The U.S. Missile Defense Agency announced Feb. 14 that it was unable to finish a flight-test of the Ground-based Midcourse Defense (GMD) system because the interceptor failed to launch, possibly due to malfunctioning ground equipment. While program officials are reviewing test data to determine why the launch did not occur, "preliminary indications point to a fault with the ground support equipment, not the interceptor missile," MDA said in a statement.
The U.S. Defense Department announced Feb. 14 that eight more Air Force contracts have been referred to DOD's Inspector General to investigate whether they were tainted by a former Air Force official who has admitted wrongdoing in several other programs.
Microelectronic assemblies manufacturer Hytek Microsystems Inc. of Carson City, Nev., and microelectronic products manufacturer Natel Engineering Co. of Chatsworth, Calif., have agreed to merge, Hytek said Feb. 14. Under the agreement, Natel will pay $2 per share for all of Hytek's issued and outstanding shares of common stock. Hytek shareholders must approve the agreement, the company said.
As many as 150 representatives from roughly 33 states are expected to attend an informational briefing Feb. 15 in Washington to hear EADS North America discuss its competition for a new aerial refueling tanker production facility, a company spokesman told The DAILY.
LANDING CRAFT ARMOR: Ceradyne Inc. said Feb. 11 that it received a $2.8 million order for its lightweight ceramic armor for use on unidentified U.S. Navy Landing Craft Air Cushion vessels. The order, the first of its kind for the Costa Mesa, Calif.-based company, was placed by the Naval Surface Warfare Center for delivery in late 2005.
Europe's Ariane 5 ECA heavy-lift rocket returned to flight Feb. 12, launching the XTAR-EUR communications satellite and the European Space Agency's (ESA) Sloshsat scientific spacecraft. The ECA variant had not flown since its failed first flight in December 2002, which destroyed Eutelsat's Hot Bird 7 satellite and prompted a redesign of the rocket's Vulcain 2 main engine. Arianespace is phasing out the basic Ariane 5 in favor of the ECA, which can launch nearly 10 metric tons into geostationary orbit.
South Korea's defense ministry said it will resume a stalled $1.9 billion program to acquire early warning aircraft, according to the Korean Information Service. The ministry will receive bids for the program again in late March, and plans to pick a winner in December. Israel's Elta and Boeing had been competing for the work, Elta with a Gulfstream G-550 and Boeing with a 737. Elta's bid didn't meet requirements, falling short in radar detection range, the ministry said.
The number and severity of cracks in the center wing boxes of U.S. Air Force C-130Es led service engineers to "re-evaluate the service life expectancy" of the wing boxes and led to last week's grounding and restriction of some C-130s, an Air Mobility Command spokesman told The DAILY late Feb. 11. The Air Force said last week that 30 C-130E aircraft were grounded due to cracks in their center wing box sections and an addition 60 aircraft, including E, H, H1 and HC-130 N/P models, have been placed on restricted flight status (DAILY, Feb. 14).
DEATH SPIRAL: Pierre A. Chao, senior fellow and director of defense-industrial initiatives at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), says the U.S. military's operation and maintenance "death spiral" continues. The Pentagon is buying fewer platforms and looking to upgrade current systems, he says, so "this defense cycle has actually been an O&M cycle." Meanwhile, the private sector's candidate pool for new electrical and software engineers keeps dwindling - and becoming increasingly foreign born - even as platform complexity skyrockets.
The U.S. Army hopes to turn to industry soon to seek ideas about how to cut into the U.S. military's growing stockpile of excess ammunition and missiles, which costs the Pentagon and taxpayers billions of dollars every year as well as manpower and depot space, demilitarization officials said Feb. 11.
Kellogg Brown & Root (U.K.) Ltd. has been chosen for the complex job of overseeing the construction of the two ships in the United Kingdom Royal Navy's $6 billion Future Aircraft Carrier project, or CVF, the British Ministry of Defence announced Feb. 11.
KC-130J APPROVED: The U.S. Marine Corps' new KC-130J has passed its second operational evaluation (OPEVAL), clearing the way for the tanker's first deployment in the next few days, the U.S. Navy said Feb. 10. The second OPEVAL focused on the aircraft's electronic countermeasures. The Lockheed Martin aircraft is designed to replace aging versions of the KC-130 tanker.
General Dynamics Land Systems of Sterling Heights, Mich., will perform overhauls on 120 Abrams Integrated Management (AIM) tanks under a $35.2 million contract award, the company said Feb. 10. The U.S. Army Tank-automotive and Armaments Command (TACOM) awarded the contract. AIM is a joint effort to refurbish M1A1 Abrams main battle tanks. Taking part with General Dynamics Land Systems are the U.S. Army Project Manager for Combat Systems; TACOM; and the Anniston Army Depot, Anniston, Ala.
SBIRS SENSORS: Although reducing the number of sensors on the Space Based Infrared System-High (SBIRS-High) geosynchronous orbit (GEO) satellites has been mentioned as a possible way to avoid another round of cost and schedule overruns in the program, the U.S. Air Force does not believe that approach would be a good idea. Such an option "would have significant negative impacts on performance, and based on preliminary analysis, is unlikely to provide commensurate cost savings," says Tonya Racasner, spokeswoman for the Air Force Space and Missile Systems Center.
Feb. 16 -- AHS Federal City Chapter and AAAA Washington-Potomac Chapter Joint Dinner Meeting, "Transforming & Modernizing Army Aviation while Supporting Extended Combat Operations," Army / Navy Country Club, Arlington, Va. For more information call (703) 684-6777. Feb. 16 - 17 - Aviation Week presents World Aerospace Symposium, Pierre Baudis Toulouse Congress Center, Toulouse, France. For more information or to register go to http://www.aviationnow.com/conferences.
WEST COAST ATLAS: Preparations are under way for the first West Coast launch of Lockheed Martin's Atlas V rocket from Vandenberg Air Force Base, Calif., later this year. The Atlas V booster and Centaur upper stage arrived at Vandenberg separately aboard a Russian An-124-100 cargo aircraft. In March, the Atlas team will transport the rocket segments to the newly refurbished Space Launch Complex 3 East for vertical stacking, leading to a first launch of a classified satellite later this year.
Training and simulation company CAE of Montreal reported a net loss of $347 million for its third quarter, and said it is reorganizing and cutting 450 jobs to restore its "profitability, cash flow and return on investment." CAE reported a charge of $443.3 million, partly relating to the continued weak aviation market and the strength of the Canadian dollar. Without that, it would have recorded earnings of $8.8 million, still lower than the $14.5 million in earnings it reported for the same period last year.
Thirty U.S. Air Force C-130E aircraft have been grounded due to cracks in their center wing box sections, the Air Force said Feb. 11. Gen. John W. Handy, commander of Air Mobility Command (AMC), ordered the grounding after the C-130 System Program Office at Robins Air Force Base, Ga., suggested it. An additional 60 C-130 aircraft, including some of the E, H, H1 and HC-130 N/P models, have been placed on restricted flight status to minimize wing stress and increase the margin of safety, the Air Force said.
FALCON FLIGHT: The SpaceX Falcon two-stage launch vehicle should have its first flight by late April, says Larry Williams, SpaceX vice president for international and government affairs. "We believe we're about 10 weeks away," Williams says. "The last 10 percent of the vehicle development ... is the hardest, but we are definitely getting there." Originally scheduled for March 2004, the flight has been delayed by a series of technical issues (DAILY, May 13, 2004). The flight is to carry the Office of Force Transformation's $20 million TacSat-1 spacecraft.
TALKING POINTS: The U.S. Marine Corps soon will unveil a program requiring career officers and noncommissioned officers to become language proficient and culturally knowledgeable of areas of potential conflict, says Lt. Gen. James N. Mattis. "I want to get it put together properly before we roll it out," Mattis, commander of the Marines Combat Development Command, says.
The FAA's Office of Commercial Space Transportation released its draft safety guidelines for space tourism on Feb. 11, in anticipation of developing final regulations no later than June 2006. According to the guidelines, reusable launch vehicle (RLV) operators should inform space tourists in writing about the risks of flight, including the safety records of both the vehicle they will fly on and other manned space vehicles (DAILY, Feb. 11).
Revenue and net income for vehicle armor and security products supplier Armor Holdings Inc. surged in the fourth quarter of 2004, exceeding analysts' expectations, the company said Feb. 10. Full-year profits and net income also soared for the Jacksonville, Fla.-based company, which has been up-armoring military vehicles for the U.S. Army in Iraq.
