The Marine Corps hopes to refurbish and return to service up to four more retired H-53 cargo helicopters on top of the three being refurbished now, according to Marine Col. Paul Croisetiere, Heavy Lift Replacement program manager. The Marines have a requirement for 160 heavy-lift CH-53s, but have only 148 in the current active inventory. Last summer the Navy and Marines took three H-53s out of retirement (DAILY, Aug. 29, 2005). The refurbishment takes 18-20 months and includes approximately 80 modifications to the aircraft.
AIR FORCE Northrop Grumman Space and Mission Systems, Clearfield, Utah, is being awarded a $34,782,840 cost plus incentive fee contract modification to provide for Minuteman III Safety Enhanced Reentry Vehicle Full Rate Production FY06 10 each; FY07 120 each; FY08 120 each and FY09, 111 each. At this time, total funds have been obligated. The scheduled completion date is March 2010. Headquarters Ogden Air Logistics Center, Hill Air Force Base, Utah, is the contracting activity (F42610-98-C-0001/will advise on modification number).
High-profile Washington-based analysts continue to cast doubt on the Navy's long-term shipbuilding and force structure plan, and many congressional members are expressing their own concern although no consensus has formed to do anything significant just yet.
An Air Force C-5 Galaxy transport jet crashed at Dover Air Force Base, Del. on April 3, the Defense Department said. All 17 people aboard survived. The survivors are members of the Dover-based Air Force Reserve's 512th Airlift Wing and the Air Force Mobility Command's 436th Airlift Wing. No information on their conditions was available. The jet was trying to return to the base because of mechanical problems shortly after takeoff when it crashed at 6:30 a.m. The C-5 broke into three pieces: the cockpit, fuselage, and tail.
NASA's plans to reopen its fiscal 2007 science budget next month to address scientists' complaints don't mean the budget will actually be changed. Indeed, Administrator Michael Griffin is holding fast to his position that for now it's more important to spend money on flying humans to space. And if the science community can't agree on changes in the way science funds are allocated, he says, the allocations won't change.
The Trophy active protection system (APS) destroyed a rocket-propelled grenade during its first U.S. live-fire test at the Naval Surface Warfare Center in Dahlgren, Va., on March 30. The Trophy system was installed on a Stryker vehicle, which was moving when it detected, tracked, and destroyed the inert incoming RPG by hitting it with an explosive projectile. The Trophy system is based on an Israeli design. The test was held at the request of the Pentagon's Office of Force Transformation (OFT).
KIDD RELAUNCHES: The Aegis guided missile destroyer Kidd (DDG 100) is relaunched March 31 from Northrop Grumman's Ship System's sector in Pascagoula, Miss. The Kidd, the 24th missile destroyer built by the company, sustained damage to its hull during Hurricane Katrina and some compartments were flooded. The relaunch took place six weeks earlier than originally scheduled.
Within the next two months the Navy is expected to award full-rate production contracts to Lockheed Martin and Sikorsky for 12 MH-60R helicopters. The MH-60R will replace the Navy's aging SH-60B and SH-60F helicopters, which currently share the submarine-hunter and surface-attack roles. Sikorsky provides the helicopter while Lockheed Martin performs system integration.
BAE Systems expects the U.S. Navy to award another option on the BAE-Rafael Mk 38 naval gun soon, an executive told reporters April 3. The company will also try to get the Mk 38, the Protector unmanned surface vehicle (USV), and the recently announced Talisman unmanned underwater vehicle (UUV) into the Navy's Littoral Combat Ship (LCS) and the Coast Guard's Deepwater programs.
In a marriage made on Mars, and Earth, a robotics and composite materials company will merge with another firm to combine forces for new Mars and other NASA, commercial and defense space mission applications. The merger planned by July between Alliance Spacesystems Inc. of Pasadena, Calif. and Vision Composites of Signal Hill, Calif. is designed to strengthen ASI's ability to provide integrated robotic and composite structural systems to aerospace programs. Just what the two companies will call themselves after the merger is still being determined.
The Defense Department's long-range strike project would get more bang for its buck using missile-firing large cargo aircraft, like the C-17, but their vulnerability to enemy air defenses would severely limit their offensive reach, according to a study by the Congressional Budget Office (CBO).
HYBRID HUMVEE: The Air Force and Army are partnering to develop and use a hybrid electric-diesel engine for the ubiquitous Humvee with a planned delivery starting in 2008, according to top Air Force officials. Other alternative fuel technology is still in the development stage, they told Senate defense appropriators March 29.
The March 27 news item "SAT SYSTEM" contained an error. Lockheed Martin is not a bidder in the Gulf Cooperation Council's Hud-hud intelligence satellite system program. The company was described as the leader of an industry team competing for the contract.
MILSATCOM SERVICES: Telesat will supply as many as 38 Canadian Coast Guard vessels with high-speed voice and data communications systems under its first contract for offshore mobile milsatcom services. The award includes the leasing of Ku-band capacity on Telesat's Anik F2 spacecraft, launched in mid-2004, and delivery and integration of ground equipment.
SAT LAUNCHES: The U.S. Air Force says it launched eight Defense Department and other national-security satellite systems in 2005 from Air Force-managed and maintained launch ranges at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Fla., and Vandenberg Air Force Base, Calif. That number is expected to increase to 13 this year as the Evolved Expendable Launch Vehicle program takes over as the foundation for U.S. assured access to space, top Air Force officials tell Congress.
MINE DETECTING: Raytheon Co.'s Integrated Defense Systems has been awarded a $38.6 million contract modification to provide the U.S. Navy with five AN/AQS-20A sonar mine detecting systems and related engineering services, the Defense Department said March 31. The work will be done in Portsmouth, R.I., and Tucson, Ariz. It is expected to be finished by March 2010. The contract was awarded by the Naval Sea Systems Command, Washington, D.C.
ICBM PROGRAM: Northrop Grumman Corp. said March 31 that it has been awarded a $135 million, six-year contract to start full-rate production on the Minuteman III Intercontinental Ballistic Missile Safety Enhanced Reentry Vehicle program. Under the SERV program, the Minuteman III missile will carry single Mark 21 reentry vehicles decommissioned from the Peacekeeper force to ensure continued reliability and effectiveness of the ICBM weapon system. Lockheed Martin and Boeing are program teammates
A decision is pending from the Pentagon's acquisition chief on going ahead with long-lead item acquisition for the conventional takeoff-and-landing variant of the Joint Strike Fighter, according to a Defense Department statement. The Defense Acquisition Board, a high-level group of DOD officials who advise Ken Krieg, the undersecretary of defense for acquisition, technology and logistics on procurement decisions, was scheduled to meet over the long-lead acquisition issue on March 31.
A report by the NASA Engineering and Safety Center (NESC) cites "confusion over safety requirements" during the development of the U.S./French Calipso environmental spacecraft set for launch April 20 from Vandenberg Air Force Base, Calif. NASA engineers believe questions they raised between 2003-2005 about the risk of fire and toxic hazards involving the French propulsion system on the spacecraft will help define future U.S. requirements for participation in unmanned international space missions.
