Sen. Robert Byrd (D-W.Va.) has proposed an amendment to the fiscal year 2005 Department of Defense authorization bill that would ban government contractors from hiring high-ranking federal officials overseeing procurement programs for two years after those employees leave their posts. The amendment would temporarily prohibit some presidential appointees, senior executives, people who served in the executive branch above grade GS-12 and commissioned military officers from taking positions with companies that do business with the federal government.
BALTIMORE, Md. - The U.S. Army's plans for a new Light Utility Helicopter (LUH) are moving significantly closer toward becoming a reality, a program official said June 9. The proposed acquisition effort received the blessing of the Army Requirements Oversight Council (AROC) June 8 and is now headed to the Joint Requirements Oversight Council (JROC) for its review, said Matt Rainey, the Army's acting deputy program manager for utility helicopters. In October, the Army hopes to release a request for proposals (RFP) for the LUH.
General Dynamics will acquire TriPoint Global Communications Inc., a privately held company that provides ground-based and satellite communications equipment, the company said June 9. Terms of the deal were not disclosed. The boards of directors of both companies have approved the deal, which is expected to close in the third quarter of this year, General Dynamics said.
Lehman Brothers this week gave Boeing Co. a vote of confidence, saying investment firm analysts believe the aircraft manufacturer will regain its share losses to Airbus, although company stock still carries significant risks. Lehman Brothers aerospace analyst Joseph F. Campbell said the firm has been pessimistic about Boeing's 767 civil and 767 military tanker programs, and is "particularly pessimistic" about the 767 tanker lease-buy deal with the U.S. Air Force, which is on hold pending reviews (DAILY, May 26).
General Dynamics Armament and Technical Products (GDATP), which has been equipping Army Bradley fighting vehicles with reactive armor since 1999, has opened a new facility in Mississippi to manufacture its latest version. "This new-generation reactive armor offers a substantial increase in protection levels for troops and equipment against all shoulder-fired weapons, and most tube-launched, shaped-charge systems," GDATP said.
The expendable launch vehicle (ELV) industry is emerging from a sluggish market and probably will experience a near-term resurgence, says a June 8 Forecast International (FI) report. Launch industry revenues rose more than 60 percent in one year, from $3.7 billion in 2002 to more than $5.5 billion in 2003. In 2003, 17 new commercial geosynchronous communications satellites were ordered, compared with only three in 2002.
NASA is trying to strengthen the boom being developed to inspect the space shuttle in orbit to ensure it can handle the structural loads anticipated during flight, according to Michael Kostelnik, deputy associate administrator for the International Space Station (ISS) and space shuttle programs.
PARABOLIC FLIGHTS: A new European Space Agency campaign of parabolic aircraft flights, which give researchers temporary access to weightlessness, is underway in Bordeaux, France, ESA said. A modified Airbus A300 began the first of three consecutive flight days June 8, according to ESA. Ten experiments, some of which are slated for the International Space Station, will be part of ESA's 37th parabolic flight campaign. The flights give researchers a total of 10 minutes of weightlessness each day. The campaign is the second one this year, with a third scheduled for October.
BALTIMORE, Md. - The U.S. Marine Corps hopes to receive Pentagon approval by December to develop a successor to its aging CH-53E Super Stallion helicopter, an official said June 9. The Marines would like to replace the shipboard, heavy-lift Super Stallion with the CH-53X, a "new-build derivative" of the CH-53E, said Marine Corps Col. Paul Croisetiere, who manages H-53 programs for the Marines and Navy. A recent analysis of alternatives recommended the new aircraft (DAILY, June 9).
SUBSYSTEMS: DRS Technologies will provide airborne instrumentation subsystems to Cubic Defense Applications for use in the U.S. Air Force's P5 Combat Training System and Tactical Combat Training System program, the company said June 9. The work is potentially valued at more than $525 million over 10 years, the company said. The training program is intended to replace existing training instrumentation on U.S. Air Force, Navy, Marine Corps and Air National Guard aircraft at more than 25 sites.
LAUNCH SCHEDULE: International Launch Services (ILS) plans to launch the Intelsat 10-02 satellite on June 15 from Baikonur Cosmodrome, Kazakhstan, ILS said June 9. The satellite, built by EADS Astrium of France, is intended to provide video, networking, voice and Internet services across Europe, Africa, the Middle East, South America and parts of Asia and North America. It carries 36 Ku-band and 70 C-band transponders and will be the most powerful satellite in Intelsat's fleet, ILS said.
ABB, Norwalk, Conn. Dinesh C. Paliwal, a group executive, has been elected to the board of directors of the U.S.-India Business Council. ACSS, Phoenix Kris Ganase has been named president. AEROSONIC, Clearwater, Fla. Thomas E. Whytas, the chief financial officer and finance director for CAE USA Inc., has been elected to the board of directors. AMSEC, Virginia Beach, Va.
MOSCOW - Russia seems ready to continue its cooperation with the Ukrainian aerospace industry despite years of seeking distance from it. Anatoly Perminov, the head of Russia's new Federal Space Agency, inspected the facilities of the Ukrainian-built Zenit launcher during a tour of Baikonur Cosmodrone in Kazakhstan last week.
A public administration panel has made recommendations aimed at improving the embattled Manufacturing Extension Program (MEP), which the White House has targeted for budget cuts. The National Academy of Public Administration (NAPA) said in a report released earlier this week that the MEP program could help create an infrastructure for supporting small manufacturing firms as the U.S. economy undergoes enormous economic transition.
The General Accounting Office has written a harshly worded critique of the recent competition for the Precision Guided Mortar Munition (PGMM), saying the U.S. Army knowingly misinformed the losing bidder and improperly credited the winner for technology that was not formally proposed.
Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) has introduced an amendment to the fiscal year 2005 defense authorization bill that would bar the U.S. Defense Department from leasing Boeing 767 aircraft, along with other amendments that would set requirements for the U.S. Air Force's procurement of aerial tankers.
Operation Iraqi Freedom is straining the Marine Corps' helicopter fleet, Lt. Gen. Robert Magnus, the service's deputy commandant for programs and resources, said June 8. "We are about topped out on Marine aviation - for tactical helicopters and heavy lift helicopters. OIF is putting stress on aviation planning for next spring," Magnus told reporters at a Defense Writers Group breakfast. "The nation hasn't been in a prolonged combat like this since Vietnam. We don't have enough rotary wing for prolonged combat."
UGS, a Texas-based product lifecycle management (PLM) software and services company, whose products are used by the aerospace and defense industry, is acquiring D-Cubed Ltd., a Cambridge, England-based supplier of embedded technology used by computer-aided design (CAD) application developers, UGS announced June 8. Terms of the deal were not disclosed. The transaction is expected to close within 45 days.
On June 18, NASA plans to release an announcement of opportunity (AO) to solicit proposals from industry for the science instruments to be carried on the agency's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO), which is scheduled to launch in 2008 as a prelude to human landings. The LRO would map the lunar surface in unprecedented detail and gather information about natural resources such as possible ice deposits (DAILY, Feb. 5).
Lockheed Martin said it has delivered to the U.S. Army a tethered aerostat that will be used beginning this summer to monitor the area around Baghdad. "The aerostat, equipped with various sensors, will provide a persistent surveillance capability in the defense of ground forces and high-value assets," Lockheed Martin said June 8. It said the Army will test the system at Yuma Proving Grounds in Arizona before transporting it to Iraq.
The U.S. government has created a standard set of information about the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter to present to potential foreign buyers, according to an American defense official. The briefing package is intended to ensure possible purchasers of JSF receive accurate, consistent information about the stealthy aircraft, said Air Force Lt. Gen. Tome Walters, the head of the Defense Security Cooperation Agency (DSCA), which oversees U.S. foreign military sales.
The U.S. Air Force is moving ahead with the Rapid Attack Identification, Detection and Reporting System (RAIDRS), a program to help it detect hostile interference with satellites. A pre-solicitation conference for Spiral 1 of is planned for July 20-22 at Aerospace Corp. in El Segundo, Calif., according to a June 8 FedBizOpps notice.
