Raytheon Co. has been awarded $4 million by the U.S. Air Force Research Laboratory to continue developing advanced radar antenna technology for unmanned combat aircraft, the company announced Jan. 25.
The newest version of the U.S. Air Force's Transformation Flight Plan outlines ways to deny sanctuary to adversaries, as well as plans to develop new nonlethal weapons, the promise of machine-to-machine integration, the importance of operations with other services or countries, and new initiatives for homeland defense, the Air Force said.
The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) has received more than 120 applications for its Grand Challenge 2005 robot race, including a "significant number" in the past two weeks as the Feb. 11 application deadline nears.
Swiss authorities are investigating the crash of a Pilatus Aircraft Ltd. PC-21 military trainer prototype that killed the company's chief test pilot and seriously injured a woman on the ground, Pilatus said Jan. 24. Test pilot Andy Ramseier was killed in the crash near the Pilatus airfield at Buochs, Switzerland, according to a Jan. 24 story in DAILY affiliate Aviation Week & Space Technology magazine. The woman on the ground was not identified.
Endwave Corp., which provides radio frequency subsystems for cellular infrastructure, broadband wireless networks, homeland security and defense use, said Jan. 24 that it is creating a defense systems division. The new division combines JCA Technology, which Endwave acquired in July 2004 and moved to Endwave's Diamond Springs, Calif. manufacturing facility, and Endwave's legacy defense products business. The division will operate as a subsidiary named Endwave Defense Systems Inc.
The heads of the European Space Agency and Russian Federal Space Agency signed an agreement last week calling for long-term cooperation in the development and use of launch vehicles, ESA said. The partnership is based on the use of Russian Soyuz vehicles from ESA's spaceport in Kourou, French Guiana, and cooperation on future vehicles, ESA said. Russian and European engineers will work together to develop reusable liquid-fueled engines and stages and experimental vehicles, although they won't exchange funding for the work, ESA said.
TANK SUPPORT: General Dynamics Land Systems has been awarded a $24 million contract to provide systems technical support (STS) for the Abrams tank, the company said Jan. 25. The contract was awarded by the U.S. Army Tank-automotive and Armaments Command. The objective of STS is to keep the tanks running at high operational readiness rates. STS allows the replacement of obsolete parts and keeps the tanks current to their base configuration.
The U.S. Missile Defense Agency's Airborne Laser (ABL) program has completed its first round of ground-based laser firings and is pleased with the results, an MDA spokesman said Jan. 25. The program conducted seven tests of the chemical laser over three days the week of Jan. 17-21, including four firings on the last day. Each test went well, the MDA spokesman told The DAILY. "We were able to repeat the procedure without any hitches," the spokesman said. "Every time we tried to produce photons, we did. Everybody's really happy."
U.S. Comptroller General David M. Walker on Jan. 25 criticized the Defense Department (DOD) in the number and severity of high-risk areas of concern that result in "billions of dollars of waste each year and inadequate accountability to Congress and the American people." Unveiling the latest regular update to the Government Accountability Office's list of high-risk federal government practice areas, GAO chief Walker said DOD has eight high-risk areas of its own, and shares in another six across the government.
Efforts to install anti-missile countermeasures, such as laser jammers, on U.S. commercial airliners should be postponed due to "significant uncertainties" in their cost and effectiveness while alternatives to reducing the threat of man-portable air defense systems (MANPADS) are explored, the RAND Corp. said in a Jan. 26 study.
General Dynamics Electric Boat has won an $8 million modification to an existing contract for submarine modernization and related work at the Naval Submarine Support Facility in Groton, Conn., the company said Jan. 25. Initially awarded in October 2001, the overall contract could be worth $149 million over five years if all options are exercised and funded. The work is expected to be completed in March.
The Bush Administration's upcoming proposal for a war-related funding package will include money to replenish ammunition stocks and replace military vehicles lost in combat, a defense official said late Jan. 25.
Modeling simulations show the futuristic CVN-21 aircraft carrier has not yet achieved its sortie-generation rate, one of its highest goals, prompting a Pentagon Defense Acquisition Board (DAB) to plan a "special interest" program review May 5.
Department of Defense research and development spending is expected to increase by 6% during calendar year 2005, says a Battelle Memorial Institute report due out at the end of January. DOD R&D spending will hit $98 billion in 2005, compared with $92 billion in 2004, the nonprofit R&D organization said. The increase follows a flat period in DOD R&D spending during a time when overall DOD spending has seen a significant growth.
Several upgrade efforts for the U.S. Air Force's A-10 Thunderbolt are nearing key milestones, industry officials said Jan. 24. For the precision engagement (PE) program, which will give the A-10 a precision-weapons capability, Lockheed Martin expects to get the first production contract by March, company officials said. Several more production contracts are due to follow in an effort to equip all 356 Air Force A-10s with the upgrade by 2009.
Lockheed Martin has tapped Harris Corp. of Melbourne, Fla., to provide mesh reflectors for U.S. Navy Mobile User Objective System (MUOS) satellites, the company said Jan. 24. The work will be done under a three-year, $37 million risk reduction design development contract, the company said. Including production options, the work could be worth up to $90 million by 2013 if the Navy decides to produce five MUOS satellites, the company said.
NASA is inviting industry comments on its draft request for proposals (RFP) for the Crew Exploration Vehicle, which the agency plans to use to return astronauts to the moon and eventually send them to Mars. The centerpiece of NASA's exploration vision, the Crew Exploration Vehicle (CEV) must be able to transport four astronauts, weigh less than 20 metric tons and provide escape capability for the crew at all phases of flight, according to the RFP.
SIMPLIFIED: The United Kingdom Ministry of Defence has begun a new support program for its Joint Force Harrier Fleet based at Royal Air Force Cottesmore, BAE Systems said last week. The effort, which replaces four maintenance lines with two simplified lines, will save 44 million pounds ($82 million) over four years and improve aircraft availability, BAE Systems said. The new maintenance lines are "forward," for flying squadrons, and "depth," for all other maintenance, the company said.
Australia's navy officially named the first of a fleet of new patrol boats "Armidale" during a Jan. 22 ceremony, the Australian Department of Defence said. The 61-yard long, all-aluminum monohull was named by Jana Stone, daughter of Ordinary Seaman Donald Lawson. Lawson served on the original HMAS Armidale during World War II. Construction of the Armidale began in May 2004. It was launched on Jan. 5. The Armidale is set to be delivered to Australia's navy in May 2005 at its home port of Darwin.
Senate Democratic leaders on Jan. 24 unveiled their top 10 bills for the 109th Congress, including legislation calling for up to 30,000 additional Army personnel and up to 10,000 more Marines over two years to boost military strength.
