NEW DELHI - Pakistan is acquiring $73 million worth of aircraft and other surveillance equipment as part of joint U.S.-Pakistan operations against al Qaeda. Pakistan is buying five helicopters, three fixed-wing aircraft and night-vision devices. The package also includes an unspecified number of vehicles for patrolling in hilly terrain.
European companies may have a slight edge in the Polish government's plans to purchase up to 48 multirole fighters as part of its effort to bring its combat aircraft up to NATO standards, according to an industry analyst. Poland on July 8 issued its final request for proposals to the French, British, Swedish and U.S. governments for the purchase of up to 48 multirole aircraft, including 12 training aircraft. The contract is worth an estimated $3.5 billion (DAILY, July 10).
BAE SYSTEMS NORTH AMERICA will sell its Electronic Warfare Passive Expendables Division to Esterline Technologies for $67.5 million in cash, the company announced July 15. The division consists of two business lines, chaff and flares, according to BAE Systems. The businesses are located at Lillington, N.C., and East Camden, Ark. In Lillington, about 65 employees produce radar countermeasures chaff to help protect aircraft against radar-guided missiles. At East Camden, about 235 employees build aircraft-dispensable flares to protect against infrared-guided missiles.
The U.S. government should form a senior-level interagency working group to develop an "integrated" approach for protecting the planet from asteroids and comets, according to a new paper by the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics. AIAA wrote that the working group is needed to advise the government on creating or designating an office that would: coordinate near-Earth-object (NEO) detection activities; act as a single point of contact for international activities; and assess U.S. planetary defense research and development options.
Increasing the pace of flight tests to clear the flight envelope remains the largest stumbling block in the F-22 Raptor's schedule, according to a senior Air Force official. With the Air Force already facing another delay in the start of the initial operational test and evaluation schedule, Brig. Gen. William Jabour, the Air Force's program executive officer for fighter and bomber programs, acknowledged the F-22 is behind schedule on the flight envelope clearance.
AEHF CONTRACT: BAE Systems will develop and build radiation-hardened electronics for the U.S. Air Force's Advanced Extremely High Frequency (AHEF) military communications satellite system, the company said. The contract, from TRW Inc., is worth $55 million, according to BAE Systems.
The General Accounting Office has concluded that the Airborne Laser's original cost and schedule goals were not met because the Department of Defense underestimated the ABL's technical challenges and the amount of money and time the program would need, according to a congressional document that summarizes the GAO's findings. In August 2001, the ABL fielding date slipped four years, to 2010, and the estimated cost of the laser system rose about 50 percent, the document says.
House panels have cast several votes on the proposed new Department of Homeland Security (DHS) that could have implications for aerospace-related programs.
SPACE-BASED ASSETS: One underlying assumption behind the Boeing Co.'s reorganization announced last week is that space-based systems will play a growing role in the Pentagon's future weapon systems procurement strategy, Boeing Chairman and CEO Phil Condit says. "The use of space-based assets for communication [and] for intelligence will become a critical part of these integrated systems. And it is that critical role that we're trying to involve here organizationally," he says.
A July 10 letter signed by seven members of Congress and sent to Secretary of the Navy Gordon England urges the Navy to continue procurement of T-45C Goshawk trainers and endorses a multiyear procurement plan. The T-45 is of "critical importance" to Navy training, the letter says, and "we write to advocate that funds be programmed to support a [fiscal years] 2004-2006 procurement of T-45Cs and for continuation of the ongoing "A" to "C" cockpit retrofit program."
NASA POST: Frederick Gregory, President Bush's pick to be NASA's deputy administrator, is scheduled to have his nomination hearing before the Senate Commerce Committee July 18. Gregory, who is expected to receive Senate confirmation, currently is NASA's associate administrator for space flight.
The military's need to hold down costs while simultaneously preparing to defend against terrorist threats will cause the market for training and simulation products to rise substantially over the next six years, according to a report released July 11 by Frost & Sullivan. In a July 11 conference call, senior consulting analyst Jerry Weltsch said the market for training and simulation products could increase from $3.51 billion in 2001 to about $4.78 billion by 2008.
BIG MARKET: The market for tactical radio systems could exceed $11 billion, as defense departments around the world try to develop and buy software-driven radio systems, according to a Forecast International/DMS study. Study author Greg Giaquinto predicts defense agencies will buy nearly 339,500 individual surface-communications products over the next 10 years. "For sellers to prosper in the tactical radio market, they must develop a long-run business strategy," Giaquinto says.
The Defense Department July 12 released its annual report to Congress on China's military capabilities, warning that the country's military, the People's Liberation Army (PLA), is making significant strides in improving its air power and naval forces and making strikes in developing its missile stockpile.
UAV POC: Each military service needs a single point of contact for unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) systems, according to Dyke Weatherington, a member of the UAV task force currently developing the Defense Department's upcoming DOD roadmap (DAILY, July 11). "I personally am not entirely convinced that there's a single focal point within each of the services ... that understands everything that's going on with UAV programs," Weatherington says.
DETERMINISM & FAA: The FAA's traditional insistence that unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) systems be deterministic in their behavior should be re-examined, according to Bruce Clough of the Air Force Research Laboratory. In a deterministic system, the outcome of a given situation will always be known with certainty.
The General Electric Co. announced July 12 that second quarter earnings grew 14 percent over those posted for the same period last year. Officials said net earnings rose from $3.8 billion in the second quarter of 2001 to $4.4 billion this year. Revenues for the second quarter rose four percent, from $31.9 billion in 2001 to $33.2 billion this year.
Unless Congress passes the fiscal 2002 supplemental appropriations bill before leaving town for the August recess, the Defense Department will face critical funding shortfalls that could endanger aircraft maintenance, precision munition production and military training, according to the Pentagon's chief financial officer. The roughly $14 billion the Pentagon expects from the 2002 supplemental is needed to cover the mounting bills due for Operation Enduring Freedom, DOD Comptroller Dov Zakheim told reporters at the Pentagon July 12.
JSF CUTS: A final decision on Navy and Marine Corps plans to reduce their buy of F-35 Joint Strike Fighters will be made by the time the fiscal year 2004 budgets are submitted, according to acquisition czar E.C. "Pete" Aldridge Jr. The Navy and Marine Corps are "looking at a total number of about 400 reduction from the 3,000, which would bring us down to 2,600," Aldridge, the undersecretary of defense for acquisition, technology and logistics, says.
PLUTO PLUG: Sending a probe to the distant planet Pluto and the Kuiper Belt should be NASA's first priority in solar system exploration, the National Research Council says in a new report. The NRC praises NASA's plan to launch a series of "medium-sized" solar system missions costing no more than $650 million, but says the first should go to the Kuiper Belt, a region of primitive, icy objects beyond Neptune, and Pluto, the only solar system planet that has not been directly observed by a robotic probe.
The House Science Committee will delay consideration of a NASA authorization bill until early 2003 to give it more time to study key matters, including a recent report that could affect decisions about the design of the International Space Station, according to committee aides.
SPACE STUDY: The Air Force is evaluating "a range of options" to ensure the U.S. continues to have two "stable" companies competing to launch military space payloads, the service says in a statement. The Senate in June approved legislation endorsing the study (DAILY, June 26), which has no scheduled completion date. Senators are concerned that declining demand for commercial space launches will hurt the Boeing Co. and Lockheed Martin Corp., the two U.S. companies that also launch payloads for the American military.
