A top aide to Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-Tenn.) told reporters Dec. 13 that negotiations are continuing over Arizona Republican Sen. John McCain's amendment governing the treatment of military detainees, although about 90 percent of the fiscal 2006 defense authorization compromise with the House is complete. The day before, Frist said on the chamber floor that the defense measure was complete and the conference agreement could be brought up for Senate approval on Dec. 14 (DAILY, Dec. 13).
Federal officials appeared on Capitol Hill Dec. 13 to offer the first glimpse into the Bush administration's Maritime Operational Threat Response Plan (MOTR), including apparently the potential for the U.S. Navy to initially get involved in more traditional law enforcement acts on the high seas.
Greece and the United States have signed a letter of offer and acceptance for the sale of 30 additional Lockheed Martin-built F-16 Block 52+ aircraft, with an option for 10 more. The F-16s will supplement Greece's existing F-16s and continue the modernization of the country's air force, Lockheed Martin said Dec. 13. The deal is worth about $2 billion, with Lockheed Martin's share being about $1.2 billion, the company said.
The U.S. Army has extended the stop-work order issued to Lockheed Martin's Aerial Common Sensor program by an additional 30 days while it ponders the way forward for the troubled program. The Army issued the original 90-day order in September after learning that Lockheed Martin's chosen platform for ACS, the Embraer ERJ-145 business jet, was too small to carry the multiple intelligence-gathering payloads intended for it.
A General Dynamics Corp. ship company received a seven-year, $200 million U.S. Navy contract for maintenance and repair of four LSD-41/49 and four LPD-4-class ships. The amphibious ships carry Marines and their combat equipment worldwide, as well as launch and support landing craft and helicopters during amphibious assault and other military operations. General Dynamics' Steel and Shipbuilding Co. has provided maintenance and repair services on five LHA-class and LHD-class ships for the U.S. Navy under a nine-year contract that ends in 2006.
DIVIDEND: HEICO Corp.'s board of directors declared a cash dividend of four cents per share, the company said Dec. 13. The dividend is payable on Jan. 18, 2006, to shareholders of record on Jan. 6.
Sen. Russell Feingold (D-Wis.) called on the Bush administration Dec. 13 to create a plan for addressing the dissemination of improvised explosive device (IED) tactics by anti-U.S. insurgents using the Internet. Feingold said plans for improved IEDs and practices are increasingly being transferred from Iraq to Afghanistan. Insurgents, whose IEDs are responsible for half of coalition casualties in Iraq, are able to rely on the Web to buy many of the IED components they use, officials have said (DAILY, Nov. 2).
The Senate Dec. 12 formally requested a conference with the House over their different fiscal 2006 authorization measures affecting NASA. The Senate appointed Sens. Ted Stevens (R-Alaska), Trent Lott (R-Miss.), Kay Bailey Hutchison (R-Texas), Daniel Inouye (D-Hawaii) and Bill Nelson (D-Fla.). The House on Nov. 18 formally appointed its conferees from its Government Reform and Science panels (DAILY, Nov. 22).
Israel's long-range, Green Pine radar - used to find targets for the country's Arrow 2 air defense missile - is being upgraded and doubled in power, which might make it a candidate for further modifications as a directed energy weapon.
The U.S. Navy's Strategic Systems Programs has awarded the Charles Stark Draper Laboratory $101.1 million more to design and develop the program to extend the service life of the Trident II (D5) missile's MK6 guidance system.
An effort by House conservatives to essentially blacklist Western companies whose defense offerings make it to China is being opposed by two House Democrats on that chamber's Armed Services Committee. Reps. Ellen Tauscher (Calif.) and Adam Smith (Wash.) wrote the chairmen and ranking Democrats of the House and Senate Armed Services committees Dec. 9 to lobby against the provision.
Technicians at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida are removing and replacing roughly 100 gapfillers each day on the underbelly of shuttle Discovery to avoid any of them coming loose as they did during the shuttle's last mission. New installation procedures are being developed to ensure the gapfillers stay in place and do not pose any hazard during the shuttle's re-entry, according to NASA.
Electro Energy Inc. said it received a U.S. Navy Small Business Innovative Research contract to develop unconventional fabrication of electrodes for thermal batteries. The Danbury, Conn., company will work on manufacturing techniques for a power source in an effort to cut the cost of thermally activated batteries and boost their performance. Thermally activated batteries are used in missiles and other weapons and historically have had labor and capital-intensive manufacturing processes.
SpaceDev's new Mission Xcelerator Solution Program has enabled the company to make commercial launches of micro- and nanosatellites available for less than $20 million, the Poway, Calif.-based company said Dec. 12. The program combines SpaceDev's Modular Microsatellite Bus (MMB-100) with "payload integration services, launch management services and one year of mission support services at a price never before offered - less than $20 million, with an inception-to-launch target of 20 months," SpaceDev Chairman and CEO Jim Benson said in a statement.
The Missile Defense Agency's High Altitude Airship program is entering its third phase following the recent award of a $149.2 million contract to prime contractor Lockheed Martin. Under the contract, the company will build an airship prototype based on the scaled-back HAA requirements developed to address the program's weight problems (DAILY, June 21). First flight is expected in 2009, the company said.
Boeing said Dec. 12 that it has signed a contract with Singapore's defense ministry to provide the country's air force with a dozen F-15SG fighter aircraft. Financial terms were not disclosed. The agreement includes an option to buy eight additional aircraft.
Australia's defense ministry said Dec. 12 that it has agreed to an AUD 145 million (USD $109.4 million) contract to purchase a fleet of long-range tactical unmanned aerial vehicles that will provide intelligence and surveillance for the country's army. Boeing Australia was selected as the preferred company to provide Israel Aircraft Industries' I-View UAV, the defense ministry said. Boeing Australia will also provide support services that will create about 125 new jobs in the Brisbane area.
