Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld has appointed Anthony J. Tether director of the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), the Pentagon announced June 18. As director, Tether is responsible for management of the agency's projects for innovative research and development to provide advanced military capabilities. Tether has previous DARPA experience, having served as director of the agency's Strategic Technology Office from 1982 to 1986.
More details have emerged about a new multi-role transport to be designed, developed and co-produced by India's Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd. national aerospace group and Russia's Ilyushin Aviation Complex and Irkutsk Aviation Production Organization (IAPO).
To solidify their supplier base, prime contractors have begun rating the products and delivery time of their suppliers. But some suppliers claim the system does not accurately reflect their performance as compared to that of their competitors. "The main concern for our business is, am I being fairly judged against the competition?" said John Speight, director of quality for Vought Aircraft Industries, Inc., headquartered in Dallas, Texas.
The airlift shortfall is the biggest problem hampering America's force projection capability, according to Gen. Charles T. Robertson, commander in chief of U.S. Transportation Command. "The number one priority of the commander in chief of United States Transportation Command is to fix strategic airlift," said Robertson, speaking at a meeting of defense reporters in Washington, D.C. June 19. Robertson is also commander in chief of the Air Force's Air Mobility Command.
Aerojet has been awarded a two-year U.S. Army contract to develop solid-propellant motors for the Compact Kinetic Energy Missile (CKEM). The contract has a potential value of $2.7 million, the Sacramento, Calif.-based company announced. Aerojet is a GenCorp company. CKEM is a system capable of destroying enemy tanks with a hypervelocity kinetic-energy missile. The Army is evaluating the system for possible use as part of its Future Combat System.
Northrop Grumman is aggressively promoting European sales of its Intelligence Surveillance and Reconnaissance (ISR) platform, derived from E-8C Joint STARS technology. Relaxation of restrictions on access to U.S. Air Force E-8C "RTIP" radar technology, and the planned availability of Global Hawk unmanned surveillance aircraft, in support of military operations and crisis situations in Europe, is opening up some of the most advanced U.S. surveillance technologies to European participation.
The Boeing Co. has come to Paris optimistic that U.S. government-funded missile defense systems will play a more prominent role in its business mix. This perception comes at time of relative stasis in the manned space market, now confined to the International Space Station and related launch activity. Though Boeing is a prime ISS contractor, little space sector growth is anticipated.
Northrop Grumman Corp., San Diego, Calif., is being awarded a $20,524,297 (not-to-exceed) fixed-price incentive firm contract to provide for long lead parts/advanced procurement in support of low rate initial production of two Global Hawk unmanned aerial vehicles and one Mission Control Element. This work is expected to be completed March 2003. Solicitation began July 2000; negotiations were completed June 2001. This is an undefinitized long lead/advanced procurement; proposed definitization date is November 2001.
The Anti-Ballistic Missile treaty has not prevented the U.S. from doing substantive work on ground-based missile defense technology, according to Lt. Gen. Ronald T. Kadish, director of the Ballistic Missile Defense Organization (BMDO). "We do all our tests in accordance with the treaty," Kadish said of the National Missile Defense program when he testified before the House Armed Services Subcommittee on Military Research and Development on June 14.
BEDEK AVIATION GROUP, a subsidiary of Israel Aircraft Industries, is forecasting continued growth for 2001, with total sales reaching $520 million. The company expects to sign $769 million worth of new contracts this year - a $32 million increase over 2000. Bedek supports commercial airline fleets with comprehensive aircraft, engine and components maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO) services. It has expanded MRO services to include the Boeing 747-400, 767, 777 and MD-11, and has initiated servicing of the Airbus A319, A320 and A321.
Bell-Boeing Joint Program Office, Patuxent River, Md., is being awarded a $13,044,627 modification to a previously awarded firm-fixed-price, incentive-fee contract (N00019-00-C-0183) to exercise an option for Low Rate Initial Production (LRIP) Lot V Acquisition Logistics Support (ALS) for the MV-22 and CV-22. Work will be performed in Ridley Park, Pa. (45%); Fort Worth, Texas (45%); and Jacksonville, N.C. (10%), and is expected to be completed in December 2001. Contract funds will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year.
The merger of GE and Honeywell may be all but dead, but Snecma, the $930 million French national engine and equipment maker, would have been "ready and willing" to acquire some GE/Honeywell spin-offs, if they had been a good fit, according to Jean-Paul Bechat, Snecma's president and director general.
The newly installed chairman of the Senate Appropriations VA-HUD subcommittee said June 18 that NASA needs to come up with a "long-term management plan" to get control of cost overruns on the International Space Station.
Raytheon Co., Tucson, Ariz., is being awarded $3,817,306 as part of a $6,227,000 letter contract modification superseding basic letter contract, to be definitized as firm-fixed-price, with a not-to-exceed total of $12,454,000. This acquisition is for 50 Stinger Vehicle Universal Launchers (SVULs) and one lot of SVUL unique spares for Egypt. Work will be performed in Tucson, Ariz. (90%), and Farmington, N.M. (10%), and is expected to be completed by May 31, 2003. Contract funds will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year.
TRW Inc. has delivered the final engineering, manufacturing and development (EMD) hardware system and Block 3.1 Integrated Avionics software for the Lockheed Martin F-22 fighter, the company announced June 18. TRW officials said the deliveries mark a significant milestone for the development of the communication, navigation, identification (CNI) avionics for the F-22 EMD program.
NORTHROP GRUMMAN CORP.'S AN/AAR-54(V) passive missile approach warning system has been selected by the Royal Netherlands Air Force for its fleet of CH-47 Chinook and AS-532US Cougar transport helicopters. Work on the $7.3 million contract will be performed from 2001 to 2004. The company's AN/AAR-54(V) detects UV energy, tracks multiple sources and classifies them as lethal missile, nonlethal missile or clutter.
Teal Group Corp. predicts the U.S. market for forward-looking infrared (FLIR) targeting will total some $7.5 billion from 2001 to 2010, in a new Airborne FLIR Systems Forecast the company released in conjunction with the Paris Air Show.
First look, first shot is Raytheon's claimed donation to air combat scenarios from its new highly agile AIM-9X, which - in conjunction with helmet-mounted sights - elevates third-generation AIM-9M Sidewinders into fifth-generation near beyond visual-range air-to-air missiles.
Lockheed Martin Corp., withdrawing its protest of a $64 million Air Force award to Raytheon Co. for production of Paveway laser guided bomb kits (DAILY, June 18), will continue efforts to qualify for future buys of the kits. The Air Force said terms of the June 11 settlement haven't been disclosed, and that the contract with Raytheon "will proceed as awarded" on March 6.
Several of the Pentagon's highest profile aviation programs are featured at Paris only in stand displays because tight test schedules and developmental problems have kept the aircraft tied up in the U.S. Among the programs not gracing Le Bourget with a flying presence are Lockheed Martin's F-22 Raptor, Northrop Grumman's Global Hawk UAV, and the Bell Helicopter Textron- and Boeing-built V-22 Osprey tiltrotor.
McDonnell Douglas Corp., St. Louis, Mo., is being awarded a $6,032,225 modification to a cost-plus-fixed fee contract to provide for design completion of retrofit kits to upgrade the BOL 515 Countermeasures Defense units into the F-15 aircraft. This work is to be completed by December 2002. This effort will be performed by McDonnell Douglas, St Louis, Mo. (75%) and BAE Systems, Austin, Texas (25%). Aeronautical Systems Center, Wright Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio, is the contracting activity (F33657-99-C-0032).
A joint venture in air defense command and control and weapons-locating radar systems announced June 18 by Raytheon of the United States and Thales of France "already is making money," the CEO of the new company, Phil George, said in an interview. George said that with needed government approvals in hand, Raytheon and Thales set up the new firm, Thales Raytheon Systems (TRS), on June 1. It has been earning revenue since then on existing contracts held by the two parent companies, he said.
Three scholars examining proliferation issues involving weapons of mass destruction said June 18 that public concerns about the proliferation of nuclear, chemical and biological weapons may be unfounded. Speaking at the Carnegie International Non-Proliferation conference in Washington, Thomas Graham, former vice-president of the Second Chance Foundation, said the threat to the U.S. in this area has diminished over the last 25 years.
Europe is going ahead with plans for a new light space launcher to complement the much heavier Ariane, in a new program led by FiatAvio. The Vega launcher is designed to inject payloads up to 1.5 tons - such as Earth observation and scientific satellites for civil applications - into circular polar orbit (about 700 km). Communications satellites would be a complementary market.
