MID-LIFE UPDATE: Ingram also says the idea of a mid-life upgrade for the Typhoon still is being studied. "Typhoon's incremental acquisition strategy means that enhancements to the aircraft's capabilities will be incorporated progressively after its initial entry into service," he says. "It is too early in the Typhoon program to consider whether a formal mid-life update for the aircraft might be needed or how it might best be achieved."
EL PASO, Texas - U.S. Army officials say the Iraq war has provided important lessons on how the service spends its money on air and missile defense systems. Some budgetary changes are already in the works.
NEW DELHI - Cooperation between India and Israel on satellite programs has run into trouble because Tel Aviv is reluctant to share technology with India, said sources in the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO). K. Kasturirangan, the head of India's space program, visited Israel last month seeking to acquire technology for microsatellites but was rebuffed, the sources said. ISRO wants to build communications microsatellites and is seeking the technology overseas, including from Israel, but has had little success so far.
Dec. 15 -- International Air Service Seminar, The Westin Grand, Washington, D.C. Contact Howard Mann at (202) 293-8500 x 3037, email [email protected] or go to www.aci-na.aero. Dec. 18 -- Aviation Week & Space Technology and ShareSpace Foundation present "Next Century of Flight Space Imperatives," Ronald Reagan Building and International Trade Center, Washington, D.C. To register go to http://www.aviationweedk.com/conferences.
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.
NASA is expected to select by March the best of three proposed methods to repair damage to the space shuttle's reinforced carbon-carbon (RCC) panels in orbit, according to members of the Stafford-Covey Task Group.
EL PASO, Texas - The next missile intercept attempt for the Missile Defense Agency's Ground-based Midcourse Defense (GMD) system is scheduled to take place in May 2004, according to a program official. The test, Integrated Flight Test-14 (IFT-14), may be followed by another intercept attempt, IFT-15, in July 2004, said Thomas Devanney, GMD's deputy program director, who spoke at an Army space and missile defense conference here.
The Republic of Korea air force has begun flight tests of the multimode control radar of the T-50 Golden Eagle's Lead-In Fighter Trainer (LIFT) version, Lockheed Martin announced Dec. 10. "The air-to-ground radar modes are performing well," Korean air force Lt. Col. Kwon Hee Man, a test pilot for the LIFT, said in a company statement.
PRAGUE, Czech Republic - A diplomatic dispute has erupted between Sweden and the United States over alleged U.S. lobbying tactics surrounding the Czech state's planned acquisition of supersonic aircraft. The dispute comes as the Czech government prepares to consider an evaluation commission's unanimous recommendation that it accept a Swedish government proposal to lease 14 new Gripen JAS-39 fighters for up to 10 years.
SAAB ORDER: Finland's navy has ordered Saab's Radar and Optronic Fire Control System, the Ceros 200 FCS, for the navy's Squadron 2000 vessels. The deal is worth 9.3 million Euros ($11.4 million) for SaabTech, which developed and manufactures the system in Jarfalla, Sweden.
EL PASO, Texas - A U.S. Army general is seeking to organize a "directed energy summit" to coordinate the service's formulation of requirements for directed energy weapons. With directed energy attracting growing interest in many parts of the Army, it would make sense for representatives of those segments to write a requirements document together instead of separately, said Brig. Gen. Robert Lennox, deputy commanding general for operations at Army Space and Missile Defense Command.
While Congress granted the U.S. Navy's fiscal 2004 request for T-45 training aircraft, some senators and representatives say they are concerned that the service doesn't seem to have a long-term plan for the program. "We hope you will allocate the funding necessary to complete production and upgrade of the T-45TS [Training System] program to ensure that Navy and Marine Corps pilots are trained in the most cost-effective manner," 11 senators and congressmen said in a Nov. 24 letter to Navy Secretary Gordon England.
In an attempt to secure a strategic position in the U.S. defense manufacturing and engineering sector, Australia's Metal Storm Ltd. acquired U.S. ProCam Machine Dec. 11 for $4.3 billion, including the assumption of $2.8 million of ProCam's debt. Metal Storm issued about 5.1 million ordinary shares of its own stock to finance the purchase, the company said.
The Aegis Ballistic Missile Defense (Aegis BMD) system successfully intercepted a target missile during a Dec. 11 test over the Pacific, according to the Missile Defense Agency (MDA).
The General Accounting Office (GAO) is recommending that the Department of Defense (DOD) overhaul its process for purchasing satellite services from commercial vendors, and consider seeking legislative authority for multi-year procurements.
NEW DELHI - Although India and Russia have reached a tentative agreement on India's acquisition of the aircraft carrier Admiral Gorshkov, they disagree on which air defense missile system it should carry. The Indian navy is evaluating the Russia's Kashtan, France's Aster and Israel's Barak missile systems, Indian defense ministry officials said.
AVIALL, Dallas Dan Komnenovich, the executive vice president and chief operating officer of Aviall Services, has been promoted to president and chief operating officer, effective Jan. 1. James T. Quinn, the vice president of sales and marketing, has been promoted to senior vice president of sales and marketing for Aviall Services. DRS TECHNOLOGIES, Parsippany, N.J. Donald G. Flodin has joined the company as vice president, general manager, of the DRS Electric Power Technologies unit in Hudson, Mass.
NEW DELHI - The Indian defense ministry has awarded a contract to state-owned Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd. (HAL) to upgrade its entire fleet of Jaguar aircraft. The upgrade will improve navigation and weapon-aiming capabilities of about 140 Jaguars, an Indian defense ministry spokesman said. The upgrades are aimed at improving the aircraft's ability to deliver nuclear weapons (DAILY, Feb. 10).
Fueled largely by increased defense spending, the aerospace industry should stabilize and experience modest growth over the next three years, according to the latest annual forecast by the Aerospace Industries Association (AIA).
SEARCH FOR LIFE: NASA is adapting tiny laboratories in compact discs to conduct tests on the International Space Station and eventually look for life on other planets, the agency announced. "These tiny labs on CDs allow you to do thousands of tests of biological samples quickly and in the field," said Michael Flynn, a scientist at NASA's Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, Calif. Dyes in the CD combine with a sample and glow when exposed to specific proteins or other chemicals, including parts of DNA.
CLASSIFIED LAUNCH: International Launch Services will launch a classified payload for the National Reconnaissance Office (NRO) in 2006 on a Lockheed Martin Atlas V booster, the company said Dec. 10. The launch is a new mission added to the company's work under the Evolved Expendable Launch Vehicle program.
PRAGUE, Czech Republic - Three European NATO members have formed an initiative supporting Sweden's offer to lease Gripen JAS-39 fighters to the Czech Republic, according to German officials. The initiative, which German officials said is led by France and supported by Germany and the United Kingdom, is based on the premise that buying European fighters will help strengthen Europe's role in NATO and bolster attempts to build a defense pillar at European Union level.
