As the program transitions to a Navy-only effort, Joint Unmanned Combat Air System (J-UCAS) contractors Northrop Grumman and Boeing are expecting a request for proposals (RFP) later this year as a prelude to a contractor downselect.
By the end of 2006, the U.S. military will have spent $5 billion to combat improvised explosive devices (IEDs), including more than $3 billion allocated this year alone. Brig. Gen. Randolph Alles, commander of the Marine Corps Warfighting Lab and a member of the Defense Department's newly permanent Joint IED Defeat Organization, told the Navy League's SeaAirSpace symposium April 5 that the DOD is asking industry to focus on technologies that "pre-detonate" the bombs.
SPACE RACE: China still lags 15 years behind the United States and Russia in space program developments, but could catch up in 10 years with enough funding from the government. Huang Chunping, who leads manned launcher programs, made the assessment to the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC), a major communist party planning organization. The fact that his statements were aired publicly by the government-controlled Xinhua news agency may suggest a spending boost is at least under consideration.
The Air Force's fiscal 2007 budget request includes more than $2.1 billion for science and technology (S&T) projects including countermeasures for portable surface-to-air missiles and better communications between unmanned and manned aircraft, a top research official says.
TANK SUPPORT: General Dynamics Land Systems has been awarded a $22.3 million contract to provide the U.S. Army with technical support for M1A1 Abrams tank systems, the Defense Department said April 5. The work will be done at various U.S.-based military installations. It is expected to be finished by Dec. 31, 2006. The contract was awarded by the U.S. Army TACOM Lifecycle Management Command.
AgustaWestland expects to make its final Light Utility Helicopter pitch to the U.S. Army on April 24 following a 45-day flight-test evaluation at the service's aviation headquarters at Fort Rucker, Ala., a company official said.
DEFENSE RDT&E: The Senate Appropriations Committee would like to boost Defense Department research, development, testing and evaluation by $382.63 million under the latest supplemental bill. A total of $320 million would go to classified efforts. The White House only asked for $67.13 million altogether.
LM AWARDS: Lockheed Martin said April 4 that it has been awarded a $6 million Foreign Military Sales contract to upgrade P-3C aircraft for Pakistan and a $145 million contract from Mitsubishi Heavy Industries to build components for five additional F-2 production aircraft. Upgrades and maintenance work on a total of nine P-3Cs could make the Pakistan contract worth up to $300 million, the company said. Work on the first P-3C will start in March. Maintenance and modification work will be done at Lockheed Martin's Aircraft and Logistics Center in Greenville, S.C.
Senate appropriators on April 4 went a step further than their House counterparts to protect the C-17 aircraft, recommending $227.5 million toward advance procurement for more of the heavy lifters in fiscal 2008. The move - part of the Senate Appropriations Committee's version of the latest Bush administration request for supplemental funding for Iraq, Afghanistan and several other efforts such as Gulf Coast hurricane recovery - follows the full House's move last month to appropriate just $100 million for the C-17 (DAILY, March 22).
China is completing assembly of its new 132-foot diameter deep space network antenna, specifically designed to communicate with the Chang'e Chinese lunar orbiter set for launch in 2007.
A top Chinese space official has repeated his country's invitation for a visit from the NASA administrator, but the U.S. space agency and its White House bosses are remaining aloof.
Shifting requirements scuttled the B-52 Stand-Off Jammer program and pushed its projected cost from an original estimate of roughly $1 billion up to nearly $7 billion, according to Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. T. Michael Moseley. "I think you could say there were lots of people that took opportunities to have it be something other than the initial requirement," Moseley told reporters following a breakfast speech in Washington April 4. Though such efforts were well-meaning, the ultimate result argues in favor of freezing configurations early, Moseley said.
A proposed trans-Atlantic mega-merger between telecom giants Alcatel and Lucent Technologies is driving new interest in defense electronics company Thales, long a target of bigger European defense players. Thales' board of directors is scheduled to meet April 5 to discuss a proposal by Alcatel to transfer its space and secure communications businesses to Thales in return for additional equity. The move would increase Alcatel's stake in Thales to 25 percent from 9.5 percent.
AMMO CONTRACT: AMTEC Corp. of Janesville, Wis., has been awarded a $78.5 million contract modification to provide the U.S. Army with M385A1, M430A1, M433, M583A1, M781, and M918 40mm ammunition, the Defense Department said April 3. The work will be done in Janesville, Wis., and is expected to be finished by Sept. 30, 2010. The contract was awarded by the Army Field Support Command, Rock Island, Ill.
