Steven M. Kellner has been appointed quality control manager for the Intelligence Division. Scott E. McHugh has been named senior vice president of business development.
General Dynamics Armament and Technical Products said Dec. 21 that it will provide the U.S. Army with additional enhanced-capability reactive armor tile sets for Bradley Fighting Vehicles in Iraq under a $19 million contract modification. The original $122 million contract was first awarded in 2004.
Douglas L. Maine has been elected to the board of directors, effective Jan. 1. Maine will also serve on the board's audit and finance committees. Maine was general manager of the Consumer Products Industry Division for International Business Machines Corp.
Senate Republican leaders failed Dec. 21 to push through a congressional conference agreement for the fiscal 2006 defense appropriations bill, increasingly squeezing the chamber as it tries to adjourn for a holiday break. By a 56-to-44 margin, the Senate voted against invoking cloture on debate over the agreement, which would have set the conference deal along an accelerated, guarded path to a final vote in the Senate.
TRIDENT WORK: The U.S. Navy's Strategic Systems Programs awarded Lockheed Martin's Space Systems unit an $869 million, noncompeted contract for fiscal 2006 Trident II (D5) missile production and deployed system support. The Dec. 19 award runs until September 2009.
International Launch Services has scheduled the launch of the Astra 1KR satellite on an Atlas V rocket for April 2006 from Cape Canaveral, Fla., the company announced. ILS markets launches on Lockheed Martin's Atlas rocket and the Khrunichev-built Proton. This will be the first Atlas mission for SES Astra of Luxembourg, which has used Protons for six previous launches with ILS. The 1KR spacecraft is based on Lockheed Martin's A2100 spacecraft bus.
The University of California (UC) - working with Bechtel Corp., BWX Technologies and Washington Group International - will retain its management work for Los Alamos National Laboratory for up to 20 years, Energy Secretary Sam Bodman announced Dec. 21.
Sweden's government has decided to proceed with the joint Neuron unmanned combat air vehicle, the country's defense ministry said. The decision allows Sweden's armed forces to place an order with the Defense Materiel Administration for the development of a Neuron technology demonstrator, and also allows the administration to sign a deal with France for cooperation on the program. The Neuron program is led by France's Dassault.
The Defense Department has requested more information on Lockheed Martin and Boeing's proposed United Launch Alliance merger, which will push the regulatory approval process into next year, according to a Boeing spokesman.
NEW CHAIR: Rep. Jo Ann Davis (R-Va.) was named the new chair of the House Intelligence terrorism, human intelligence, analysis and counterintelligence subcommittee, replacing former Rep. Randy "Duke" Cunningham (R-Calif.). Cunningham recently resigned after admitting to taking $2.4 million in bribes from a few small defense contractors to steer contracts their way. Davis, a member of the Armed Services and International Relations committees and a vocal shipbuilding proponent, previously chaired the Intelligence Committee's policy and national security subcommittee.
Congress is putting more pressure on the Future Combat Systems (FCS) program by cutting funding for fiscal 2006, withholding even more until it receives reports and requiring more oversight and more information in the Army's revised implementation plan.
International Launch Services has been given the go-ahead from the U.S. Air Force to launch a military weather satellite on an Atlas V launch vehicle from Vandenberg Air Force Base, Calif. The launch is scheduled for late 2007 with DMSP-18, a satellite built for the Defense Meteorological Satellite Program. Both the satellite and the booster were built by Lockheed Martin, which is a partner in the ILS joint venture with Russia's Khrunichev.
The U.S. Missile Defense Agency put the eighth interceptor missile into its underground silo at Fort Greely, Alaska, on Dec. 17, Air Force Lt. Gen. Henry "Trey" Obering III announced Dec. 20. The missile, designed to intercept and destroy a long-range ballistic missile, is the final interceptor emplacement planned for Fort Greely this year. Another interceptor will be installed in January, followed by "additional" interceptors by the end of 2006.
GW RETURNS: Northrop Grumman said Dec. 20 that it has returned the USS George Washington (CVN-73) to the U.S. Navy following almost 11 months of maintenance availability. First delivered to the Navy in 1992, the George Washington is the sixth nuclear-powered Nimitz-class aircraft carrier built by Northrop Grumman Newport News.
Germany's army has received a prototype of the new Puma infantry fighting vehicle, Rheinmetall Defense said Dec. 20. The vehicle was produced by Projekt System und Management of Kassel, Germany, a joint venture of Rheinmetall Landsysteme and Krauss-Maffei Wegmann. The German Bundestag's budget committee approved a EUR 350 million (USD $455 million) low-rate production of the Puma last year (DAILY, Dec. 6, 2004). The contract's first phase called for building prototypes for field trials. An option for full-scale production is valid through 2007.
The U.S. Marine Corps' old heavy lift helicopter, the nearly 30-year-old CH-53D Sea Stallion, recently had its capabilities expanded to operate from the Navy's newest class of LHD multipurpose amphibious assault ships, according to the Naval Air Systems Command. Based on an airframe dating back to the early 1960s, the Sikorsky Aircraft Corp.'s CH-53D was never tested for suitability aboard the LHD because it was not anticipated that the aircraft would still be in service when the LHDs were rolled out, Navair said.
BAE Systems said Dec. 20 that it will supply the Danish army with 45 CV9035 Infantry Fighting Vehicles under a GBP 123 million (USD $215 million) contract. BAE Systems' Land Systems Hagglunds will produce the vehicles along with Denmark-based Hydrema Export A/S. The companies may also provide maintenance and upgrade support.
The stalemate continues between Boeing and the union representing much of the company's Delta rocket work force, which has been on strike since Nov. 2. Roughly half of the company's Delta employees went on strike after a three-year contract between Boeing and the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers District 725 expired. Talks on a new contract broke down in late October. Some union-represented employees have since returned to work, according to Boeing.
American Pacific Corp., which produces specialty chemicals for space flight and defense systems, said Dec. 20 that it suffered a $9.7 million net loss in fiscal 2005 that included a $14.1 million non-cash charge for a 45-year environmental cleanup project. The Las Vegas-based company said its '05 net loss grew from a loss of $400,000 in FY '04. FY '05 revenue increased 40 percent to $83.3 million, compared with $59.5 million in FY '04.
The fiscal 2006 House-Senate agreement reached Dec. 18 by defense authorizers on Capitol Hill could allow for nuclear-related research on an earth-penetrating bunker-buster bomb, according to a House Armed Services Committee aide. This could set up a conflict with what appropriators have decided. "Our conference - the authorizing committees - has not mooted this to either conventional or nuclear," a HASC aide told reporters Dec. 19. "It's various options."
NASA's authorization bill for fiscal years 2007 and 2008 reaffirms Congress' expectation that NASA will do all it can to maintain a "continuous" ability to send human beings into space.
