MAIN ENGINES: Lockheed Martin announced it has installed the two main propulsion diesel engines on the third Littoral Combat Ship (LCS), Fort Worth, which is scheduled to be delivered to the U.S. Navy in 2012.
The Pentagon and its aerospace contractors need to work more closely to form a plan to foster a healthy contractor industrial base amid flattening defense procurement budgets, according to Dennis Muilenburg, president of the recently renamed Boeing Defense, Space and Security.
AIR FORCE Boeing Co., Huntington Beach, Calif., was awarded a $34,300,000 contract to implement the following changes to the functionality available for the Family of Advanced Beyond Line-of-Sight Terminals Increment 1: CTRD update version 9.2; Simple Key Loader 6.0 interface to data set manager (DSM) for DSM, flash control station profiles; and implementation of auto broadcast features on XDR. At this time, $500,000 has been obligated. 653rd SNND/PK, Hanscom Air Force Base, Mass., is the contracting activity (F19628-02-C-0048-P00180).
ALABAMA LAKOTA: The Alabama Army National Guard unveiled two of its four new UH-72A Lakota light utility helicopters (LUH) in a ceremony Jan. 9. The EADS North America-built LUH will be based in Birmingham, Ala. and perform aerial command, control and reconnaissance missions in support of homeland security operations. The new helicopters will replace Alabama’s aging OH-58 Kiowa helicopters.
Lockheed Martin will integrate five additional legacy waveforms with its Airborne Maritime/Fixed Station Joint Tactical Radio System (AMF JTRS), prompted in part by the recent successful execution of the program’s critical design review (CDR), according to company leadership.
Lockheed Martin is preparing for a May live fire test of its Nulka decoy from its Extensible Launch System (ExLS), which has the potential to be fielded aboard U.S. Navy ships in the future. The ExLS is a launching system developed to adapt certain missiles and munitions in an All Up Round canister configuration into both the MK 41 and MK 57 Vertical Launching Systems (VLS) or in a stand-alone configuration.
NEW UAV: France has ordered a fourth Harfang medium-altitude long-endurance (MALE) unmanned aerial vehicle from EADS. The 33.7 million euro ($49 million) purchase, which includes a third control system, was made under a procedure put in place to accelerate critical weapons procurement. The new Harfang — officially known as the Interim MALE UAV (SIDM) — will be delivered this summer to the Adour squadron in southwestern France for training and national air defense duty.
All three of the finalists for NASA’s 2018 New Frontiers space science mission would reach out and touch a nearby heavenly body. NASA will spend about $3.3 million on each of the finalists for mission-concept studies that will help in the final selection of the agency’s third New Frontiers spacecraft by mid-2011. That mission will be capped at $650 million, plus launch costs.
COLLISION AVOIDANCE: The U.K. Royal Air Force should consider “fitting a suitable [collision warning] system to the Tutor aircraft as priority,” according to the findings of the board of inquiry into a fatal crash released last week. Two Grob G115E Tutor primary trainer aircraft were involved in a mid-air collision in February 2009, resulting in the death of four people. The report also recommends that the aircraft’s “canopy frame and handle should be modified to introduce a less intrusive design.”
NO LUCK: Arianespace Chairman/CEO Jean-Yves Le Gall says efforts to penetrate the protected Russian satellite market have gone for nought. Le Gall says Gazprom Space Services, which picked Arianespace to launch two Yamal 400 spacecraft, has let the agreement lapse, and instead will orbit the spacecraft with a Russian launcher, presumably the Proton. International Launch Services, which operates the Proton for commercial use, declines to comment.
U.S.-built sensors that detect enemy sensors searching for allied aircraft targets is one of several new technology twists being developed for combat use in Afghanistan and Iraq. Others involve using targeting sensors to let helicopter pilots see through dust “brown outs” and find the source of dumb small arms or unguided weapons fire.
To list an event, send information in calendar format to Donna Thomas at [email protected]. (Bold type indicates new calendar listing.) Jan. 19 - 22 — Soldier Technology US, “Developments, Trends and Opportunities in North America’s Infantry Modernization Community,” Hyatt Regency, Crystal City, Va. For more information go to www.soldiertechnologyus.com Jan. 20 - 21 — Strategic and Tactical Missile Systems Conference, Naval Postgraduate School, Monterey, Calf. For more information go to www.aiaa.org
It did not take long for Wes Bush to make his mark on Northrop Grumman Corp. Three days after he became CEO on Jan. 1, the 120,000-employee military contractor announced that its headquarters will move to the Washington region in 2011, decamping from Los Angeles, where Jack Northrop founded the company 70 years ago.
TOTAL VACUUM: The White House has gone dark on its new space policy as President Obama and his top aides wrestle with the airport-security issue, and it’s unclear when NASA will get clear guidance on what to do.
GPS UPGRADE: The Global Positioning Systems Wing and the 50th Space Wing at Shriever Air Force Base, Colo., will bring improved ground systems software for telemetry, tracking and command to support the U.S. Air Force’s Global Positioning System on Jan. 11. The upgrades include new navigation signals for civil users, encrypted military codes, crosslink enhancements and improved navigation signal accuracy. They anticipate the mid-2010 launch of the first of 12 GPS-IIF satellites from Boeing. Boeing also built the ground system upgrades.
LONDON European defense research and development (R&D) investment has fallen by nearly 1 billion euros ($1.4 billion) according to the European Defense Agency (EDA), a finding that only serves to bolster industry fears of a continuing downward trend. The recently released EDA figures reveal that total R&D spending dropped by 9.5 percent among the 26 member states. European spending continues to fall far behind that of the U.S., with Washington spending almost seven times as much in this area.
STILL INTELLIGENT: While the Christmas Day airline bomb plot highlighted flaws and needed improvements in the U.S. intelligence community’s coordination, it did not expose weakness in the concepts of intelligence reform, the director of national intelligence (DNI) says. Retired Navy Adm. Dennis Blair’s comments came late Jan. 7 after several days of news reports and public discussions questioning whether post-9/11 changes — like the creation of the DNI — have helped or hurt.
NAME CHANGE: Boeing says a reorganization and leadership changes in its Integrated Defense Systems unit will “reposition the company for growth in the current business environment.” Effective immediately, the unit will be called Boeing Defense, Space & Security (BDSS) in response to anticipated “flattening defense budgets and shifting customer priorities,” according to BDSS President and CEO Dennis Muilenburg.
STARTING OVER: Republican senators and their occasional ally Joe Lieberman, the Connecticut independent, warn President Barack Obama they might not support a follow-on deal to the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (Start) unless he commits to improvements in nuclear infrastructure and possibly even a new nuclear-warhead design.
BERLIN German defense expenditures in 2010 are unchanged from 2009. The previous coalition government, led by the Christian Democrats, approved a €31.1 billion ($45.2 billion) budget, an annual allocation that is expected to remain at this level until 2013. Although defense spending is not growing, troops on deployment have increased to 7,600 from 7,100 in November 2008, and efforts are under way to modernize their equipment.
ROTARY VISION: The U.K. is considering modifying surplus AgustaWestland Merlin Mk1 helicopters as the basis of a replacement airborne search and control (ASAC) platform for the navy’s current Sea King Mk7, which is due to be withdrawn from service in 2016. A decision on whether to pursue converting spare Merlin Mk1s for the ASAC role is “subject to the [Strategic] Defense Review and investment approval,” Bill Rammell, the minister for the armed forces, told Parliament last week.
