TP700 OVERHAULS: GE Aviation has won a fixed-price contract valued at up to $100 million to overhaul up to 757 T700-401/401C engines for SH-60 helicopters from Naval Air Systems Command. The contract includes cold section modules and power turbine modules and will be performed at GE’s Strother, Kan., facility. The initial year covers 97 engines/modules and is valued at $11.4 million.
The next likely military commander of NATO testified June 2 that missile defense is a potential area of cooperation with Russia “well worth exploring,” and he said cooperation with the former Cold War adversary could help dissuade Iran from pursuing nuclear weapons and long-range ballistic missiles.
CARGO LOADING: Boeing submitted a proposal June 1 offering its A160T Hummingbird to the U.S. Marine Corps Warfighting Lab’s Immediate Cargo Unmanned Aerial Systems (UAS) Demonstration Program. The demonstration contract is expected to be awarded in July. The company said it will demonstrate it can deliver 2,500 pounds of cargo per day from one simulated forward-operating base to another in fewer than six hours per day for three consecutive days.
Japanese defense officials have not given up on buying the F-22, as both Japanese and U.S. operational specialists note that the advanced fighter and cruise missile threats from China are growing. Moreover, they expect future diplomatic conflict — perhaps armed clashes over unpopulated islands west of Japan — to increase as various countries in the region argue about clashing claims to oil and gas development.
REFUELING TEST: The Airbus A330 Multi Role Tanker Transport (MRTT) has completed a series of dry contact trials using a new-generation underwing hose-and-drogue refueling pod supplied by Cobham. Airbus Military said the Cobham 905 E system, tested with a Spanish air force F/A-18A+ receiving aircraft, performed well in hose extension/retraction and showed good hose response during the contact as well as satisfactory stability in the precontact mode and when connected.
President Barack Obama has tapped a former Secret Service executive and Army helicopter pilot to be the next Defense Department (DOD) inspector general. Gordon Heddell, who has been acting DOD inspector general since 2008, has been picked to take over the job, the White House announced last week. The appointment is subject to Senate approval.
President Barack Obama named Rep. John McHugh (N.Y.), the senior Republican on the House Armed Services Committee (HASC), as the next secretary of the U.S. Army June 2. A member of Congress since 1993, McHugh represents a vast district in upstate New York that includes Fort Drum, home of the 10th Mountain Division.
Marine Corps Commandant Gen. James Conway has recommended to the Chief of Naval Operations that a single hull form, based on the amphibious-class LPD 17, be used for the future Joint Command Ships, or JCC(X). The JCC(X) would replace the four existing command ships, which are 30 to 35 years old. Conway said his recommendations are based on “value associated with a consistent hull form” both in terms of research and development and sustainability and maintenance.
CYBER BIO: The Pentagon’s Defense Science Board says the safety and security of the Defense Department’s biological laboratories are as good as or better than comparable government facilities. But in a new report the advisory group also warns that a “determined adversary” cannot be prevented from eventually obtaining biohazard materials — if not from DOD facilities then elsewhere — so the United States must prepare to mitigate such an attack.
TEAM TAIWAN: AsiaSat and EchoStar have formed a joint venture to pursue the Taiwan and other Asian markets for direct-to-home satellite television services using AsiaSat 4. The move gives Denver-based EchoStar an entry into the Asian market for its pay TV delivery systems, which EchoStar already markets in Europe, Mexico, Canada and the U.S. A company spokesman declined to comment on what other Asian markets the partners are looking at. Hong Kong-based AsiaSat’s three satellites spans the Asia-Pacific region.
MARKUP PLANNED: The Senate Armed Services Committee plans to mark up the fiscal 2010 defense authorization bill next month, Chairman Carl Levin (D-Mich.) said June 2. “I think that’s where we’re at now, that we would mark it up in July. That’s our hope,” Levin told reporters on Capitol Hill. The Obama administration is seeking $663.8 billion for FY ‘10 in addition to a war supplemental bill of almost $100 billion for FY ‘09.
SHIP PLANS: New Navy Secretary Ray Mabus would not provide a definite date for the release of an annual shipbuilding plan when questioned by reporters after a sparsely attended Senate Appropriations defense subcommittee hearing June 2. Law requires the Navy to provide the plan, but the service has so far refused to do so, claiming, as Mabus did, that it is waiting for results of the Quadrennial Defense Review. On May 14, Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Gary Roughead said he would not submit the report with the Navy’s fiscal 2010 budget.
The Department of Defense and U.S. Naval Air Systems Command announced the official cancellation of the VH-71 Presidential Helicopter program late June 1. Earlier that afternoon, a brief appeared and then was removed from NAVAIR’s Web site announcing the cancellation. The link to the announcement was broken, however, and calls to Navy Public Affairs went unanswered.
The director of the U.S. Missile Defense Agency (MDA) says he is pleased with the performance of the Airborne Laser’s (ABL) mission systems to date, but the 747-400F platform has recently had problems with flight worthiness.
The first six-person crew of the International Space Station (ISS) has begun its first full week of operations, following the arrival of three new crewmembers on May 29.
United Space Alliance (USA) will team with Lockheed Martin, Alliant Techsystems (ATK) and Jacobs Technology in bidding for the contract to operate ground facilities at Kennedy Space Center for NASA’s Constellation Program and other post-space-shuttle activities. The team brings together USA, the 50-50 joint venture of Boeing and Lockheed Martin that is prime contractor for shuttle operations at Kennedy, with two key prime contractors for the Ares I and Orion vehicles that are expected to follow the space shuttle into space.
The top Joint Strike Fighter official says he unequivocally supports President Barack Obama’s fiscal 2010 budget request, which does not seek funds for a second JSF engine — but he is still planning for the F136 and suggests Washington consider the risk otherwise.
Sen. Chris Bond (R-Mo.) is demanding a detailed cost and benefit analysis from the U.S. Navy on the Boeing Super Hornet procurement before the service decides to stop purchasing the aircraft in preparation for delivery of the Joint Strike Fighter (JSF) carrier variant in 2015.
ENERGY DIRECTED: Boeing Phantom Works has nabbed a $38 million contract to build an airborne high power microwave (HPM) weapon that can fry electronics and attack computer memories under the U.S. Air Force Research Laboratory’s Counter-electronics High-power microwave Advanced Missile Project (CHAMP). The three-year CHAMP project is to be the first demonstration of an HPM counter-electronic aerial weapon capable of killing, damaging or temporarily disabling enemy electronics without collateral damage. Boeing will provide the aerial platform, Ktech Corp.
BITING EDGE: The U.S. Army chief of staff continues to predict years of “persistent conflict” against terrorists and insurgents and says technology, like globalization, has now become “another double-edged sword.” Computer technology that can connect people and businesses across the world also is employed by terrorists to export their ideology and expedite their plans, Gen. George Casey said last week at the Atlantic Council in Washington.
GATR LAUNCH: Elbit Systems and Alliant Techsystems (ATK) have conducted flight-tests of the Guided Advanced Tactical Rocket (GATR) in Israel. A GATR was deployed from a helicopter to engage a target at a range of 3 kilometers. The GATR is driven by an ATK propulsion system and equipped with an Elbit guidance and control system. GATR supports lock-on before or after launch as well as autonomous or remote laser designation and is compatible with existing 2.75”/70mm launcher hardware.
