The Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) is working to shrink laser weapon systems to make them suitable for use on tactical aircraft such as C-130s or even fighters. Lasers offer a number of tactical advantages over conventional munitions, according to Col. Mark Stephen, deputy director of AFRL's Directed Energy Directorate at Kirtland Air Force Base, N.M.
ROCKWELL BUY: Rockwell Collins Inc. has acquired Communication Solutions Inc. for $23 million, the company announced March 19. The buy will expand Rockwell Collins' portfolio for customers in the areas of signals intelligence and surveillance, according to the company. Maryland-based Communications Solutions reported $16 million in 2001 revenues from its defense and security-related SIGINT products.
NASA contract awards by type of effort, FY 2001 Category Number of contracts Total (millions) Total 6,019 $9,038.1 Research and Development 1,978 2,482.0 Space Station 20 895.6 Aeronautics&Space Technology 809 400.5 Space Science&Applications 324 324.0
The United States extended an alternative F-16 proposal to Austria on March 18, offering older-model F-16s at almost half the price of the original package submitted to Austria in November 2001. As the competition for Central Europe's fighter market heats up, the U.S. is trying to ensure it isn't undersold by Gripen International, which has beaten the American-made F-16 in two recent competitions. Last year, the Czech Republic and Hungary chose the JAS 39 Gripen over the F-16, and the aircraft are again competing in Poland and Austria.
A high-level Navy official said March 19 that he is trying to secure significantly more money for new weapon systems in the service's fiscal 2004 budget, which the Bush Administration is scheduled to release in about 11 months.
A senior official in the Turkish air force called on the U.S. to remove technology transfer and export licensing restrictions that he said are preventing the two countries from developing a closer relationship on a number of strategic issues. Maj. Gen Aktug Atay, chief of staff for plans and principles, said March 19 that the concept of "strategic cooperation" between Turkey and the U.S. has taken on a greater meaning since the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11.
The U.S. faces growing threats to its space dominance, as potential adversaries are making significant progress in fielding their own space assets and developing tools to disrupt American space systems, U.S. intelligence officials said March 19.
WINGS DELIVERED: The Boeing Co. has delivered the wings for the first F-22 Raptor production aicraft to Lockheed Martin, the company announced March 19. The two 2,000-pound titanium and composite structures were delivered last week and will be mated with the aircraft's fuselage later this month in Marietta, Ga.
Textron Systems is developing a sensor that would monitor missile intercept tests over the mid-Pacific Ocean from aboard a high-flying unmanned aerial vehicle. The Wilmington, Mass., company won a $13 million contract on March 7 to develop the look-up electro-optical sensor for the Navy Theater Ballistic Missile Defense Intercept Monitoring Program at the Pacific Missile Range Facility, Kauai, Hawaii.
AIR AGREEMENT: NASA officials and Boeing Air Traffic Management senior managers will sign a memorandum of understanding March 21 to plan future research projects to enable "the next-generation air transportation system," according to NASA.
TEST FIRE: The U.S. Navy successfully test-fired a Lockheed Martin Space Systems-built Trident II (D5) Fleet Ballistic Missile over the weekend, according to the company. The missile was launched from the submarine U.S.S. Alaska at the Eastern Range off the coast of Florida. It was the 95th consecutive successful test launch.
Air Force Space Command declared initial operational capability (IOC) on March 15 for the Minuteman III ICBM propulsion replacement program (PRP). Ten ICBMs that have gone through the PRP have been deployed and are on alert at Malmstrom Air Force Base, Mont., under the $2.4 billion program. Five hundred Minutemen IIIs are deployed at Malmstrom, F.E. Warren Air Force Base, Wyo., and Minot Air Force Base, N.D. The PRP program is intended to replace aging propellant in the boosters to maintain reliability through 2020.
March 15, 2002 Raytheon Aircraft Co., Wichita, Kan., is being awarded a $15,795,000 firm-fixed-price contract modification to provide for continued fiscal year 2002 contractor logistics support for option VII of the joint primary aircraft training system for T-6A aircraft. At this time, the total amount of funds has been obligated. The Aeronautical Systems Center, Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio, is the contracting activity (F33657-96-C-0180, P00031).
March 14, 2002 Bell-Boeing Joint Program Office, Arlington, Va., is being awarded a $43,987,322 ceiling-priced order for procurement of an estimated 15,036 various low-rate initial production Lot 6 spares for the V-22 Osprey aircraft. Work will be performed at Ridley Park, Pa., and is to be completed by July 2004. Contract funds will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. This contract was not competitively procured. The Naval Inventory Control Point, Philadelphia, is the contracting activity (N00383-97-G-002N) (Order 0028).
While the Missile Defense Agency (MDA) is still poring over the post-test data from the March 15 test of the Ground-based Midcourse Defense (GMD) system, the apparent success of the intercept probably will set the groundwork for more complex flight tests.
COMPONENT READY: The starboard zero (S0) truss segment bound for the International Space Station is ready for its April 4 flight aboard the Space Shuttle Atlantis, Boeing Space and Communications announced March 18. Boeing Human Space Flight&Exploration built the truss at its Huntington Beach, Calif., plant. Additional work on S0, including pre-launch assembly and testing, was conducted at Boeing facilities in Huntsville, Ala., and the Kennedy Space Center, Fla.
Lockheed Martin Corp. announced March 18 it is selling two additional units that once belonged to its Global Telecommunications business, which it decided to dissolve late last year. Intelsat Ltd., of Bermuda, has agreed to purchase Lockheed Martin's World Systems and COMSAT Digital Teleport Inc. businesses for an undisclosed price. Lockheed Martin officials said the sale would not be material to the company's earnings, nor would it affect Lockheed Martin's 24 percent ownership stake in Intelsat.
The National Science Foundation would get an 8.9 percent funding increase under the House version of the fiscal 2003 budget resolution, 3.9 percent above the Bush Administration's request. The budget outline, approved by the House Budget Committee March 13, would provide the NSF with a total of $5.2 billion in FY '03, $425 million over FY '02. Funding for research and related activities would rise 11.1 percent, 6 percent above the Administration's request.
Integral Systems Inc. was chosen over TRW for the Air Force's CCS-C (Command and Control System-Consolidated) program, an effort to replace the portion of the Air Force Satellite Control Network that supports military communications satellites and advanced satellites.
The Boeing Co. will sell its Mesa, Ariz.-based ordnance business to Alliant Techsystems (ATK) of Edina, Minn., if it gets regulatory approval, the company announced March 18. The ordnance business is part of Boeing Military Aircraft and Missile Systems. The unit's 50 employees will be offered a chance to transfer to ATK when the sale is final, which is expected to be in the first half of this year. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.
