SUB WORK: The U.S. Navy has awarded General Dynamics' Electric Boat Corp. of Groton, Conn., a $77 million contract modification for consolidated design agent, planning yard, engineering and technical support for active nuclear submarines. The work will be done in Groton, Conn.; Bangor, Wash.; Kings Bay, Ga.; Newport, R.I.; and Quonset, R.I. It is expected to be finished by September 2007.
Acting U.S. Deputy Defense Secretary Gordon England is expected to propose killing the Air Force variant of the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter and directing the Air Force to buy the Navy's carrier variant (CV) instead, according to a well-connected defense expert.
Northrop Grumman cut the ribbon Nov. 18 on a new 110,000-square-foot facility near Offutt Air Force Base, Neb., which combines its four local Nebraska sites into a single headquarters. The facility houses about 400 employees, who will work with another 350 colleagues at the base.
PAC-3 PROBE: It may take weeks for the U.S. Army to determine why a Nov. 11 intercept test of the Patriot Advanced Capability-3 (PAC-3) missile system ended in failure, the Army says. Investigators are analyzing data collected during the test, in which two PAC-3 interceptors missed a short-range ballistic missile target (DAILY, Nov. 14).
Nov. 22 - 25 -- 2nd European Hydrogen Energy Conference and Exhibition. For more information go to www.ehec.info. Nov. 29 -- National Defense Industrial Association's Missile Defense Quarterly Luncheon, Sheraton National, Arlington, Va. For more information call 703-522-1820 or go to www.ndia.org. Dec. 6 - 8 -- Aerospace Defense Finance Conference, Credit Suisse First Boston Aerospace & Defense Group Headquarters, New York, N.Y. For more information go to http://www.aviationweek.com/conferences.
The last of 25 U.S. Navy Sea King helicopters to be refurbished under a multiyear contract was delivered Nov. 2, the Navy announced Nov. 18. In November 1999, IMP Aerospace of Canada won a Navy contract for overhaul, repair, engineering and flight line support services of its 60-aircraft H-3 Sea King fleet, as well as similar services for other Foreign Military Sales H-3 customers.
F-117A FATE: Will the U.S. Air Force's 52 F-117A Nighthawks be retired early? Although the stealth fighter is currently slated to stay in service until 2017, officials involved in the Pentagon's Quadrennial Defense Review are considering moving up that date, says Diana Filliman, director of the F-117 systems squadron. According to Filliman, who spoke Nov.
KEY: Satellites are key to post-disaster communications, Futron Corp. and GVF, the nonprofit association of the global satellite communications sector, say in a new "white paper" intended to provide public and private sector response and relief agencies information about the technology. Wireless communication deployment often is a first priority in disaster response, but the terrestrial wireless infrastructure may have been destroyed, as in post-Hurricane Katrina New Orleans, or nonexistent, as in the Pakistan earthquake.
The Senate late Nov. 17 passed a House-approved bill to authorize the U.S. Navy to contract with Northrop Grumman Corp. for the nuclear refueling and complex overhaul of the aircraft carrier USS Carl Vinson. The bill, pushed by shipbuilding advocate Rep. Jo Ann Davis (R-Va.), would allow $89 million in fiscal 2006 funds to be used to start work on the contract immediately. Because the Senate adopted the House's version, the measure is ready for President Bush to sign.
The Army's Aerial Common Sensor Project Manager Team is in Denver meeting with Lockheed Martin officials to discuss the three options the company presented the Army to try to move ahead with the troubled program, the Army said Nov. 17. Company officials met with Army acquisition chief Claude Bolton on Nov. 14 to present three options and a platform recommendation, the Army said. That evening, the Army ACS team flew to Denver and on Nov. 15 began discussing the options and "determining the feasibility of moving ahead."
The Aegis Ballistic Missile Defense (Aegis BMD) system shot down a medium-range ballistic missile Nov. 17 in its first test against a target whose warhead separated from its booster rocket, the U.S. Missile Defense Agency said.
The Senate unanimously passed a bill Nov. 16 to direct the Interior Department to carry out a study for establishing memorials in Texas to the fatal Columbia space shuttle mission, after agreeing to a modified version that authorized the study rather than the actual memorials.
Sen. Gordon Smith (R-Ore.) on Nov. 15 got Senate backing to exempt manufacturers of unidentified "force-protection equipment needed to prevent combat fatalities in Iraq and Afghanistan" from Berry Amendment requirements.
Honeywell's Spectra Shield composite material is being used to armor 164 U.S. Marine Corps Sea Knight helicopters, the company said Nov. 17. Armor technology company ArmorWorks is using the material in Light Weight Armor Replacement System kits for the helicopters. It expects to complete the work in December. Honeywell said Spectra Shield is based on Spectra fiber, which is 10 times stronger than steel but light enough to float.
SpaceDev said it will begin work on a large hybrid rocket motor under a $2.7 million contract from the U.S. Air Force. The Poway, Calif.-based company will design, develop and test a small common booster that can produce about 100,000 pounds of thrust, nearly nine times more than the motor the company built for the SpaceShipOne, which won the Ansari X Prize last year for the first commercial space flight. The company will own the technology it develops, although the Air Force will keep some licensing rights, SpaceDev said.
SENSOR TESTING: Northrop Grumman has begun initial flight-testing of the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter's Electro-Optical Distributed Aperture System sensors, which are to warn pilots of incoming aircraft and missiles, provide day/night vision and support navigation, the company said Nov. 17. On Nov. 11, the BAC 1-11 test bed aircraft flew with three of the sensors installed.
Boeing has delayed the launch of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's GOES-N weather satellite until February at the earliest due to an ongoing strike by its Delta booster program work force. About half of the company's Delta work force went on strike just after midnight on Nov. 2 after a three-year contract between Boeing and the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers District 725 expired (DAILY, Nov. 3).
The Navy has awarded Northrop Grumman's Newport News Shipbuilding and Drydock Co. a $558.7 million contract modification to continue its CVN-21 design effort. The company was cleared for long-lead time material procurement and non-nuclear advance construction, as well as system development, engineering services and feasibility studies for the future aircraft carrier. The work is to be finished by December 2006.
Arianespace successfully launched two satellites late Nov. 16, carrying DirecTV's Spaceway 2 direct-broadcast satellite and the Telkom 2 communications satellite for PT Telekomunikasi Indonesia to orbit. The mission represented the heaviest dual payload ever launched, Arianespace said. The launch was conducted from the European spaceport in Kourou, French Guiana, using Arianespace's heavier-lift Ariane 5 ECA booster.
The fiscal 2006 defense spending measure has become a possible vehicle for several unrelated legislative packages, according to Rep. David Obey (D-Wis.), the top House Democratic appropriator. Obey said on the House floor Nov. 17 that Republican leaders were considering attaching additional Hurricane Katrina spending and other measures under the guise that the must-pass defense appropriations usually receives strong final support across Capitol Hill.
MILESTONE: Northrop Grumman and the U.S. Navy successfully completed the critical design review of the E-2D Advanced Hawkeye aircraft, the company said Nov. 17. The company can now complete production of the two test aircraft. Its Integrated Systems sector is the prime contractor under a $2 billion system development and demonstration contract.
The House on Nov. 16 passed a bill to authorize the Navy to enter into a contract for the nuclear refueling and complex overhaul of the Pacific Fleet aircraft carrier USS Carl Vinson. The bill, proposed by shipbuilding advocate Rep. Jo Ann Davis (R-Va.) and cosponsored by Rep. Bobby Scott (D-Va.), would allow $89 million in fiscal 2006 funds to be used to start work on the contract. Additional amounts could be obligated this fiscal year.
