SPARTANS: Italy signed an agreement with Alenia Aero-nautica for the first five of 12 C-27J Spartan airlifters, which were developed jointly by the company and Lockheed Mar-tin Aeronautics. The contract will be worth more than $200 million to Lockheed Martin, the company said June 27. Delivery of the first aircraft is slated for mid-2005.
The Air Force plans to lease four Boeing C-40 passenger transports to alleviate an airlift capability shortfall at Andrews Air Force Base, Md., the service has indicated in a new report to Congress. Negotiations for the lease were authorized by the fiscal 2002 defense appropriations act. The Air Force wrote in the report that it will not award the lease contract until Congress approves a reprogramming request of FY '02 funds needed to begin the lease. The reprogramming request is to be sent to Congress separately.
The House approved its version of the fiscal 2003 defense appropriations bill June 27 after voting to shift $30 million from the Missile Defense Agency's space-based interceptor program to the agency's Airborne Laser (ABL).
The possibility that General Dynamics Corp. or Raytheon submitted bids for TRW's Systems and Space Electronics unit does not change their credit ratings or ratings outlook, aerospace and defense analysts with Standard & Poor's said earlier this week.
The Air Force has expressed interest in hypersonic missile technology being developed by the Office of Naval Research (ONR) and the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), according to Mike White, program area manager for advanced vehicle technologies at Johns Hopkins University's Applied Physics Lab (APL).
In an effort to understand better how life can adapt to environments beyond Earth, scientists with NASA's Generations initiative are hoping to send biological cells beyond the protective envelope inside the Earth's Van Allen radiation belts. The Van Allen belts are doughnut-shaped regions encircling the Earth that contain high-energy electrons and ions trapped in the planet's magnetic field. The magnetic field protects life on Earth from harmful solar radiation and cosmic rays.
TEAM SELECTION: NASA has selected its Glenn Research Center in Cleveland to lead the development of the NASA Evolutionary Xenon Thruster (NEXT) system, which will use xenon gas and electrical power to drive future spacecraft. The first phase of the program will be a one-year effort to design, build and test initial versions of ion thrusters, propellant feed systems and power processing units. NASA also selected a team led by Boeing Electron Dynamic Devices to pursue development, fabrication and testing of ion optics, which are critical components of ion thrusters.
Ukraine's National Space Agency is asking parliament for a major increase in funding, to about $300 million over five years, according to the Ukrinform official press agency. The money would fund the third national space program. The previous program had a budget of $15.5 million a year, the news report said.
Cubic Corp. of San Diego and a United Kingdom partner have completed work on the second phase of a contract to incorporate broadcast datalink technology into the U.K.'s Airborne Standoff Radar (ASTOR) system, Cubic announced June 26. Cubic and Ultra Electronics Ltd., its U.K. partner, completed the work two months ahead of schedule, according to Cubic. The companies are part of a consortium headed by Raytheon Systems Ltd. (U.K.), which in 1999 won a $1.3 billion program to develop the radar for ASTOR.
The decision to classify the type and number of decoys used during missile defense flight tests is necessary to prevent possible adversaries from using information to defeat the system, according to the head of the Missile Defense Agency.
The U.S. Air Force has begun flight testing a new Northrop Grumman-built radar for the F-16C/D aircraft, Lockheed Martin said June 26. The Northrop Grumman APG-68(V)9 radar, intended to improve the aircraft's air-to-air and air-to-ground operations, is being flight tested at Edwards Air Force Base, Calif. Lockheed Martin said the system is meeting or exceeding its performance specifications.
COMTECH PST CORP., Melville, N.Y. Larry Konopelko has been named president. EMS TECHNOLOGIES Inc., Atlanta Ron H. Miyakawa has been appointed vice president, business development. PRATT AND WHITNEY, East Hartford, Conn. Dennis Enos has been named vice president of the PW6000 engine program, succeeding Tom Davenport, who retires this month. ROCKWELL COLLINS, Cedar Rapids, Iowa
The House Appropriations Committee added $64 million to the Bush Administration's fiscal 2003 request for the Arrow missile defense system to help establish U.S. co-production of the Israeli missile used in the system, according to Rep. Jerry Lewis (R-Calif.), chairman of the House Appropriations defense subcommittee.
U.S. Coast Guard officials said they plan to buy a variety of fixed-wing, rotary and unmanned aircraft as part of the plan to modernize the agency's aging fleet of air and sea platforms. Exactly which models will be purchased will be decided as the Coast Guard works with contractors to determine its operational requirements, said Rear Adm. Patrick Stillman, the Coast Guard's program officer for the Integrated Deepwater System Program.
GUIDED TEST: A Raytheon-led team successfully tested the Extended Range Guided Munition (ERGM) at White Sands Missile Range, N.M., on June 25, the company said June 26. ERGM was launched, acquired Global Positioning System data, and was guided to a target area, the company said.
A software patch designed to fix a glitch on the International Space Station's (ISS) Mobile Base System (MBS) that is preventing it from feeding power to the station's robotic arm soon will be uploaded to the ISS, according to NASA.
After pondering the move for months, the Department of Defense plans to merge the U.S. Space Command and the U.S. Strategic Command, Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld said June 26. The new command would be responsible "for both early warning of, and defense against, missile attack as well as long-range conventional attacks," Rumsfeld said at a Pentagon briefing.
Boeing Co.'s win of the Army's competition for the Joint Tactical Radio System program - potentially worth $7 billion - follows its strategy of investing in system-of-systems concepts, according to Allen Ashby, vice president and general manager of the company's Battle Management/Command, Control and Communications and Strategic Systems business unit. A Boeing team was chosen June 24 over a team led by Raytheon Co. to develop JTRS, a communications system that is intended to be the foundation for all future Department of Defense tactical radios.
Although the U.S. State Department has approved a number of arms export licenses to India since sanctions against the country were lifted last year, currently more than 81 licenses that have worked their way through the interagency export process still are awaiting final approval, according to an industry source.
NEW DELHI - An inquiry has been ordered into the June 25 crash of a MiG-23, which occurred in the northern Indian state of Punjab, near the border with Pakistan. Squadron Leader Rajesh Dhingra, a spokesman for the Indian air force, said the aircraft's pilot, Lt. Bharat Kumar, escaped with minor injuries but the aircraft was destroyed.
JSTARS WORK: EMS Technologies Inc. of Atlanta will begin work on key antenna components for Lot 11 of the Joint Surveillance Target Attack Radar System (JSTARS), the company said June 26. The work is worth $1.6 million, according to the company.
The Senate reached a compromise on fiscal 2003 missile defense funding June 26, reversing an $814 million cut in the Bush Administra-tion's request but including language that could steer some of the money to anti-terror programs.
