Michael Martin is stepping down as president of subsidiary Aerojet-General Corp. Martin will remain an officer and vice president of GenCorp. J. Scott Neish will replace Martin and become an officer of GenCorp effective Dec. 1. Neish is currently Aerojet's executive vice president.
Lockheed Martin will open a new outer wing production line at its Marietta, Ga., facility to support service life extension work for P-3 and CP-140 aircraft around the world, the company said Nov. 22. Interest in extending the life of the aircraft has increased since the P-3 Structural Life Assessment Program, a full-scale fatigue test, has shown that the aircraft is accumulating fatigue damage faster than had previously been believed. The CP-140 is a Canadian version of the Lockheed Martin-built P-3.
BUYING MILTECH: Aerospace component company Ducommun of Los Angeles said it will buy Huntsville, Ala.-based Miltec Corp., a missile and aerospace engineering company. Terms of the deal, which is expected to close within 30 days, were not disclosed.
Small U.S. contractors operating in Iraq and Afghanistan could get a break on their security costs if an amendment sponsored by Sen. Olympia Snowe (R-Maine) makes it into law as part of the fiscal 2006 defense authorization bill.
Maj. Gen. William Russ (USA Ret.) has been appointed vice president of Washington operations for the company's Intelligence and Information Systems business in Arlington, Va.
QDR REPORT: The U.S. Defense Department is expected to complete a draft report on the Quadrennial Defense Review (QDR) in mid-December, according to a DOD spokesman. Top Pentagon officials met Nov. 21 to provide input for the QDR, which has spent much of the year assessing the military's force structure and strategy (DAILY, Nov. 22).
MMA-UAV: The Naval Air Systems Command gave the Boeing Co. $24 million more in a contract modification for development of unmanned aerial vehicle control software, classification aids software and computer-assisted design models for the Multimission Maritime Aircraft. Boeing will do the work in Seattle and is supposed to be finished in September 2011, the Defense Department announced late Nov. 21.
SpaceDev has signed a contract with SpaceX to buy launch services on its Falcon 1 launch vehicle, the Poway, Calif.-based company said Nov. 22. Falcon 1 is to carry multiple microsatellites and nanosatellites from SpaceDev and other suppliers, with a first launch tentatively scheduled for May 2008. Falcon 1's first launch is scheduled for Nov. 25, when it is to carry the U.S. Air Force Academy's FalconSat-2 from the Kawjalein Atoll in the Marshall Islands (DAILY, Nov. 22).
Germany's government has agreed to sell two Dolphin-class submarines to Israel at a discounted price, Germany's Deutsche Welle radio reported Nov. 21. Germany will pay for one-third of the EUR 1 billion (USD $1.17 billion) subs, which will be built in Kiel. Cost concerns within the German government had delayed the sale. Germany donated two other Dolphin subs to Israel's navy in the early 1990s following the Persian Gulf War and later sold a third sub to the navy at a reduced price.
In observance of the Thanksgiving Day holiday, Aerospace Daily & Defense Report will not publish on Nov. 24 and 25. The next issue will be dated Nov. 28.
EARNINGS UP: Defense training and simulation systems maker BVR Systems (1998) Ltd. said its third-quarter 2005 revenue increased to $5.9 million, from $3.7 million in 2004, and quarterly net earnings soared from $52,000 to $581,000 from 2004 to 2005. Nine-month revenue jumped from $9.1 million to $14.7 million. Net earnings were $429,000, compared with a 2004 loss of $1.2 million.
Orbit International said its Electronics Segment has received new program contracts worth more than $650,000, which the Hauppage, N.Y.-based company expects to lead to more work in the future. Orbit will supply auxiliary keypads for the Towed Artillery Digitization (TAD) Digital Fire Control Systems to General Dynamics Canada under a $150,000 preproduction order. The TAD provides onboard ballistic computation, navigation and self-location for the M777 Lightweight Towed Howitzer, Orbit said.
Loral Space & Communications said Nov. 22 that it has finished its reorganization and emerged from Chapter 11 bankruptcy. The satellite maker's chairman and CEO, Bernard L. Schwartz, said Loral has spent the past two and a half years "creating a stronger, leaner and more efficient Loral. We have won new awards and customers, and we continue to seek and capture opportunities in many new and traditional markets."
The Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) program kicked off a new flight-test program Nov. 22 by successfully launching an interceptor missile from White Sands Missile Range, N.M., according to the U.S. Missile Defense Agency and prime contractor Lockheed Martin.
FIRST CUTTER: The U.S. Coast Guard has decided to name its first National Security Cutter, being built by Northrop Grumman, after its first commandant, Ellsworth Price Bertholf (1866-1921), the company said Nov. 22. A joint venture of Northrop Grumman and Lockheed Martin Corp. is the Coast Guard's lead systems integrator for the service's 25-year, $24 billion Deepwater recapitalization program. The Bertholf is supposed to be delivered to the Coast Guard in 2008. Eight National Security Cutters are planned by 2017.
The U.S. Navy has not fully tested and evaluated its Fleet Response Plan or developed lessons learned so far, leaving the increasingly stressed service unable to truly know whether it can meet surges and costs, according to congressional auditors.
Aerospace and defense companies are applauding the Senate's Nov. 17 approval of a tax bill with a one-year extension of a basic research and development tax credit and an Alternative Simplified Credit to extend the benefit throughout industry. "Congress recognizes that private sector aerospace R&D makes an irreplaceable contribution to the modernization of the country's military, space and air transportation systems," Aerospace Industries Association chief executive John Douglass said in a statement.
NOMINATION: President Bush will nominate Michael L. Dominguez, currently assistant secretary of the Air Force for manpower and reserve affairs, to be deputy undersecretary of defense for personnel and readiness, the White House said Nov. 21. Dominguez has previously served as acting secretary of the Air Force, as well as assistant director for space, information warfare, and command and control in the Office of the Chief of Naval Operations.
Success in the United States' global war on terrorism lies in increasing special operations forces-like skills and civilian-based pacification efforts, a panel of commentators said Nov. 22 in Washington.
Bell Helicopter and AgustaWestland have realigned their Bell Agusta Aerospace Co. joint venture, as AgustaWestland has taken full control of the AB139 medium helicopter program and boosted its stake in the BA609 civil tiltrotor. Bell has sold its 25 percent interest in the AB139 to AgustaWestland, the companies said Nov. 21.
