Defense Department leaders think it is "imperative" that DOD business operations rapidly modernize to meet warfighting needs quicker, but it is unclear how. Navy Adm. Edmund Giambastiani Jr., vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, spoke about military and industrial collaboration Oct. 18 at the Defense Business Agility Forum in Washington, but the speech was behind closed doors.
WIDEBAND GAPFILLER: The U.S. Air Force has signed a $1.067 billion contract with Boeing for up to three more Wideband Gapfiller Satellites (WGS), if all options are exercised. The Block II satellites will be similar to the three Block I satellites already in production, but will have an enhanced capability to support bandwidth-hungry reconnaissance platforms such as unmanned aerial vehicles, according to Boeing. The first WGS satellite is slated to launch next year.
As expected, Northrop Grumman has formally announced its intention to propose a maritime variant of its U.S. Air Force Global Hawk unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) for the U.S. Navy's Broad Area Maritime Surveillance (BAMS) program next year.
Northrop Grumman will continue to expand the Battlefield Airborne Communications Node (BACN) and improve communications for the F-22 Raptor under two recent contracts, the company announced Oct. 18. The firm recently received the $25 million BACN Spiral Technical Phase II contract, as well as the $8.5 million Intraflight Datalink Gateway System contract to integrate a data link allowing the F-22 to communicate with other platforms.
The third 57mm Mk 110 Mod 0 Naval Gun system bound for the U.S. Coast Guard National Security Cutter (NSC) program should be delivered next July, while BAE Systems expects to contract for a fourth system later this year for the U.S. Navy's Littoral Combat Ship program. The NSC contracts, including the third one announced Oct. 17, were from Northrop Grumman Corp., while LCS contracts have come from Lockheed Martin Corp.
POOR PERFORMANCE: The Defense Department continues to be one of the worst internally performing federal agencies, according to the latest briefing on White House Office of Management and Budget metrics over federal management performance. The OMB's statement on the five-year-old President's Management Agenda consistently ranked the DOD at the bottom, if not last, in describing how agencies have progressed under the Bush administration. The Oct.
HELOS FOR POLAND: Eurocopter has sold its first EC135 and EC145 light twin helicopters in Poland. Due for delivery early next year, the aircraft were ordered through HeliInvest, the company's Warsaw-based representative. Seven EC120B and EC130B4 helicopters are operating in the country.
The Defense Department is having difficulty drafting new acquisition regulations that incorporate obligations to protect export-controlled information or technology within contracts after at least two attempts and vocal opposition from researchers and contractors. The deadline for public comment on a second set of requirements, proposed in August, has been extended until Nov. 2, according to an Oct. 16 notice in the Federal Register.
HUBBLE DECISION: NASA Administrator Mike Griffin and top Hubble Space Telescope and space shuttle managers are scheduled to meet this week for a decision on whether to proceed with a final shuttle mission to service the telescope on flight STS-125 in mid April, 2008. All indications are that the mission will be approved.
The Optus D1 and DirecTV 9S communications satellites were successfully dual-launched by an Ariane 5 rocket on Oct. 13. The launch took place from Arianespace's spaceport in Kourou, French Guiana, at about 4:56 p.m. Eastern time. Built by Orbital Sciences Corp. for Optus Networks Pty Limited of Australia, Optus D1 will operate in the Ku-band frequencies from its orbital location at 160 degrees East longitude, providing fixed satellite services and direct-to-home television broadcasting to Australia and New Zealand.
Northrop Grumman is expecting the downselect for the U.S. Navy's Unmanned Combat Air System (UCAS-N) demonstration program in late May or early June of next year, following the release of a final request for proposals (RFP) in February.
ISS CREW: Two cosmonauts and two astronauts have been named to the next International Space Station crew, NASA said Oct. 18. Cosmonauts Fyodor N. Yurchikhin and Dr. Oleg V. Kotov will spend six months on the ISS. Astronauts Clayton C. Anderson and Daniel M. Tani will work as flight engineers and fly to the station next year. Anderson will fly on Space Shuttle Endeavour on a mission set for June 2007. He'll return on shuttle Atlantis, which will carry Tani, his replacement, to the station. Tani is scheduled to come back to Earth in October 2007.
GD GAINS: General Dynamics on Oct. 18 reported third quarter revenue of $6.1 billion, a 15 percent increase from a year earlier that was bolstered by double-digit increases in its aerospace, combat systems and information systems units. But that was below the expectations of Wall Street analysts, who had anticipated higher sales growth from the company's acquisition of defense information technology provider Anteon.
LINCOLN MAINTENANCE: Todd Shipyards Corp. said Oct. 16 that its contracted repair work on the USS Abraham Lincoln aircraft carrier has grown by $4.8 million to $27 million, before any fee determination. The latest award modification authorizes additional repairs during dry-dock and pier-side maintenance, repairs and alterations of various ships systems and equipment throughout the aircraft carrier.
Groundings and restrictions could create C-130 shortages for intratheater airlift needs, a draft RAND report says. But uncertainty in the Army concept of operations could drive the Air Force away from a Joint Cargo Aircraft concept that the two services are focusing on, according to the USAF Intratheater Cargo Delivery Capabilities-based Assessment, a draft report still being reviewed by the RAND leadership.
U.S. Air Force Secretary Michael Wynne says the service could be involved in Iraq beyond 2010, becoming at least the second high-level defense official to note potential long-term budgeting for continued operations there. "Right now, the Air Force looks like we're going to be in a situation, if you will, that even in 2010 or 2009 we may still be in Iraq," he said. "The Air Force may be in Iraq longer."
A new study from the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) examines a variety of alternative launch programs to support NASA's plans to return astronauts to the moon by 2018 that range from $26 billion to $38 billion through 2017.
HERCULEAN UPGRADE: Lockheed Martin Corp. said Oct. 16 that it signed a $110 million contract to upgrade C-130J Super Hercules transports flown by the United Kingdom, Australia, Italy and Denmark. The company said the deal represented a significant milestone in international cooperation on a major weapon system. Known as Block 6.1, the upgrades to the aircraft systems include a common flight management system, an updated loading ramp and door hydraulics system for high-altitude airdrops and a safe/gunbox/storage unit onboard the aircraft, among other modifications.
NASA is eyeing slips of roughly one month in the launch dates for at least the first three shuttle missions of 2007 as it prepares to launch Discovery on the STS-116 International Space Station (ISS) assembly flight as early as Dec. 7. The schedule changes to next year's missions are related to external tank production scheduling at the NASA/Lockheed Martin Michoud facility in Louisiana that is still recovering from Hurricane Katrina.
BOND OFFERING: SES Global has successfully priced a two-tranche, 800 million euro ($1 billion) three-year bond offering - the second time this year it has ventured into the market to refinance drawn bilateral credit facilities. The bond, which includes a 300 million euro, three-year floating rate note and a 500 million euro fixed-rate note priced at the tight end of price guidance, was oversubscribed 2.6 times.
With funding for astrobiology under threat in NASA's proposed fiscal 2007 budget, the SETI Institute will seek $4-6 million over the next three years to establish an independent money line to assure that its 50 scientists can continue their drive to answer the age-old question, "Are we alone?" The Institute is establishing the Carl Sagan Center for the Study of Life in the Universe to make up for the funding shortfall in the Bush administration's current budget proposal.
