SAVING GENESIS: After taking preliminary peeks into NASA's Genesis sample return canister, scientists are increasingly optimistic that the Sept. 8 crash will not ruin the mission's science yield. "Things are looking much better today than they felt on Wednesday," said Don Sevilla, Genesis payload recovery lead engineer, during a teleconference Sept. 10. One of the major experiments onboard - the solar wind concentrator - appears to be intact, according to NASA.
NAC RESTRUCTURING: The NASA Advisory Council (NAC) is being restructured to better support the agency's vision for space exploration. "The current advisory committee structure, established to meet the requirements of the agency's former internal organization, is outdated," NASA said in a response to query (RTQ) document. A planned quarterly meeting of the advisory panel scheduled for Sept.
Sept. 13 - 15 - The Air Force Association presents Air & Space Conference and Technology Exposition 2004, Marriott Wardman Park Hotel, Washington. Go to www.afa.org for more information. Sept. 13 - 16 -- 10 Annual Flight Simulator Engineering & Maintenance Conference (FSEMC), Adam's Mark, Tulsa, Okla. Contact Roger S. Goldberg at (410) 266-2915, email [email protected] or go to www.arinc.com/fsemc.
ADDING COMPANIES: Team US101 is adding 11 more companies in Ohio and West Virginia to supply components for its medium-lift helicopter that is competing for the next-generation presidential helicopter program. The Ohio companies are DuPont Vespel Parts & Shapes; Auxitrol Aerospace Business Group; Unison Industries; Enginetics Aerospace Corp.; Fluid Regulators Corp.; Honeywell Lighting & Electronics; Pako; Thermagon; Tyco Electronics; and Voss Industries. The West Virginia company is Star Technologies.
BUYING: Koor Industries Ltd., an Israeli investment holding company involved in diversified fields, including defense electronics, says it has signed an agreement to acquire 32.5 percent of military communications manufacturer Tadiran Communications Ltd. for about $141 million. Koor is acquiring the shares from Trefoil Israel Partner II LP, of the Shamrock group, and from FIMI Israel Mezzanine Fund LP.
DELIVERED: Lockheed Martin delivered its third C-130J Super Hercules airlifter to the 146th Airlift Wing at Channel Islands Air National Guard Station, Calif., on Sept. 8, the company said. Eventually, the wing will receive a total of eight C-130Js to replace the current fleet of Vietnam-era C-130Es. The C-130Js are expected to be used for airlift and aerial firefighting.
The U.S. Navy has awarded Lockheed Martin a $14.8 million advanced acquisition contract to begin systems integration of eight new MH-60R multi-mission helicopters. The helicopters are the third stage of low-rate initial production (LRIP III). As the MH-60R systems integrator, Lockheed Martin Systems Integration-Owego will equip each aircraft with a cockpit and mission systems to enable them to conduct anti-surface and undersea warfare.
NASA's Dryden Flight Research Center is planning to develop four new classes of high-altitude/long-endurance (HALE) unmanned aerial vehicles for research missions over the next 14 years, according to John Del Frate, Dryden's project manager for HALE UAV technology development. Dryden's UAV technology work is moving away from the Joint Sponsored Research Agreement model, on which the center's Environmental Research Aircraft and Sensor Technology (ERAST) UAV program was based, toward a more traditional competitive approach.
The U.S. Navy's Military Sealift Command has awarded a $23.5 million contract to American Overseas Marine Corp. (AMSEA), based in Quincy, Mass., for the operation and maintenance of nine of MSC's 19 large, medium-speed, roll-on/roll-off (LMSR) ships.
Investigators have concluded that the Joint Air to Surface Standoff Missile (JASSM) failed a recent flight test because a "foreign object" in the weapon caused the missile to lose power seconds before it was to hit its target, the U.S. Air Force said Sept. 10. An Air Force failure review board found that the foreign object damaged the missile's warhead fuze, creating the electrical malfunction, the Air Force said in a written response to questions. Air Force officials did not describe the unwelcome object or say how it managed to reach the fuze.
AIRBUS ADVANTAGE: Rep. Norm Dicks (D-Wash.) plans to make the termination of the 1992 agreement with Europe over aircraft subsidies a "high priority" in the next session of Congress. "We have got to make sure the American people understand that Airbus has been given advantages through this agreement that are simply unfair in this world competitive market that we're in," Dicks says. The agreement allows for direct subsidies of aircraft development up to 33 percent, but doesn't require the repayment of loans until a project reaches 40 percent of its projected sales.
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. - The amount of uncontrolled airspace over the United States is going to change, according to Gen. Ralph E. "Ed" Eberhart, commander of U.S. North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) and U.S. Northern Command. "The amount of uncontrolled airspace over this nation, where you don't have to be squawking [transmitting a transponder code] and talking [to a ground control facility] ... is going to change over time," Eberhart said Sept. 8.
EADS GROWTH: The European Aeronautic Defence and Space Co. (EADS) will continue to push for growth outside Europe, co-CEO Rainer Hertrich tells the DAILY. The company's recent helicopter win in Australia (DAILY, Sept. 1) is an example of how "we are in the global position today," he says. Expansion in the U.S. is a mix of partnering with other companies and working alone, but Hertrich says the acquisition of U.S. companies still is a possibility. EADS is not "desperately looking," but "if there is an opportunity, we will do it," he says.
Several companies have been selected to receive delivery orders under a $4.7 billion contract for the Advanced Technology Support Program III (ATSP3), the Department of Defense said Sept. 9.
If NASA embarks on its plan to return humans to the moon, the agency's total funding needs through 2020 might be $32 billion greater than its current projections, according to a recent analysis by the Congressional Budget Office (CBO). A $32 billion increase would represent a 12 percent growth relative to NASA's total projected funding of $271 billion through 2020, according to the CBO's report. It would represent a 33 percent increase relative to the $95 billion NASA has projected for space exploration over that same period.
INSOURCING: EADS believes in "insourcing," Hertrich says, citing its creation of aircraft facilities in Alabama and helicopter facilities in Mississippi (DAILY, Aug. 4, 2003), and other work outside Europe that he says creates high-quality jobs. EADS was "nobody in Australia just three or four years ago," Hertrich says, and now has "won almost everything," to the extent that the contract wins are creating "a sort of EADS in Australia."
Aircraft electronics manufacturer Rockwell Collins anticipates revenues of about $3.2 billion in fiscal 2005, a 10 percent increase over projected fiscal year 2004 revenues, it said Sept. 9. Earnings per share are projected to be $1.85 to $1.95. Total segment operating margin for fiscal 2005 is expected to improve to about 17 percent, compared with about 16 percent projected for fiscal 2004, said Rockwell Collins Chairman, President and CEO Clay Jones.
WATCHKEEPER INTEROPERABILITY: The Boeing Co.'s role in the United Kingdom's Watchkeeper unmanned aerial vehicle program is becoming clearer. A company source says Boeing will be charged with ensuring that the UAV, which the British army will use for reconnaissance, will be interoperable with the U.S. military, particularly ground forces. It has not yet been determined whether Boeing's work will be limited to studies or whether the company will also produce hardware or software. In July, the U.K.
ITT Industries, Inc. of White Plains, N.Y. has been awarded a $63.7 million contract to produce and deliver Integrated Defensive Electronic Countermeasure (IDECM) Radio Frequency Countermeasure (RFCM) systems, the company said Sept. 9. The contract was awarded by the Naval Air Systems Command, Patuxent River, Md. The system will be deployed on F/A-18E/F fighter aircraft. ITT Industries' Avionics Division in Clifton, N.J., will do the work. ITT will produce systems for the Navy, support follow-on production and provide spares.
The second operational interceptor for the Ground-based Midcourse Defense (GMD) system was installed at Fort Greely, Alaska, late last week and will be joined by the third one "probably within the next 10 days or so," a Missile Defense Agency spokesman said Sept. 9. The first interceptor, Initial Defensive Capability 1 (IDC-1), was installed in an underground silo July 22 (DAILY, July 26). The second interceptor, IDC-2, was placed in the ground Sept. 4.
The Republic of Korea wants to buy depot maintenance support, services and equipment worth up to $70 million from L-3 Communications Integrated Systems of Greenville, Texas, the Defense Security Cooperation Agency (DSCA) said. The DSCA informed Congress of the possible foreign military sale on Sept. 7. The Korean government has asked for continuing technical services training, contractor maintenance and depot maintenance support for Peace Pioneer program equipment, spare and repair parts and other logistics support, the DSCA said.
Incoming rocket-propelled grenades (RPGs) were intercepted and destroyed during testing of United Defense Industries' Close-In Counter Measure (CICM) active protection system, the Santa Clara, Calif.-based company said Sept. 8. The system detected the RPGs after they were launched, tracked them, initiated countermeasures and defeated the weapons, the company said. The testing took place at the U.S. Army's Redstone Technical Test Center at Redstone Arsenal, Ala.
