The U.S. Missile Defense Agency is trying to cut the weight of the High Altitude Airship's (HAA) power and propulsion systems, as well as the fabric that will form the airship's exterior, MDA officials said Dec. 17. The agency also is pursuing unspecified steps to better understand the high-altitude, thin-atmosphere environment in which the gas-filled airship will operate, the officials said.
The U.S. Air Force planned to use a small Boeing unmanned aerial vehicle in a convoy route reconnaissance demonstration in the Nevada desert that apparently was set for Dec. 18.
ICBM WORK: Northrop Grumman Mission Systems of Clearfield, Utah, will do engineering and refurbishment work on 96 Minuteman III stages, as well as test fire missiles, the U.S. Department of Defense said Dec. 16. The work will be done under a $248.8 million contract awarded by the Ogden Air Logistics Center, Hill Air Force Base, Utah. The work is to be finished by April 2007.
Textron Systems Corp. of Wilmington, Mass., has been awarded a $115.7 million contract by the Headquarters Air Armament Center, Eglin Air Force Base, Fla., to provide 341 Sensor Fuzed Weapons to the United States and Oman, the Defense Department said Dec. 16. The work will be finished by March 2007.
The Pentagon has decided to wait a few more weeks to disclose the results of a study on U.S. Air Force tanker modernization options. The Defense Department had been scheduled to brief Capitol Hill the week of Dec. 20 on the results of the analysis of alternatives (AOA), which RAND Corp. conducted for DOD. But congressional and defense sources said Dec. 17 that the briefings have been moved to mid- or late January. A Pentagon spokeswoman attributed the delay to unspecified "scheduling conflicts."
SALES, INCOME UP: Net sales and net income for Wood Dale, Ill.-based AAR Corp. grew in the second quarter of fiscal 2005, the company said Dec. 17. Net sales for the aviation overhaul, trading, and manufacturing services provider were up 12%, to $178.7 million from $159.5 million in the second quarter of FY 2004. Net income rose to $4.8 million, or 15 cents per share. Military sales jumped 16% and commercial aviation sales increased 14%.
Battelle has developed a money-saving way to predict the fatigue life of welded structures often used to reinforce military aircraft and ships, the company said.
EUROFIGHTER SALES: A new production pact among the Eurofighter Typhoon's four partner nations will have a "tremendous effect" on the aircraft's potential for sales to other countries, according to Eurofighter GmbH, the industry consortium that serves as the Typhoon's prime contractor. Germany, Italy, Spain and the United Kingdom signed an agreement Dec. 14 to buy 236 more aircraft for themselves.
Europe's Huygens probe received the final green light for its descent into the atmosphere of Saturn's moon Titan, following a joint review by the European Space Agency (ESA) and NASA on Dec. 16. "It all looks good," Huygens Mission Manager Jean-Pierre Lebreton said during a press conference Dec. 16. "We got the green light to proceed to the next step."
FLIR Systems Inc., which develops and manufactures thermal imaging systems and cameras, unveiled its fiscal year 2005 preliminary financial outlook and announced a two-for-one stock split on Dec. 16. The Portland, Ore.-based company said it expects FY '05 net revenue to be $545-560 million and net earnings to be $2.25-2.35 per share.
COOPERATION: The visit of Chinese Prime Minister Jiabao Wen to the European Space Agency's research and technology center in the Netherlands helped emphasize "the importance of China as a partner in space," ESA says. ESA and China have cooperated on space ventures for more than 25 years, including last year's establishment of a joint research program using data from ESA's Envisat satellite. China also will work closely with ESA on Europe's Galileo satellite navigation program, ESA says.
Outgoing NASA Administrator Sean O'Keefe offered succinct advice for his successor during a Dec. 17 press conference formally announcing his departure: "Take the president's vision for space exploration, support it, and implement it." President Bush's plan to return astronauts to the moon by 2020 and prepare for a human landing on Mars represents "a great legacy" that the next administrator will inherit, he said. The next administrator "has the opportunity now to build on that baseline ... I wish my successor well in that task," he said.
NASA does not have a definitive estimate of the cost of a potential fifth space shuttle servicing mission to the Hubble Space Telescope, according to a new report from the Government Accountability Office (GAO). NASA's estimate for the mission ranges between $1.7-2.4 billion, the report says. However, support for parts of the estimate is "insufficient," according to the GAO.
U.K. Defence Minister Geoff Hoon has announced details of the "Future Army Structure" plan, which calls for development of a more deployable, agile and flexible army and involves the expenditure of "tens of billions of pounds" for new military hardware, including satellite communication systems and unmanned aerial vehicles for the army.
Thales has signed an agreement with Russia's Sukhoi Civil Aircraft Co. to integrate its avionics suite on the company's new Russian Regional Jet, Thales said Dec. 16. The companies have signed a contract worth about 70 million euros ($93.8 million) for the first equipment order, Thales said. France's Thales will provide its full avionics suite, including cockpit displays and communication, navigation and surveillance systems, which it said would boost the aircraft's capability.
Sikorsky Aircraft Corp. announced a $750,000 endowment to establish the Sikorsky Professorship at the Guggenheim School of Aerospace Engineering at the Georgia Institute of Technology. Georgia Tech is one of only three universities in the United States to have a Rotorcraft Center of Excellence, funded by the National Rotorcraft Technology Center, the company said.
Raytheon Co. has been picked by the U.S. Air Force Research Laboratory to continue developing advanced radar-related technology for unmanned combat aircraft, a company official said Dec. 16. The company was chosen over Northrop Grumman to conduct more work on the X-Band Thin Radar Aperture (XTRA) array, according to Jay Humphlett, a Raytheon business development director, who spoke at Shephard's UV conference. Upcoming activities are expected to include a roof-top test (DAILY, Oct. 26).
Northrop Grumman Corp. was selected by the U.S. General Services Administration to provide system engineering and program support for the U.S. Naval Meteorology and Oceanography Command and Naval Oceanographic Office. The task order is valued at $38.9 million over five years to Northrop Grumman's Information Technology (IT) sector. The contract work will be done at the John C. Stennis Space Center, Miss.
The U.S. Missile Defense Agency is considering buying a Northrop Grumman-built Global Hawk unmanned aerial vehicle to monitor missile defense tests, the agency head said Dec. 16.
DIVIDEND: Waltham, Mass.-based Raytheon Co. has declared a quarterly cash dividend of 20 cents per share, the company said Dec. 15. The dividend will be paid to shareholders of record as of the close of business on Dec. 27. The dividend rate is unchanged from the previous quarter, the company said. Raytheon's board of directors plans to increase the company's annual dividend by 10 percent, from 80 cents to 88 cents, starting with the first-quarter dividend of 2005, the company said Dec. 1. (DAILY, Dec. 2)
General Electric will provide material, technical and logistics support for the Corpus Christi Army Depot's (CCAD) T700 turboshaft engine overhaul program under a $162 million contract option, the company said Dec. 16. Under the original contract, the company supplies T700 helicopter engine parts and logistics and technical expertise to support CCAD overhaul programs for various military helicopters including the AH-64 Apache and UH-60 Black Hawk.
A2C2S: Raytheon Co. has delivered the first low-rate initial production Army Airborne Command and Control System, the company said Dec. 16. The A2C2S gives selected UH-60L Black Hawk helicopters a mission equipment package that transforms them into airborne command posts. Prototypes have been used in Iraq for more than a year, the company said.
