The Defense Department's Quadrennial Defense Review (QDR) will advocate a two-war combat capacity for the U.S. military that depends on several variables such as duration of conflict and partnering with allied countries, and it will spawn eight "road maps" afterward to complete strategic planning not finished in the QDR but outlined by senior Pentagon officials, according to an Army advisor to the QDR effort.
Several countries have agreed to work with French armaments agency DGA on common specifications for a next-generation surveillance satellite ground segment.
Deputy Commerce Secretary David Sampson reaffirmed America's commitment to promoting the civilian use of the Global Positioning System (GPS) around the world during a speech in Washington Jan. 25. "President Bush is committed to providing GPS to the world," Sampson said at a GPS forum sponsored by the Space Enterprise Council. "We have a stable policy environment that promotes commercial uses of GPS, and we are constantly upgrading the system to deliver better performance."
NASA has added a second grant to promote development of Deformation Resistance Welding (DRW), bringing to more than $2 million the amount it has invested in perfecting the advanced technique. The U.S. agency added $870,000 to the $1.3 million it has already spent on DRW, which is a way to join dissimilar shapes and materials such as metal tubes, solids, sheet metal and other tubes. The technique is particularly valuable in applications that use hollow members to make structures for transportation, stationary and fluid-handling hardware.
The Joint Planning and Development Office (JPDO) is having greater input into the research budgets of NASA, FAA and other JPDO-participating agencies, according to Acting Director Robert Pearce. Established in 2003, the JPDO is drawing up plans for moving to a next-generation air transportation system (NGATS) by 2025 that will be capable of handling expected increases in U.S. air traffic. The office includes representatives from FAA, NASA, the Department of Defense, and the Commerce and Homeland Security departments.
George B. Hull has been appointed to the U.S. Air Force Scientific Advisory Board. John M. Klineberg has been named chief executive officer. Thomas L. Wilson is being replaced by Klineberg.
General Dynamics on Jan. 25 reported strong earnings and revenue growth in the fourth quarter of 2005, with revenue increasing 13 percent and net earnings surging 20.8 percent. Revenue for all of 2005 also climbed 11 percent, while net earnings increased 19 percent. Fourth-quarter '05 revenue was $5.8 billion, compared to $5.2 billion for the same period in '04. Net earnings jumped from $336 million in the fourth quarter of '04 to $406 million a year later.
Richard Gilbrech has been named director of Stennis Space Center, Miss. He has served as deputy director of the agency's Langley Research Center, Hampton, Va., and deputy director of NASA's Engineering Safety Center. G. Scott Hubbard has accepted a position at the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence Institute, Mountain View, Calif. Hubbard is currently center director at NASA's Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, Calif.
Tom Darcy has been named executive vice president for strategic projects. Mark Sopp has been appointed executive vice president and chief financial officer.
Samuel Coleman, director of supply chain management for Patriarch Partners Management Group, an investment fund, will provide supply chain support. Peter Hokanson has been named chief financial officer. Randy Kesterson, chief operating officer, has left the company. David Langenhuizen has been appointed general manager of operations. Andrew Logan has been named chief technology officer. Robert Rene, chief executive officer, has left the company.
Congress, in the fiscal 2006 defense spending act, continued its growing trend of tapping regular funds to pay for pet priorities while transferring the costs to "emergency" supplemental spending that does not have to meet budget caps, according to watchdog Winslow Wheeler of the Center for Defense Information. Wheeler counted 17 of these transfers from the peacetime procurement account to the supplemental spending account for a total of $654 million, including $11.2 million for Army aircraft survivability equipment.
Northrop Grumman said Jan. 24 that its net income grew 22 percent in the fourth quarter of 2005 and 29 percent for the full year. The company also raised its 2006 guidance for cash from operations and earnings per share. Fourth quarter '05 net income climbed to $331 million, or 92 cents per share, compared to $272 million, or 74 cents per share, for the same period the year before. For all of 2005, net income increased from $1.1 billion, or $2.97 per share, in 2004 to $1.4 billion, or $3.85 cents per share.
NASA's Mars Exploration Rovers are entering their third year of operations on the red planet and continue to perform well despite some signs of wear, according to NASA. The two rovers are on their third mission extension, which lasts through September, provided they remain usable that long. Their original three-month baseline missions ended in April 2004.
SUPPORT SERVICES: The U.S. Navy has awarded L-3 Vertex Aerospace LLC of Madison, Miss., a $27 million contract to provide support services for the E-6B fleet, the Defense Department said Jan. 24. The work will be done at Tinker Air Force Base, Okla.; Naval Air Station, Patuxent River, Md.; Travis Air Force Base, Calif.; and Offutt Air Force Base, Neb. It is expected to be finished in October 2006.
Boeing Co. said it will install a high-energy laser in a C-130H aircraft for tests next year that could lead to full-scale development of a laser gunship. Boeing's Missile Defense Systems unit took delivery of the plane on Jan. 18 in Crestview, Fla., near Eglin Air Force Base. The plane, which belongs to the U.S. Air Force's 46th Test Wing, is being modified under the Advanced Tactical Laser (ATL) program to carry a high-energy chemical laser and battle management and beam control subsystems, Boeing said in a Jan. 23 announcement.
