'LIKE A HAWK': House Science Committee lawmakers plan to eye the regulation of the commercial space flight industry closely, says chair Rep. Sherwood Boehlert (R-N.Y.). Boehlert says the Commercial Space Launch Amendments Act of 2004, passed in December, strikes the right balance between providing FAA oversight without inhibiting the industry. Now Congress has to make sure the FAA - which is under the jurisdiction of another committee - implements the law correctly, he says. "Our committee is watching the process like a hawk," he says.
Thales Group reported 2004 revenues of 10.3 billion euros ($13.4 billion), a slight decline from 2003, the company said Feb. 10. The drop partly was due to the sale of Thales Geosolutions, the group said. Thales' aerospace division revenues were up 3%, however, driven by the "good performance" of the defense unit, including sales for the Rafale and Mirage aircraft and maritime patrol systems.
The U.S. Coast Guard's Integrated Deepwater System would receive a budget boost of 33%, or $242.05 million, in President Bush's fiscal 2006 proposal, allowing the massive replacement program to buy the third Maritime Security Cutter-Large.
KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia - Seven of the Malaysian air force's 13 F-5 fighter aircraft will be upgraded, while the remaining six will be sold. The upgrade contract has been awarded to Malaysian maintenance, repair and overhaul outfit Airod, which has appointed three subcontractors for the work. Northrop Grumman, which originally built the aircraft, will carry out structural changes. The company also has pledged to support the F-5s for the rest of their service life.
JDAM PURCHASES: U.S. Air Force and Navy purchases of the Boeing Co.'s Joint Direct Attack Munition (JDAM), which surged over the past few years to meet increased demand during overseas military operations, are slated to come back down significantly now that use of the bomb guidance kit has eased. The Air Force plans to reduce JDAM procurement from 23,137 units in fiscal 2005 to 8,000 in FY '06, while the Navy intends to cut its purchase from 6,620 in FY '05 to 3,400 in FY '06.
NOT SO BAD: The impact of the next round of base closings will be "significantly reduced" due to a rotation of foreign-based troops back to the United States, Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison (R-Texas) says. Hutchison says after meeting with Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, she came away convinced that the shift away from Cold War-era overseas basing means the effect of base closings and realignments on U.S. facilities this year will be lessened. "Our military men and women are coming home, and they will need bases at which to work and live," she says.
The T-50 Golden Eagle advanced jet trainer, which Lockheed Martin and Korea Aerospace Industries (KAI) are marketing internationally, has completed several milestones, Lockheed Martin said Feb. 11. The supersonic T-50 has reached its maximum load factors and maximum operating speed, has completed its second lifetime of structural durability testing and is beginning stores separation testing, the company said.
F-16 WORK: LaBarge Inc. will produce electronic chassis for the F-16's fire control radar system under a $2.6 million contract from Northrop Grumman Corp.'s Electronic Systems sector, the company said Feb. 10. The company has been providing the chassis for Northrop Grumman's AN/APG-68 fire control radar since 2003. The latest batch is for F-16s being upgraded for the Polish air force, St. Louis-based LaBarge said. The work is being done at the company's Huntsville, Ark., facility, and will continue through August 2005.
The Joint Unmanned Combat Air System (J-UCAS) program is trying to adjust to its recent Pentagon-mandated budget cut without losing momentum, according to Mike Francis, J-UCAS program manager for the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA). "One of our main goals is to keep this from taking momentum out of the program," Francis said during the Association for Unmanned Vehicle Systems' Unmanned Systems Program Review Feb. 9 in Washington. "I don't think anybody is unhappy with how the program is moving."
Rep. C.W. "Bill" Young (R-Fla.) would chair the House Appropriations Committee's Defense subcommittee under a reorganized and reduced full-committee structure, Rep. Jerry Lewis (R-Calif.), chairman of the full committee, announced Feb. 9. The proposal shrinks the current 13 subcommittees down to 10. The plan had been rumored on Capitol Hill since the start of the year (DAILY, Jan. 10). "These changes will make it a little easier to get our work done on time and under budget," Lewis said in a statement.
BAE Systems has been awarded a second-year production contract for the thermal Weapon Sight II (TWS II) by the U.S. Army's Communication and Electronics Command (CECOM), the company said Feb. 10. CECOM awarded the company a modification to an existing contract, boosting the number of TWS IIs to 6,528, raising the total contract value to $53 million. The TWS II enables gunners to see deep into battlefields, increasing their surveillance and range, the company said.
A small, bipartisan group of lawmakers is pushing to ensure federal funds continue flowing to a nanotechnology research and development (R&D) effort in line with a commitment Congress made two years ago.
Lockheed Martin recently conducted the fifth successful flight-test of a Guided Multiple Launch Rocket System (GMLRS) Unitary rocket at White Sands Missile Range, N.M., the company said Feb. 9. The test demonstrated the GMLRS Unitary rocket's warhead proximity sensor, which allows it to detonate at a predetermined distance from soft targets. The test also collected temperature, shock and vibration data and verified the rocket's performance and the warhead's effectiveness. All test objectives were met, the company said.
The U.S. Army is stopping work on the Advanced Precision Kill Weapon System (APKWS) and plans to pursue a different approach for a new guided rocket, government and industry spokesmen said Feb. 10.
Unmanned undersea vehicles of the future should be built with modularity and open architecture in mind and not be "vehicle centric," a UUV program manager said Feb. 10. "Open architecture. This is the enabler to the future. We need modularity. We need common standards and interfaces. We can't afford to redesign the system. Industry may have proprietary systems, but the overall system cannot be proprietary. It needs to be open," said Capt. Paul D. Ims, Jr. (USN), program manager for UUVs in the Program Executive Office for Littoral and Mine Warfare.
HOT BIRD: International Launch Services will launch a Hot Bird satellite owned by telecommunications company Eutelsat S.A. in the first quarter of 2006 under a new agreement, ILS said Feb. 10. "It is important for our company's business plan to bring new Hot Bird capacity into service in early 2006 in order to enhance security of our satellite system and to replace Hot Bird 1," Eutelsat CEO Giuliano Berretta said in a statement.
Higher shipbuilding costs, some caused by a low rate of production, as well as new force structure methods and technology led the U.S. Navy to propose retiring the aircraft carrier USS John F. Kennedy and making cutbacks in ship construction, Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Vern Clark told Senate lawmakers Feb. 10.
KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia - Indonesia is considering acquiring up to 12 more Sukhoi Su-27 fighters from Russia. It currently has four, which it bought during the Megawati Sukarnoputri administration five years ago. According to Sudradjat, Indonesia's director general for defense strategy, an additional purchase to build a full squadron would make good defense sense for the country.
Passing an authorization bill for NASA will be a top priority this year for Rep. Ken Calvert (R-Calif.), newly appointed chairman of the House Science Committee's space and aeronautics subcommittee.
Transportation Secretary Norm Mineta on Feb. 10 announced draft safety guidelines for space tourism that would require spacecraft operators to obtain informed consent from passengers, who would undergo medical examinations to ensure their fitness for space travel. "Our guidelines say that operators who want to take passengers into space must clearly lay out the risks and must obtain informed consent from space flight participants before they fly," Mineta said at the FAA's 8th Annual Commercial Space Transportation Conference in Washington.
DIVIDEND: Cubic Corp. said a regular semi-annual dividend of 9 cents per share will be payable March 22 to shareholders of record as of March 1. The dividend was announced at the company's annual shareholder meeting on Feb. 8.
Sikorsky Aircraft Corp.'s S-92 helicopter was awarded Canadian type certification by Transport Canada in a ceremony at the Heli-Expo trade show in Anaheim, Calif., the company said Feb. 7. The certification will allow the helicopter to enter service with Canadian operators and to carry passengers, Sikorsky said. The European Aviation Safety Agency/Joint Aviation Authorities and U.S. FAA already have certified the helicopter.
After a tense Feb. 9 briefing with the U.S. Navy that only raised their tempers, at least four Democratic Connecticut lawmakers - including both U.S. senators - will try to overturn or change the Navy's recent award of the next fleet of presidential helicopters to an international team led by Lockheed Martin Corp.
