Aviation Week has renamed its MRO Business Innovation Award in honor of Charles B. Ryan, the Nordam Group president and aviation industry leader who died in a plane accident in Canada last October. The annual award recognizes aviation industry companies and organizations that are finding new ways to improve operations and service, profits, products, efficiency and effectiveness, while sustaining or improving safety and technical proficiency.
Having overcome two sticking points to cooperation on the Medium Extended Air Defense System (MEADS), the U.S., Germany and Italy are hoping to make a "seamless move" into the developmental phase of the program in 2004, according to Lockheed Martin officials.
Northrop Grumman Corp. will focus on its increasingly important defense electronics and information technology businesses in fiscal 2003, senior company officials said Feb. 14. Gaston Kent, the company's vice president of investor relations, said at an investor's conference that senior management has concluded that expanding the defense electronics business is crucial to the company's financial future. "We saw that was the critical element, that and the information technology business," he said.
The termination of the Navy's Fire Scout vertical takeoff and landing tactical unmanned aerial vehicle does not affect the design proposal submitted by the "Blue Team" for the Navy's next-generation DD(X) destroyer, Blue Team officials said Feb. 14. The Fire Scout had been considered a likely candidate for use on the DD(X). The Blue Team, led by shipbuilder Bath Iron Works and Lockheed Martin Naval Electronics&Surveillance Systems, is competing against the Gold Team led by Ingalls Shipbuilding Inc. and Raytheon Systems Co.
UPGRADED E-8C: Northrop Grumman Corp. has delivered the first upgraded E-8C Joint Surveillance Target Attack Radar System aircraft to the U.S. Air Force under the Computer Replacement Program. This is the first of 10 aircraft being upgraded with commercial-off-the-shelf computers for improved data processing.
The Navy's F/A-18E/F fighter and MH-60S helicopter, the Air Force's C-130J transport plane and the Army's UH-60 Black Hawk helicopter all are strong candidates for increased procurement if Rep. Norm Dicks (D-Wash.), a member of the House Appropriations defense subcommittee, succeeds in adding billions of dollars to the Bush Administration's fiscal 2003 budget request, according to a congressional source.
747-400ER ASSEMBLY: Boeing workers in Everett, Washington have begun assembling the first long-range 747-400ER, Boeing said Feb. 13. The 747-400ER will be available in passenger and cargo versions. It is the same size as the 747-400, but its revamped interior will allow customers to fly longer routes or carry more cargo or passengers.
The Federal Communications Commission could issue as early as Feb. 14 a ruling that aviation interests fear would authorize use of ultra-wideband (UWB) devices that interfere with the safety of flight. The Air Transport Association said the devices could interfere with Global Positioning System transmissions and other services that operate in restricted spectrum bands, Aerospace Daily affiliate Aviation Daily reported.
The U.S. Navy would buy a third DDG-51 Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer in fiscal 2003 if it had the money to procure an additional ship, Navy Secretary Gordon England said Feb. 13. "The Navy could use additional DDGs, and they are the most appropriate candidate for additional procurement," England testified before the House Armed Services Committee.
Shannon Lucid, one of the first women to become an astronaut, will take over for Kathie Olsen as NASA's chief scientist, NASA Administrator Sean O'Keefe announced Feb. 12. President Bush has said Olsen will be nominated as associate director of the Office of Science and Technology Policy.
D. Roy Goldsmith has been appointed group vice president, manufacturing operations. Gregory Smith has been appointed division manager, Windsor division.
An Air Force B-52 successfully launched two AGM-154A Joint Standoff Weapons (JSOWs) at the Naval Air Systems Command (NAVAIR) Western Test Range Feb.8, marking the final step for the JSOW to be cleared for operational use on the B-52. The JSOW-A, which achieved initial operational capability (IOC) in January of 1999, began delivery to B-52 bases in October, according to NAVAIR spokeswoman Cathy Partusch.
Iridium Satellite announced Feb. 13 that the company's five new spare satellites, launched Feb. 11 on a Delta II rocket, have reached their assigned orbits and are fully functional. The satellites join seven other spares already in orbit, part of the company's plan to extend the life of its network to 2010, Iridium said. The company has 66 low-earth-orbiting operational satellites plus spares.
At the current rate of operations, the Department of Defense will run out of money for military operations in Afghanistan by midyear, senior Defense Department officials told Senate Budget Committee members Feb. 13. Deputy Secretary of Defense Paul Wolfowitz said that although the DOD still has much of the supplemental funding approved by Congress for fiscal year 2001, "it will only last us a little while longer. We will have to have supplemental funding in [FY] '02 to continue operations."
Lockheed Martin Missiles and Fire Control will upgrade 35 U.S. Army Multiple Launch Rocket System M270 launchers to M270A1 launchers under a $69.4 million low-rate initial production contract. The upgrades include an improved fire control system that includes Global Positioning System capability. Delivery of the launchers will begin in December 2003 and be completed in June 2004.
Status report The fiscal year 2003 budget request released Feb. 4 by the Administration included status reports on selected programs. This report covers some of the Department of Defense's programs. Source: Budget of the U.S. government. Program Assessment Explanation Military Readiness Effective The speed of American deployment in the war
Recent engine problems with the Navy Department's EA-6B Prowler underscore the need to replace the aging weapon system, the U.S. military's only radar-jamming support aircraft, according to Navy Secretary Gordon England.
