Congressional advocates of the Navy EA-6B Prowler electronic attack aircraft have urged key committees to provide funding in the fiscal 2002 supplemental appropriations bill or the FY '03 defense bills to buy Northrop Grumman wing center section replacements.
ENGINE APPROVED: China's first domestically developed turbofan engine has been approved for use by the air force. Research on the engine began in 1991 by the No. 608 research institute, South Company, the Hongdu Aviation Industry Group, and the China Flight Test Establishment.
Financial and technological constraints are preventing terrestrial wireline and wireless broadband service providers from meeting the growing demand for broadband access, creating an opportunity for satellite-service providers, according to a report from the Futron Corp. Futron, a technology consulting firm based in Bethesda, Md., estimates that the number of households demanding Internet broadband service will grow from about 15 million today to nearly 75 million by 2008.
Israel is in line to get additional Joint Direct Attack Munition (JDAM) kits from the U.S. It already has received 472 of the kits, which convert standard bombs into smart weapons, and the Boeing Co. will build 228 more. When Boeing completes the work next year, Israel will have the 700 kits it requested in November 1999. The kits are for the Mk. 84 2,000-pound bomb.
Russia's air force has said unofficially it will replace its aging Czech L-29 and L-39 jet trainers with Yakovlev Design Bureau's Yak-130 trainer, although the fate of the competing MiG-AT proposal is not clear. Russia's Ministry of Defense placed an order for 10 Yak-130s from the Sokol Aircraft Plant in Nizniy Novgorod, with the first four aircraft to be delivered next year, according to a regional information agency.
Two U.S. congressmen from California are seeking to add hundreds of millions of dollars to the Bush Administration's fiscal 2003 defense budget to benefit the Global Hawk and Predator B unmanned aerial vehicles, the Navy's Unmanned Combat Air Vehicle (UCAV-N), the B-2 bomber, the Black Hawk helicopter and other aerospace programs that have local interest.
Two U.S. congressmen from California are seeking to add hundreds of millions of dollars to the Bush Administration's fiscal 2003 defense budget to benefit the Global Hawk and Predator B unmanned aerial vehicles, the Navy's Unmanned Combat Air Vehicle (UCAV-N), the B-2 bomber, the Black Hawk helicopter and other aerospace programs that have local interest.
Financial and technological constraints are preventing terrestrial wireline and wireless broadband service providers from meeting the growing demand for broadband access, creating an opportunity for satellite-service providers, according to a report from the Futron Corp. Futron, a technology consulting firm based in Bethesda, Md., estimates that the number of households demanding Internet broadband service will grow from about 15 million today to nearly 75 million by 2008.
A report released last week by Forecast International/DMS Inc. predicts the market for airborne anti-submarine warfare sensors will decline over the next 10 years as the nation shifts resources to the war on terrorism. The report, entitled, "the Market for Airborne ASW Sensors," examines in detail the potential market for dipping sonars, airborne maritime surveillance radars, magnetic abnormality detectors and sonobuoys.
NASA's first High Energy Transient Experiment (HETE) spacecraft, along with the Argentine SAC-B satellite, re-entered the atmosphere April 6, still attached to the Pegasus third stage from which they failed to separate in 1996. According to U.S. Space Command, which tracked the spacecraft, re-entry occurred at about 10:55 p.m. EST over a remote area of China.
An extended-range Joint Air-to-Surface Standoff Missile will be able to fly 2.5 times as far as the baseline version through internal improvements, according to an Air Force Official.
ISR MANAGER: Raytheon's command, control, communication and information (C3I) segment plans to focus the majority of its resources on developing a system to coordinate the operations of all platforms with intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) systems, says Frank Marchilena, executive vice president of Raytheon's C3I Systems segment. Marchilena says the ISR market represents about $15 billion for Raytheon over the next five years.
EXPLOSIVE PARTNERSHIP: Raytheon and Northrop Grumman are teaming to pursue a contract to train personnel and install explosive detection equipment in all commercial U.S. airports by year's end, in accordance with the Aviation and Transportation Security Act of 2001. The act mandates that all checked baggage in all 438 commercial airports in the U.S. be screened by Dec. 31. The team expects to install 1,850 to 2,200 explosive detection machines and 5,000 explosive trace detection machines within nine months if it wins the contract.
H-1 BREACH: The Defense Acquisition Board (DAB) held an interim meeting April 3 to review the troubled H-1 helicopter upgrade program, which was reported in breach of the Nunn-McCurdy Act last month. Based on the Nunn-McCurdy Act, Pentagon acquisition czar E.C. "Pete" Aldridge, Jr. must certify the program is necessary for national security, that no alternatives exist, and that the program can be restructured to maintain costs. If those conditions are not met, Aldridge must terminate the program.
Raytheon Co. plans to draw on its expertise as a systems integrator and designer to compete for several contracts relating to homeland security and defense, a senior Raytheon official said last week during the company's annual investors conference. Hugo Poza, vice president and general manager of Strategic Systems, said Raytheon sees homeland security as a rapidly emerging market. "While funding is becoming more clear, the requirements are still evolving," he said.
A successful test last week of the Air Force/Lockheed Martin Joint Air-to-Surface Standoff Missile (JASSM) clears the way for the next phase of testing, according to an Air Force official. Dale Bridges, technical director of the Lethal Strike Program Office at the Air Armament Center, Eglin Air Force Base, Fla., said the April 4 test at White Sands Missile Range, N.M., was the last in a series of development firings and that operational tests are slated to start next month.
A successful test last week of the Air Force/Lockheed Martin Joint Air-to-Surface Standoff Missile (JASSM) clears the way for the next phase of testing, according to an Air Force official. Dale Bridges, technical director of the Lethal Strike Program Office at the Air Armament Center, Eglin Air Force Base, Fla., said the April 4 test at White Sands Missile Range, N.M., was the last in a series of development firings and that operational tests are slated to start next month.
REBOUND: The global aerospace and defense sector has improved steadily since its low point shortly after the terrorist attacks in New York and Washington, but U.S. companies are attracting most of the investment, according to a report from Deutsche Bank. Christopher Mecray, senior aerospace and defense analyst with Deutsche Banc Alex. Brown, says, "Driven by the combination of U.S. defense budget increases and a growing focus on playing cyclical stocks, the sector has rebounded strongly from its low point following Sept.
Senate Armed Services Committee member Bob Smith (R-N.H.) has asked Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld to support spending $190 million to $250 million to conduct two flight tests and buy 10 interceptors and related equipment for the Army's kinetic energy anti-satellite (KE-ASAT) program.
LAUNCH BUMP: NASA has set April 8 as the new launch date for the shuttle Atlantis' mission to the International Space Station to install part of its truss. A hydrogen leak on the shuttle's mobile launch pad forced NASA to scrub the planned April 4 launch.
Engine firings to raise the orbit of Boeing's troubled Tracking and Data Relay Satellite (TDRS) should resume by the third week of April, according to Boeing spokesman George Torres. In the interim, engineers at Boeing Satellite Systems (BSS) are continuing their analysis of a workaround solution for propellant tank problems on TDRS-I that could jeopardize its operational life.
Raytheon Co. plans to draw on its expertise as a systems integrator and designer to compete for several contracts relating to homeland security and defense, a senior Raytheon official said last week during the company's annual investors conference. Hugo Poza, vice president and general manager of Strategic Systems, said Raytheon sees homeland security as a rapidly emerging market. "While funding is becoming more clear, the requirements are still evolving," he said.
