OCCAR, the European military procurement agency, has signed contracts for Tiger helicopters intended for Spain and France, Eurocopter said Dec. 8. The Tiger variant to be provided to the countries combines combat support capabilities with air-to-ground missile capability, Eurocopter said. Half of France's 80 Tigers will be this version, and Spain is buying 24. Other countries "have already expressed their interest in this new version," Eurocopter said.
OPEN HATCH: The U.S. Army is improving its Anti-Tank Guided Missile (ATGM) Stryker variant to allow soldiers to stand up in the hatch to see what is behind their vehicle, says Col. Peter Fuller, project manager, Stryker Brigade Combat Team. "The vehicle's hatch, which provides armor protection during the reload operation, only opens 45 degrees and we found that soldiers want to stand up in the back while they are driving down the road. This puts more people with eyes looking around," he says.
Cryptic comments by two Democrats on the Senate floor about a major program in the fiscal year 2005 intelligence authorization conference report point to a secret space effort of some kind that has been under way for years, but which has been unknown to the public, analysts said. Sens. Jay Rockefeller IV (D-W.Va.), ranking Democrat on the Senate Intelligence Committee, and Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) both criticized the program without naming it on Dec. 8 during debate on the fiscal year 2005 intelligence authorization bill.
MINE HUNTER: The Spanish navy has awarded Norway's Kongsberg Defence & Aerospace a 31 million kroner ($4.9 million) contract for the continued production of the Minesniper, an underwater vehicle that destroys sea mines, the company said Dec. 10. The agreement extends a deal signed in 2002 and brings the contract's total value to about 69 million kroners ($11.1 million). The remote-controlled Minesniper, which is two meters (2.1 yards) long and weighs about 30 kilograms (66.1 pounds), has been deployed on all six of Spain's Segura Class mine-clearing vessels.
U.K. CUTS: The United Kingdom's air force will reduce its number of recruits from 10,000 to 6,000 and lay off 2,750 people over the next three years under a "radical restructuring," the U.K. Ministry of Defence says. The cuts will help shrink personnel from 48,900 to 41,000 by 2008. Further reductions will be made through attrition. The cuts are "crucial to creating a flexible and adaptable RAF," Armed Forces Minister Adam Ingram says.
COLD WEATHER: EADS CASA's Eurofighter Instrumented Production Aircraft 4 has been deployed to Vidsel, Sweden, near the Polar Circle, to begin two months of extreme cold weather trials. The trials include ground and flight-tests to make sure the aircraft functions properly at temperatures reaching -31 Celsius (-23.8 Fahrenheit), and to find the best operational procedures for such conditions.
MINUTEMAN SCHEDULE: The U.S. Air Force is revising the production schedule for the Minuteman III missile's Propulsion System Rocket Engine (PSRE) Life Extension Program (LEP) as part of a restructuring. The refurbishment of 586 PSREs will be extended over an extra year, fiscal 2011, allowing early production, especially in FY '05, to be slower than previously planned. The changes were spurred by recent budget cuts and by testing glitches, including a September 2003 steam-line rupture of a system used for static firings at White Sands Missile Range, N.M.
REACTIVE ARMOR: The fourth Stryker Brigade Combat Team (SBCT) will have reactive armor, Army officials say. "The slat armor was an interim solution. Reactive armor and an active protection system for the vehicles are under development," an Army representative says. Col. Peter Fuller, project manager of the Stryker Brigade Combat Team, says, "The first through third SBCTs that have already been deployed have the slat armor," which adds 4,500 pounds to the 38,000-pound vehicle. The reactive armor will add 9,500 pounds to the vehicle.
NASA has awarded Lockheed Martin Space Operations of Houston an extension to the Science, Engineering, Analysis and Test (SEAT) contract, which could be worth up to $95 million, the aerospace agency said Dec. 8. The work will serve as a bridge to the new Engineering and Science Contract (ESC) that is scheduled to take effect next year. The SEAT contract, which includes engineering, scientific and technical support to research and development labs and projects, among several other functions, is scheduled to end Dec. 31.
Southwest Research Institute (SwRI) of San Antonio is developing a trainer for U.S. Air Force refueling boom operators that could cut in-flight instruction time by up to a third, the company said last week. Under a two-year, $10 million contract with the Air Education and Training Command, the company is to deliver two trainer simulators for KC-135 tanker aircraft by May 2006. They are to be installed at Altus Air Force Base, Okla.
NEW WARSHIP: The HMS Bulwark, the United Kingdom navy's newest warship, represents "a huge step forward in modernizing amphibious operations," the U.K. Ministry of Defence says. The Bulwark and its sister ship, the HMS Albion, "will be a pivotal element of U.K. expeditionary warfare capability for the next 30 years." The Bulwark can carry a crew of 700 and two Merlin helicopters, and "contains one of the largest and most sophisticated battlefield command systems ever installed in a Royal Navy warship," says Lord Willy Bach, the defense procurement minister.
A team of General Dynamics Ordnance and Tactical Systems and Alliant Techsystems (ATK) will produce 120mm tank ammunition for Australia under a $39 million contract, General Dynamics said Dec. 9. The ammunition will equip 59 M1A1 Abrams tanks that Australia has ordered from the United States. General Dynamics will provide its KEW-A2 tungsten APFSDS-T cartridges and ATK will provide the M830A1 multipurpose round, and both companies will manufacture training rounds.
Dec. 13 - 16 -- USSOCOM Chemical, Biological, Radiological & Nuclear Conference & Exhibition, "From Evolution to Revolution, Breaking the CBRN Paradigm While Winning the Global War on Terrorism," Tampa Marriott Waterside Hotel and Marina & Tampa Convention Center, Tampa, Fla. For more information go to www.ndia.org. Dec. 13 - 16 -- SSC '04 International Soldier Systems Conference 2004 & Exhibition, Boston Marriott Copley Place, Boston, Mass. For more information go to www.ndia.org.
FLIGHT-TEST: Lockheed Martin successfully conducted the third flight-test of a Guided Multiple Launch Rocket System (GMLRS) Unitary rocket on Dec. 9, the company said. The objectives of the test, conducted at White Sands Missile Range, N.M., included collection of flight thermal data; demonstration of the rocket under cold-conditioning; and demonstration of improved guidance software. All of the test objectives were achieved, the company said.
SUB VALVES: Curtiss-Wright Corp. of Roseland, N.J., has won a four-year, $10 million contract from General Dynamics Electric Boat to produce submarine safe ball valves for the U.S. Navy. The valves will be used for critical service systems in the Navy's Virginia Class Nuclear Powered Submarine Program. Curtiss-Wright's Flow Control unit will do the work at its East Farmingdale, N.Y., facility. Deliveries will begin in 2005.
Engineered Support Systems (ESSI) of St. Louis plans to buy Spacelink International LLC of Dulles, Va., the company said Dec. 9. Spacelink, which reported revenues of $95 million in 2003, has expanded from providing satellite ground terminals to being a full telecommunications company serving defense and intelligence agencies, ESSI said, which makes it an attractive buy.
SUBASSEMBLIES: EDO Corp. will continue production of subassemblies for Lockheed Martin's TB-29A towed array sonar systems under a $2.5 million contract, the company said Dec. 9. Towed arrays are used by surface ships and submarines to detect sounds emitted by other vessels. Under the contract, New York-based EDO will manufacture thousands of piezoelectric ceramic cylinders, hydrophones and microcircuits, and integrate them into dual acoustic-channel assemblies. The company has been providing equipment for the TB-29As since the early 1990s.
ENCOURAGING INNOVATION: Passage of the Commercial Space Launch Amendments Act of 2004 "ensures that we do not discourage innovators from entering this budding industry that holds great promise for both Oklahoma and our nation," says Sen. James M. Inhofe (R-Okla.). Inhofe had proposed two versions of the House bill that was approved by the Senate Dec. 8 (DAILY, Dec. 10).
The U.S. Missile Defense Agency's Kinetic Energy Interceptor (KEI) program plans to speed up some activities and slow others as part of a restructuring spurred by budget cuts and technological challenges, a program official said Dec. 10.
MANY KITS: Boeing has delivered the 10,000th Joint Direct Attack Munition (JDAM) tail kit, the company said Dec. 10. Boeing began producing the kits, which add GPS capability to Mk 80 bombs, in 1998, but production ramped up to 2,000 tail kits a month after the 9/11 terrorist attacks.
The Marine Corps will recompete for funding for two Light Armored Vehicle systems as part of the 2008 Program Objective Memorandum (POM), after they were cut from the 2006 POM, an official said. Funding for the LAV Advanced Anti Armor System (AAS) and Expeditionary Fire Support System (EFSS) was provided in the 2004 POM but was cut from the 2006 plan, Col. John Bryant, program manager for Light Armored Vehicles at the U.S. Army's Tank-automotive and Armaments Command, told The DAILY. "We'll recompete for them in the 2008 POM," he said.
AIRSPACE RESEARCH: Helping develop America's next-generation airspace management system will be a top priority for NASA's aeronautics directorate, says Administrator Sean O'Keefe. Along with the Federal Aviation Administration and Defense Department, NASA is a major player in the joint office developing the new system, which will be needed to keep up with projected growth in air traffic (DAILY, April 20). The office is "to the point now of parsing assignments ...
