In observance of the Martin Luther King birthday holiday, Aerospace Daily & Defense Report will not publish on Monday, Jan. 16. The next issue will be dated Tuesday, Jan. 17.
Lockheed Martin Corp. said Jan. 12 that it received a $16.4 million U.S. Navy award to add a new sensor data computer to the airborne mine countermeasures (AMCM) Common Console, currently in development for the MH-60S helicopter.
The U.S. Navy will formally stand up its new Expeditionary Combat Command on Jan. 13, and one of its first challenges will be how to equip three riverine squads for river-patrol missions that have not been part of the Navy's bailiwick since the 1970s. Vice Adm. John Morgan Jr. told the Surface Navy Association's national symposium in Arlington, Va., that the Navy is looking at taking some hardware from the Marine Corps, which is carrying out the mission now. The Navy will take over an Iraqi river-patrol mission from the Marines in March 2007, he said.
Division-level staff of the U.S. Army's 10th Mountain Division and the Canadian army have been preparing at Fort Drum's Battle Command Training Center (BCTF) in upstate New York for an upcoming deployment to Afghanistan, officials said Jan. 12. Joint academic seminars on Afghanistan's history and economics as well as regional influences and how to conduct negotiations have been conducted at the BCTC, which allows staff elements to conduct real-time, networked training simulations to prepare for combat deployments.
Under pressure from the Pentagon to merge efforts, the Army is studying the possibility of making the Future Cargo Aircraft (FCA) and Extended Range/Multi-Purpose (ER/MP) unmanned aerial vehicle into joint programs with the Air Force. The Air Force and Army service chiefs are expected to sign a memorandum of understanding setting a deadline of 90 days to develop joint plans for FCA and ER/MP and report back to the Pentagon's acquisition leadership.
Orbimage Holdings Inc. has announced the completion of its $58.5 million acquisition of Space Imaging LLC, resulting in a long-awaited U.S. satellite imagery industry of two, rather than three, competitors. The new Orbimage-Space Imaging company is called GeoEye, and it will compete with DigitalGlobe Inc. Orbimage said GeoEye is "the world's largest commercial satellite imagery company" with a combined 2005 revenue of about $160 million. Orbimage announced last September that it intended to acquire Space Imaging.
A new market study forecasts that the money spent on outsourcing of information technology functions by the federal government will continue to grow at 8 percent through 2010 to $17.6 billion from $12.2 billion now.
The Army has chosen to cancel Lockheed Martin's $879 million Aerial Common Sensor development contract rather than switch aircraft platforms to Bombardier's Global Express business jet, the service announced Jan. 12.
F-22: Lockheed Martin Aeronautics Co. of Fort Worth, Texas, has been awarded a $191.1 million contract modification to provide long lead activities and logistics support for F-22 Raptor Lot 6 aircraft and associated equipment, the Defense Department said Jan. 11. The work will be done in February 2006. The contract was awarded by Headquarters Aeronautical Systems Center, Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio.
Astronomers using the Hubble Space Telescope have resolved a relatively tiny partner orbiting the super-giant Pole Star Polaris, determining that the fixed point of light sailors and aviators have used for generations to navigate is actually a three-star system.
Carl A. Alleyne has been named vice president for infrastructure and business area support. David T. Perry has been appointed vice president of the Marine Systems division. Everett H. Pratt, Jr. has been appointed vice president of business development for the Defensive Systems Division. Gregory A. Schmidt has been named vice president of radio frequency combat and information systems. Carl R. Smith has been appointed vice president of engineering and manufacturing.
Mike Becraft has been appointed executive vice president of the mission services group. Marylynn Stowers has been named executive vice president of the information technology group.
Congressional pressure to avoid a gap in U.S. human space access is behind a NASA push to accelerate the first piloted flight of the planned Crew Exploration Vehicle (CEV).
GKN Aerospace said Jan. 11 that it has been awarded a contract to produce composite components for Northrop Grumman's X-47B Joint Unmanned Combat Systems (J-UCAS) aircraft. If the X-47B enters full production, the contract's total value would be more than $500 million, the company said. The graphite composite skins will be manufactured at GKN Aerospace's St. Louis facility. The skins cover nearly 90 percent of the aircraft's surface. The aircraft's actuated doors for its weapon's bay, nose and main landing gear are also produced in St. Louis.
Boeing is nearing deals on upgrades to AH-64 Apache helicopters purchased by various countries through foreign military sales, according to the company. Closest to fruition is a contract to remanufacture 30 AH-64A Apaches purchased by the United Arab Emirates into the AH-64D configuration. That contract is expected in the first quarter of this year, according to Mike Burke, Boeing's director of rotorcraft business development.
