The Defense Department has indicated it plans to review the Air Force's Space Based Infrared System-High (SBIRS-High) following warnings by the General Accounting Office (GAO) that the program could experience more cost and schedule overruns. SBIRS-High, designed to replace the aging Defense Support Program (DSP) missile-detecting satellites, was restructured in 2002 after DOD discovered cost growth of about $2 billion. The launch of the first satellite was delayed from 2004 to 2006.
GMD CONTRACT: The Defense Department announced late Oct. 31 that the Missile Defense Agency has awarded the Boeing Co. an $823 million contract modification for work on the Ground-based Midcourse Defense (GMD) system, including the acquisition of 15 more interceptor missiles. Boeing, the GMD prime contractor, already had been awarded a contract for five GMD interceptors. DOD plans to deploy all 20 interceptors by 2005.
BAE Systems Integrated Solutions will build Replacement Attitude Heading Reference System (R-AHRS) units for U.S. Navy HH-60 and SH-60 helicopters, the company said last week. The units give pilots attitude and heading angle information during instrument flight conditions, such as at night. The work is being done under an $18.3 million contract. The redesigned units offer improved output accuracy and system reliability, BAE Systems said. The contract calls for the company to deliver up to 60 units a month after production approval from the Navy.
EARTH SCIENCES: Despite the Bush Administration's apparent commitment to earth observation programs, NASA's budget for earth sciences could be cut as debates on the agency's future continue, according to Steve Moran of Raytheon. "Earth Sciences is one of those areas that's vulnerable. If the debate about the future of NASA goes 'We don't have enough money to do everything,' this is one area that could be in trouble. We have to watch for that," Moran says.
The Line-of-Sight Anti-tank (LOSAT) weapon system successfully completed another test last week at White Sands Missile Range, N.M., officials with Lockheed Martin Missiles & Fire Control said Oct. 31. During the test, a LOSAT fire unit launched a kinetic-energy missile (KEM) during daylight hours at a stationary armored personnel carrier parked 720 meters (787 yards) away. The armored personnel carrier was destroyed.
CLARIFICATION: An Oct. 31 DAILY story should have made it clear that XCOR Aerospace's reusable launch vehicle launch license application for the FAA already is "sufficiently complete."
NUKE FUNDING: A House-Senate conference committee is expected to meet the week of Nov. 3-7 to finish the fiscal 2004 energy and water appropriations conference report, including provisions addressing nuclear weapons research. The meeting had been expected to occur the previous week, but it was delayed at least partly by protracted negotiations over another appropriations measure.
Five nations met an Oct. 31 deadline for offers to supply 14 used supersonic fighters to the Czech air force, according to the Czech ministry of defense. Defense officials said Belgium, the United States and the Netherlands are offering F-16s, Canada is offering F/A-18s and Sweden is offering JAS-39 Gripens. France, which had expressed interest in the process, did not submit a bid. Turkey, Great Britain and Germany pulled out of the bidding at an earlier stage,
Nov. 3 - 5 -- Shephard's Heli Power 2003, "Preparing for the Unpredictable," Maritim Airport Hotel, Hannover, Germany. For more information go to www.heli-power.com. Nov. 3 - 6 -- Aircraft Survivability 2003, "Reclaiming the Low Altitude Battlespace," Naval Postgraduate School, Monterey, Calif. For more information call Ann Saliski at (703) 247-2577, email [email protected] or go to www.ndia.org.
PRAGUE - Slovakia and the Czech Republic are unlikely to make a decision on the implementation of the "Common Sky" concept in airspace protection before next spring, according to a senior Slovak defense official.
Boosted by strong sales of small-caliber ammunition and work on a space shuttle booster program, Alliant Techsystems (ATK) on Oct. 30 reported revenue growth of 10 percent for the company's second quarter. Second-quarter sales rose from $513 million a year ago to $566 million. Net income rose from $28.4 million a year ago to $36.6 million.
Although the 10-year forecast for NASA's space sciences budget looks positive, a central program could face trouble as it comes closer to reality, according to a contracting official. That program, Project Prometheus, is likely to draw opposition from some members of Congress and the public once work begins on the project, according to Steven Moran of Raytheon Co.
California-based XCOR Aerospace is expected to become the first commercial reusable launch vehicle (RLV) developer to receive a launch license from the FAA's Office of Commercial Space Transportation (AST), following FAA's assessment that the company's application is "sufficiently complete."
Rockwell Collins' win of the Defense Advanced GPS Receiver (DAGR) production program, worth at least $238 million over the next eight years (DAILY, Oct. 30), is "huge," said Rick Tomy, the company's manager of surface military programs. "In the navigation business, which is what I'm responsible for" at Rockwell Collins, "this is kind of it," Tomy said in a telephone interview. "It's the contract for hand-held military GPS."
Lockheed Martin will provide information technology services to the Centers for Disease Control under a seven-year contract that could be worth up to $465 million, the company said Oct. 30. Lockheed Martin Information Technology will develop applications and support information technology work for the CDC and the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry, the company said.
Naval Air Systems Command (NAVAIR) plans to upgrade 100 UH-1N Huey and 180 AH-1W Super Cobra helicopters to the UH-1Y and AH-1Z configuration by 2014. The helicopters will be upgraded with common drive trains, new rotor heads and avionics and other equipment (DAILY, Oct. 27). The Pentagon's Defense Acquisition Board approved low-rate initial production for the upgrade program on Oct. 23.
NH90 FACILITY: Defense contractor Patria officially opened new facilities for the final assembly of the NH90 helicopter in Jamsa, Finland, the company said Oct. 30. Work already has begun there, and Patria is to deliver 50 helicopters between 2005 and 2011, the first of which will to go the Finnish defense forces.
Orbital Sciences Corp. will provide two Pegasus launch vehicles and two Taurus launchers to NASA for scientific satellite missions scheduled to be launched from 2006 to 2008, the company said Oct. 30. The Pegasus vehicles will be used to launch satellites for NASA's Space Technology-8 and Small Explorer-10 missions.
Members of a House Science Committee panel expressed support for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's imperiled Space Environment Center (SEC) at a hearing Oct. 30. Located in Boulder, Colo., the SEC monitors and forecasts space weather phenomena such as solar flares that can adversely affect spacecraft, aircraft, or ground-based electrical power and communications systems. The center is in danger of losing half its staff or possibly closing if proposed congressional spending cuts for fiscal year 2004 are signed into law (DAILY, Sept. 29).
The FAA plans to decide by the end of November whether to proceed with a full deployment of Raytheon's Standard Terminal Automation Replacement System (STARS) or pursue an alternative, such as a combination of STARS and Lockheed Martin's Common Automated Radar Terminal System (Common ARTS), agency officials said Oct. 30.
A House-Senate panel approved a fiscal 2004 supplemental appropriations conference report late Oct. 29 that provides tens of millions of dollars above the Bush Administration's request to buy aviation, communications and radio-jamming equipment. The conference report contains $70 million to procure outer wing panels for the Navy's aging EA-6B aircraft, $15 million above the request. It also provides $15 million to buy EA-6B wing center sections, which were not funded in the request.
