A U.S. Defense Department review of the Iraq war appears to have confirmed what officials had been suggesting for months: the U.S. military still has significant shortfalls in its ability to distribute vital information.
Lockheed Martin's bid for the United Kingdom's $20 billion Military Flying Training System (MFTS) program (DAILY, Sept. 11) takes advantage of all its training expertise "as it could be applied to a U.K. solution," said Jim Keeler, director of the program for Lockheed Martin's Information Systems unit.
The U.S. Army is developing a number of new technologies to protect ground vehicles against rocket-propelled grenades (RPGs), including airbags, interceptors, and even electromagnetic fields that would vaporize incoming rockets. Plentiful and inexpensive, RPGs pose a serious threat to light vehicles such as Humvees and trucks, particularly in urban areas. Fatal RPG attacks on U.S. convoys in Iraq occurred as recently as late last month.
A C-27J Spartan is making a six-state tour of U.S. Air Force and U.S. Army National Guard locations starting next week in a new marketing push by Lockheed Martin Alenia Tactical Transport Systems (LMATTS), the company announced Sept. 11. The two-engine tactical airlifter is considered a top candidate for the National Guard's rapid search-and-rescue mission. The Army "has expressed great interest" in the C-27J, according to a company statement.
Two U.S. senators are eyeing the Bush Administration's upcoming supplemental appropriations request for Afghanistan and Iraq as a potential means to speed the installation of anti-missile devices on American commercial airliners. Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) told The DAILY late Sept. 10 that he and Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) plan to propose an amendment to the supplemental bill to provide "a lot" of money to put military-style countermeasures on commercial aircraft. Details of the amendment, including funding levels, are still being ironed out.
The first BAE Systems-made Integrated Defense Electronic Countermeasures (IDECM) suites were delivered to the U.S. Navy in early September, a company executive said Sept. 11. The first two of six AN/ALQ-214 IDECM systems built under the first of three low-rate initial production (LRIP) contracts were shipped to the Navy, said Joe Mancini, BAE Systems' IDECM program manager. The first LRIP contract was worth $59 million. IDECM is the primary defensive system for the F/A-18E/F Super Hornet and the U.S. Air Force F-15 Eagle.
General Dynamics could buy companies that operate in markets for information technology products, specialty materials, munitions and medium-caliber guns, company Chairman and CEO Nicholas Chabraja said Sept. 11. But it's unlikely the company will able to make a large acquisition in the North American market related to shipbuilding or combat vehicles, he said.
BETTER DAYS: Aviation electronics and communications maker Rockwell Collins said that after two years of falling revenues its commercial markets should stabilize in 2004, allowing its Commercial Systems division to post operating margins of up to 14 percent. Its Government Systems division should continue to be "robust," the company said Sept. 11, with margins of up to 18 percent.
The U.S. Defense Department's efforts to rapidly develop "truly transformational" capabilities in such areas as hypersonics, space access and cruise missile defense will experience major setbacks if Congress approves the Senate's proposed budget cuts for the National Aerospace Initiative (NAI), DOD warns lawmakers in a new document submitted to Capitol Hill.
NEW DELHI - Talks between Israel and India could lead to the sale of $5 billion in military equipment to India over the next five years. Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and Amos Yaron, head of Israeli defense forces, led a 75-member delegation to India this week, which included Israeli defense contractors.
Lockheed Martin said Sept. 10 it is teaming with Rolls-Royce and VT Group to pursue the Training Systems Integrator role for the United Kingdom's Military Flying Training System (MFTS). The MFTS is a $20 billion program aimed at replacing the Royal Air Force's Hawk T.1s (DAILY, June 11).
PRAGUE - A 10-day British-Czech Republic exercise involving air and ground forces began Sept. 8 at Namest nad Oslavou airbase in south Moravia. The joint Forward Air Controller (FAC) exercise, called Flying Rhino, will involve British Royal Air Force Harrier and Hawk aircraft, British Lynx helicopters and the Czech-built L-159 light combat aircraft.
APPLIED TECHNICAL SERVICES CORP., Bothell, Wash. Mike Kelly has joined the company as vice president of sales and marketing. BAE SYSTEMS NORTH AMERICA, Rockville, Md. Walter P. Havenstein has been named executive vice president. CENTER FOR STRATEGIC AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES, Washington, D.C. Amy E. Smithson has been named a senior fellow in the CSIS International Security Program. Frank Verrastro has been named director of the CSIS Energy Program. HITCO CARBON COMPOSITES, Los Angeles
A key Senate panel is pressing NASA to develop a plan to buy more spare parts for the space shuttle. In a report accompanying the fiscal 2004 NASA appropriations bill, the Senate Appropriations Committee suggested that the agency does not have enough spares for the shuttle fleet and that a failure to address the shortages could disrupt future flight plans.
Members of the House Science Committee repeatedly called for the Bush Administration to define the country's long-term goals for space exploration during a hearing in Washington Sept. 10, citing the Columbia board's assertion that the lack of such a vision contributed to the shuttle program's woes. Rep. Bart Gordon (D-Texas) quoted a news article blaming successive presidential administrations for not defining what the space program should accomplish following the Cold War. "This has got to start with The White House," Barton said.
CLARIFICATION: A story in the Sept. 10 issue of The DAILY should have said that had the Navy's Human Systems Integration (HSI) directorate existed in July 1988 when the USS Vincennes shot down an Iranian passenger jet, it might have been able to suggest design improvements for the displays used to monitor the aircraft's flight data, according to Gregory Maxwell, deputy commander of HSI.
JSF WORKSPACE: Lockheed Martin Aeronautics has dedicated a facility in Fort Worth, Texas, to ensuring the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter meets the needs of the U.S. Navy and allied navies, the company said Sept. 10. The Basing and Ship Suitability Integration Center includes scale models of ships and aircraft, real shipboard hardware and multimedia programs, the company said.
The Aero Vodochody L-39 Albatross is emerging as an attractive candidate for a broad range of U.S. Air Force units seeking a cheaper alternative for low-end training and proficiency flights. The Air Force Flight Test Center at Edwards Air Force Base, Calif., has rented the Czech-made two-seat jet trainer for a six-month testing period to gauge its suitability to replace that unit's retired Sabreliner T-39 fleet.
Lockheed Martin on Sept. 10 unveiled a five-member team seeking the contract for the system design and development (SDD) phase of the Airborne Joint Tactical Radio System (JTRS), a proposed family of software-defined radios packaged with networking capabilities. The SDD phase is expected to be worth at least $500 million.
PRAGUE - Egypt and the Czech Republic will explore "every aspect" of military cooperation, according to Czech government officials. The move follows a Sept. 9 meeting in Cairo between a visiting Czech delegation led by the prime minister, Vladimir Spidla, and Egypt's minister of defense and military production, Mohamed Tantawi. Czech government spokeswoman Anna Starkova told The DAILY via telephone from Cairo that anything that could be considered military cooperation was being examined.
NASA and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration are waiting for damage assessments to see how an accident involving the NOAA-N Prime spacecraft will affect the Polar-orbiting Operational Environmental Satellite (POES) program schedule. The satellite was dropped at Lockheed Martin facilities as it was being turned from a vertical to a horizontal position, because workers had removed bolts from a "turn over cart" without proper documentation (DAILY, Sept. 10), causing "tremendous damage," NASA said.
Nearly 6,473 commercial transports worth nearly $420.6 billion (in 2003 dollars) are expected to be built from 2003-2012, according to a Teal Group forecast released Sept. 10. That compares with 6,351 commercial transports worth nearly $396 billion (also in 2003 dollars) produced over the past 10 years. Of the 6,473 aircraft, roughly 4,503 will be narrow-bodied aircraft worth nearly $171.8 billion. The number of wide-bodied aircraft produced will total nearly 1,970 and be worth about $248.8 billion, according to the report.
The U.S. Navy is expected to award two multi-million contracts in the next year that could have a substantial impact on the revenues of Saft America. Saft America, headquartered in Cockeysville, Md., makes specialized batteries for the aerospace & defense and automobile industries. The company is vying against another competitor to win the battery contract for the Navy's Special Delivery Vehicles (SDVs), mini-submarines designed to carry a team of SEALS from ship to shore.
