Aerojet will produce 2,251 additional warhead sections for the Army's Tube-Launched, Optically Tracked, Wire Guided (TOW) 2A missile under a $5.9 million contract from Raytheon Co., Aerojet announced June 28. The Sacramento, Calif.-based company is nearing delivery of the last of 1,113 TOW 2A warhead sections ordered by Raytheon in January 2000.
THE GERMAN BUNDESTAG has agreed to start a three-year risk reduction phase for the Medium Extended Air Defence System, the European Aeronautic Defence and Space Co. reported. The Bundestag will also continue the definition phase work for the international tactical air defense system, which includes the United States and Italy as partners.
The U.S. Air Force has declared initial operational capability for seven of its Boeing-built E-3 AWACS aircraft, which are upgraded with new radar capability, Boeing announced June 28. The IOC declaration means the Air Force can commit the aircraft to operational missions.
The Bush Administration has set aside $5 million of its 2002 defense budget for the proposed creation of a transformation office - a move Under Secretary of Defense (Comptroller) Dov Zakheim called a "real measure of our commitment to transformation." If approved and funded, the Transformation Programs Office would be under the office of the under secretary of defense for acquisition, technology, and logistics, said Zakheim at a Pentagon briefing June 27.
(Editor's note: The following is excerpted testimony from the responses by Stephen A. Cambone, nominated to be the Department of Defense's principal deputy under secretary of defense for policy, to written questions from the Senate Armed Services Committee. Cambone testified June 27.)
To counter what it calls increased "aerial intrusion" from Pakistan across the Line of Control (LoC) at India's northwestern border, the Indian Air Force has decided to install three low-level transportable radars. The radars will be installed along the areas of Poonch, Rajauri and beyond in Jammu and Kashmir.
Australia's government plans to spend up to $100 million ($52 million USD) to help establish an Indian Ocean spaceport on the southern tip of Christmas Island, a facility Australian officials say could allow the country to capture up to 20 percent of the satellite space launch market. The facility "will establish Australia as a significant player in the satellite launch industry that is currently dominated by the United States, Russia, the European Union and China," said Sen. Nick Minchin, the minister for Industry, Science and Resources.
The first Rocketdyne RS-68 flight engine has finished its flight acceptance hot-fire test series at NASA's Stennis Space Center, Miss., paving the way for its use on the first flight of Boeing's Delta IV rocket, scheduled for early 2002. The engine was developed by the Rocketdyne Propulsion&Power unit of the Boeing Co. to be the first-stage booster of the Delta IV family. The Delta IV is part of the Air Force's Evolved Expendable Launch Vehicle (EELV) program.
SNECMA MOTEURS of France has signed a contract with Astrium GmbH of Germany to supply satellite plasma thruster assemblies. This contract will allow Snecma Moteurs, and its partner, Fakel, to equip the new version of Astrium's high-power satellite platforms, the Eurostar 3000, with plasma thruster assemblies. Selected for the Intelsat 10.1 and 10.2 satellites, the largest and most powerful satellites ever procured by Intelsat, the Snecma plasma thruster assemblies will also be utilized on the Inmarsat 4 satellites.
The United Kingdom Ministry of Defence repeated its assurances that it intends to buy two new aircraft carriers, in a statement released June 27. In a letter to the press, a MOD spokesman said, "Let me say it again: the government intends to purchase two new carriers to replace HMS 'Invincible,' 'Illustrious' and 'Ark Royal.' The first will come into services in 2012, the second in 2015." The statement repeated the assurances about carrier purchases the MOD had delivered last week (DAILY, June 27).
Universal Avionics Systems Corp. of Tucson, Ariz., announced its Terrain Awareness and Warning System (TAWS) and UNS-1C Flight Management System (FMS) were recently installed on a Beech 1900C aircraft owned and operated by the Royal Thai Army. The installation was completed in Singapore by Hawker Pacific Aerospace. The UNS-1C FMS provides both control and display of the TAWS images, according to the company. Similar installations are planned for additional fleet aircraft, including the Jetstream 41, Beech 200 and Shorts 360.
A group of 13 lawmakers, including Senate Armed Services Committee member Max Cleland (D-Ga.), wrote a June 27 letter to Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld protesting his decision to cut the B-1B fleet from 93 to 60 and reduce the number of B-1B installations from five to two. They said the B-1B, as the U.S. military's "fastest long-range strategic bomber," fits well with the Defense Department's plans to emphasize a long-range precision-strike capability.
INTERNATIONAL LAUNCH SERVICES (ILS) is in the final stages of negotiation with Inmarsat to launch at least one of Inmarsat's next generation satellites, the Inmarsat-4, in 2003 or 2004 on an Atlas V booster. Once signed, the contract would make Inmarsat the sixth commercial customer to sign up for the Atlas V, scheduled to make its first launch next year. "Atlas IIA vehicles launched two Inmarsat-3 satellites in 1996, and we're happy to have another opportunity to serve Inmarsat," said ILS President Mark Albrecht.
Mexico and Macedonia were listed by Russia's Rostvertol helicopter company at the Paris Air Show as the most recent customers for its widely used Mil Mi-24 Hind heavy attack helicopter, which is still in limited production. More than 3,000 Hinds have been built and sold at Mil's Moscow, Rostov and Arsenyev factories since their 1970 inception, and about half this total are believed to remain in service in more than 20 countries throughout the world.
Hawker Pacific Aerospace of Sun Valley, Calif., announced its majority shareholder, Lufthansa Technik AG, has provided a revolving line of credit to Hawker's wholly owned London subsidiary, Hawker Pacific Aerospace Ltd., or Hawker U.K. The credit line of up to $7.4 million must be repaid within a year. The company said the money will be used for capital investments and to supplement working capital in Hawker U.K., and will also allow it to repay the Sun Valley division for intercompany work.
The Boeing-led Joint Strike Fighter team, exultant over two successful vertical landings of its X-32B concept demonstrator on June 27, is preparing to show that the aircraft can make short takeoffs. Next on the X-32B test schedule are Short Takeoff Vertical Landing (STOVL) flights June 29 by a U.S. Marine Corps test pilot, Maj. Jeff Karnes, and on June 30 by a British Royal Navy test pilot, Lt. Cmdr. Paul Stone.
The U.S. Air Force's point man for the Defense Department's Quadrennial Defense Review said June 27 that he hopes the QDR will "pay attention" to arguments for resuming production of the B-2 Spirit stealth bomber.
FR Aviation (FRA) and HCS (formerly Hunting Contract Services, and now a division of Babcock International Group PLC), have formed a alliance to bid for new opportunities with U.K. Ministry of Defence aerial support services (DASS) and military fixed-wing aircrew training.
NPO Mashinostroeniya (NPOMash) has signed a contract with Intersputnik to manufacture and launch two small communications satellites based on NPOMash's Ruslan-MM bus, according to company general director Gerbert Efremov. The satellites are scheduled to be launched on SS-19 Strela converted ICBM launch vehicles in about 30 months from the Svobodnyi launch complex in the Russian far east. Moscow Intersputnik's office refused to comment on Efremov's statement, although it was later confirmed by reliable sources.
A prototype solar-powered robot that can be self-sufficient for extended periods of time will be tested next month in the Canadian Arctic by Carnegie Mellon University researchers. The robot - named Hyperion, after a Titan of Greek mythology - will be smart enough to know when it's lost or in trouble, and is designed to track the Sun while exploring terrain, according to NASA, which helped develop it.
In a partial victory for aerospace exporters, the House Appropriations Committee's foreign operations subcommittee June 27 approved a smaller funding cut for the U.S. Export-Import Bank than the Bush Administration requested. The panel approved $805 million for Ex-Im Bank in fiscal 2002, a $118 million reduction from FY 01 but a $107 million increase over President George W. Bush's request.
BOEING's Delta II rocket is slated to launch NASA's Microwave Anisotropy Probe (MAP) mission, which will produce an accurate full-sky map of the cosmic microwave background temperature fluctuations. The measurements of the radiation, left over from the "Big Bang," could answer questions about the size and shape of the universe, as well as its eventual fate. The Delta II will launch MAP on June 30 from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Fla. To accommodate the spacecraft, Boeing will use a 10-foot composite fairing on a three-stage rocket for the first time.
The Pentagon released details of the Bush Administration's FY 2002 defense budget June 27, while addressing concerns over Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld's plans to cut a third of the Air Force's B-1 bomber fleet and consolidate the remaining aircraft at two bases in South Dakota and Texas. The amended budget requests $328.9 billion for the Department of Defense, representing a topline increase of $18.4 billion above the president's February budget blueprint, and $32.6 billion above the $296.3 billion enacted by Congress in FY 2001.
Signal Technology Corp.'s Keltec Division has been awarded a $900,000 contract from Lockheed Martin for low-rate initial production of Patriot Advanced Capability (PAC-3) Missile power supplies, the company announced June 27. The PAC-3 is a high-velocity, hit-to-kill missile and is the next-generation Patriot being developed for use against theater ballistic missiles, cruise missiles and aircraft.
The Department of Defense's approach to building a family of systems to avoid "friendly fire" lacks a well-defined blueprint, according to a new report from the General Accounting Office. Without such a blueprint - called an enterprise architecture - the effort to equip military aircraft, surface vehicles, air traffic control stations and weapon systems with equipment to discern friend from foe could run into trouble, the GAO concluded.
