GENERAL DYNAMICS ORDNANCE AND TACTICAL SYSTEMS will demonstrate an advanced warhead and fuze for the Advanced Precision Kill Weapon System under an Army contract that could be worth more than $3 million over two years.
PORTSMOUTH, Va. - The U.S. Army learned during Operation Iraqi Freedom that it needs to push networked communications down to the tactical level, a service official said March 17. "We need to overcome the digital divide, which prevents soldiers on the ground from having the same picture as does the commander in the command post," said Lt. Gen. William Wallace, deputy commanding general for combined arms at U.S. Army Training & Doctrine Command. Wallace spoke at the Joint Forces Command-National Defense Industrial Association symposium here.
Singapore has formalized its participation in the U.S. Defense Department's F-35 Joint Strike Fighter development program by signing a "letter of offer and acceptance." The Singapore Ministry of Defence said the agreement would allow the Asian country to request delivery of JSF as early as 2012 if it decides to buy the aircraft.
The Department of Defense has not provided "reasonable assurance" that its investment in unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) will result in effective integration into the force structure, according to a General Accounting Office report released March 17 at a congressional hearing. GAO officials Neal Curtin, director of defense and capabilities management, and Paul Francis, director of acquisition and sourcing management, appeared before the House Armed Services' tactical forces subcommittee.
ATHENA HUMAN & TECHNOLOGY INTEGRATED SECURITY SOLUTIONS has acquired GS-3, an international counterterrorism and aviation consulting firm. "Our acquisition of GS-3 is a natural evolution of Athena's business model, rounding out our strategy to respond to U.S. and international markets with a comprehensive and integrated approach to corporate and homeland security," Athena CEO Ruben Paz said in a statement.
GREENBELT, Md - NASA's new Office of Exploration Systems has just completed its review of 140 pre-existing technology programs it inherited from elsewhere in the agency, according to office director Rear Adm. Craig Steidle. "We just did a complete realignment and a review of 140 programs that have been moved into this office from different places, and about 25 percent of them are being refocused and realigned," Steidle said during the American Astronautical Society's 42nd Goddard Memorial Symposium here March 17.
RADIAN INC., a subsidiary of Engineered Support Systems, will provide 272 armor protection kits for U.S. Army medium tactical vehicles under a $16.3 million contract. The kits will be sent immediately to Army units in Iraq to reduce injuries caused by small arms fire, land mines and improvised explosive devices, the company said.
SIKORSKY AIRCRAFT said the first of three Hellenic navy S-70B Aegean Hawk helicopters fitted with glass cockpits and system enhancements has flown at the company's main facility in Stratford, Conn. The aircraft are Seahawk variants that will be delivered to the Greek government this year to provide support for the Olympic games. Upgrades include Collins FMS-800 Flight Management Systems, Hellfire missile capability, countermeasure capability and improved navigation system performance.
GOODRICH CORP. said Eurocopter successfully completed the first flight of its NH90 helicopter equipped with Goodrich's all-electric Actuation Systems flight control. Production deliveries for the NH90 begin later this year, the company said. Goodrich is the main supplier of servo controls to Eurocopter France and "is proud to have participated in the development of the fly-by-wire system, which is a real technical innovation in the rotorcraft market," Jean-Guy Mutez, the Goodrich business development director for helicopters, said in a statement.
The United Kingdom Parliament's Select Committee on Defence favors the "robust" approach being taken by the British military on the Watchkeeper unmanned aerial vehicle program, and considers the military's assessment of man-portable UAVs "well worthwhile."
LAUNCH: An International Launch Services Proton-M successfully launched the W3A satellite for Eutelsat on March 16 from Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. The satellite carries 38 Ku-band and two Ka-band transponders and is to provide broadcasting and multimedia services to Europe, the Middle East, Asia and parts of Africa.
The U.S. Navy has decided to adopt Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) service-wide to cut costs and improve efficiencies in acquisition and financial and logistics operations, a service official said March 16. ERP uses commercial practices to achieve its goals. The Navy plans to start deploying it across the service in fiscal 2006, after it incorporates the results from four ERP pilot programs, said Ronald Rosenthal, the Navy ERP program manager. Rosenthal spoke at the SAP International Aerospace & Defense Information Forum in Washington.
GREENBELT, Md. - NASA leaders are engaged in a "Red Team-Blue Team" exercise to develop architectural trades, notional schedules and initial requirements for human missions to the moon and Mars.
House Armed Services Committee member Rep. Neil Abercrombie (D-Hawaii) said March 16 that military policy for using unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) has been "ad hoc-ed" and needs direction. The committee's tactical forces subcommittee plans a March 17 hearing on the Department of Defense's fiscal 2005 UAV budget, and Abercrombie, the ranking Democrat, said he wants to hear military plans for the vehicles before he decides whether the budget request is enough.
GREENBELT, Md. - NASA's proposed human missions to the moon should culminate in a year-long mission that simulates an extended stay on Mars, according to Wendell Mendell, manager of the Human Exploration Sciences office at NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston. President Bush's space exploration agenda, announced in January, calls for NASA to return humans to the moon no later than 2020, in large part to prepare for landings on Mars (DAILY, Jan. 15).
The Army Tactical Missile System-Penetrator (TACMS-P), which underwent its first flight test in mid-March, is expected to have at least one more flight test within the next few months, an industry source said March 16. A third firing, with a backup missile, could occur if program officials decide it is necessary, the source told The DAILY.
The U.S. Navy plans to award the system development and demonstration contract (SDD) for the Broad Area Maritime Surveillance (BAMS) unmanned aerial vehicle program in the second quarter of fiscal 2005, a delay of at least several months. Navy spokesman Lt. Jon Spiers said the award was pushed back to ensure the decision fits with the service's overall strategy. The Navy plans an open competition for BAMS, the service said in a statement.
Defense Department officials have not yet responded to the Senate Armed Services Committee's latest demands for e-mails and other documents pertaining to the Air Force-Boeing tanker lease deal, aides to Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) told The DAILY March 16.
The U.S. Air Force plans to add computing power to the F/A-22 Raptor as part of an effort to improve the aircraft's air-to-ground capabilities, a spokesman for prime contractor Lockheed Martin said March 16.
NEW DELHI - India's air force plans to acquire precision-guided missiles from international markets, service head Air Chief Sriniwaspuram Krishnaswamy told The DAILY. The air force held an air demonstration March 14 in the Pokhran nuclear test area in the Rajasthan desert that included precision-guided missiles. The air force currently has mostly Russian-made guided weapons, including heat-seeking and laser-guided missiles.
