DEFENSE OUTLAYS: Outlays for defense spending grew by an estimated 7.6% in fiscal 2005 to $474 billion, although the growth was half the rate of increase averaged over the previous three years, the Congressional Budget Office reported Oct. 6. The total federal budget deficit totaled about $317 billion in 2005, CBO estimates, $96 billion less than the shortfall recorded in 2004.
The U.S. Army is making plans to conduct ground tests to help it explore a possible low-cost interceptor that would be fired from a Surface Launched AMRAAM (SLAMRAAM) launcher. Miltec and Aerojet, both contractors for the potential Multi-service Extended Range Low-cost Interceptor (MERLIN), are developing a design for the missile's dual-stage booster. If funding is available, the Army will be ready to begin conducting ground tests of that booster design "within the next six months or so," said David Tilson, who manages MERLIN for the Army.
PRAGUE - The Czech defense ministry has launched the initial phase of a tender to purchase an unspecified number of new medium-sized transport aircraft to be received no later than 2011. The ministry said Oct. 5 that it was talking with several companies about price, delivery deadlines and aircraft parameters. "I can't give you a specific number of aircraft at this time but it is more than one," defense spokesman Andrej Cirtek said. "A tender should take place in 2008-2009 and we would like delivery to be around 2010 or 2011."
The Pentagon's Senior Readiness Oversight Committee is reviewing a group of readiness challenges characterized as "encroachment" issues, according to the likely next Air Force secretary. Michael Wynne, currently the principal deputy undersecretary of defense for acquisition, technology and logistics, told the Senate Armed Services Committee on Oct. 6 that encroachment is a "serious problem" and a unique challenge to Air Force training.
The Global Hawk unmanned aerial vehicle program has achieved cost savings of $82 million since December 2002 through the application of lean manufacturing principles, according to industry officials. The actual savings are higher, prime contractor Northrop Grumman says, because they include costs that were avoided altogether. These achievements have been overshadowed by overall cost growth on the program created by technical and programmatic issues as Northrop Grumman gears up to produce the upgraded RQ-4B Global Hawk for the Air Force.
SPACE SUPPORT: The Naval Research Laboratory has awarded Praxis Inc. of Alexandria, Va., a potentially $65.4 million contract to perform services in all aspects of mission and instrument development and implementation for ground system, spacecraft and suborbital craft. While the contract was open to competition, only one offer was received, the Defense Department said Oct. 5. The DOD said the award will help it "enable future science missions."
C4ISR: Milcom Systems Corp. has won a U.S. Navy contract worth up to $49 million for ship alteration, installation and drafting services for C4ISR cryptologic, communications and intelligence systems. The Space and Naval Warfare Systems picked the firm out of four offers. Almost $10 million has been let already, the Defense Department said Oct. 6.
A U.S. Air Force E-8C Joint Surveillance Target Attack Radar System (Joint STARS) aircraft sustained "moderate damage" late last month when Hurricane Rita's winds struck the hangar it was housed in, according to a spokesman for Joint STARS prime contractor Northrop Grumman. Engine and nose cowlings, or coverings, on the modified Boeing 707-300 were dented when part of the hangar's door broke loose and hit the aircraft. "It looks like a fender-bender," the spokesman said Oct. 6.
ARMY REQUEST: EADS and DRS Technologies have offered EADS' Hellas obstacle warning system to the U.S. Army, which is seeking a cable warning/obstacle avoidance capability for the UH-60 helicopter. EADS Defence Electronics of Germany and U.S.-based DRS announced an agreement last week to market Hellas in the United States, and Peter Kielhorn, the manager of obstacle warning systems for EADS Defence Electronics, confirms they have responded to the Army by proposing the system.
RAPTOR 'DEPLOYMENT': The U.S. Air Force is gearing up to conduct the first practice deployment of the Lockheed Martin F/A-22 Raptor. Langley Air Force Base, Va., where the F/A-22 is scheduled to achieve its initial operational capability in December, plans to begin the practice deployment by having eight of its 10 Raptors fly to Hill Air Force Base, Utah, on Oct. 15. The planes will stay at Hill for about two weeks and be used in various activities, including dropping inert Joint Direct Attack Munitions.
The U.S. Navy expects to buy three Coastal Battlefield Reconnaissance and Analysis (COBRA) systems from Northrop Grumman Corp. in fiscal 2007 and three more in FY '08, U.S. Navy officials said Oct. 6.
The House and Senate have both ratified the fiscal 2006 conference agreement for the Homeland Security Department's spending measure. The agreement provides $30.8 billion for the year that started Oct. 1, $1.4 billion more than FY '05 and $1.3 billion above what President Bush requested.
NO POSSE: Rep. Ike Skelton (D-Mo.), the ranking minority member on the House Armed Services Committee, says Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld told him that the Pentagon has no plans to recommend changes to the Posse Comitatus Act, which limits active, federal military participation in domestic law enforcement activities. "I agree with Secretary Rumsfeld that no changes need to be made to the existing law," Skelton says.
The Advanced Electric Ship Demonstrator test platform, an early DD(X) destroyer design built by Dakota Creek Industries Inc., will undergo noise and wake trials in mid-November, U.S. Navy officials said Oct. 6.
NEW TANK: The external tank that will fly with Space Shuttle Discovery on its next launch is now undergoing additional retrofitting at the recently reopened Michoud Assembly Facility in New Orleans. The tank, ET-119, arrived at the facility Oct. 3 after a five-day barge trip from Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The trip originally had been scheduled for August but was postponed by Hurricane Katrina, which flooded Michoud. The facility was closed for five weeks, finally reopening on Oct. 1.
SUMO: The Navy will hold an industry day to discuss the SUMO (Spacecraft for the Universal Modification of Orbits) program on Nov. 2 at the Naval Research Laboratory in Washington. SUMO is a risk-reduction effort aimed at enabling an advanced servicing spacecraft capable of grappling other spacecraft tumbling in space without custom interfaces. "SUMO offers the potential for spacecraft salvage, repair, rescue, reposition and debris removal," NRL says. "This capability can extend service life by providing a safe and calculated disposal after propellant exhaustion."
SERVICE RIVALRY: The Air Force might be a little rankled by the Army's Future Cargo Aircraft program. Michael Wynne, tapped to be the next Air Force secretary, told senators Oct. 6 that an August 2002 Defense Department directive from then-No. 2 official Paul Wolfowitz says that the Air Force has the primary mission to provide air logistic support to the Army and other forces.
Oct. 11 - 13 -- The Global Outlook for Carbon Fiber 2005, "A Comprehensive Update of Strategic Market and Technical Developments for Carbon Fiber Composites," Hilton San Diego Resort Hotel, San Diego, Calif. For more information go to www.intertechusa.com/cf.htm. Oct. 15 -- The Wings Club Annual Dinner-Dance, Waldorf-Astoria Hotel, New York City. Contact Candice Kimmel, (212) 956-5900 or email [email protected].
CACI International Inc. of Arlington, Va., said Oct. 6 that it has agreed to purchase National Security Research Inc., also of Arlington. Financial terms were not disclosed. The closing is anticipated this month. NSR provides professional and analytic security services and products to federal government, aerospace, and defense industry customers. Employee-owned NSR has about 100 workers and 50 consultants in Virginia, Albuquerque, N.M., and other U.S. sites. The company had $17 million in revenue for the fiscal year ending Nov. 30, 2004.
Lockheed Martin has pulled out of its partnership with MD Helicopters to offer the MD Explorer for the U.S. Army's Light Utility Helicopter program, the companies revealed Oct. 6. MD Helicopters now is going it alone in its bid for LUH and will be ready to deliver its proposal on time Oct. 12, according to company spokesman Ken Jensen. The decision to dissolve the partnership was "mutual," he told The DAILY.
Bell Helicopter Textron has decided to offer a different airframe than the one it originally intended for the U.S. Army's Light Utility Helicopter (LUH) competition, citing recently disclosed Army requirements.
JSF CONTRACT: Lockheed Martin, prime contractor for the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter program, is being awarded a $6.5 billion contract modification to support recent changes to the program's system development and demonstration phase, the U.S. Defense Department announced late Oct. 6. JSF's first fielding was delayed from 2010 to 2012 to allow the program to solve the aircraft's weight problems.
