U.S. efforts to enlist the Netherlands in the Defense Department's F-35 Joint Strike Fighter program have been complicated by the collapse of the Dutch government. The Dutch parliament had been expected to vote April 16 to approve a cabinet recommendation to join the program. Before the parliament could act that day, the cabinet resigned over allegations that Dutch peacekeeping troops failed to prevent a 1995 massacre in the Bosnian war.
Sen. Jon Kyl (R-Ariz.) predicted April 16 that Senate Democrats will try to slash the Bush Administration's $7.8 billion fiscal 2003 budget request for missile defense and impose constraints on anti-missile testing. Kyl, a leading congressional advocate of missile defense, said the proposed cuts could total at least $1 billion. He expects the testing limits will be aimed at trying to adhere as much as possible to the missile defense restrictions of the 1972 Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty, despite the treaty's demise.
Shuttle Atlantis astronauts installed a 14-foot beam and five handrails, to help future spacewalkers move about outside the station, during the last spacewalk of the STS-110 mission on April 16. Astronauts Jerry Ross and Lee Morin also were to install halogen work lights on the Unity module and the U.S. laboratory Destiny. Astronauts earlier had trouble with the station's new Mobile Transporter (MT), which NASA describes as "the first railroad in space." It eventually will help move the station's robotic arm along its new truss.
Despite modest gains from sales of military avionics and communications equipment, avionics maker Rockwell Collins posted a six percent drop in income for the second quarter of fiscal year 2002, company officials said April 16. Second-quarter income for the Cedar Rapids, Iowa-based company fell from $62 million in the second quarter of last year to $58 million, while overall sales fell from $690 million a year ago to $608 million this quarter.
Despite widespread praise for the Joint Direct Attack Munition (JDAM), a senior Navy official said laser-guided bombs (LGBs) often have been more useful than JDAMs during Operation Enduring Freedom. JDAMs use the Global Positioning System to guide delivery. Rear Adm. Matthew Moffit, the U.S. Marine Corps' assistant deputy commandant for aviation, said that while JDAMs were very useful, in many cases LGBs were "a lot easier to manipulate and get on target."
While the commercial market for Boeing Co.'s airborne broadband communications system was stalled by the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, the government market is picking up and the company is putting the system on VIP transport aircraft used by the executive branch, a Boeing executive said. John Stammreich, vice president for homeland security and vice president strategic management for Boeing Space and Communications, said at a conference here last week that one of the lessons of the attacks was that government VIP planes must have such a system.
Northrop Grumman's Electronic Systems Sector is poised for solid growth due to the diversity of its product line and a projected worldwide spending increase on advanced electronic systems, according to analysts. "The group can control its future if it can continue to produce superior products and systems with a focus on providing complete customer support and satisfaction," says a Deutsche Bank Securities report on the sector, written by senior aerospace and defense analyst Christopher Mecray.
Three transatlantic defense companies have submitted a white paper to senior NATO officials outlining the basic requirements for a NATO-owned and operated airborne ground surveillance system. Called the Transatlantic Industrial Proposed Solution (TIPS) by its creators - Northrop Grumman ISS International, the European Aeronautic Defence and Space Co. and Galileo Avionica - the proposal utilizes a "system-of-systems" approach to coordinate the surveillance assets of NATO members.
INVESTMENT: China plans to invest 3 billion yuan ($361 million) a year over the next five years to further implement the country's high technology plan, the Ministry of Science and Technology announced April 11. China is welcoming foreign scientists, including those from the European Union, to participate in joint research in information technology, biology, the environment and other fields. The plan, called the "863 Program," was initiated in March 1986 to reinforce China's economic and defense competitiveness. It now has been opened to foreign scientists.
With the future of tiltrotor technology likely riding on V-22 Osprey flight tests slated to resume next month, the Vertical Flight Consortium is preparing for possible battles over the technology, both on Capitol Hill and in the arena of public opinion. Grounded since December of 2000, the V-22 is scheduled to begin two more years of flight tests in the second week of May. The consortium originally was founded in the 1980s, when then-Secretary of Defense Dick Cheney cut production of the V-22 in an effort to kill the program.
Despite modest gains from sales of military avionics and communications equipment, avionics maker Rockwell Collins posted a six percent drop in income for the second quarter of fiscal year 2002, company officials said April 16. Second-quarter income for the Cedar Rapids, Iowa-based company fell from $62 million in the second quarter of last year to $58 million, while overall sales fell from $690 million a year ago to $608 million this quarter.
INVESTMENT: China plans to invest 3 billion yuan ($361 million) a year over the next five years to further implement the country's high technology plan, the Ministry of Science and Technology announced April 11. China is welcoming foreign scientists, including those from the European Union, to participate in joint research in information technology, biology, the environment and other fields. The plan, called the "863 Program," was initiated in March 1986 to reinforce China's economic and defense competitiveness. It now has been opened to foreign scientists.
Three transatlantic defense companies have submitted a white paper to senior NATO officials outlining the basic requirements for a NATO-owned and operated airborne ground surveillance system. Called the Transatlantic Industrial Proposed Solution (TIPS) by its creators - Northrop Grumman ISS International, the European Aeronautic Defence and Space Co. and Galileo Avionica - the proposal utilizes a "system-of-systems" approach to coordinate the surveillance assets of NATO members.
Sen. Jon Kyl (R-Ariz.) predicted April 16 that Senate Democrats will try to slash the Bush Administration's $7.8 billion fiscal 2003 budget request for missile defense and impose constraints on anti-missile testing. Kyl, a leading congressional advocate of missile defense, said the proposed cuts could total at least $1 billion. He expects the testing limits will be aimed at trying to adhere as much as possible to the missile defense restrictions of the 1972 Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty, despite the treaty's demise.
Northrop Grumman's offer to sweeten its bid for all outstanding shares of TRW Inc. won't create a financial burden for the $18 billion defense giant, according to an industry analyst. Company officials said April 14 they would trade $53 worth of Northrop Grumman stock for each share of TRW common stock, up from the previous offer that was worth $47 per share. The company also announced it is extending its pending exchange offer to midnight May 3.
The European Union's plan to create a 60,000-man rapid reaction force (RRF) could eventually lead to increased support for ballistic missile defenses in Europe, according to William Schneider, chairman of the Defense Science Board.
The U.S. Naval Surface Warfare Center (NSWC) at Indian Head, Md., will team with Lockheed Martin Corp. to develop a specialized warhead able to destroy chemical and biological facilities, according to the Navy. The Agent Defeat Warhead was approved as a 2002 advanced concept technology demonstration and is part of a larger effort develop a variety of explosive fills to neutralize chemical and biological agents.
The Bush Administration has concluded that the international Missile Technology Control Regime (MTCR) allows the export of the Northrop Grumman Global Hawk and General Atomics Predator unmanned aerial vehicles to close allies, according to Defense Department documents. The Administration also has determined that the Boeing X-45 Unmanned Combat Air Vehicle (UCAV) and the armed version of the Predator are compliant with the Intermediate-range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty, the documents show.
Canard Rotor/Wing (CR/W) aircraft such as the Boeing Co.'s Dragonfly unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) could one day complement tiltrotor aircraft such as the Bell-Boeing V-22 Osprey on certain military missions, according to Dragonfly Program Manager Steve Bass. The concepts take opposite approaches to solving the same problem - combining the flexibility of a vertical takeoff and landing (VTOL) rotorcraft with the speed and range of a fixed-wing aircraft.
As speculation increases about whether the U.S would be able to use its high-tech air operations facility at Prince Sultan Air Base in Saudi Arabia to coordinate a major offensive against Iraq, Lockheed Martin officials say the software system at the heart of the center's operations could easily be re-established at another location.
As speculation increases about whether the U.S would be able to use its high-tech air operations facility at Prince Sultan Air Base in Saudi Arabia to coordinate a major offensive against Iraq, Lockheed Martin officials say the software system at the heart of the center's operations could easily be re-established at another location.
AIRSHOW: China will hold the fourth China International Aviation and Aerospace Exposition in Zhuhai, one of the country's special economic zones, from November 4 to 10 this year. Over 40 companies from the United States, Canada and France, including industry giants Boeing and Airbus, have confirmed they will attend the exposition. Two websites dedicated to the airshow will be launched, at www.airshow.com.cn and www.airshowchina.com.
F-22 DELIVERY: Lockheed Martin Aeronautics Co. has delivered the last F-22 Raptor flight test aircraft to be produced under the program's engineering and manufacturing development phase, the company announced April 15. Over the next nine weeks, Raptor 4009 will be tested and evaluated to see how easy the aircraft is to maintain and repair, according to the company.
March 10, 2002 Honeywell, Inc., Albuquerque, N.M., is being awarded an $18,255,600 firm-fixed-price contract modification to provide for 495 common color multi-functional display units for the retrofit of all F-16 aircraft. At this time, the total amount of funds has been obligated. This work will be completed in April 2002. This effort supports foreign military sales to Singapore and Taiwan. The Ogden Air Logistics Center, Hill Air Force Base, Utah, is the contracting activity (F42620-02-C-0036).
