Olivier Andries has been named executive vice president for strategy and cooperation. Charles Champion has been appointed chief operating officer. Henri Courpron has been appointed executive vice president of procurement. Alain Flourens has been named executive vice president of Airbus' Centers of Excellence. Karl-Heinz Hartmann has been appointed executive vice president of operations. John Leahy has been named chief operating officer - customers.
A NASA authorization bill will come before the House on July 22 and should pass after consideration of a controversial amendment aimed at curbing the outsourcing of any International Space Station-related jobs, House aides told The DAILY July 20. Congress has not sent the president a NASA authorization since 2000.
Aerospace and industrial gas turbine aftermarket sales boosted first-quarter fiscal 2006 sales for Precision Castparts Corp. to $854.6 million, a 27.9% increase over the same period last year, the company said July 19. Net income from continuing operations grew from $50.5 million for the first quarter of 2005 to $77.7 million this year.
A study has been launched on how the Air Force could protect all of its aircraft against the kinds of infrared-guided missiles that enemy forces have used in Afghanistan and Iraq.
NEW HEADQUARTERS: Security services and products provider Triple Canopy Inc. is moving its headquarters from suburban Chicago to northern Virginia to be closer to its chief customer, the U.S. government, the company said July 19. The firm's new office will be located in Herndon, Va., near Dulles International Airport. The 27,000-square-foot facility will open July 25 and house about 100 workers. Triple Canopy's customers include the Departments of State, Defense, Homeland Security, and Energy, as well as corporate clients.
Senate appropriators have postponed marking up the fiscal 2006 spending bill for the Defense Department. The Senate Appropriations Committee's defense panel was to meet July 19, but that was canceled. The same day, an SAC spokeswoman told The DAILY that the previously scheduled full-committee consideration of the defense bill, slated for July 21, also has been postponed.
An unnamed Middle Eastern country has placed an order for more than $15 million worth of 120mm mortar and training ammunition from MECAR, the Belgian subsidiary of the Vienna, Va.-based Allied Defense Group, the company said July 19. The company did not specify the client, identifying it as a "traditional customer." The 120mm ammunition on order is widely used by world militaries and can be used with various mortar weapon systems, the company said.
KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia - Hong Kong-based Asia Satellite Telecommunications (AsiaSat) has issued a request for proposals for the procurement of AsiaSat 5, a replacement satellite for AsiaSat 2. AsiaSat 2 is expected to run out of fuel and reach the end of its operational life in December 2010, AsiaSat CEO Peter Jackson said. When launched in 1995, AsiaSat 2 was the company's second satellite and the most powerful ever launched for Asia.
The independent BRAC Commission voted 8-1 on July 19 to add Naval Air Station Brunswick, Maine, to the Base Realignment and Closure list for consideration, but a majority of the commissioners decided against doing the same for the Pearl Harbor Naval Shipyard, Hawaii.
Expedition 11 Commander Sergei Krikalev and Flight Engineer John Phillips briefly left the International Space Station on July 19 to move their Soyuz spacecraft from one docking port to another to clear the way for a future spacewalk. Krikalev piloted the Russian capsule, which transports astronauts to and from the station. The Soyuz left the Pirs Docking Compartment at 6:38 a.m. EDT and docked at the Zarya Module's Earth-facing port at 7:08 a.m.
Lockheed Martin has been awarded a $79 million contract to provide the U.S. Army with 106 Army Tactical Missile System (ATACMS) Block 1A Quick Reaction Unitary missiles, the company said July 19. The missiles will include new guidance, control and fuze systems. The work will be done in Dallas and Horizon City, Texas. The missiles are set to be delivered from the third quarter of 2006 through 2007.
Despite greater use by Iraqi insurgents of improvised explosive devices, or IEDs, the overall IED casualty rate has declined since the formation of a Pentagon group intended to counter them, the Army said. There has been a 45% drop in the rate of casualties caused by the homemade bombs since April 2004, and 30-40% are found and rendered safe before they can be detonated, the Army said.
ARMORED VEHICLE: The Wolf light armored vehicle was accepted into operational service by the Israeli Defense Force during a recent ceremony hosted by its builder, Rafael Armament Development Authority. The Wolf is a multipurpose light armored vehicle that can be modified for use as an ambulance, rescue vehicle, logistics or command vehicle. The Israeli defense ministry is paying Haifa, Israel-based Rafael $20 million for the vehicles, which will enter service in the next few days. Israeli Gen.
The industry team leading the embattled DD(X) destroyer program said it successfully completed an initial critical design review and that the program is ready for the flag-level review in September and is "complete, stable and mature enough to enter detail design." The team - led by Northrop Grumman and Raytheon and including General Dynamics, BAE Systems and Lockheed Martin - made the announcement July 18, a day before the House Armed Services Committee's projections forces subcommittee began two days' worth of hearings into the program (DAILY, July 18).
Air Force Gen. T. Michael "Buzz" Moseley said July 18 that Air Force needs in Iraq and Afghanistan are driving plans to develop additional unmanned aerial vehicle capacity, and that the military will need domestic bases such as Grand Forks Air Force Base, N.D., to host long-range, high-flying UAVs. Moseley, testifying before the independent Base Realignment and Closure (BRAC) Commission, also said Grand Forks could be the base for a future family of tanker refueling aircraft.
Space shuttle managers say July 26 is the earliest possible date for Discovery's launch as they continue to grapple with an elusive problem that is causing one of the shuttle's four liquid hydrogen fuel sensors to perform erratically. NASA has 12 troubleshooting teams analyzing the sensor issue, which caused the agency to scrub Discovery's first launch attempt on July 13. The sensor, which sends a signal to turn off the main engines if fuel in the external tank gets too low, occasionally has been showing false "wet" readings.
Two Super Dvora Mark-III Fast Patrol Craft became operational for the Israeli navy during a recent commissioning ceremony. The ceremony took place at Israel's Ashdod Naval Base. The ships were designed and produced by the Ramta Division of Israel Aircraft Industries, based in Beer Sheva, Israel. The ships have successfully completed all sea trials and system checks. They will be used to control and protect Israel's maritime approaches and commercial sea lanes in the eastern Mediterranean, the company said.
Selex Sistemi Integrati, owned by Italy's Finmeccanica, has been awarded a 30 million euro ($36.1 million) contract to build an automated radar surveillance system for Poland's coastal waters, the company said July 18. Selex will represent a temporary consortium consisting of a number of local companies.
The U.S. Army says it is investigating why contractors eyeing two helicopter competitions possessed documents they were not supposed to have. For the Light Utility Helicopter (LUH) program, a contractor told the Army's Aviation and Missile Command (AMCOM) in April that it had come into possession of LUH requirements documents and other papers that it believed it should not have, AMCOM said in a statement released late July 18. The statement did not identify the contractor.
DAMAGE CONTROL: The Joint Unmanned Combat Air System program has awarded a contract to Athena Technologies of Warrenton, Va., for technology that will allow unmanned combat aircraft to adapt to physical damage sustained during flight. The system will autonomously assess any damage incurred and immediately alter the aircraft's flight control system to compensate for it. The technology could be applicable to all military combat aircraft, Athena said.
The program offices for six U.S. weapon systems have concluded that they would benefit from pursuing a new, more flexible approach to logistics known as performance-based logistics (PBL), according to the Defense Department.
Orbital Sciences Corp.'s Launch Systems Group, which builds rockets for space launch and missile defense missions, has awarded four companies its supplier achievement awards.
