The choice of the European Aeronautic Defence and Space Co. (EADS) over Boeing in the United Kingdom's $23 billion, 27-year tanker program may prompt EADS to compete with Boeing for the U.S. Air Force's tanker requirement, one analyst said Jan. 26. The idea of the U.S. Air Force leasing Boeing 767 tankers is "definitely off the table" now and a competition with EADS seems likely, said Robbin Laird of International Communications and Strategic Assessments, Arlington, Va.
FIBER OPTICS: Fiber-optic communications subsystem maker Finisar will acquire Honeywell's VCSEL Optical Products business for $75 million in cash, the company said Jan. 26. The transaction is expected to close early this year. VCSEL builds vertical cavity surface-emitting lasers (VCSELs) used in high-speed fiber optic communications systems and position-sensing applications. Roger Fradin, president of Honeywell Automation and Control Solutions (ACS) division, said the VCSEL business is "non-core" to ACS' business.
NASA's Mars Exploration Rover (MER) "Opportunity" landed safely on Mars and is functioning normally, while the condition of its twin, "Spirit," has improved as engineers zero in on the problem that has rendered it incapable of normal communications since last week, according to NASA.
MOSCOW - Kazakhstan has revealed plans for its own small launch system, Ishim, following the announcement of a joint project with Russia's Khrunichev Center to provide Angara commercial launches from the Baikonur Cosmodrome (DAILY, Jan. 12). In a government meeting Jan. 23, Prime Minister Daniyal Akhmetov said his country could compete in the civilian small satellite launch market.
PRAGUE, Czech Republic - Czech defense officials say talks with Sweden over the lease of 14 Gripen JAS-39 aircraft will not be affected by news that the Swedish air force is facing technical problems with the fighter. Swedish public radio reported Jan. 23 that early versions of the JAS-39 have experienced problems with pilot computer screens shutting down during flights. The Swedish air force has placed restrictions on advanced training flights during darkness and bad weather until manufacturer Saab Aerosystems resolves the issue.
DISPLAY: India displayed its short-range Agni-1 missile at the 55th Republic Day parade here Jan. 26, which a defense official said indicates that the nuclear-capable missile has been inducted into the Indian army. The 700-kilometer (435-mile) range missile fills the gap between the 150-kilometer (93-mile) range Prithvi and the 2000-kilometer (1,243-mile) range Agni-2, and can be launched from mobile launchers. The Agni-1 was designed and developed by the Defence Research and Development Organisation and produced by Bharat Dynamics Ltd.
A program led by the U.S. Air Force Research Laboratory's (AFRL) Propulsion Directorate is developing technologies to one day enable new upper-stage rocket engines that would succeed Pratt & Whitney's RL10. Teams led by Aerojet and Northrop Grumman are competing in the nine-month first phase of the effort, dubbed the Upper Stage Engine Technology (USET) program. In this phase, the companies are developing software and modeling tools for the turbopump and thrust chamber assembly of the engine, which would be in the 40,000-pound thrust class.
NEW DELHI - India conducted a test of its Prithvi ("Earth") short-range missile on Jan. 23 to evaluate how quickly the missile's fuel can be loaded. "Today's [launch] also tested the newly acquired simulator to train the missile crew in the firing operation," a defense ministry official said. A version of the Prithvi, which has a range of up to 150 kilometers (93 miles) and can carry a one-ton warhead, was inducted into Indian army service in 2001.
NASA TOPLINE: NASA's topline budget request for fiscal year 2005 will be approximately $16.2 billion, according to Administrator Sean O'Keefe, which represents a 5.6 percent increase over the agency's FY '04 budget request of $15.4 billion. To help NASA fulfill the president's new vision for space exploration, the agency will receive roughly $1 billion in new funding over the next five years, and must reprogram $11 billion in existing programs (DAILY, Jan. 15).
SONAR ARRAYS: EDO Corp. will continue to produce SQS-53C sonar arrays for Arleigh Burke-class guided missile destroyers and for foreign military sales, the company said Jan. 23. The work will be done under $7.6 million worth of contract options from the Naval Sea System Command. The sonars are used for detecting and classifying submarines.
BREAKING IN: Arlington Capital Partners, a Washington, D.C.-based private equity fund, has acquired Science & Engineering Associates, Inc. (SEA) of New Orleans, which the company says will double its size and enable it to "break into the Department of Defense" information technology market. The acquisition was made by Arlington's ITS Services unit, which is headed by Phil Odeen, the former chairman of TRW Inc.
PRAGUE - Boeing's Czech arm, Boeing Ceska, will comment on the future of Aero Vodochody only after the Czech government officially responds to its proposals regarding the future of the ailing aircraft producer. Boeing, which holds a 35.3 percent share in Aero, held talks recently about the company with the Czech government, during which Boeing asked for help to clear Aero's mounting debts. Government sources said Boeing's request was rejected but Prime Minister Vladimir Spidla plans to give Boeing an official response within the next few weeks.
CARGO HANDLING: AAR Cargo Systems will provide mechanical cargo handling systems for Lockheed Martin's C-130J under a four-year contract, the company said Jan. 23. Terms of the deal were not disclosed. The cargo systems, designed exclusively for the C-130J, facilitating the loading and unloading of pallets and containers and enable airdrops, the company aid. AAR has been delivering cargo systems to Lockheed Martin since 1968.
The International Space Station (ISS) program is reviewing its procedures for detecting leaks in response to a small leak that required two passes by station astronauts to detect. Expedition 8 Commander Mike Foale and Flight Engineer Alexander Kaleri eventually traced the cause of the slow loss of cabin pressure, which had been occurring since December (DAILY, Jan. 7), to a braided flex hose adjacent to a window in the U.S. Destiny Laboratory.
The chairman of the House Armed Services Committee is signaling that the acquisition of long-range bombers will remain high on his list of priorities this year, suggesting the Air Force will face renewed political pressure to speed up its timeline for fielding new aircraft.
Networked combat communications in Operation Iraqi Freedom (OIF) created greater situational awareness than in any previous military operation, according to Col. Fred Stein (U.S. Army, ret.), a senior principal engineer at the MITRE Corp.
INCREASING: The audit office says Eurofighter's costs increased 1 billion pounds ($1.84 billion) over last year, bringing the program's total overrun to 2.3 billion pounds ($4.2 billion). Typhoon deliveries began in June 2003, 54 months behind the original schedule. BAE Systems' Nimrod MRA.3 program costs, estimated earlier at around 3 billion pounds ($5.53 billion), are now 400 million pounds ($736 million) over budget and the in-service date of March 2009 is nearly six years behind schedule.
Raytheon Co. will provide five Ship Self Defense Systems (SSDS) Mk 2 tactical ship sets under a $26 million contract from the Naval Sea Systems Command, the company said last week. The SSDS systems are being installed on all amphibious transport LPD-17 class warships, all amphibious assault LHD class warships and all CV/CVN aircraft carriers, including the Navy's newest carrier, the George H.W. Bush (CVN-77). Additional systems
MOON/MARS HEARING: Congress is gearing up to formally examine President Bush's plan to return astronauts to the moon and extend human space exploration to Mars. The Senate Commerce Committee is scheduled to hold the first congressional hearing on the matter on Jan. 28. Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), chairman of the full committee, will preside at the hearing, whose witnesses have not yet been announced. The House Science Committee is expected to hold its first hearing on the moon/Mars proposal on Feb. 12.
NASA's Mars Exploration Rover (MER) "Spirit" is stuck in a loop in which it periodically resets its computer as a result of a problem that may be hardware related, MER Project Manager Peter Theisinger said Jan. 23. Each time the flight software is reloaded, the computer discovers a condition requiring it to reset, Theisinger said, although that condition is not always the same. Spirit had attempted to reset itself over 60 times as of Jan. 23, he said.
APPROVAL: The U.S. Department of Defense has approved the participation of all military services in the May 10-16, 2004, Berlin Airshow, the show said Jan. 23. European and international attendees will see "displays of new technology that would not be possible without DOD interest," show officials said.
