the government proposes to go ahead with one more test of the missile before its induction," Fernandes said.
Arianespace has signed a contract with the director general of CNES, the French space agency, to launch the Helios IIA defense observation satellite in 2004, the company announced July 25. An Ariane 5 will launch the 4,200-kilogram (9,300-pound) satellite into a sun-synchronous polar orbit in the second half of 2004, from the Guiana Space Center in Kourou, French Guiana. Astrium is the prime contractor for Helios IIA, and Alcatel Space is responsible for the high-resolution imaging instrument.
The Senate Appropriations Committee July 25 approved a $20 million cut in the Bush Administration's $500 million fiscal 2003 budget request for the Coast Guard's Deepwater program, citing funding constraints.
HORNETS DEPLOYED: The first F/A-18E/F Super Hornets to be deployed landed on the USS Abraham Lincoln July 24, Boeing announced July 25. Twelve Super Hornets, part of Carrier Air Wing Fourteen, were sent to the carrier, which is heading across the Pacific.
FARNBOROUGH, England - Embraer delivered the first batch of new surveillance aircraft on July 24 to the Brazilian air force for the ambitious System for the Vigilance of the Amazon (SIVAM) program.
NEW DELHI - India has decided to rely on indigenous launch vehicles to orbit smaller satellites, rather than contracting with foreign agencies for multiple satellite launch, according to an official with the ministry of science and technology. Currently, India only can launch polar-orbit satellites with its Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle. However, it plans to complete the Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle (GSLV) for commercial launch in the next two years.
FARNBOROUGH, England - Unmanned surveillance and combat aircraft may be attracting plenty of attention, but the serious money and real future lies in more survivable, stealthy UAVs and lower cost UCAVs, Lockheed Martin executives predict. While Lockheed Martin officials believe unmanned systems will grow in importance, the company also insists manned fighters will continue to represent the dominant force in revenue generation.
FARNBOROUGH, England - Turkish Aerospace Industries (TAI) recently won two high-profile programs for the Turkish armed forces: The Turkish Airborne Early Warning Aircraft, where TAI is a leading subcontractor, and the YASRA project for modernizing Sikorsky S-70 Black Hawk helicopters, on which it is prime contractor.
Lockheed Martin is proposing a newly manufactured P-3C aircraft for the $3 billion joint German-Italian Maritime Patrol Aircraft Replacement (MPA-R) program. Germany needs 10 aircraft and Italy needs 14. Lockheed Martin Aeronautics Company said it will it submit its bid July 26.
Senate Commerce Committee Chairman Ernest Hollings (D-S.C.) is expected to propose legislation to extend the deadline for Intelsat to conduct a required initial public offering of stock, industry sources said July 25.
Officials with the European Aeronautic Defence and Space Co. said July 25 that strong sales from the company's non-commercial aircraft business will boost operating earnings for the year by nearly 20 percent. The strong order book of the company's Aeronautics division, which manufacturers Eurocopter and the Eurofighter, is expected to contribute to growth. The Defence and Civil Systems division, which makes the Meteor missile, is expected to break even, they said.
ALCOA, Pittsburgh, Penn. Barbara S. Jeremiah has been elected executive vice president of corporate development. Joseph C. Muscari has been elected executive vice president of Latin America and Asia. CONSTELLATION SERVICES, Woodland Hills, Calif. Thomas L. Moser has been appointed program manager for CSI's Alternate Access to Station program. EUROFIGHTER GmbH, Hallbergmoos, Germany Filippo Bagnato has been appointed CEO to head the reorganization. FLIR SYSTEMS, Portland, Ore.
HYFLY: Boeing's Phantom Works will design, develop and test-fly a hypersonic strike missile demonstrator vehicle under a $92.4 million DARPA contract. Boeing and subcontractor Aerojet will test fly 11 air vehicles as part of the four-year HyFly program, the company said.
FARNBOROUGH, England - Boeing expects to sign a contract in mid-August for 60 more U.S. Air Force C-17 airlifters, bringing total firm Air Force orders to 180 aircraft, according to airlift vice president and general manager Howard Chambers. The new orders will sustain production through the end of 2007 at a rate of 15 aircraft per year.
PRAGUE - The Czech ministry of defense signed a memorandum on July 23 with Aero Vodochody for the purchase of its new two-seat light combat aircraft, the L-159B. The Czech army will buy two L-159Bs, followed by an unspecified additional number, making it the first customer for the multirole training aircraft.
A report released by Frost & Sullivan says the Defense Department's budget for research and development could grow by 5.9 percent annually by 2007. Jenny Benavidez, industry analyst for aerospace and defense, said the budget increase will be driven in part by surpluses in recent years and the need to develop new equipment and platforms to meet new requirements. Examples of new equipment include the Joint Strike Fighter and the Joint Tactical Radio System, she said.
