Senators attempting to amend the fiscal 2006 defense authorization bill will try to eliminate funds for developing the Robust Nuclear Earth Penetrator (RNEP), strip more than $60 million from national missile defense, and boost funding to buy up-armor Humvees for the Army and the Marine Corps.
NEW DESTROYER: The U.S. Navy will christen its newest Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer, Farragut, on July 23 in a ceremony at General Dynamics Corp.'s Bath Iron Works shipyard in Maine. Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) will serve as ship's sponsor. Designated DDG 99, Farragut is the 49th of 62 Arleigh Burke-class ships. The 9,200-ton Farragut is 509.5 feet in length, has a waterline beam of 59 feet and a navigational draft of 32 feet. Four gas turbine engines will power the ship to speeds of more than 30 knots. The ship honors Adm.
MISSILE-3 CONTRACT: Raytheon will provide the Missile Defense Agency with additional Standard Missile-3 (SM-3) rounds for Aegis Ballistic Missile Defense deployment requirements under a $124.1 million contract, the company said July 21. The contract is the first for the SM-3 Block IA, an upgrade to the SM-3 Block I. Raytheon previously delivered six SM-3 Block I missiles and is set to provide five more. The SM-3 Block IA is more reliable and supportable and costs less, the company said. The contract was awarded by the U.S. Navy.
Delta Airlines is using new NASA technology to help pilots avoid dangerous turbulence, the aerospace agency said July 19. The Turbulence Auto-PIREP System (TAPS), developed jointly by NASA's Langley Research Center of Hampton, Va., and AeroTech Research Inc. of Newport News, Va., is currently being tested on more than 80 Delta Jets. PIREPS stands for pilot reports.
NASA will try again to launch Space Shuttle Discovery from launch pad 39B at Kennedy Space Center in Florida at 10:39 a.m. EDT on July 26, the agency announced. Engineers have spent the past week troubleshooting a problem with one of the shuttle's four liquid hydrogen engine cutoff (ECO) sensors that caused the agency to scrub the first launch attempt for STS-114 on July 13. NASA now suspects the intermittent failure of the ECO sensor, which has been showing false "wet" readings, may be the result of electromagnetic interference due to improper grounding.
Revenues climbed 12% and net earnings surged 15% for General Dynamics in the second quarter of 2005, the company said July 20. Second-quarter revenues were $5.2 billion, compared with $4.7 billion for the same period a year ago. Net earnings were $345 million, or $1.71 per share, compared to $300 million, or $1.49 per share, in the second quarter of 2004, the company said. Earnings from continuing operations jumped to $344 million, or $1.70 per share, from $290 million, or $1.44 per share.
Douglas Grier III has been appointed regional sales manager for law enforcement in the mid-Atlantic region. Bryan K. James has been named director of law enforcement sales.
Daniel J. McClain has been appointed corporate director of media relations. Douglas H. Young has been named vice president of space systems for the company's integrated systems sector and Crew Exploration Vehicle program manager.
ARMOR DISPLAY: The House Armed Services Committee on July 21 will host a Capitol Hill display of gun truck armor kits for convoy protection, a Humvee with a Marine Armor Kit and ballistic glass, and the Interceptor personal body armor system. The Vietnam-era gun truck armor kits were developed by the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory to provide convoy protection in Iraq, where 31 such trucks are now operating with another 80 vehicles planned, the HASC said July 20.
In late summer or early fall the U.S. Navy plans to assess a miniaturized Cooperative Engagement Capability terminal developed by prime contractor Raytheon that takes advantage of modern computer technology to reduce the system's size and power requirements. CEC links radar systems on Navy ships and aircraft to create joint radar tracks and enhance targeting. Based on 1990s technology, the current Block I CEC system costs roughly $6 million per installation.
Ike Evans, Richard Gephardt, Robert Johnson, Lt. Gen. Ronald T. Kadish (USAF-Ret.), Connie Mack, Seth M. Mersky, Jeffrey L. Turner, and Nigel S. Wright have been named to the board of directors. Evans is an operating partner of Thayer Capital and vice chairman of Suntron Corp. Gephardt is a former Missouri congressman. Johnson is chairman of Honeywell Aerospace. Kadish is former director of the U.S. Missile Defense Agency. Mack is a former Florida senator. Mersky is a managing director of Onex Corp. Turner is president and CEO of Spirit Aerosystems Inc.
TOMAHAWK FLIES: The submarine USS Tucson test launched a Tomahawk Block IV cruise missile while submerged off the coast of southern California on July 19. Seconds after being launched vertically, the Tomahawk transitioned to cruise flight and flew a fully guided 815-nautical mile test flight using Global Positioning System and digital scene matching navigation. The flight ended at a target site on a land range managed by Naval Air Systems Command. The Block IV Tomahawk achieved initial operational capability in May 2004.
The U.S. Air Force will adjust its plans for legacy fighters if the multiservice F-35 Joint Strike Fighter program experiences more delays, a service official told a congressional panel July 20. The Air Force plans to buy 1,763 F-35s from Lockheed Martin Corp. to replace its F-16s and eventually its A-10s. But the Air Force's initial fielding date for JSF already has slipped from 2011 to 2013 due to the program's weight problems, and more delays are seen as possible.
MORE LAIRCM: Boeing will upgrade an additional 25 C-17 Globemaster III aircraft with Northrop Grumman's Large Aircraft Infrared Countermeasures, or LAIRCM, under a $31.2 million contract modification. LAIRCM detects, tracks and jams missiles by aiming a high-intensity laser into their seekers.
NEW DELHI - The United States' and India's completion of the Next Steps in Strategic Partnership (NSSP) is expected to lead to greater cooperation in technology, commercial space programs and space exploration. The recent visit of Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to the U.S. marked the completion of the NSSP, which was launched in January 2004.
The Greek government has announced that it plans to buy 30 more F-16s from U.S.-based Lockheed Martin Corp. The purchase is estimated to cost 1.1 billion euros ($1.3 billion), although a final price for the Advanced Block 52 aircraft still has to be negotiated with the United States, according to a statement released July 20 by the Greek Embassy in Washington. The order includes an option to buy 10 more F-16s. The Greek air force already has taken delivery of 140 F-16s through three previous purchases, according to Lockheed Martin.
Orbital Sciences Corp. reported revenues of $177.4 million and operating income of $14.7 million for the second quarter of 2005, results the company said were limited somewhat by production and delivery delays.
The U.S. Army said it has temporarily suspended a request for proposals for the Objective Individual Combat Weapon Increment 1 (OICW-1), a family of small arms, to incorporate requirements of other military services. The interest of other services "is further supported by several internal reviews reinforcing the increase in the potential for joint use," the Army said in an unusual July 19 announcement.
Armor Holdings Inc. announced July 20 that the U.S. Army Tank-automotive and Armaments Command awarded it a $78 million contract for additional M1114 up-armored Humvees for the Marine Corps.
After a similar attempt last week failed, a group of House members concerned about the growing influence and intentions of China successfully pushed adoption of a provision July 19 that they hope will keep European officials and companies from arming the Asian giant. The legislation came the same day that the Defense Department released an interagency report that described what Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld called China's "significant military buildup."
