General Dynamics Land Systems won a $2 billion contract - the largest in its history - to develop the next generation of tanks, artillery and infantry carriers for the U.S. Army's Future Combat Systems (FCS) program, the company announced Dec. 15.
NAME CHANGE: NASA plans to release the first images from its Space Infrared Telescope Facility (SIRTF) on Dec. 18, the aerospace agency said. It also will announce a new name for the observatory, which was launched in August to study galaxies, stars and planet-forming discs that orbit around them.
Standard & Poor's Ratings Services revised its outlook on L-3 Communications from stable to positive, the company said Dec. 15. The move reflects "a steadily improving financial profile, increased program diversity, and the positive outlook for defense spending," S&P said. The company's balance sheet has periodically become "highly leveraged" from acquisitions, S&P said, but "management has a good record of restoring financial flexibility by issuing equity."
December 8, 2003 AIR FORCE The Boeing Co., Fort Walton Beach, Fla., is being awarded an $187,994,406 firm fixed price, cost-plus fixed-fee, time and materials contract modification. This contract will exercise of option for aircraft 2/3/4 of the modification of a C-130H2 into a side-firing AC-130U gunship. Total funds have been obligated. This work will be complete by September 2006. The Headquarters Aeronautical Systems Center, Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio, is the contracting activity (F33657-02-C-2037, P00006). NAVY
Lockheed Martin and teammate PerkinElmer Optoelectronics demonstrated the multi-target warhead fuze for Lockheed Martin's proposed Joint Common Missile (JCM) in a series of tests completed earlier this month at Eglin Air Force Base, Fla.
Former Vermont Gov. Howard Dean, the frontrunner for the Democratic presidential nomination, plans to revamp the Pentagon's missile defense programs if he is elected, campaign advisers said Dec. 15.
The High Altitude Airship (HAA), which the Missile Defense Agency is developing as a surveillance and communications relay vehicle, eventually could be turned into an armed platform, an MDA official said Dec. 15. James Mulroy, MDA's director for engagement systems, said the HAA could evolve much like unmanned aerial vehicles. UAVs initially were outfitted with sensor payloads but later were equipped with missiles as the technology for unmanned aircraft matured.
RAPTOR WORK: EDO Corp. will continue production of its AMRAAM Vertical Ejection Launcher weapons-delivery system for the F/A-22 Raptor, the company said Dec. 12. The work will be done under a $33.5 million contract from Lockheed Martin Aeronautics, which covers production lots three and four, consisting of 43 aircraft.
CORRECTION: A story in the Dec. 12 issue of The DAILY incorrectly characterized a quote from Lt. Robert Lyon, spokesman for the Chief of Naval Air Training, about the T-45 Training System program. It should have read, "I believe we're meeting our [training] goals." Also, CNTRA initially incorrectly stated the readiness rate of T-2 aircraft, which is 78 percent ready for flight and 82 percent mission capable.
The U.S. Army's first Stryker brigade was operationally effective and suitable for deployment to Iraq, but issues remain for future brigades, the General Accounting Office (GAO) said in a new report. One of the six planned Stryker Brigade Combat Teams has been deployed to Iraq (DAILY, Oct. 13). "The brigade's strengths were its ability to conduct combat missions using different transportation modes and the ability to use the Stryker vehicle's speed and agility," the GAO said.
NEW DELHI - Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd. (HAL) has completed test trials of the Cheetah helicopter with a new engine, the Turbomecca TM 333 2M2, a company official said Dec. 12. The upgraded helicopter flew more than 50 development flights and the latest tested the engine's air intake pressure, temperatures, engine surge, hover performance, engine restarts and high-altitude performance. Cold weather trials are planned at Leh in 2004, the HAL official said. Certification in 2004
TYPHOON TRANCHE: "Intense work is under way" on preparing contracts for the second tranche of the multi-nation Eurofighter Typhoon program, and they will be awarded "as soon as possible," says Adam Ingram, the United Kingdom's secretary of state for defense. "Under the original schedule, the contracts had been due to be placed during 2003 but the program, including the delivery of Tranche 1 aircraft, has been subject to delay," Ingram told Parliament Dec. 11.
HARD WORK: Reforming America's export control regime will require a sustained commitment from the next presidential administration, according to Aerospace Industries Association (AIA) President and CEO John Douglass. "It's going to take some awful hard work, and the administration ... whether it's a second Bush administration or a new Democratic administration, have got to make up their minds that they're going to go down to the Hill and make this an administration priority," he says.
JOINT PROGRAMS: Federal budget constraints probably will force U.S. military services to cut costs by acquiring more weapon systems jointly, says Navy Rear Adm. Michael Mathis, director of the Joint Theater Air and Missile Defense Organization (JTAMDO). However, joint programs are unlikely to replace service-specific programs entirely because each service still will have unique needs, he says. The Navy, for instance, will continue to buy ships that no other service wants, while the Air Force is unlikely to join the Army in buying tanks.
Converting analog-cockpit T-45A trainer aircraft to the digital-cockpit T-45C configuration is a target for the Chief of Naval Air Training, according to CNTRA spokesman Lt. Robert Lyon.
VXX RFP: The final request for proposals (RFP) for the VXX presidential helicopter replacement program will be released to contractors Dec. 15. Lockheed Martin/Agusta Westland's US101 and Sikorsky's S-92 are the contenders for the program. Naval Air Systems Command (NAVAIR) plans to buy 23 aircraft to replace the Sikorsky-built VH-3Ds and VH-60s currently used for executive transport missions. The new aircraft would be introduced starting in 2008.
LONDON - The United Kingdom's land, sea and air weapon platforms need major cuts to create a military force that could be deployed swiftly, a Ministry of Defence (MOD) White Paper published Dec. 11 says. The U.K. military needs "rebalancing and further investment in a range of enablers and logistics" to meet objectives, the MOD said. A key objective is to be able to conduct three operational campaigns simultaneously, including one long-term "peace support mission."
While British air assets succeeded in operations against Iraq earlier this year, the war raised questions and provided lessons about air combat, according to a new report from the United Kingdom Ministry of Defence (MOD). Among the findings: * The U.K.'s use of precision-guided munitions was greater than in the Gulf War of 1991, and "stockpile planning is being reviewed accordingly." * "Effects-based operations require improved methods of accurately assessing the results of attacks on targets."
PRAGUE, Czech Republic - U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell discussed the Czech Republic's planned purchase or lease of 14 supersonic aircraft with Czech Prime Minister Vladimir Spidla, according to Czech government sources.
After scrapping an effort to partner with industry on a follow-on system, NASA is talking with Congress and the Bush Administration about forming an international consortium to provide Landsat-type satellite images after the retirement of the ailing Landsat 7 satellite. Landsat spacecraft have been providing remote sensing data to government, private and international users for nearly 30 years. NASA manages the satellites, with the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) processing and distributing the data.
