Northrop Grumman Corp. said Oct. 27 that its third-quarter income rose to $291 million, a 46 percent increase over the $200 million reported for the same period last year. Third-quarter sales increased 11 percent, to $7.4 billion from $6.7 billion reported for the same period last year.
The U.S. Navy will finalize its involvement in the Army-led Aerial Common Sensor (ACS) program later this year, providing the Navy an opportunity to put forth additional requirements for the intelligence-gathering aircraft, a program official said Oct. 27.
EDO Corp. of New York has been chosen to develop and design fixed-wing, dual missile launchers for the Joint Common Missile (JCM) on F/A-18E/F Super Hornet aircraft, the company said Oct. 27. EDO has been authorized to do $1.9 million in start-up work under Phase 1 of the project, and the company said it could make up to $100 million over the life of the JCM program.
The Missile Defense Agency (MDA) has awarded Poway, Calif.-based SpaceDev a second task order worth about $8.3 million to develop and design as many as six networked micro-satellites to support national missile defense, the company said Oct. 26. The second task order is part of an existing $43 million contract with the MDA. The order went into effect on Oct. 1 and the work is expected to be finished by January 2006, the company said.
Rheinmetall Defence Electronics of Bremen, Germany, has demonstrated a reusable, autonomous micro air vehicle that fits in a backpack, the company said Oct. 26. The Carola P50 has been demonstrated to representatives of Germany's Bundeswehr and federal agency for defense technology and procurement, according to the company, which has set up the spin-off company Mavionics GmbH of Braunschweig to market it.
The U.S. Army decided this week to eliminate the Loitering Attack Missile (LAM) component of the Non-Line-of-Sight-Launch System (NLOS-LS), Raytheon and Lockheed Martin officials told reporters Oct. 27. Raytheon and Lockheed Martin are developing NLOS-LS as the NetFires Limited Liability Co. The system is part of the Army's Future Combat Systems (FCS) and its deployment schedule was accelerated last July to start during Spiral 1 of FCS, which is in 2008, with production in 2009 to 2010.
Boeing reported that net income for the third quarter jumped from $256 million to $456 million, or 78 percent, driven largely by "a very strong quarter" for the Integrated Defense Systems (IDS) business, CEO Harry Stonecipher said Oct. 27. Boeing reported $13.2 billion in revenues for the quarter, up 8 percent from 2003's $12.2 billion quarterly report.
Bigelow Aerospace still is drawing up the rules that will govern the $50 million "America's Space Prize" competition, according to Bigelow corporate counsel Michael Gold. Announced last month, the prize will be awarded to the first private team that sends astronauts to low-Earth orbit before the end of the decade. Former hotel entrepreneur and Bigelow Aerospace founder Robert Bigelow is putting up half of the $25 million purse himself, and is seeking sponsors to cover the rest.
The draft request for proposals (RFP) for the U.S. Army's Light Utility Helicopter (LUH) is due out around Oct. 28, with an industry day to follow within seven days, Paul Bogosian, deputy program executive officer for Army aviation, said on Oct. 27. The Army's future Armed Reconnaissance Helicopter (ARH) is in the final approval phase of its capabilities document, said Lt. Col. Neil Thurgood, Army ARH product manager.
EFV TESTING: The Expeditionary Fighting Vehicle (EFV) has been undergoing testing at the Marine Corps Air Ground Combat Center in Twentynine Palms, Calif., and is preparing to enter the operational assessment phase, the Marine Corps said last week. The EFV, built by General Dynamics Land Systems, can carry a reinforced rifle squad, or 17 Marines, and a crew of three. Its main armament is the MK-46 30mm weapon system.
The U.S. Army is studying a range of systems that could be used to counter the kinds of rocket, artillery and mortar (RAM) threats that American troops face in Iraq, according to service and industry officials. Michael Schexnayder, an acquisition official for the Army's Space and Missile Defense Command, said he plans to compile a set of near- and long-term options and present them to Army leaders before Christmas.
AEROSPACE CORP., El Segundo, Calif. J. Bruce Chudoba has been promoted to associate principal director in the Electronic Programs Division in Chantilly, Va. Valerie I. Lang has been promoted to principal director of the Systems Acquisition Subdivision in El Segundo. BOEING CO., Chicago Mike S. Zafirovski, president and chief operating officer of Motorola Inc., has been elected to the board of directors. DIMENSIONS INTERNATIONAL, Alexandria, Va.
DART: NASA has rescheduled the launch of its Demonstration of Autonomous Rendezvous Technology (DART) spacecraft for Oct. 28 during a five-minute launch window opening at 2:16 p.m. EDT. The launch is scheduled take place from Vandenberg Air Force Base, Calif., aboard a Pegasus XL rocket. NASA plans to feed lessons learned from DART into its proposed Hubble Space Telescope servicing robot.
Lessons and technology from Scaled Composites' SpaceShipOne are being applied to the supersonic manned aircraft the company is developing for the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency's (DARPA) RASCAL program, according to Jacob Lopata, chief executive officer for RASCAL prime contractor Space Launch Corp.
The steering problem that first began affecting NASA's Mars Exploration Rover (MER) Spirit on Oct. 1 continues to puzzle mission controllers, occurring intermittently as the team attempts to drive the rover from rock to rock.
Boeing plans to begin integrating weapons with its "optionally manned" MD 530F helicopter demonstrator in January and conduct live fire tests by March 2005, according to the company.
Lockheed Martin Corp. reported on Oct. 26 that its third-quarter net earnings of $307 million were up 41 percent from the same period last year, driven partly by updating work on C-5 Galaxy transports, sales of C-130J transports and work on the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter and F/A-22 Raptor programs. The company reported net sales of $8.4 billion for the period, up 4 percent over third-quarter 2003 sales.
Goodrich Corp. posted a strong $50 million third quarter profit on Oct. 26, up 47 percent from last year thanks to higher sales in all of its divisions including military and space, and executives raised projections for next year. The results topped analysts' average estimate for the quarter as revenue rose 10 percent, to nearly $1.2 billion.
The German parliament is expected to approve the design and development (D&D) phase of the tri-national Medium Extended Air Defense System (MEADS) in December, clearing the last in a series of political hurdles for the new D&D effort, an industry official said Oct. 26.
The launch of NASA's Demonstration of Autonomous Rendezvous Technology (DART) spacecraft has been delayed for at least two days because of a glitch that could have affected navigation accuracy, NASA said Oct. 26. The Multiple Paths, Beyond-Line-of-Sight Communications Satellite, with which DART was to rendezvous, had a temporary loss of Global Positioning System reception that could have affected the accuracy of the operation, NASA said.
United Defense, in its effort to provide the U.S. Army with soldier survivability technology, is developing a system to enhance situational awareness for manned ground vehicles and transparent armor, company spokesman Herb Muktarian told The DAILY. Eagle Vision is an enhanced situational awareness system to provide 360-degree visibility on the battlefield around a manned ground vehicle.
