A400M DECISION: A decision is expected later this year on whether Malaysia will replace its air force's aging C-130H transport aircraft with Airbus Military's A400M. Defense ministry officials have been in talks with Airbus since 2003 on the possible buy (DAILY, Feb. 3), and a ministry official said the air force would like to acquire the A400Ms. Airbus has been offering generous industry packages to potential buyers for A400M-related work, which could be of interest to Malaysia.
June 5 - 7 -- SATS 2005: A Transformation in Air Travel, "Demonstration of the capabilities of the Small Aircraft Transportation System project," Danville Regional Airport, Danville, Va. For more information contact September Moon Productions at 248-355-3700, email [email protected] or go to www.sats2005.com.
NEW HOME: NASA's DC-8 "suborbital laboratory" jet aircraft will be operated by the University of North Dakota, Grand Forks, under a plan to create a National Suborbital Education and Research Center at the school. The aircraft likely will be transferred this fall, NASA said June 2, and will be housed at Grand Forks Air Force Base.
SMALLER NET: U.S. Navy efforts to network its disparate platforms will focus on a "small number" of weapons and sensor-surveillance systems, including the F/A-18 aircraft, the E-2 and the DDG destroyer. ForceNet, the Navy's part of the Defense Department's Global Information Grid, is trying to prove its value in a matter of years instead of decades, says Capt. Rick Brennan, who spoke at the Navy Program Executive Office for Strike Weapons and Unmanned Aviation's industry day on June 3 in California, Md.
SKY ROAD MAP: The Defense Department will post its new 2005-2030 road map for unmanned air systems online over the next 30 to 60 days, according to Charles Riechers, a special assistant in the Office of the Secretary of Defense. Speaking to industry representatives at the Navy Program Executive Office for Strike Weapons and Unmanned Aviation's industry day on June 3 in California, Md., Riechers says the new road map will look quite different from the previous version of two years ago.
KEEL LAYING: The keel has been laid for Freedom (LCS 1), the U.S. Navy's first Littoral Combat Ship built by Lockheed Martin, the company said. A ceremony attended by 200 guests was held June 2 at Marinette Marine in Marinette, Wis., where the ship is being built. The keel was authenticated by Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Vern Clark, veteran Marinette Marine welder Jim Renner, and Birgit Smith. Smith is the widow of Sgt. 1st Class Paul Ray Smith, who was posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor for his bravery in Operation Iraqi Freedom.
F/A-22 TRAINING: The U.S. Air Force says it has begun training Air National Guard personnel to operate the F/A-22 Raptor. The Air Force announced in December that the Virginia Air National Guard's 192nd Fighter Wing will fly the Lockheed Martin-built F/A-22 sometime after the active-duty 1st Fighter Wing starts fielding the Raptor in December (DAILY, Dec. 2).
JIGSAW LASER RADAR: Harris Corp. has been awarded a $6.6 million contract to develop and demonstrate the Jigsaw Laser Radar 3D-imaging test bed system for use on a DP-5X Unmanned Aerial Vehicle, the company said June 2. Melbourne, Fla.-based Harris is providing systems integration services in cooperation with LADAR sensor developer MIT-LL and DP-5X platform developer Dragonfly Pictures Inc.
Underwriters at Lloyds of London have dropped their complaint against Spacehab and joined the company in its pursuit of claims against NASA for the loss of Spacehab's Research Double Module, which was destroyed in the Columbia accident in February 2003. Soon after Columbia's loss, Lloyds paid Spacehab $17.7 million in insurance proceeds for the lost module. Then in January 2004 the underwriters filed a complaint against the company seeking the money's return on the grounds that Spacehab was pursuing reimbursement separately with NASA.
Aerojet of Sacramento, Calif., will design, build, test and deliver a subscale electric propulsion drive system for NASA under a two-phase contract that could be worth up to $12.3 million, the company said June 2. The contract, funded under NASA's Exploration Systems Mission Directorate, is to validate the technology for future use on moon and Mars cargo transport vehicles, Aerojet said.
The U.S. Coast Guard now is modeling two Deepwater recapitalization plans, one for $19 billion over 19 years and another for $24 billion over 25 years, according to supplemental information the service provided Congress this week. Adm. Thomas Collins, Coast Guard commandant, also told lawmakers that he has decided to stop 123-foot patrol boat conversions at the eight currently under contract. More patrol boat information would be forthcoming, as well as additional revised Deepwater data, he said.
The Boeing Co. plans to change the wingtip design of the P-8A Multi-mission Maritime Aircraft (MMA) to improve the jet's performance in harsh weather, especially icy conditions, company officials said June 2. Instead of upward-pointing blended winglets, MMA will have raked or backswept wingtips. Because the raked wingtip will be even with the rest of the wing, it will be easier to melt away ice, a key hazard in some of the low-altitude environments that the P-8A will have to operate in, said Tim Norgart, Boeing's director of business development for MMA.
TANKER HEARING: The Senate Armed Services Committee plans to hold a June 7 hearing on the Defense Department Inspector General's review of the Air Force plan to lease 100 Boeing KC-767A tanker aircraft, which collapsed amid a procurement scandal. The committee will hear from acting Deputy Secretary of Defense Gordon R. England, DOD Inspector General Joseph E. Schmitz and other witnesses, the committee said June 2.
Congress would have to appropriate a "whole bunch of money" to speed up the CVN-21 aircraft carrier program to start formal construction in fiscal 2007, otherwise the program will continue to assume an FY '08 start and a 2015 delivery, the U.S. Navy's program executive officer for aircraft carriers said June 2.
As part of the DARPA/Air Force FALCON program, Microcosm has successfully completed a series of tests of a 20,000-pound thrust composite rocket engine, the company announced June 2. The tests, conducted at Air Force Research Laboratory facilities at Edwards Air Force Base, Calif., ranged from one to 30 seconds in duration. Microcosm is one of the contractors working on Task 1 of FALCON (Force Application and Launch from the Continental U.S.), which is developing a small launch vehicle for rapidly boosting military payloads into low-Earth orbit.
The U.S. Navy has approved Northrop Grumman Corp.'s AN/SLQ-32(V) Electronic Surveillance Enhancement (ESE) for low-rate initial production, the company announced June 2. John Young, assistant secretary of the Navy for research, development, test and evaluation, gave the "go-ahead" after ESE met or exceeded all test objectives during its operational assessment, Northrop Grumman said.
Sikorsky plans to fly the X2 Technology demonstrator, shown here in an illustration, by the end of 2006. It would demonstrate a new class of co-axial helicopters capable of cruising at 250 knots, the company said (DAILY, June 2). Co-axial helicopters use two counter-rotating sets of helicopter blades on the same vertical axis. Illustration courtesy Sikorsky Aircraft.
Under a contract worth as much as $124 million through July 2008, Northrop Grumman Corp. announced that it was selected by the U.S. Air Force Electronic Systems Center to develop and integrate the U.S. military's next generation of joint and coalition network-management systems. Called the Joint Interface Control Officer Support System (JSS), the program will manage complex tactical networks through an automated toolset and information repository that enables planning, management and analysis of communications before, during and after operations.
Northrop Grumman Corp. announced June 2 that its team has begun building the first of three X-47B air vehicles it is supposed to assemble for the U.S. Defense Department's Joint Unmanned Combat Air Systems (J-UCAS) program. Several significant pieces already have been completed, including a fuel cell floor. Northrop Grumman hopes to finish building the first aircraft in early 2007 and begin flying it by late 2007.
PRAGUE - Nearly 50 companies have expressed interest in a tender to supply new armored personnel carriers to the Czech army, according to Czech defense officials. The ministry of defense said 46 companies had requested application forms for the tender by the deadline of May 27. The deal, which involves the purchase of at least 199 APCs at a cost of between 20 billion and 25 billion Czech crowns ($800 million to $1 billion), is the largest Czech military contract since the formation of the Czech Republic in 1993.
RAPTOR LEAD WORK: Lockheed Martin Corp. was awarded a $134.2 million contract modification to extend the period of performance of the F/A-22 Raptor Lot 5 long-lead activities through June 2005, the Defense Department said June 2. The work is to be completed by November 2007.
The Lockheed Martin Corp.-led VXX presidential helicopter replacement program industry team has signed Northrop Grumman Corp.'s Defensive Systems Division to support a bid for the U.S. Air Force's Personnel Recovery Vehicle (PRV) competition.
