A watchdog group says the U.S. Army ignored a warning from a top Defense Department tester who said the Stryker Interim Armored Vehicle wasn't ready for Iraq deployment.
APACHES READY: The Army's ninth AH-64D Apache Longbow attack helicopter battalion has been certified combat-ready after completing eight months of training at Fort Hood, Texas, manufacturer Boeing announced Jan. 7. The 1st Battalion, 229th Aviation Regiment underwent a rigorous field examination, conducted three live-fire exercises, and completed approximately 3,200 flight hours during the training program. The Army fielded its first combat-ready AH-64D Apache Longbow battalion in the United States in 1998, according to Boeing.
NO SIGNAL: The European Space Agency's Mars Express spacecraft has attempted to contact the Beagle 2 Mars lander, but so far has failed, ESA said Jan. 7. The lander was released Dec. 19 but attempts to communicate with it have not been successful. More attempts are planned in coming days, ESA said.
The U.S. Army's plan for improving and modernizing Army aviation should be released in late winter or early spring, according to Maj. Gen. James D. Thurman, director of the Army Aviation Transformation Task Force. Last year, Army Chief of Staff Gen. Peter Schoomaker tasked Thurman's team to perform a comprehensive study of Army aviation and come up with a set of recommendations for improving it. The study is seen as a major driver behind future Army aviation procurement decisions, including the final buy of the RAH-66 Comanche helicopter.
AEROSONIC CORP., Clearwater, Fla. David A. Baldini, Charles M. Foster Jr., Robert J. McGill, William C. Parker, P. Mark Perkins and David M. Vosen have been elected to the board of directors. AMERICAN DEFENSE INTERNATIONAL INC., Washington, D.C. Ethan Cooper has joined the company as vice president of government affairs. DRS TECHNOLOGIES, Parsippany, N.J. Robert B. McKeon, president and founder of Veritas Capital Management, has been elected to the board of directors. HONEYWELL, Morris Township, N.J.
Sikorsky announced its team members in the competition to build the next presidential helicopter during a press briefing in Washington Jan. 7, while touting the "all American" nature of its candidate aircraft, the VH-92. The VH-92 is a derivative of Sikorsky's S-92, the first of which will be delivered to civil customers early this year (DAILY, July 10, 2003). The S-92 has logged approximately 3,000 flight hours to date, according to Sikorsky.
BAE Systems is teamed with Honeywell and Delta Airlines in a competition to develop systems to protect airliners from attack by terrorists' missiles, according to a company executive. The Department of Homeland Security on Jan. 6 said it had picked teams headed by BAE Systems, Northrop Grumman and United Airlines to proceed with the first phase of a two-phase effort to migrate such systems from military applications to the protection of airliners (DAILY, Jan. 7).
The Missile Defense Agency's Ground-based Midcourse Defense (GMD) program plans to conduct the first launch test Jan. 9 of a new interceptor booster developed by Lockheed Martin Corp. The rocket is scheduled for liftoff from Vandenberg Air Force Base, Calif., sometime between 1 p.m. and 7 p.m. Eastern time. The test, Booster Verification-5 (BV-5), had been scheduled for Dec. 15 but was delayed to allow for the replacement of a faulty set of circuit boards and wires in the booster, according to a Pentagon spokesman (DAILY, Dec. 17, 2003).
NEW DELHI -Indian scientists say they have developed a technology which will drastically reduce vibration in the Dhruv Advanced Light Helicopter (ALH). Officials of the state-owned Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd. (HAL), which is building the helicopters for the Indian defense forces, said researchers on "smart" materials at HAL's Indian Institute of Science and Applied Research have developed an electronically controlled vibration reduction system.
Alliant Techsystems (ATK) has been picked by the U.S. Army to design and develop the MX395 Precision Guided Mortar Munition (PGMM), the company said this week. Terms of the pending contract were not disclosed, but the company said the work could be worth more than $500 million. The contract award is expected after the Office of the Secretary of Defense conducts a requirements review, planned for April 2004, according to ATK. The company would begin initial low-rate initial production after a contract option award.
Lockheed Martin Corp. has edged out SAIC/Raytheon and Schafer/Boeing to become the prime contractor for the Miniature Kill Vehicle (MKV) program, the Defense Department announced late Jan. 7. Lockheed Martin Space Systems Co. in Sunnyvale, Calif., will receive a development and demonstration contract worth up to $768 million over eight years if all options are exercised. Initial work, valued at $27 million, will be conducted over 11 months.
PRAGUE - Testing of a long-delayed multi-million dollar flight simulator for the Aero Vodochody-built L-159 light combat-advanced jet trainer should be completed in the next six months, The DAILY has learned. The KTL-159 Complex Training System, developed by the Czech company VR Simulators and later upgraded by another Czech firm, Hexagon Systems, has been completed but is awaiting official certification, according to officials.
Lockheed Martin Canada has asked for a review its disqualification from the competition for Canada's $2.5 billion Maritime Helicopter Program but is undecided about where to go from there, a company spokesman said Jan. 5. "We have requested a review by the department of Public Works and Goverment Services," said Michael Barton. "We haven't ruled out the possiblity of pursuing a CITT [Canadian International Trade Tribunal] challenge."
CORRECTION: A story in the Jan. 6 issue of The DAILY incorrectly reported the teams competing for the the Navy's Littoral Combat Ship program. They are headed by Lockheed Martin, Raytheon and General Dynamics' Bath Iron Works.
The Boeing Co.'s decision to elect James A. Bell as its new chief financial officer likely will benefit the global aerospace company whose reputation has been under a cloud for alleged ethics violations, according to several aerospace and defense industry analysts. Bell, a 31-year veteran of Boeing, has a reputation for competence, the analysts told The DAILY.
The Department of Homeland Security has picked teams led by BAE Systems, Northrop Grumman and United Airlines for negotiations to develop systems to protect airliners from missile attack by terrorists. "The [teams] will be expected to develop a plan and test prototypes to help determine whether a viable technology exists that could be deployed to address the potential threat that Man-Portable Air Defense Systems (MANPADS) pose to commercial aircraft," DHS said Jan. 6.
Naval Air Systems Command (NAVAIR) has awarded Lockheed Martin Systems Integration of Owego, N.Y., a four-year, $423 million contract to provide common cockpits for the Navy's MH-60R and MH-60S helicopters.
NEW DELHI - Last-minute technical problems with the long-range Agni-3 ballistic missile have been corrected and the missile will be test-fired within the next three months, according to a Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) source. No details on the technical problems were available. The Agni-3, with a range of up to 4,000 kilometers (2,485 miles), was to have been tested before the end of 2003.
