Rumsfeld to get Jan. 23 briefing on FY '05 budget request Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld is expected to receive a briefing from his underlings Jan. 23 on the Pentagon's fiscal 2005 budget request, according to an industry source. Leaders of the Defense Department's unified combatant commands are slated to receive their own briefings on DOD's budget proposal soon after Rumsfeld gets his, the source told The DAILY Jan. 16.
The U.S. Air Force has revised its retirement plans for 68 KC-135E tankers to comply with new congressional restrictions, documents show. The Air Force had intended to retire 37 of the aging refueling aircraft in fiscal 2004, 16 in FY '05 and eight in FY '06. In addition, seven backup KC-135Es were to leave the fleet by FY '06.
AND TORNADO: The RAF's Tornado GR4 will be in service for about another 25 years, Ingram says. "We currently expect the Tornado GR4 to leave service around the end of the next decade," he says. The first GR4 squadrons begin forming in 1998. The offensive air capability of the GR4, Ingram says, would be replaced by the projected Future Offensive Air System. "No final decision has been taken on how the Future Offensive Air System requirement might best be met," he says.
SEA HARRIER: The United Kingdom's first Sea Harrier squadron will be deactivated March 31, according to Armed Forces Minister Adam Ingram. The Sea Harrier made its first flight in August 1978 and entered service with the Royal Navy in April 1980. Fifty-seven were built for the U.K. Twenty-nine of the jets flew 2,376 sorties during the Falklands War in 1982, downing 22 Argentine aircraft. "The first Sea Harrier Squadron will be withdrawn from service on 31 March 2004," Ingram told Parliament.
OUT OF SERVICE: NASA has made the "painful decision" that it will not conduct any further servicing missions for the Hubble Space Telescope, according to agency spokesman Dwayne Brown. A fourth servicing mission had been scheduled for 2005 to perform repairs and install a new primary camera and spectrograph. The expected retirement date for the telescope had been around 2010, but without the mission it could be less.
The contractor teams led by Boeing and Lockheed Martin that have been working on NASA's Orbital Space Plane (OSP) will spend the remainder of their time under existing contracts determining how much of their work could be applied to the agency's more ambitious Crew Exploration Vehicle (CEV).
Lockheed Martin's Maritime Systems & Sensors Tactical Systems (MS2) and DRS Technologies' Electronic Systems Group have formed a consortium to research and develop a new generation of advanced naval displays, the companies announced Jan. 15. The companies will compete for the U.S. Navy's Naval Display Systems contract, a follow-on to the AN/UYQ-70 Advanced Display Systems contract that Lockheed Martin has had since 1994. The Navy has issued a request for proposals, with responses due in March and a contract award expected this year.
Secretary of the Navy Gordon England said he is optimistic that the Navy-Marine Corps' fiscal 2005 budget numbers will be good news for the service, and that its plans for next-generation surface combatants will stay on schedule.
NASA's Mars Exploration Rover "Spirit" drove off its lander platform early on Jan. 15 and has touched down on Martian soil to begin studying rocks for clues to the history of water on the planet. Before the roll-off, Spirit performed a three-stage turn on its platform Jan. 14, which pointed it in a north-northwest direction. Mission managers at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Pasadena, Calif., sent the command for the golf cart-sized rover to move forward at 3:21 a.m. EST Jan. 15.
Lockheed Martin has received a U.S. Army contract for the second low-rate initial production run of the High Mobility Artillery Rocket System (HIMARS), intended to support lighter, more mobile future forces, the company said Jan. 15. The $88.9 million contract covers 25 launchers for the Army and one for the Marine Corps, according to the company. The first low-rate HIMARS contract, for $96 million and 29 launchers, was awarded in April 2003, said Craig Vanbebber, a spokesman for Lockheed Martin.
Boeing Capital Co. is considering selling its Commercial Financial Services business, saying the unit is not a core part of the company's strategic focus. The company may sell the unit or sell all or part of its commercial finance portfolio, Boeing said Jan. 15. The Commercial Financial Services unit handles financing for a range of industry equipment. Other units within Boeing Capital arrange financing for Boeing aircraft, satellites and launch vehicles.
The Missile Defense Agency's Ground-based Midcourse Defense (GMD) program is trying to determine why a simulated exo-atmospheric kill vehicle (EKV) failed to separate from its interceptor booster during a Jan. 9 test, according to MDA.
CORRECTION: A story in the Jan. 14 issue of Aerospace Daily should have said that H.R. 375, which calls for a 375-ship Navy, has received endorsements from 80 House members. It also should have said the six largest shipyards are operating at only 60 percent of their capacity.
HOLIDAY NOTICE: In observance of the Martin Luther King Jr. Day holiday, Aerospace Daily will not published Jan. 19. The next issue will be dated Jan. 20.
The U.S. Coast Guard's Deepwater project will need a significantly greater number of large and medium-sized cutters than currently planned to fully meet its traditional and emerging mission demands, a pending RAND Corp. study says, according to an analyst. The Deepwater project's plans to modernize and replace the Coast Guard's aging ships, aircraft, command and control and logistics systems include purchasing eight large National Security Cutters and 25 medium-sized Offshore Patrol Cutters.
SAAB BUY: Saab has acquired a 21 percent share in the South African electronics company Grintek, which supplies the defense, avionics and other markets. South Africa's selection of the JAS-39 Gripen fighter for its air defense "created the basis for Saab's relationship with Grintek," Saab said Jan. 15.
Airbus Industrie delivered 305 airliners in 2003, the European consortium said Jan. 15. Rival Boeing said earlier this month that it delivered 281 airliners. "2003 was a landmark year for Airbus, the year in which it became number one," Airbus said. For 2004, Boeing has forecast delivery of 275 to 290 airliners. Noel Forgeard, president and CEO of Airbus, said that "for 2004, we expect the market to remain soft, with deliveries close to 300."
Improving close air support (CAS) will be a top goal of a major exercise that U.S. Joint Forces Command is sponsoring later this month. The Jan. 18-30 Western Range Complex Horizontal Training Exercise, which will consist of live forces in the western United States and simulated activities at 12 sites across the nation, will seek to increase CAS interoperability among the services.
NEW DELHI - Israeli unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), including the Heron and Searcher II, will be produced in India by the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO), a defense ministry official said. The details of the agreement have been completed and it is awaiting only a formal signing, the official said. India will stand to benefit from the deal because almost all of its UAV requirements are being met by Israeli companies, particularly the Haifa-based Israel Aircraft Industries, the official said.
Lockheed Martin and the U.S. Air Force have broken ground on construction modifications to Space Launch Complex 3E at Vandenberg Air Force Base, Calif., that will enable West Coast launch of Lockheed's Atlas V rocket by late 2005. The modifications to existing Atlas launch facilities are scheduled to be complete by the end of the year, according to company officials. After the first Atlas V is brought to the pad early next year, the team will spend five months performing integrated testing with the rocket and the new ground facilities.
PAYLOAD DELIVERED: Alcatel Space has delivered the payload for the AM11 telecommunications satellite to the Russian company NPO-PM, which is prime contractor for the Express AM satellites deployed by national operator Russian Satellite Communications Company (RSCC). It is the seventh payload that Alcatel Space has delivered to NPO-PM, according to Alcatel.
