The U.S. Air Force has awarded Raytheon Co. of Reston, Va. a five-year, $13 million contract to upgrade AN/TPS-75 radars for Hill Air Force Base, Utah, the company said Sept. 30.
The launch of the first satellite in the Air Force's Space Based Surveillance System (SBSS) is likely to slip several months from its previous June 2007 target as a result of the $27 million cut in the program's fiscal year 2005 budget levied by Congress this summer.
The Navy will field a new system for identifying potentially hostile targets on its EP-3E aircraft in 2006, according to Naval Air Systems Command. The system, built by General Dynamics and called "Story Maker," fuses information from a variety of sources to more quickly and accurately identify targets, said Cdr. James Baratta, head of the Special Missions Aircraft Department of NAVAIR's Maritime Surveillance Aircraft office, or PMA-290, at Patuxent River, Md.
PROVING THEMSELVES: Each of the four teams developing the Small Launch Vehicle (SLV) in Phase IIA of the Force Application and Launch from the Continental U.S.
The U.S. Army plans to test whether an airborne sensor can detect and locate small-arms fire on the ground. The sensor, which the Army's Overwatch program has been developing for use on ground vehicles, will be demonstrated on an airship in Huntsville, Ala., the week of Oct. 4-8, said Col. Kurt Heine, who heads the office that will conduct the demonstration.
Through the acquisition of The Specialty Group Inc., a Department of Defense supplier of individual protective equipment, Armor Holdings Inc. expects to add about $90 million to its fiscal 2005 revenues, Armor Holdings said Sept. 30. Armor Holdings would pay $92 million in cash for The Specialty Group, including the assumption of any debt. The transaction, which is subject to the approval of Specialty Defenses' shareholders and federal antitrust clearance, is anticipated to close in the fourth quarter of 2004.
J-UCAS BROKER: The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) has awarded Johns Hopkins University's Applied Physics Laboratory in Laurel, Md., a $26.9 million contract to serve as the integrator/broker for the Joint Unmanned Combat Air System's (J-UCAS) common operating system. To ensure interoperability, DARPA is requiring the competing Boeing and Northrop Grumman-led J-UCAS teams to adopt a common operating system capable of controlling either team's J-UCAS vehicle.
Herley Industries Inc. has completed the acquisition of certain assets of Reliable System Services (RSS), Herley said Sept. 29. The entity will operate as Herley-RSS, a Delaware corporation and a subsidiary of Herley. "The satellite communication capabilities of Herley-RSS and Herley-Lancaster's command and control expertise is expected to open new domestic and international opportunities," Herley President John Kelley said in a statement.
ITT Industries of White Plains, N.Y. has won a contract to finish development of the advanced technology Digital Receiver based Radar Warning Receiver (RWR) and related integration with the AVR-2 Laser Warning Receiver (LWR), the company said Sept. 29. The contract was awarded by the U.S. Army's Aviation and Missile Command in Huntsville, Ala. The terms were not disclosed.
The Force Application and Launch from the Continental U.S. (FALCON) program is adjusting to congressional restrictions placed on it for fiscal year 2005, dropping for now the development of a penetrating munition for the Air Force's Common Aero Vehicle (CAV).
General Dynamics C4 Systems won a $22 million contract modification from the National Guard for ruggedized, secure fax machines, increasing the value of orders executed on the company's common hardware/software II contract (CHS-2) to more than $1 billion, the company said Sept. 29.
Boeing Co. next week plans to deliver the first modernized MH-47G Chinook helicopter to the U.S. Army Special Operations Forces, a company spokesman said Sept. 30. Boeing delivered a G model to Army SOF last May, but it was the first of three reconstituted CH-47D Chinooks intended to replace combat losses. The other two will be delivered early next year, closing out that particular program, according to Jack Satterfield, a spokesman for Boeing Integrated Defense Systems' Rotorcraft Enterprise Capability Center in suburban Philadelphia.
The U.S. Defense Department should speed up fielding two new sensors designed to support the Ground-based Midcourse Defense (GMD) system, according to two Democratic lawmakers. Reps. John Spratt (D-S.C.) and Silvestre Reyes (D-Texas) said that when GMD is deployed later this year to destroy long-range ballistic missiles, it will lack its "most essential" sensors: the Missile Defense Agency's Space Tracking and Surveillance System (STSS) and the Sea-Based X-Band Radar (SBX).
A new Ranging and Integrity Monitoring Station for the European Geostationary Navigation Overlay Service (EGNOS) has been set up in Warsaw, Poland, a critical point for EGNOS satellite navigation service in Eastern Europe, according to the European Space Agency (ESA). EGNOS, Europe's first satellite navigation system, is accurate to within two meters (6.6 feet). Poland's EGNOS RIMS station was inaugurated on Sept. 27, and is located in the Space Research Center of the Polish Academy of Science.
Battelle is supplying Special Operations Forces (SOF) of various U.S. military services with 475 Humvee armor kits that are at least 300 pounds lighter than currently fielded armor kits, the company said Sept. 30. "Our lightweight HMMWV armor kits offer the same level of protection and weigh 750 pounds, whereas other systems are 1,000 pounds and more," Ray Dominguez, Battelle marketing manager, told The DAILY. "Less weight means less wear and tear on the vehicle and it frees up weight for payload and equipment."
The U.S. Navy is expected to take delivery of its first Global Hawk unmanned aerial vehicle next week, a spokeswoman for prime contractor Northrop Grumman said Sept. 30. The RQ-4A Global Hawk will be flown from a Northrop Grumman production plant in Palmdale, Calif., where the Navy will formally accept the air vehicle, to Edwards Air Force Base, Calif., the company spokeswoman told The DAILY.
The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) has begun a program to develop advanced radar capabilities for tactical-level unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) in the Army's Future Combat Systems (FCS), the agency announced Sept. 29.
The U.S. Army has awarded TVI Corp. of Glenn Dale, Md. a $1.4 million contract for the TVI Guardian Col/Pro(TM) systems, which provide increased protection against chemical and biological threats, TVI Corp. said Sept. 30. If there were a biological or chemical attack, the systems would protect military personnel with quickly deploying shelters and help prevent the spread of contamination by isolating individuals exposed to life-threatening agents, the company said.
Researchers at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio, flew a 7 percent scaled Joined-Wing Technology Demonstrator for the first time last week, the Air Force said Sept. 29. The flight supports development of the SensorCraft, an Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) program intended to study how sensors, links, components and propulsion systems can be used on a future long-range, high-altitude unmanned aerial vehicle.
AMC-15: The launch of SES Americom's AMC-15 satellite has been rescheduled for Oct. 14 from Baikonur Cosmodrome, Kazakhstan, according to International Launch Services spokeswoman Fran Slimmer. The original September launch date was postponed to allow for additional checking of the Proton launch vehicle's avionics. The next ILS launch after that will be SES Americom's AMC-16, to take place on an Atlas V rocket at Cape Canaveral in December.
ROBOTICS: DOD's Joint Robotics Program and the Technical Support Working Group (TSWG) will hold a robotics conference in Panama City Beach, Fla., from Nov. 30 through Dec. 1. The purpose of the conference is to "leverage on efforts and expose users [to] technology currently available on the robotics market," according to an announcement on Federal Business Opportunities.
CABLE ASSEMBLIES: Meggitt Safety Systems (MSSI) of Simi Valley, Calif., will supply Lockheed Martin Aeronautics Co. with silicon dioxide cable assemblies for the F/A-22 Raptor's electronic warfare system, Meggitt Safety Systems said Sept. 29. Meggitt Safety Systems is a unit of the Meggitt Aerospace Equipment Group. MSSI will provide its amplitude stable and highly advanced phase cable assemblies for the electronic warfare and leading-edge flap communication navigation information systems for the F/A-22, the company said. MSSI will be the sole supplier for 203 ship sets.
NASA has chosen Lockheed Martin's Atlas V rocket to launch its Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) in April 2008, International Launch Services (ILS) announced Sept. 30. The first Space Weather Research Network mission in NASA's Living With a Star (LWS) program, SDO will study the sun's influence on Earth and Near-Earth space by studying the solar atmosphere in multiple wavelengths simultaneously. NASA's Kennedy Space Center is managing the launch contract, while Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md., manages the SDO project.
Australian Defence Industries' Bushmaster infantry mobility vehicle recently underwent successful testing in a pair of three-day trials in the United Arab Emirates, ADI said Sept. 29. The five-year-old, left-hand-drive prototype vehicle took on 1,553 miles of desert, sand dunes, and rocky tracks in 136-degree temperatures, New South Wales-based ADI said. ADI was required to provide a driver for the vehicle while a UAE observer was a passenger throughout the trials.
