The U.S. Army Aviation & Missile Command in Huntsville, Ala., has ordered $35 million worth of Stinger missiles from Raytheon Co. and $33.4 million worth of Army Tactical Missile System (ATACMS) missiles from Lockheed Martin Corp. Raytheon will provide more than 370 Stinger Block I and Re-programmable Microprocessor (RMP) missiles under the contract, announced June 21. The award supports the Army's plan to provide Stinger missiles to maneuver forces until 2017, the company said.
The Air Force intends to conduct a test in September to try out its plans to turn existing aerial refuelers into "smart tankers," according to Gen. John Jumper, Air Force chief of staff. The test will take place at Nellis Air Force Base, Nev., and involve a KC-135 aerial refueler containing a pallet of equipment, Jumper said during and after a Capitol Hill speech to the Defense Forum Foundation June 21. "This is the technical test of whether the thing's going to work the way we want it to or not," he told The DAILY.
HORNET CONTRACT: Northrop Grumman Integrated Systems will provide replacement structural assemblies to extend the life of F/A-18 Hornet aircraft operated by the U.S. Navy and the air forces of Canada and Finland. The work will be done under an $11.5 million Navy contract, and is expected to be completed by September 2004. The company will provide seven center barrel sections for the Navy and five for Canada. It will provide five engine nacelle sets for the Navy and one for Finland, and spares.
HIGH HOPES: Officials with the French Aerospace Industries Association (GIFAS) hope the new center-right government of President Jacques Chirac will beef up defense spending. "Of course, industry expects that the investment in defense will stop decreasing. After all, its gone down for many, many years," a GIFAS spokeswoman says. GIFAS officials in Paris say they hope the new government will increase spending, as a percentage of gross domestic product, from 1.7 percent to 2.3 percent.
GOING DIGITAL: The Boeing Co., which normally looks for approval in the E ring of the Pentagon or at NASA, is basking in the praise of movie critic Roger Ebert. During a recent digital screening of the newest "Star Wars" movie, "Attack of the Clones," the film critic was very impressed with the company's new digital movie system, according to Boeing officials. Based out of the company's Space and Communication division in El Segundo, Calif., Boeing Digital Cinema is only a little over a year old.
Three co-chairmen of the congressional Electronic Warfare Working Group have asked House Armed Services procurement subcommittee Chairman Curt Weldon (R-Pa.) to hold a hearing on the military services' plans for an airborne electronic attack capability to replace the EA-6B Prowler. "This will be a major acquisition decision that will affect the services' budgets for the next 20 years," Reps. Joseph Pitts (R-Pa.), Mark Kirk (R-Ill.) and Rick Larsen (D-Wash.) wrote in a June 20 letter to Weldon.
OVERWEIGHT: UBS Warburg says U.S. defense stocks are not overvalued and that investors should buy additional stocks, given their tendency to outperform the Standard & Poor's 500 in times of increased defense spending. "We recommend that investors overweight shares of the U.S. defense sector, as we expect the group to outperform the general market in the current environment of higher defense budgets, economic uncertainty and war," lead aerospace and defense analyst David Strauss says in the report.
EL SEGUNDO, Calif. - Although a request for proposals was to be issued this August for the Global Positioning System III, an industry official said the date has been pushed back and no new deadline has been established.
The creation of U.S. Northern Command (NORTHCOM) in October will not affect the operation of the North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD), Air Force Gen. Ralph Eberhart said June 20 at his nomination hearing to become commander-in-chief of the new command. Eberhart, who also is the commander-in-chief of NORAD, told Senate Armed Services Committee members that NORAD'S mission can be changed only by agreement between the U.S. and Canadian governments.
The Air Force and the Boeing Co. are nearing the end of negotiations on a proposed lease of tanker aircraft, according to a Boeing official involved in the program.
Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) has proposed legislation that would split the position of director of central intelligence into two jobs in an effort to improve the coordination of intelligence activities.
LOCKHEED MARTIN AERONAUTICS CO. has inducted the first C-5B aircraft into the C-5 Avionics Modernization Program (AMP), an effort to modernize the Air Force's C-5 airlifter fleet. "This will be followed by a C-5A in July, which means we will be installing the new digital cockpit systems on both major C-5 configurations," Blair Marks, Lockheed Martin's strategic airlift deputy for AMP, said in a statement. The company will prove out its kit designs and installation plans in preparation for the eventual modification of the entire C-5 fleet, Marks said.
The lightweight ScanEagle prototype unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) had its first autonomous flight June 19, flying for 45 minutes before being recovered by hooking itself onto a hanging piece of rope. The Insitu Group of Bingen, Wash., built the ScanEagle for the Boeing Co. under a 15-month cooperative agreement signed by the two companies in February. Insitu specializes in lightweight, long-endurance UAVs such as its Seascan and Aerosonde. In 1998, the Aerosonde flew 2,000 miles from Newfoundland to Scotland using only 1.5 gallons of gasoline.
The House Appropriations Committee's defense subcommittee has trimmed roughly $60 million from the Missile Defense Agency's $598 million fiscal 2003 budget request for Boeing's Airborne Laser, sources told The DAILY June 20.
NORWAY JOINS: Norway became the fifth country to join the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter program on June 20. E.C. "Pete" Aldridge Jr., the undersecretary of defense for acquisition, technology and logistics, signed memorandum of understanding documents with Lief Lindback, the Norwegian national armaments director, committing Norway to the JSF's system development and demonstration phase.
LONG BEACH, Calif. - Defense companies are beginning preliminary work to develop a more advanced exo-atmospheric kill vehicle (EKV) for the Ground-based Midcourse Defense (GMD) system, according to the program director. The Boeing Co. awarded three contracts last month to begin work on a "complementary" EKV, Army Brig. Gen. John Holly, the GMD program director, told an audience June 20 at a conference here. The complementary EKV program is designed to provide more advanced capabilities and would not be ready for use until after 2004.
Heartened by two successful intercepts in the Sea-based Midcourse Defense (SMD) program, the Missile Defense Agency is considering restructuring its test program to achieve more results, or prepare it for possible emergency deployment, the director of the agency said June 20.
A team from the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory (APL) has conducted the first ground test of the engine that will power the HyFly hypersonic cruise missile demonstrator. The test, which took place late last month at NASA's Langley Research Center in Hampton, Va., was the first ground test of a full-scale, fully integrated hypersonic cruise missile engine using conventional liquid hydrocarbon fuel, according to APL.
Wall Street ratings analysts reacted negatively to Goodrich Corp.'s plans to acquire the Aeronautical Systems unit of TRW. In a report released late June 19, aerospace and defense analysts with Standard & Poor's announced they had placed Goodrich on CreditWatch with negative implications, and said they may lower the company's credit rating if the transaction (DAILY, June 20) goes ahead as planned.
More than 900 firefighters are battling a 7,335-acre fire at Vandenberg Air Force Base, Calif. The fire, at South Vandenberg, is about 50 percent contained, the base said June 18. Fixed wing aircraft, helicopters, bulldozers and an Incident Management Team are helping firefighters extinguish the blaze. The cause of the fire is still under investigation.
THE DEWEY ELECTRONICS CORP., Oakland, Calif. Frances D. Dewey has been elected chairperson of the board following the sudden death of its founder, president and chairman Gordon C. Dewey. ENGENUITY TECHNOLOGIES, INC., Montreal Philippe Collard, president and CEO, has resigned from all positions held with the company. EUROPEAN SPACE AGENCY, Paris Per Tegnér, current director general of the Swedish National Space Board, has been appointed the new chairman for the next two years. NASA
