Sikorsky Aircraft's UH-60M Black Hawk No. 1 had a successful first flight last week in Florida, the company said Sept. 23. The UH-60M is slated to replace the UH-60L as the standard configuration for U.S. Army Black Hawks in 2007.
ANTENNA WORK: Sensytech Inc. of Newington, Va., has received the first production option for the MIL-ADF Antenna from the Naval Undersea Warfare Center, the company said Sept. 24. Deliveries of the submarine antennas will begin in the third quarter of 2004, the company said. The work is being done under a $2.1 million contract option.
EADS NORTH AMERICA, Washington Rear Adm. Gerald F. Woolever (U.S. Coast Guard, ret.), the senior vice president of field operations for Innovative Logistics Techniques Inc., has been elected to the board of directors. LOCKHEED MARTIN MISSION SYSTEMS, Gaithersburg, Md. Peter M. Cuviello has been named vice president, information infrastructure. NATIONAL OCEANIC AND ATMOSPHERIC ADMINISTRATION, Washington
Equity research analysts with Standard & Poor's predict that budgetary pressures will hold defense spending in check over the next few years. As a result, the revenues of defense companies are expected to rise only modestly, according to Robert Friedman, senior aerospace and defense analyst with S&P.
The Joint Council on Aging Aircraft (JCAA) is establishing a new steering group to address the issue of structural fatigue, according to JCAA Chairman Bob Ernst of Naval Air Systems Command (NAVAIR).
A new date of Sept. 27 has been set and final preparations made for the triple launch of the e-BIRD, INSAT-3E, and SMART-1 spacecraft onboard an Ariane 5G heavy-lift rocket.
F-15 RADARS: Ducommun Inc. will produce electromechanical enclosures and subsystems for the U.S. Air Force's 63V1 radar upgrade program under a $7 million follow-on contract, the company said Sept. 24. The 63V1 is to replace APG-63 radars on F-15 fighters. The work will be completed in 2005, the company said.
NASA is re-evaluating the future structure and role of the Aerospace Safety Advisory Panel (ASAP) following the resignation of its entire membership. On Sept. 23, NASA Administrator Sean O'Keefe accepted the resignations of all 11 members and consultants of the ASAP, which was established by Congress in 1967 following the Apollo 1 fire to independently advise NASA on safety.
Although the Bush Administration's new $87 billion fiscal 2004 supplemental appropriations request mainly is for military operations and reconstruction in Iraq and Afghanistan, the proposal contains hundreds of millions of dollars to replenish the U.S. inventory of aerospace-related equipment, including aircraft parts, missiles and command-and-control systems.
A multinational team bidding for NATO's Airborne Ground Surveillance (AGS) system is betting that a high-altitude platform that is smaller and cheaper to operate can beat a rival's proposal for a modified commercial jet. The 3.2 billion euro ($3.5 billion) AGS program aims to develop a capability similar to the U.S. Air Force's E-8 Joint Surveillance and Target Attack Radar System (JSTARS).
The Boeing Co. has asked major defense and information technology companies to consider adopting common standards for developing military equipment for network-centric warfare. Adopting such standards could improve the operating efficiency of network architectures used to run the military service's communications and information-sharing systems, the company said. Representatives from industry, the military and academia are scheduled to meet within the next 45 days to discuss the issue, Boeing spokeswoman Diana Ball told The DAILY.
PRAGUE - L-39 fighters have been replaced by Mi-24 combat helicopters as guardians of Czech airspace around the Dukovany nuclear power plant, according to Czech military officials. Martin Hejra, commander at the Namest Nad Oslavou air base, told The DAILY Sept. 23 that two Mi-24 helicopters would be on alert for the next two weeks while minor repairs are carried out on the air base's runway. One helicopter will be on permanent standby while the second will act in a support role if required.
NEW DELHI - Indian Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee is to meet with President Bush on Sept. 24 in New York to discuss cooperation on missile defense. Vajpayee is to tell Bush that the transfer of missile defense technology to India could lead to greater stability in the region, according to senior defense ministry officials here. Since January 2002, India has been asking the U.S. to supply Patriot air defense systems and allow Israel to sell India the Arrow missile defense system.
F/A-22 WORK: REMEC Inc. of San Diego said it will supply microwave and radio frequency modular assemblies for the integrated communications, navigation and identification (CNI) systems on the U.S. Air Force's F/A-22 Raptor, the company said Sept. 22. The work is being done for the F/A-22's low rate initial production (LRIP) program under contracts from Northrop Grumman worth $20.3 million. Deliveries began this year and are scheduled to be complete in Sept. 2005, the company said.
LONGBOW: Longbow Ltd., a joint venture of Lockheed Martin and Northrop Grumman, will provide eight Longbow fire control radars and support to the government of Kuwait, the companies said Sept. 23. The $46 million award is part of Kuwait's purchase of 16 Boeing AH-64D Apache helicopters.
The U.S. Air Force is expected to pick a winner before the end of the month in its competition to upgrade the Distributed Common Ground System (DCGS), a system of ground stations that process intelligence from a variety of sources. Competing for the $160 million prize are Northrop Grumman and a team of Raytheon and Lockheed Martin.
Defense stocks took a beating Sept. 23 after a report released by Smith Barney showed a drop in public support for increased defense spending. The report, written by senior aerospace and defense analyst George Shapiro, said public support for increased defense spending had fallen from 80 percent in 2001 to 31 percent today. The results were based on a public opinion survey taken by the firm.
DSN WORK: ITT Industries of White Plains, N.Y., has won a $274 million contract for the operation and maintenance of NASA's Deep Space Network (DSN) facilities in the United States and for support of DSN facilities overseas. The five-year contract has options for an additional five years of work worth $306 million. The DSN is a network of antennas that supports interplanetary spacecraft missions and radio and radar astronomy observations for the exploration of the solar system and the universe.
