A requirement for eight surveillance aircraft to be used by the Coalition Provisional Authority in Iraq has prompted a series of questions from builders of such aircraft. The planes would report on "potential threats, tampering, and malfunctions of essential infrastructure elements in divergent areas throughout Iraq," according to a FedBizOpps notice from the U.S. Army Aviation and Missile Command (AMCOM), the CPA's contracting agency.
Two House lawmakers have asked the General Accounting Office (GAO) to assess the amount of time the U.S. Coast has spent repairing aging assets, and how much of those costs fell outside its scheduled maintenance operations.
Lockheed Martin reported "very strong" first quarter results for 2004, saying net earnings were $291 million, compared with $250 million in the first quarter of 2003. Net sales were $8.3 billion, an 18 percent increase over first quarter 2003 sales of $7.1 billion, and earnings for all five business segments grew 21 percent, the company said April 27. Of the five business segments, aeronautics had the largest net sales, $2.9 billion, followed by electronic systems at $2.1 billion.
Starting this summer, the FAA's Joint Planning and Development Office (JPDO) will begin forming "action teams" of government and industry representatives to begin implementing the office's plan for America's next-generation air transportation system. "This summer we will be asking government and industry for enough people ... to populate five or six action teams [of] maybe 10 people a team," JPDO Director John Kern said at a luncheon sponsored by the Aerospace Industries Association (AIA) in Washington April 27. "So it becomes a real program this summer."
T-38 PROPULSION: CPI Aerostructures Inc. will provide an additional five shipsets of structural inlets for the T-38 Talon trainer aircraft's Propulsion Modernization Program, the company said. The $828,000 U.S. Air Force order brings the value of the company's contract to $5.7 million, the company said April 27.
Aging facilities, systems and equipment and a lack of resources for upgrades is the biggest threat to the nation's nuclear weapons program, according to Jerald S. Paul, nominated for the new position of deputy administrator of the National Nuclear Security Administration.
Lockheed Martin's Maritime Domain Awareness Center (MDAC), built to integrate C4ISR capabilities in the U.S. Coast Guard's Deepwater recapitalization program, has been operating for six months although it had a formal ribbon cutting just last week.
Industry teams competing to develop the Joint Common Missile (JCM) are awaiting an announcement on the program's fate. Acting Pentagon acquisition chief Michael Wynne led an April 22 program review that is expected to give the go-ahead for starting the system development and demonstration (SDD) phase and picking a prime contractor. But Wynne's office has not revealed a decision.
The U.S. government hopes to decide in the next year or so whether to build a third interceptor site for the Ground-based Midcourse Defense (GMD) system, according to the head of the U.S. Missile Defense Agency (MDA). Air Force Lt. Gen. Ronald Kadish, MDA's director, told the Defense Writers Group April 27 that Europe is the main area being explored for the potential third site.
U.S. Marine Corps officials are expected to decide on an armoring package for large transport trucks by the end of the week, according to Armor Systems International, which developed the Peel & Stick Armoring System for Humvees and other military vehicles. The peel and stick kits are composed of a semi-flexible composite material with a hard strike plate and adhesive sealed in a waterproof casing. The panels can be applied to any surface, the Washington state-based company said. Support
A U.S. Air Force-sponsored study of the National Aerospace Initiative (NAI) has concluded that it is worthwhile, but underfunded at current budget levels. Begun in 2001, NAI is a joint initiative by the Depart-ment of Defense and NASA aimed at advancing cutting-edge aerospace technology in the U.S. It targets advances in three "pillars" - hypersonic airbreathing flight, access to space, and space technologies. NRC report
PRAGUE, Czech Republic - Czech police are investigating the contents of a letter that questions the propriety of a deal involving Russia transferring Mi-24 and Mi-17 helicopters to the Czech Republic instead of transport aircraft as part payment of Russian debts. The allegations were made in a letter sent recently to Czech prime minister Vladimir Spidla and defense minister Miroslav Kostelka by AKM Group, a company that represents Russian aerospace company Ilyushin's civilian program in the Czech Republic.
The Integrated Deepwater Program will not provide the U.S. Coast Guard adequate assets and capabilities to fulfill demands for traditional missions and emerging responsibilities, according to a RAND Corp. study released April 26. The study concluded that the Coast Guard would need twice the number of cutters and 50 percent more aircraft to carry out its mission than it has been planning to procure over the next 20 years.
CONNEXION: Connexion by Boeing will be the high-speed Internet provider for Korean Air, the Boeing mobile communications unit said April 26. First installation of the service is scheduled for the airline's long-haul 747-400s and 777-ERs in early 2005, with service scheduled to begin shortly after that, Boeing said. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.
An interagency report weighing in on the future of the Landsat remote sensing system is expected in early May, according to a White House space policy official. Prepared by an interagency group including NASA, the U.S. Geological Survey, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and others, the report will "bound the problem [and] figure out a way forward," according to Brett Alexander, senior policy analyst at the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy.
The turbofan engine market is predicted to total 40,989 turbofan engines from 2004 and 2013, with an estimated total value of $160 billion, according to a research group market analysis. The Teal Group forecast covers turbofans built by companies in Western countries and installed on commercial and military aircraft.
Saudi Arabia may be looking to replace its Chinese CSS2 ballistic missiles, which are designed to counter Iran, according to a former Israeli defense official. Saudi Arabia has about 60 CSS2s, which have a range of 3,000 kilometers (1,864 miles) but are based on "obsolete" technology, the ex-official said April 23 at a Capitol Hill breakfast seminar sponsored by the National Defense University Foundation.
Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) officials briefed industry representatives April 26 in Arlington, Va., on the Walrus program, an effort to demonstrate the feasibility of a large lifting air vehicle that could transport a combat unit from "fort to fight" (DAILY, March 15). A draft solicitation for comments was to be issued at the session, according to an April 19 letter to interested parties from Preston H. Carter III, the DARPA program manager. He said the agency plans to release a final solicitation for Walrus on May 14.
The U.S. Navy says it plans to begin development next month of a ship-launched missile that is to provide an improved capability against aircraft and cruise missiles. The Extended Range Active Missile (ERAM), also known as the Standard Missile-6 (SM-6), is intended to defeat fixed and rotary wing aircraft, unmanned aerial vehicles and anti-ship and land attack cruise missiles at longer ranges than existing air defense weapons.
China's aggressive pursuit of new weapon systems over the past decade is starting to yield a modern force, posing growing challenges for U.S. military planners, defense analysts and former government officials said April 23.
MILITARY OPTIONS: China is accelerating its defense spending "so as to have a variety of credible military options to deter moves by Taiwan toward permanent separation, or if required, to compel by force the integration of Taiwan under mainland authority," says Richard Lawless, deputy undersecretary of defense for international security affairs in the Asia-Pacific region. Lawless testified April 22 before the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations on Chinese military reforms.
