NASA should begin briefing Capitol Hill staff on studies it is carrying out under new Administrator Michael Griffin later this month, congressional aides have told The DAILY. The briefings, such as on the Exploration Systems Architecture Study and configuration options for the International Space Station, should start to provide a budget road map to get going in earnest on President Bush's space exploration agenda.
Textron Marine & Land of New Orleans will provide the U.S. Army with 724 Armored Security Vehicles under a $258.8 million contract, the company said July 6. The work will start immediately and first deliveries are expected by February 2006, with completion set for June 2007. The company said it has modified its production line, expanded its manufacturing space and hired more than 700 new workers to fulfill the contract. The U.S. Army Tank-automotive and Armaments Command awarded the contract. There are currently 130 ASVs deployed in Iraq.
The U.S. Special Operations Command (SOCOM) has moved to satisfy one of its top priorities, awarding Rolls-Royce Corp. of Indianapolis an $18.9 million contract for Infrared Exhaust Suppressors (IES-47) for the command's MH-47 Chinook helicopters.
Saab subsidiary Saab Training Systems has launched a joint venture with EADS Deutschland of Germany to develop and sell live military training products. Sweden's Saab said July 1 that under the collaboration it will buy 70% of EADS' live combat training center subsidiary in Friedrichshafen, Germany.
NASA's Deep Impact probe, which collided with the comet Tempel 1 on July 4, created an "immense" flash of light which helped two cameras on the mission's mothership capture the high-speed rendezvous.
ARMY ATK Tactical Systems, Rocket Center, W.V., was awarded on June 24, 2005, a $15,005,016 firm-fixed-price contract for M228 practice fuzes. Work will be performed in Rocket Center, W.V., and is expected to be completed by June 24, 2007. Contract funds will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. There were an unknown number of bids solicited via the World Wide Web on Jan. 14, 2005, and six bids were received. The U.S. Army Field Support Command, Rock Island, Ill., is the contracting activity (W52P1J-05-C-0049). NAVY
LAM LASER: Aculight Corp. will develop a solid-state laser that eventually could be used for the laser radar seeker in the U.S. Army's Loitering Attack Missile, the company said July 5. Aculight got a $1 million contract from Lockheed Martin for the work. The LAM has been removed from the Army's Non-Line-of-Sight Launch System, but the Army said it could return in a year or two.
The Trident ballistic missile submarine USS Ohio, which began its overhaul and conversion in November 2002 to be the first of four SSBNs converted into guided-missile vessels (SSGNs), will return to the fleet in November, the U.S. Naval Sea Systems Command said. Each SSGN will be able to carry up to 154 Tomahawk land-attack cruise missiles, 66 special operations forces personnel, two dry-deck shelters and two Advanced SEAL Delivery Systems (ASDS).
The Department of Transportation this year will award $34 million in grants through the Military Airport Program (MAP) to help convert former U.S. military airstrips for use with domestic civilian air traffic. Transportation Secretary Norman Y. Mineta on July 1 announced four grant recipients: Williams Gateway Airport in Mesa, Ariz.; Cecil Field in Jacksonville, Fla.; Guam International Airport; and Rickenbacker International Airport in Columbus, Ohio.
Kenneth Krieg, the undersecretary of defense for acquisition, technology and logistics, will pass judgment on the Navy's proposal to award two lead DD(X) destroyers in fiscal 2007 within a few weeks, Navy officers have said. John J. Young Jr., the assistant secretary of the Navy for research, development and acquisition, has approved the new acquisition strategy, which also proposes a competition between shipbuilders Northrop Grumman and General Dynamics in 2009, the officers said at a recent media roundtable at the Washington Navy Yard.
A Swedish attack submarine arrived in California last week to begin one year of training with the U.S. Navy's anti-submarine warfare forces. It took about a month for the HMS Gotland to reach Naval Air Station North Island, Calif., on a container ship, the U.S. Navy said June 30. The Gotland will play an opposing force during exercises against U.S. carrier and expeditionary strike groups, air patrols and other forces, providing more realistic and effective training, the Navy said.
The U.S. Navy said late July 1 that it gave General Electric Co.'s Transportation Aircraft Engines unit a contract worth nearly $34 million for 36 line items over a variety of aircraft engines for the CH-46D, H-3, CH-46E, F/A-18, H-1, H-60, H-53, S-3 and A-10 aircraft. The award, which was not competed, could be worth up to $62.1 million if all options are exercised. The engine work will be done in the unit's Lynn, Mass., facility and is supposed to be finished by December 2007.
MARITIME ISR: The U.S. Navy's Space and Naval Warfare Systems Command has given the green light for Progeny Systems of Manassas, Va., to ramp up its technology associated with an expendable array installation vehicle for maritime surveillance systems. The Small Business Innovative Research Phase 3 follow-on contract, announced late July 1, was valued at $5.9 million. Progeny Systems will do its work in San Diego, where SPAWAR is located, and finish by May 2008.
NEW DELHI - The Indian government has approved a joint venture of its state-owned defense manufacturer Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd. and France's Safran Snecma Moteurs for manufacture of precision components of engines for civilian aircraft. India initially is investing $11.6 million in the new company. Snecma will transfer technology to HAL and initially will buy all the products from the joint venture.
The European Defensive Aids Sub-System (EuroDASS) consortium has been awarded an 850 million pound ($1.49 billion) contract to provide the latest batch of Eurofighter Typhoons with an advanced electronic warfare suite. The contract was announced July 1 by Italian defense contractor Finmeccanica, whose subsidiary Selex Sensors and Airborne Systems leads the consortium. Italy's Elettronica, Spain's Indra and Germany's EADS are also members.
MINE WARFARE FIRST: The mine warfare package will be the first mission set deployed with the future Littoral Combat Ship, and Lockheed Martin Corp.'s AN/WLD-1 Remote Minehunting Vehicle (RMV) will be the primary unmanned vehicle used for mine hunting, the U.S. Naval Sea Systems Command said July 1. An RMV "mock-up" was tested late last month aboard the High Speed Vessel-2, the Swift. In "subsequent" years, the LCS also will sport a surface warfare package and an anti-submarine warfare package.
The U.S. Air Force and U.S. Navy are both looking at putting jammers on unmanned aerial vehicles to defeat the kind of improvised explosive devices (IEDs) that enemy forces have used in Iraq. According to a report circulating on Capitol Hill, the Navy plans to spend $8 million to pursue a "jammer architecture" called Intrepid Tiger that could be adapted to UAVs and other platforms. The Navy envisions destroying or neutralizing IEDs with radio-frequency jammers.
The U.S. Army is seeking congressional approval to reallocate $115 million within its budget to support several new aviation programs, including the Extended Range Multi-Purpose (ERMP) unmanned aerial vehicle. The money would come from the troubled Boeing-Sikorsky RAH-66 Comanche reconnaissance/attack helicopter program, which the Army decided to kill in 2004, according to a reprogramming request recently sent to Capitol Hill.
