Atlas Order: Intelsat has agreed to purchase an Atlas V rocket for the launch of a future satellite, International Launch Services (ILS) said May 11. The Atlas V launch order is the third this year from ILS, a joint venture of Lockheed Martin, which builds the Atlas rocket, and Khrunichev State Research and Production Space Center of Russia, which builds the Proton. Terms of the deal were not released.
GENERAL DYNAMICS LAND SYSTEMS-CANADA will provide a range of support, including technical support and fleet management, for the Canadian Forces' Wheeled Light Armored Vehicles, the company said. The work will be done under a $164 million contract. "This contract is an important step in the growth of our customer-support services and our ability to provide cost-effective life cycle support for our products," John Ulrich, senior vice president of General Dynamics Land Systems-Canada, said in a statement.
Boeing's new composite rotor blades for the Army's AH-64D Apache attack helicopter could begin qualification testing as early as this year as part of the program's Block III upgrade program, according to Larry Plaster, Boeing's manager of Apache modernization programs. The new blades completed initial flight testing in February at Boeing's rotorcraft facility in Mesa, Ariz. (DAILY, May 11). The flights capped four years of development by Boeing and the Army under the Affordable Apache Rotor Program (AARP).
GE MARINE'S LM2500 gas turbine engines will make up the power plant for the Japanese Maritime Self-Defense Force's 15DDG AEGIS destroyer, GE announced May 6. Ishikawajima-Harima Heavy Industries Co. Ltd. (IHI) will place the engines in the propulsion modules it is producing for Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Ltd., which will build the ship in its Nagasaki shipyard. IHI will assemble and test the propulsion modules at its plans in Mizuho and Kure, Japan. The engines will be manufactured at GE's plant in Evendale, Ohio.
Rep. Loretta Sanchez (D-Calif.) wants the Department of Defense to report to Congress on the effect of the Near Field Infrared Sensor Program (NFIRE) and on space weaponization. Sanchez has been leading a charge on the House Armed Services Committee to spur debate on what she views as costly technology that could ultimately harm the nation's relationship with the international community.
The first Eurofighter Typhoon production aircraft are now in service with the German air force, one of the program's industry partners announced May 10. So far, the German Luftwaffe has received a total of eight twin-seat Typhoons, seven of which are now with a fighter wing in the northern part of the country, according to the European Aeronautic and Defense Space Co. (EADS), which owns almost half of the industry consortium that is developing and producing the next-generation fighter aircraft.
The Boeing Co. has completed testing of a new composite rotor blade for the AH-64D Apache Longbow helicopter, the company announced May 10. Recent flight tests at Boeing's rotorcraft facility in Mesa, Ariz., cap four years of development by Boeing and the Army under the Affordable Apache Rotor Program (AARP), according to the company. The tests demonstrated that the blade meets the program's cost reduction target and will be stronger and longer lasting than current blades, according to Boeing.
Service contractors for naval surface warfare centers (NSWC) will benefit from the Naval Sea Systems Command's (NAVSEA) new SeaPort-Enhanced (SeaPort-e) electronic contracting program, said Capt. Rich Sweeney, NAVSEA commander.
NEW DELHI -- VirTra Systems of Arlington, Texas, has received its first purchase order for a 360-degree situational awareness and judgmental use-of-force firearms training system, the IVR-300 HD, from India's Nikunj Eximp Enterprises. A north Indian state police training center will use the system to train police officers on situational awareness, judgmental use-of-force, and marksmanship.
Executives from ArianeSpace and EADS Space Transportation (EST) have signed a contract for EST to provide ArianeSpace with 30 Ariane 5 launchers. ArianeSpace CEO Jean-Yves Le Gall, EADS Space Transportation CEO HervÈ Guillou and President Josef Kind signed the contract at the Berlin Air Show on May 10.
The Tethered Aerostat Radar System (TARS), which has been "critical" to efforts to intercept drug traffickers along the U.S.-Mexico border, could have other applications in protecting the United States, according to a unit of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). "The system could be modified to provide surveillance of maritime targets in coastal regions and limited land targets, capabilities that are not currently being employed," DHS's Office of Air and Marine Operations (AMO) wrote in a recent report to Congress.
ACSW: General Dynamics has received a contract with a total potential value of $94.8 million from the Army for the system development and demonstration (SDD) of the XM307 Advanced Crew Served Weapon (ACSW) system. The ACSW is a next-generation mounted and dismounted 25mm machine gun. The contract funds work through 2007.
Space Imaging of Denver, Colo., has agreed to supply a ground station to the Satellite Center for Regional Operations (SCOR), a commercial arm of the Polish Government, the company announced May 7.
Lockheed Martin and Day & Zimmermann have formed a new joint venture called Defense Support Services LLC (DS2), to provide responsive field services to the government, Lockheed Martin announced May 7. DS2 is scheduled to be operational in July. Larry Ames, the current president of Day & Zimmermann Services, will lead the new company.
A U.S.-owned Czech vehicle producer, Tatra, is to supply nearly 1,000 off-road transport vehicles to the Czech military in a two-phase process over the next decade. The strategic order, which did not require a public tender, was approved by the government last week on the recommendation of the Czech ministry of defense. Under the deal, Tatra, which is 70.51 percent owned by Terex Corp., a vehicle manufacturer based in Westport, Conn., will supply a range of middle-sized 6x6 vehicles suitable for carrying troops or cargo.
A recent Defense Science Board study recommends that the Department of Defense (DOD) accelerate the procurement of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) and unmanned combat aerial vehicles (UCAVs) and make them an "integral part of the force structure" rather than a supplementary asset. "There is no longer any question of the technical viability and operational utility of UAVs," the report says. "The Task Force feels it is time for DOD and the services to move forward and make UAVs and UCAVs an integral part of the force structure, not an 'additional asset.'"
EADS Space Transportation is calling the first fully automatic flight of its Phoenix space shuttle prototype a huge success. The Phoenix landed at a test airfield in Vidsel, Sweden, on May 8 after it was towed to a height of 2,400 meters (1.5 miles) and released. The shuttle was released at a speed of 144 kilometers per hour (89 mph) and reached a top speed of 450 kilometers per hour (280 mph), the company said. EADS is the lead contractor for five other companies on the project for the German federal government and the state government of Bremen.
EXTENDED: The deadline for Intelsat's initial public offering (IPO) will be extended to June 30, 2005, according to the company. The extension is enabled by an amendment to the Open-Market Reorganization for the Betterment of International Telecommunications Act, which was passed by the Senate in April and by the House on May 5. A further extension to Dec. 30, 2005 is possible with the permission of the Federal Communications Commission. The bill will become law when signed by President Bush.
The Senate Armed Services Committee voted May 7 to authorize $422.2 billion in budget authority for defense programs in fiscal 2005 as the full panel and its subcommittees ended a week of closed-door markup sessions. That figure is $20.5 billion above President Bush's $401.7 billion request for the Department of Defense budget authorization, a 3.4 percent overall increase for defense over the previous year.
JTRS DELAY: The selection of a prime contractor for Cluster 5 of the Joint Tactical Radio System (JTRS) has been pushed back from May until about mid-June, sources tell The DAILY. The delay is attributed to fine-tuning that the U.S. Army-led program office is doing to its program plan. General Dynamics and ITT Industries are leading competing teams for Cluster 5, which will provide manpack and handheld radios, as well as radios used with munitions and small unmanned aerial vehicles.
OVERSHADOWED: Iraq has been transformed, largely for the good, although the intensity of recent fighting has overshadowed progress, says Douglas Feith, the Defense Department's undersecretary of defense for policy. "The Hussein regime is gone and is not coming back. The Iraqi economy is recovering slowly after ruinous results of decades that impeded progress," Feith says.
COAST GUARD FUNDING: The House and Senate are expected to begin conferring on the U.S. Coast Guard authorization proposals sometime this week. The bills would provide a substantial funding increase over the president's budget request for fiscal 2005. The Bush Administration is seeking $7.5 billion for the Coast Guard in fiscal 2005, up 8 percent over the previous year.
CHINOOKS: Boeing delivered the first MH-47G Special Operations Chinook helicopter to Army Special Operations Command (SOCOM) May 6. The company plans to produce at least 37 new MH-47Gs and to remanufacture another 58 Chinooks into G-models by 2011.
NNSA BUDGET BOOST: The House Armed Services Committee's Strategic Forces subcommittee version of the Defense Authorization Bill adds $50 million to the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) fiscal 2005 budget request for infrastructure upgrades. The bill is expected to go to the full committee on May 12. The Bush Administration is seeking $9 million for the NNSA in FY '05, up from $8.6 million in fiscal 2004.
