The Boeing Co. has been selected to receive a $3 million contract as part of the Army-Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) unmanned combat armed rotorcraft (UCAR) program, according to industry sources. A letter has been sent to Boeing, an industry source told The DAILY, and a contract will be issued on May 15. The contract will be for a 12-month concept development study, according to the source.
MOSCOW - The bodies of seven workers killed in the collapse of a roof at Russia's Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan have been found, but that of the eighth is still missing, officials said. Preliminary results of the accident investigation were due to be presented May 14 to science and industry minister Iliya Klebanov, the head of the commission investigating the disaster. The roof of Building 112 collapsed May 12, casting doubt on the future of some of Russia's space programs (DAILY, May 14).
ENGINEER NAMED: NASA Administrator Sean O'Keefe named Theron M. Bradley Jr. as the aerospace agency's chief engineer, responsible for the overall review and technical readiness of all NASA programs. Bradley, 55, is a former nuclear engineer for the U.S. Navy, serving in the Naval Nuclear Propulsion Program. "As this agency explores next-generation technology and propulsion alternatives, it's important to have someone who can provide an independent technical review of our programs and projects," O'Keefe said in a statement.
NEW DELHI - India will buy 17 used Sea Harrier fighters from Britain's Royal Navy for $9 million each, according to a senior Indian ministry of defense official. The agreement was reached earlier this month, the official told The DAILY. The Indian navy currently operates 17 FRS 51 Sea Harriers, but most of these have been grounded for the last two years due to a lack of spare parts.
TOKYO - The Japan Meteorological Agency will pay nearly $6 million to use a reserve U.S. weather satellite to make up for the loss of its Multifunction Transport Satellite (MT-SAT). The MT-SAT was lost during a failed 1999 launch. Since that loss, Japan has relied on its aging GMS-5 satellite, which is beyond its service life. The substitute satellite will be available next spring, according to Japanese officials. The second MT-SAT is scheduled to be launched next year and become operational by the end of 2003.
Senate Republicans are debating whether to try to restore some or all of the $812 million that the Democrat-led Senate Armed Services Committee cut from the Bush Administration's fiscal 2003 missile defense budget. Republicans would like to secure the Administration's entire $7.6 billion request when the full Senate considers the bill. A partial restoration might be easier to accomplish, especially if it involved theater missile defense systems, which generally are less controversial than those designed to protect the U.S. homeland.
MOSCOW - The roof of one of the largest buildings at the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan collapsed May 12, leaving eight workers presumed dead and raising doubts about the Russian space program's future. The workers were preparing Building 112, a nearly 40-year-old structure, to serve as a launch assembly complex for Soyuz spacecraft. In the 1980s, the building was the assembly building for the Buran shuttle, which flew only once.
Global Hawk's costs should be cut in half, according to an Air Force official. Northrop Grumman officials have said the Air Force has asked the company to cut the production costs for the high-altitude, long-endurance unmanned aerial vehicle by 25 percent (DAILY, April 25). Lt. Col. Douglas Boone, deputy chief of the reconnaissance system division for Air Force acquisition, told The DAILY May 10, "we've actually asked them for 50 percent as the goal."
NEW YORK - EDO Corp. will continue to seek acquisitions aggressively as part of its growth strategy, Jim Smith, the company chairman and CEO, said May 13. Those acquisitions will be targeted and must grow the company's business substantially within the first year, he said. "We don't do well at auctions because we will not buy anything that will not be accretive during the first full year of operations," Smith said during a presentation at Aviation Week's Aerospace Finance and Defense Conference here.
Suppliers across the country are getting a chance to participate in large weapons programs like the Joint Strike Fighter as a result of the changes brought about by performance-based contracting, according to a Lockheed Martin JSF program official. Art Price, director of subcontractor management for the JSF program, said in an interview with the DAILY that many of today's first-tier suppliers do what prime contractors previously did.
The Senate Armed Services Committee rejected a proposal to block the Air Force from leasing 100 new Boeing 767 aerial refuelers because it did not want to "pre-judge" negotiations on the potential tanker deal, according to committee Chairman Carl Levin (D-Mich.).
GPS CONTRACT: Trimble, of Sunnyvale, Calif., will supply Global Positioning System technology to Raytheon Co. for its Miniature Airborne GPS Receiver (MAGR) 2000 program. The $2.1 million contract calls for Trimble to incorporate its Selective Availability Anti-Spoofing Module (SAASM) in its Force 5 GPS Receiver Application Module (GRAM-S), for use in Raytheon's MAGR 2000. GRAM-S is a dual-frequency GPS receiver, according to the company.
The Defense Department's Defense Planning Guidance document, which provides instructions to the military services on how to plan their budgets, considers possible changes to the number of F-22 aircraft to be bought, according to a senior Defense Department official.
NEW YORK - B/E Aerospace could be outmuscled by larger firms if the Federal Aviation Administration requires that both the bulkhead and cockpit doors of aircraft must be secured, said Robert Khoury, the company's president, CEO and co-founder. Speaking May 13 at Aviation Week's Aerospace Finance and Defense Conference here, Khoury said the FAA has yet to reach a decision on what constitutes a secure cockpit cabin.
NEW DELHI - An Indian air force Jaguar fighter crashed after it hit a fence on a runway and caught fire during a May 9 takeoff from Ambala, in the state of Haryana. The pilot was killed, according to press reports. Officials are investigating the crash. About 30 Indian air force Jaguar aircraft are still equipped with outdated first-generation navigation and attack systems because of a delay in an upgrade program, according to a senior air force official. The aircraft was among those without upgraded systems.
ITT Industries and Northrop Grumman have received contracts from the Army for additional aviator and ground forces night vision systems. The contracts were awarded under the Omnibus VI program for third-generation image intensification devices.
SATCOM SYSTEMS: Ball Aerospace & Technologies Corp. will supply 23 Satcom On-the-Move (SOTM) systems to the U.S. Marine Corps, the company announced May 13. The systems will be used on vehicles like Light Armored Vehicles to give them worldwide mobile satellite communications capabilities, even at speeds over 50 miles per hour.
SUPPLEMENTAL ACTION: The House Appropriations Committee hopes to finish consideration of its fiscal 2002 supplemental appropriations bill May 14 after marking up the legislation most of the day May 9. The bill includes $15.8 billion for defense, including $377 million to speed up production of Boeing Joint Direct Attack Munitions (DAILY, March 25). The Senate Appropriations Committee has not announced when it will consider its version of the bill.
The Senate Armed Services Committee (SASC) approved a fiscal 2003 defense authorization bill late May 9 that cuts the Bush Administration's missile defense request by $812 million but adds $240 million for the Navy to buy 48 Boeing F/A-18E/F Super Hornets instead of 44. The missile defense reduction led eight of 12 SASC Republicans to vote against the bill. Sen. John Warner (R-Va.), the panel's ranking Republican, said the cut "undermines" President Bush's "fundamental priorities."
ITT Industries' Avionics Division is working under a $45 million contract to equip Army Special Operations aircraft with its AN/ALQ-211 electronic protection set, the Suite of Integrated RF Countermeasures (SIRFC) system.
The Navy is funding the development of a narrowband optical filter that would permit visible and near-infrared lidar (light detection and ranging) systems to operate during the daytime. When deployed on surveillance aircraft such as the P-3 Orion, the system would equalize daytime and nighttime performance, according to Richard Billmers, vice president of research and development for RL Associates. The company has been developing the system under a Phase II Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) grant from the Navy.
NO WORKAROUND: The Navy had no role in the House Armed Services Committee's recent decision to allocate additional money for a third DDG-51 destroyer and does not "work around the president's budget," Navy Secretary Gordon England says. "I repeat, we do not work around the president's budget," England says of the HASC's decision to allocate $800 million for a third DDG-51 destroyer in the proposed fiscal 2003 defense budget. The allocation is contingent on the Navy, the Boeing Co.
