Canada's defense department said last week that it has awarded Kelowna Flightcraft Ltd. a 22-year, CAD $1.77 billion (USD $1.49 billion) contract to provide the country's military with flying training and support services.
The U.S. Missile Defense Agency has scheduled the first flight-test of the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) system for Nov. 22, according to the agency. The test is slated to occur in the morning at White Sands Missile Range, N.M. "Everything looks good for a launch," MDA spokeswoman Pam Rogers said Nov. 21. An industry source told The DAILY that MDA conducted a "final dress rehearsal over the weekend, and everything's looking great. We're hopeful."
FalconSAT-2, a satellite built by U.S. Air Force Academy cadets, is scheduled to be launched Nov. 25 from the Ronald Reagan Ballistic Missile Test Site on the Army's Kwajalein Atoll in the Marshall Islands. Cadets are to take control of the satellite once it is released into orbit and will measure space plasma in the lower ionosphere, which can interfere with space-based communications such as the Global Positioning System.
The overarching theme for the Naval Sea Systems Command "over the next several years is alignment," Navsea's new commander, Vice Adm. Paul Sullivan, has said. Guiding principles include "practice truth in advertising" and "insist on analytical rigor," to help put "the right capability in the hands of the warfighter at the right time and the right cost," Navsea said in issuing the first part of Sullivan's commander's guidance. Meanwhile, one organizational priority is to "ensure the Navy of the future is effective and affordable."
Top Pentagon officials met most of the day Nov. 21 to provide their input for the Defense Department's Quadrennial Defense Review (QDR). The meeting began in the morning and was scheduled to last until roughly 5 p.m. Acting Deputy Defense Secretary Gordon England was expected to propose killing the Air Force variant of the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter and directing the Air Force to buy the Navy version instead (DAILY, Nov. 21). But a source told The DAILY Nov. 21 that all three JSF variants -- Air Force, Marine Corps and Navy -- would survive.
The Senate on Nov. 18 passed a continuing resolution funding several federal agencies, including the Defense Department, until Dec. 17. The House did the same a day earlier. Congress is struggling to work through four remaining spending bills that account for 78 percent of government appropriations. The latest continuing resolution, actually an extension of one that ran out Nov. 18, funds the affected agencies at generally lower levels than pending fiscal 2006 spending legislation.
NAVAL RESEARCH: Navy Adm. Mike Mullen, chief of naval operations, has assigned Rear Adm. William E. Landay III as chief of naval research and director of test and evaluation and technology requirements in the CNO office. Landay currently is program executive officer for littoral and mine warfare.
The U.S. Navy's Joint High Speed Vessel (JHSV) program's initial capability document received approval from the Defense Department's Joint Requirements Oversight Council on Nov. 1, the Navy announced last week. The analysis of alternatives for the program will be reported before the end of the year and procurement of the lead ship is planned for fiscal 2008, the Navy said Nov. 17.
MEETING THE DEAL: Alcatel Alenia Space has upheld its commitment to the French defense procurement agency to deliver the initial operational capability of the Syracuse 3A military communications satellite a month after its Oct. 14 launch, the company says. On-orbit testing began Oct. 22 and culminated in a test review, "which the satellite passed with flying colors," the company says. Since Nov. 10, the procurement agency has had access to two super-high-frequency channels, which are already being used by fielded troops, Alcatel Alenia Space says.
EADS North America hopes to post $1 billion in sales next year, which it will probably meet partly through acquisition, company Chairman and CEO Ralph Crosby said. It reported $800 million in sales this year, and $470 million last year, which "doesn't yet put us in the bigs" but is respectable, Crosby said in a meeting with The DAILY and affiliate Aviation Week & Space Technology magazine.
The U.S. Air Force will fight to protect the F/A-22 Raptor if it's threatened in the Pentagon's upcoming Quadrennial Defense Review, a QDR forum panelist said Nov. 18.
P-3 WORK: EDO Corp. will provide its ALR-95 tactical radar electronic support measures (ESM) and surveillance system for eight P-3 aircraft being bought by Korea's navy, the company said Nov. 17. The $10 million contract from L-3 Communications Integrated Systems calls for deliveries to begin in early 2007. The system will detect, identify and locate hostile radar signals "early and efficiently," the company said, giving the aircraft crew time to react to the threat.
WARNER WATCHING: Sen. John Warner (R-Va.), the chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, says more attention should be paid to the issue of improvised explosives devices (IEDs) used against U.S. ground forces in Iraq and Afghanistan. "I will be consulting with members, but I believe the Department of Defense has to redouble its efforts to deal with this difficult situation of the IEDs," Warner says. Last week, committee members met with 10 officers from the National War College, each of whom commanded a U.S. Army or Marine battalion.
WINNER TAKES ALL: Although the head of Airbus North America Holdings said recently that the U.S. Air Force could split its decision on new tanker aircraft, awarding deals to both Boeing and a Northrop Grumman/EADS North America team (DAILY Oct. 4), the head of EADS North America says he'd rather have it all. "We're in this to win," EADS NA Chairman and CEO Ralph Crosby says. "The best that we can hope for is 100 percent."
Ammunition and defense electronics maker Allied Defense Group said it has acquired Global Microwave Systems of Carlsbad, Calif., in a cash and stock transaction. Terms of the deal were not released.
With Dec. 5 marking the 60th anniversary of the disappearance of five U.S. Navy Avenger torpedo bombers, known as Flight 19, and a Martin Mariner rescue aircraft sent to search for them, the House passed a resolution Nov. 17 honoring the lost 27 naval aviators.
The Boeing Co.'s "smart tanker" proposal for the U.S. Air Force will sport an inherent Link 16 beyond-line-of-sight capability that would allow the proposed KC-767 to be another airborne node able to relay command decision-making information throughout networked military forces, team officials said Nov. 18.
CMMI: Boeing Integrated Defense Systems has achieved CMMI Level 5 ratings in all four assessed areas: software engineering; systems engineering; integrated product and process development; and supplier sourcing at seven of its major U.S. sites, the company said. CMMI, or Capability Maturity Model Integration, is a standard for benchmarking process integration and improvement.
SHIFTING PERCEPTION: Asked if there is a shift in congressional perception to awarding U.S. defense contracts to overseas-based firms, EADS North America Chairman and CEO Ralph Crosby says it's hard to tell, but the recent presidential helicopter competition could be an indicator. Concern over the EADS bid for Air Force tankers helped bump the company out of an earlier competition for the work, although it expects to be able to compete again, but "the presidential helicopter award really is the paradigm one ought to look at," Crosby says.
