B-52 BIRTHDAY: Boeing's B-52 Stratofortress turns 50 on April 15. The YB-52 prototype made its first flight on April 15, 1952, and the continually updated production aircraft has served in numerous military operations, including Operation Enduring Freedom in Afghanistan. The B-52 is expected to remain in the fleet for another four decades.
NO SURPRISES: Don't expect many surprises this week when aerospace and defense companies announce their first quarter earnings for the year, says Deutsche Bank Securities analyst Chris Mecray. "Defense results will be in line with guidance this quarter with little or no surprises," he says in a first-quarter preview report. "We expect solid growth over last year, as earlier defense spending increases from the final Clinton budgets begin to take effect.
MORE UAVs: The Army will need a family of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) and can't afford to just rely on the Shadow 200 Tactical UAV, according to Eddie Bair, program executive officer for intelligence, electronic warfare and sensors at U.S. Army Communications-Electronics Command (CECOM). "We're going to have families of UAVs," Bair says. "It's not just going to be a single UAV, i.e., the brigade commander's UAV, i.e., Shadow 200. We're going to have to have a longer-legged UAV.
AEGIS CONTRACT: Lockheed Martin will build three Aegis Weapon Systems for the U.S. Navy under a $173 million contract, the company announced April 12. The order, for systems to be installed on Arleigh Burke-class destroyers, is the first installment of a 17-ship, four-year contract that could be worth up to $1.1 billion. The Aegis system can attack multiple incoming aircraft, missiles, submarines, torpedoes and ships while implementing defenses to protect the fleet.
Lockheed Martin's LinkSensors system is preparing for its first major live demonstration to potential customers this summer at company facilities in Syracuse, N.Y. LinkSensors is a sensor networking system that will not only fuse data, but selectively allow intelligent, automated control of individual sensor nodes, to cooperatively provide better information about targets of interest (DAILY, Oct. 16, 2001).
NEW JOINT PROGRAM OFFICE: Air Force Lt. Gen. Brian Arnold is standing up a joint program office (JPO) for the Space Based Radar, according to Peter Teets, the undersecretary of the Air Force for space and director of the National Reconnaissance Office (NRO). The new JPO, to be based out of the Air Force Space and Missiles Center in Los Angeles, will be responsible for implementing the Space Based Radar roadmap sent to Congress in February.
Analytical Graphics Inc., the maker of software systems for missile defense, 3-D battlespace visualization and situational awareness, announced record earnings for fiscal year 2001 last week. Fourth quarter revenue totaled nearly $6.4 million, a 14 percent increase over the same quarter last year, company officials said. For the year, the company generated about $21.2 million in revenue, a 14 increase over revenue recorded for FY 2000.
NEW JOINT PROGRAM OFFICE: Air Force Lt. Gen. Brian Arnold is standing up a joint program office (JPO) for the Space Based Radar, according to Peter Teets, the undersecretary of the Air Force for space and director of the National Reconnaissance Office (NRO). The new JPO, to be based out of the Air Force Space and Missiles Center in Los Angeles, will be responsible for implementing the Space Based Radar roadmap sent to Congress in February.
The Dutch parliament appears likely to endorse a cabinet recommendation to join the U.S. Defense Department's F-35 Joint Strike Fighter program, removing the last major hurdle to that country's participation, a spokeswoman for the program office said April 12.
PLUTO PUSH: The principal investigator for the proposed New Horizons mission to Pluto and the Kuiper Belt says he hopes a recent endorsement from a NASA Advisory Council (NAC) subcommittee will give the mission a boost. "They gave us their highest endorsement," S. Alan Stern, of the Southwest Research Institute in Boulder, Colo., says of the NAC's Solar System Exploration Subcommittee (SSES).
NASA still can't properly document what it is spending to build the International Space Station (ISS), the General Accounting Office said in new correspondence to House and Senate lawmakers. Under the NASA authorization act of 2000, the agency is to account for station spending to ensure it stays within congressional caps of $25 billion for station development and $17 billion for shuttle flights to the station.
AWARD: Gilbert Gaudette, Pratt&Whitney Canada Corp.'s vice president-service centers, received the Overhaul&Maintenance Award sponsored by Aviation Week's Overhaul&Maintenance magazine. The award honors managers or executives who have helped improve the efficiency, profitability, reliability and/or safety of maintenance, repair and overhaul. The award was presented at an April 9 dinner at the Corona Ranch in Phoenix.
April 16 - 17 -- Precision Strike Association presents 2002 Annual Programs Review, Defense Acquisition University, Fort Belvoir, VA. The April 16 session is unclassified, April 17 is classified secret (rel NATO). Participants attending the April 17 session must complete and submit a security form by April 5. For more information contact Leslie Mueller at (301) 475-6513 or email [email protected], or Kimberly Sumner at (703) 247-2572 or email [email protected].
JSF SPLIT: Aerospace analysts have not reached a consensus about how the winner-take-all contract to develop the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter program will affect the U.S. defense industrial base, according to a new report by the Congressional Research Service.
MORE UAVs: The Army will need a family of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) and can't afford to just rely on the Shadow 200 Tactical UAV, according to Eddie Bair, program executive officer for intelligence, electronic warfare and sensors at U.S. Army Communications-Electronics Command (CECOM). "We're going to have families of UAVs," Bair says. "It's not just going to be a single UAV, i.e., the brigade commander's UAV, i.e., Shadow 200. We're going to have to have a longer-legged UAV.
FALLING SHORT: Although European NATO forces have made great strides in improving their defense capabilities, as agreed to in the April 1999 Defense Capabilities Initiative, they continue to fall short due to inadequate defense funding, according to the commander of U.S. NATO forces. "Some of the nations that have a lot of national wealth haven't put as much of that into improving their capabilities as they should," says Gen. Montgomery Meigs.
The first prototype Dragonfly unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV), which could become the first rotorcraft to intentionally stop its rotor in flight, is on track to have its maiden flight at Yuma Proving Ground in late summer. Designated X-50A, this unique hybrid (see photo) has an unusually wide rotor that can be slowed down and stopped, allowing it to fly as a fixed-wing jet aircraft (DAILY, June 27, 2001).
Alliant Techsystems (ATK) will begin initial development of the Army's precision-guided 105mm Mid-Range Munition (MRM) under a $5 million contract, the company announced April 11. The contract is for the first phase of a 15-month program that will conclude with firing demonstrations, ATK said. MRM is designed to defeat main battle tanks that are equipped with reactive armor and active protection systems, and is among the first in a line of precision munitions being developed for the U.S. Army's Future Combat Systems, the company said.
MORE INFO: The Department of Justice has requested additional information from Northrop Grumman Corp. about its plans to acquire TRW Inc. Company officials said they would comply with the request. After submitting the information, Northrop must wait 30 days before recommencing its offer to exchange its stock for all outstanding shares of TRW stock.
MORE INFO: The Department of Justice has requested additional information from Northrop Grumman Corp. about its plans to acquire TRW Inc. Company officials said they would comply with the request. After submitting the information, Northrop must wait 30 days before recommencing its offer to exchange its stock for all outstanding shares of TRW stock.
NASA Administrator Sean O'Keefe said April 11 that his agency and the Department of Defense plan to collaborate on nuclear propulsion. He also said he has met with Air Force officials to discuss cooperation on reusable launch vehicles, and that resumes are being sifted for a new program executive officer for the International Space Station. O'Keefe said at a conference here that he has been talking with Ronald Sega, the director of defense research and engineering, about nuclear propulsion.
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. - NASA Administrator Sean O'Keefe said April 11 that his agency and the Department of Defense plan to collaborate on nuclear propulsion. He also said he has met with Air Force officials to discuss cooperation on reusable launch vehicles, and that resumes are being sifted for a new program executive officer for the International Space Station. O'Keefe said at a conference here that he has been talking with Ronald Sega, the director of defense research and engineering, about nuclear propulsion.
The first prototype Dragonfly unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV), which could become the first rotorcraft to intentionally stop its rotor in flight, is on track to have its maiden flight at Yuma Proving Ground in late summer. Designated X-50A, this unique hybrid (see photo) has an unusually wide rotor that can be slowed down and stopped, allowing it to fly as a fixed-wing jet aircraft (DAILY, June 27, 2001).
WARNING SYSTEM TESTS: BAE Systems' Common Missile Warning System (CMWS) recently underwent a series of "live fire" tests and indicated it can successfully help defend tactical fighters against infrared missile threats, the company said. The system detects the signature of a missile launch, warns the aircrew and cues countermeasures to defeat the threat. It was tested aboard a U.S. Air Force QF-4 drone in flights at White Sands Missile Range, N.M., March 11-13.
