SEARCH AND RESCUE: General Dynamics C4 Systems will provide 650 AN/PRC-112G HOOK2TM combat search and rescue radios to Greece-based TEOTEC S.A. for use by Greece's air force. The value of the contract was not disclosed but it includes an option for 300 additional radios, the company said Jan. 28. The radios provide two-way messaging and Global Positioning System location capabilities.
At the request of NASA Administrator Sean O'Keefe, former Columbia Accident Investigation Board (CAIB) Chairman Hal Gehman will offer a "second opinion" on O'Keefe's decision to cancel the fourth and final scheduled space shuttle servicing mission to the Hubble Space Telescope. During a press roundtable in Washington Jan. 29, O'Keefe said he expects an "expeditious" response from Gehman, although no deadline has been set.
NEW DELHI - India will begin technology demonstrations this year of its Geo-Aided Navigation (GAGAN) system to bolster air traffic safety, according to an official with the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO). Launch of the GSAT-4 satellite carrying the GAGAN signal is scheduled for 2005 or 2006, with the system expected to begin operation in 2006 or 2007, the official said.
MOSCOW - Yuri Koptev, director of Rosaviakosmos, the Russian aviation and space agency, said his agency has requested documentation from NASA on President Bush's new plan to go back to the moon and on to Mars. Russia could submit proposals for the program as early as this month, Koptev said, and will promote its extensive space experience. However, Koptev said the president's schedule and initial $12 billion budget for the program (DAILY, Jan. 15) could be unrealistic, although the mission itself is "very attractive."
SBR TEAM: Lockheed Martin has chosen Northrop Grumman Corporation as a teammate in the competition to develop the Air Force's Space Based Radar (SBR) system. Scheduled for first launch in 2012, SBR will be a constellation of spacecraft providing radar coverage of the entire Earth. The selection of a prime contractor is expected this year.
Honeywell announced revenues of $23.1 billion in 2003, an increase of 3.7 percent in 2002, the company said Jan. 29. "Revenue grew nearly 4 percent despite difficult market conditions and we reported earnings of $1.3 billion, in line with our previous guidance," Honeywell Chairman and CEO Dave Cote said in a statement. Aerospace division revenues were up only .1 percent compared with the fourth quarter of 2002, with sales in the defense and space units offsetting continued weakness in the commercial aerospace division, the company said.
For the fourth quarter of 2003, The Boeing Company reported a net income of $1.1 billion, up from the fourth quarter 2002 net income of $590 million. Meanwhile, revenue for the fourth quarter of 2003 was $13.2 billion, down from fourth quarter 2002 revenue of $13.7 billion, the company said Jan. 29. The company's reported net income for 2003 totaled $698 million, on revenues of $50.5 billion. Net income for 2002 was $492 million, on revenues of $54.1 billion, the company said.
A House panel has scheduled a March 9 hearing to scrutinize the effectiveness of U.S. and international export controls on cruise missile and unmanned aerial vehicle technology, according to a congressional source. The hearing by the House Government Reform Committee's national security subcommittee is expected to examine the findings of the General Accounting Office, which has been studying the cruise missile/UAV issue at the request of the subcommittee's chairman, Rep. Christopher Shays (R-Conn.).
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. - A new group at the Pentagon has been established to keep programs like the Joint Tactical Radio System (JTRS) on track during the budget process, according to Marine Lt. Gen. Robert M. Shea, director of command, control, communications and computer systems for the Joint Staff. The staff's Force Capability Board, he said at a conference here Jan. 29, feeds into the Joint Requirements Oversight Council (JROC), which in turn feeds into the budget process.
Senate lawmakers expressed cautious support for the Administration's new space exploration vision during a hearing Jan. 28, tempering their enthusiasm with questions about the plan's fiscal viability.
Space Imaging has extended its agreement with Antrix Corp., a division of the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO), to give Space Imaging exclusive rights to market and sell data from Indian remote sensing satellites outside India through 2010. Antrix Executive Director K.R. Sridhara Murthi and Space Imaging CEO Robert Dalal signed the new agreement Jan. 27 in Bangalore, India.
The U.S. Department of Defense and the military services have improved their business models to transition science and technology (S&T) to the warfighter more efficiently, according to Al Shaffer, director of plans and programs in the Pentagon's office of Defense Research and Engineering.
President Bush has signed NASA's fiscal 2004 budget into law, the White House announced late Jan. 23. The FY '04 NASA appropriations measure, part of a multi-bill "omnibus" spending package, fully funds the Bush Administration's $3.97 billion request for the space shuttle but cuts $200 million from the $1.7 billion request for the International Space Station.
Alliant Techsystems (ATK) plans to acquire California-based Mission Research Corp. (MRC), which the company said Jan. 28 will create an "advanced aerospace and defense technology pipeline" spanning concept development to production. Minnesota-based ATK builds precision weapons, propulsion systems, composite structures and other systems. MRC develops advanced technologies for national security and homeland defense requirements, including for directed energy, electro-optical and infrared sensors, specialized composites and other uses.
Members of the House Armed Services Committee questioned U.S. Army officials Jan. 28 about whether the military is taking aggressive enough steps to equip troop vehicles to sustain explosions from detonated improvised explosive devices (IEDs).
AEROASTRO, Ashburn, Va. Patricia Davis has been appointed vice president of programs. Lt. Col. Thomas E. Maultsby (USAF, ret.) has been appointed to the board of directors. AVICA U.S., Simi Valley, Calif. David Schmidt has been named vice president and general manager. BOUNDARY LAYER RESEARCH, Everett, Wash. Mike Carpenter has been named general aviation fixed wing manager. Tim Sestak has been appointed military program manager. EADS NORTH AMERICA, Washington
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. - Defense and intelligence officials are competing to gain access to the capabilities of the U.S. Air Force's projected Space Based Radar, according to Brig. Gen. Robert P. Lennox, deputy commanding general for operations of Army Space and Missile Defense Command. "There are different interests and competing desires," Lennox said Jan. 28 in response to a question from the audience at a conference here.
NEW DELHI - The Indian defense ministry has decided to defer a decision on whether to begin licensed production of Mirage 2000-5 aircraft to the next government, slated to be formed by June or July. A ministry official told The DAILY that a production proposal from France's Dassault Aviation has been shelved temporarily in anticipation of general elections, scheduled for April or May. "The decision has been [made at] a high level to leave the Mirage 2000-5 issue to the next government," the official said.
PRAGUE, Czech Republic - Few officials here will be sorry if Boeing pulls out of aircraft producer Aero Vodochody, according to a key figure in the negotiations that led to the U.S. company joining Aero in 1998. Former finance minister Ivan Pilip told The DAILY in a Jan. 28 interview that Boeing's Czech wing, Boeing Ceska, had disappointed the Czech state by failing to live up to its promises to market Aero's L-159 light combat fighter and bring new business to the company.
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. - The homeland defense community would get a passing grade for the way it shares information, but there is plenty of room for improvement, according to Lt. Gen. Edward G. Anderson III, deputy commander of U.S. Northern Command. The "Determined Promise '03" exercise of last year, he said, revealed "the dimensions of the challenge of sharing information with NORTHCOM, the complexity of it, and the diversity of the players that we are required to share information with.
