COLUMBUS TO ESA: EADS Space has handed over the Columbus orbital laboratory, Europe's key contribution to the International Space Station, to the European Space Agency for delivery to NASA. German Chancellor Angela Merkel attended the handover ceremony at EADS's plant in Bremen, Germany. Germany is Europe's lead contributor to the ISS, providing 41 percent of European funds. At month's end, the 13-metric ton module will be shipped on an Airbus Beluga transport to Kennedy Space Center in Florida for pre-launch preparations.
EADS BUYS IFR: EADS Test & Services has acquired IFR, a French-based specialist in aircraft management software for maintenance applications. IFR had revenues of 4.7 million euros last year and employs 58 people.
RESEARCH SPENDING: German Chancellor Angela Merckel says Germany will provide strong support for space research spending during its rotation at the head of the European Union presidency next year. Lukewarm support by the U.K. during the previous presidency has threatened to rein in the EU's space ambitions, which include helping bankroll the new Global Monitoring for Environment and Security network.
CLEVELAND - In 1998, aerospace was a blip in industrial giant Eaton Corp.'s wide array of businesses, accounting for just $195 million in sales. Today, aerospace is a key component in Eaton's effort to remake itself into a less cyclical, high-growth company. Eaton's aerospace revenues are on track to reach $1.3 billion this year, and the company is positioned as a major supplier on aircraft such as the Joint Strike Fighter, F-22, UH-60, Airbus A380 and Boeing 787.
ASIASAT-5: Space Systems/Loral has been picked to supply AsiaSat-5 for Asia Satellite Telecommunications Co., a Hong Kong operator partly owned by SES Global. The C-/Ku-band spacecraft, to be launched in 2008, will replace and expand capacity on AsiaSat-2, located at 100.5 degrees east longitude.
Several major European providers of wind tunnel facilities have decided to join forces in a bid to gain more work and coordinate future spending. The move comes at a time when U.S. wind tunnel facilities are increasingly pinched for funds and, some U.S. government officials worry, companies are going to be forced increasingly to perform testing overseas. Germany and the Netherlands had already been cooperating in this field, but now France has joined the mix.
CLOGGED CLEARANCES: Seven Washington-based trade associations want an immediate reversal of the Defense Security Service's decision to stop processing security clearance applications and periodic reviews of existing clearances. DSS suspended work on industry clearances April 28, saying it has exhausted its fiscal 2006 funding. In addition to unclogging the clearance pipeline, the groups want Pentagon officials to review fiscal 2007 funding requests to prevent another shortfall next year. Rep.
HOVER: On May 10 Air Force Space Command (AFSPC) will host the Guardian Challenge 2006 Helicopter Hover competition at Camp Guernsey, Wyo. Helicopter crews from Malmstrom, Minot, FE Warren and Vandenberg Air Force bases will compete for three days. Guardian Challenge is an annual event held by AFSPC to improve its warfighting skills. The event began as Olympic Arena in 1967.
Senate defense authorizers continued a hard line on the Army's massive Future Combat Systems (FCS), although they authorized the fiscal 2007 budget request of $3.7 billion, including $322.7 million for the Non-Line-of-Sight Launch System and $112.3 million for the Non-Line-of-Sight Cannon. But in their FY '07 defense authorization markup, they included a provision that would require the Pentagon to submit an independent cost estimate of the core FCS program, FCS spinouts and FCS complementary systems.
ARMY Turner Construction Co., Arlington, Va., was awarded on May 2, 2006, an $8,650,000 firm-fixed-price contract for construction of a military amputee training center. The work will be performed in Washington, D.C., and is expected to be completed by July 3, 2007. Contract funds will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. There were 160 bids solicited on Oct. 25, 2005, and two bids were received. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Baltimore, is the contracting activity (W912DR-06-C-0017). AIR FORCE
The U.S. Army has ordered an additional nine Shadow 200 tactical unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) systems from AAI Corp., the company announced May 8. The $87 million order is the fourth full-rate production contract for the Shadow 200, AAI said. Each system includes four RQ-7B Shadow 200 aircraft and two ground control stations. Deliveries will begin in April 2007 and conclude in March 2008.
NAVAL GUN: BAE Systems said May 8 that the U.S. Navy has ordered 67 more Mk 38 naval gun mounts to go aboard cruisers, destroyers and Landing Ship Transport Dock (LPD) ships. The Mk 38 Mod 2 is a 25mm stabilized gun system that provides the last layer of ship self-protection. BAE Systems provides the system with Rafael Armament Development Authority Ltd. of Israel (DAILY, April 4). The expected order released $39 million from the current $395 million contract.
ARMY AM General Corp., South Bend, Ind., was awarded on May 1, 2006, a $55,987,075 modification to a firm-fixed-price contract for procurement of M1113 High Mobility Multi-Purpose Wheeled Vehicles. The work will be performed in South Bend, Ind., and is expected to be completed by Dec. 31, 2007. Contract funds will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. This was a sole source contract initiated on July 17, 2000. The U.S. Army Tank-automotive and Armaments Command, Warren, Mich., is the contracting activity (DAAE07-01-C-S001).
Lockheed Martin announced May 8 that it is one of the four contractors on the U.S. Air Force's Hybrid Launch Vehicle (HLV) Studies and Analysis program, which is laying the groundwork for a quick-turnaround rocket with a reusable first stage that the service hopes to introduce by 2018.
ARMY Critical Solutions International Inc., Dallas, was awarded on April 26, 2006, a $14,684,966 firm-fixed-price contract for interim vehicle mounted mine detectors. The work will be performed in Gauteng, South Africa, and is expected to be completed by May 31, 2007. Contract funds will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. This was a sole source contract initiated on March 9, 2006. The Army Tank-automotive and Armaments Command, Warren, Mich., is the contracting activity (W56HZV-06-C-0306). AIR FORCE
DOD DRAGGING: President Bush may express full confidence in Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, but the White House Office of Management and Budget has issued worsening grades for the Pentagon's management. In the latest OMB "scorecard," the DOD's grade for meeting the Bush administration's e-government initiative dropped from "mixed results" to "unsatisfactory." In the OMB's five graded Presidential Management Agenda objectives, the DOD now ranks unsatisfactory in three (including e-gov) and shows just mixed results in the other two.
While authorizing President Bush's fiscal 2007 budget request of $9.3 billion for the Missile Defense Agency (MDA), the Senate Armed Services Committee has nonetheless cut funding for some longer-term developmental efforts to instead go to testing and speed up fielding of near-term missile defense capabilities.
The House Appropriations Committee has set fiscal 2007 defense funding at $374.4 billion, almost entirely what the Bush administration requested for regular annual funds excluding supplemental money. The administration already has asked for $50 billion extra in its request for next fiscal year, which Congress is likely to fully fund if not beef up.
Senate defense authorizers are trying to boost the U.S. Navy's shipbuilding by adding $1.5 billion to the Bush administration's request to accelerate the LPD-25 expeditionary warship, advance procurement for the new classes of CVN-21 aircraft carrier and LHA-Replacement amphibious assault ship, and to drive down costs in Virginia-class attack submarine design.
Raytheon has taken 25 orders so far in 2006 for the Distributed Common Ground System (DCGS) Integration Backbone, which the company says is laying the foundation for future Web-based information sharing among the services.
