The Senate Commerce Committee plans to consider a proposal June 19 to direct the Transportation Department to study whether new regulations are needed to govern the emerging market for suborbital reusable launch vehicles (RLVs).
LE BOURGET, France - Contractors vying to build the battle management suite aboard the E-10A Multi-sensor Command and Control Aircraft (MC2A) are pushing for a multi-intelligence fusion capability for the first production aircraft, despite U.S. Air Force fears that the technology is not available at an affordable price.
The U.S. Naval Sea Systems Command (NVSEA) has awarded Lockheed Martin Corp. a $67 million contract extension to develop and produce a new version of the Mk 41 Vertical Launch System (VLS) missile launcher. A contract option totaling $129 million in support of South Korea's KDX-III destroyer program could raise the contract's total value to $196 million.
The House Appropriations defense subcommittee approved a fiscal 2004 defense appropriations bill June 18 that provides the 22 F/A-22 Raptors requested by the Bush Administration and adds money for several programs, including the Tomahawk and Patriot Advanced Capability-3 (PAC-3) missiles, according to a congressional source. Although the subcommittee made a small cut in the funding request for the Lockheed Martin F/A-22, it believes the money still is adequate to buy the 22 Raptors the Air Force wants to procure in FY '04, the source told The DAILY.
Northrop Grumman has received a $220 million contract to enhance the integrated communications, navigation and identification (CNI) system for the Army's RAH-66 Comanche reconnaissance/attack helicopter, the company announced June 18. Under the new contract, the company's San Diego-based Radio Systems division will develop and incorporate three new communications capabilities for the Comanche's CNI avionics suite: * Enhanced Position Locating Reporting System via the Tactical Internet
LE BOURGET, France - Burt Rutan's bid to launch the first manned commercial spaceflight within one year could be delayed by the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration, he said. Rutan, who briefed reporters at the Paris Air Show here June 18, said he is fighting a move by the FAA's office of Commercial Space Transportation to license his vehicles as spacecraft.
NEW DELHI - India has asked RAC MiG, builder of the MiG-29 K naval aircraft, to meet several conditions before the aircraft is ready for use on the aircraft carrier Admiral Gorshkov, which India plans to acquire from Russia. Although the Indian government accepted RAC MiG's technical report on the MiGs' readiness for carrier use, the defense ministry asked the company to meet the following conditions: * The aircraft's radar, which has not undergone flight demonstrations, should be tested.
MOSCOW - Russian officials have announced several plans this week they said would lead to a significant restructuring of the country's orbital launch capability. According to Yuri Koptev, general director of the Russian Aviation and Space Agency, or Rosaviakosmos, Russia still considers the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan one of its most important launch sites.
AEROSONIC, Clearwater, Fla. Tom Bates has been appointed to the new position of director, business development. BOEING, Chicago Kees Blekxtoon has been named president of Boeing Northern and Western Europe, based in Amsterdam, the Netherlands. John Craig has been named to the new position of regional vice president in the Middle East, based in United Arab Emirates. EADS NORTH AMERICA, Washington, D.C. Diane Williams Murphy has been appointed vice president of communications and public relations.
A vision of being able to quickly hit fleeting targets anywhere in the world is prompting the U.S. Air Force and the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) to solicit industry for ways to make the idea a reality. The ultimate goal of the FALCON (Force Application and Launch from CONUS) program, to be met in about 2025, is development of a hypersonic cruise vehicle (HCV) that would take off from a runway and strike targets 9,000 nautical miles away in less than two hours.
The U.S. Navy has awarded a subsidiary of Italian marine engine manufacturer Isotta Fraschini a spare parts contract potentially worth more than $30 million if all options are exercised. Under the initial three-year contract, FDGM Inc. will supply spare parts for the non-magnetic, Isotta Fraschini-built engines that power the Navy's minesweepers. The contract has a minimum guaranteed annual value of $700,000 for the first three years with an annual maximum ceiling of $10 million. The contract has an option for an additional three years.
MILESTONE: Northrop Grumman has conducted 38 hot-fire tests of a hydrogen peroxide-based engine for the Missile Defense Agency's Liquid Booster target program, the company said June 18. More tests are planned through the fall and a risk-reduction flight is set for 2005, the company said.
LE BOURGET, France - The European Aeronautic Defence and Space Co. (EADS) is proposing a NATO-wide program to replace the Sikorsky CH-53 helicopter, starting in 2012, according to co-CEO Rainer Hertrich. The project for a 65,000-pound-plus helicopter, bigger than the Boeing CH-47 Chinook, would draw on EADS subsidiary Eurocopter's experience with the high-technology, multinational NH-90 and would meet the needs of the German army, U.S. Marine Corps and other NATO forces with aging heavy helicopters.
LE BOURGET, France - Eurocopter's Tiger and multirole NH-90, and military helicopters yet to be developed, will be key to company plans for maintaining strong growth rates, according to Fabrice Bregier, the firm's president and CEO. Last year, Eurocopter's sales climbed to 301 units, a 12 percent increase from 2001, he said.
LE BOURGET, France - A Eurohawk unmanned aerial vehicle prototype equipped with a non-operational electronic intelligence (ELINT) sensor will perform its first demonstration flight in October, industry officials said June 17. The first European flight of the Northrop Grumman M-Q4 Global Hawk derivative should shortly precede the release of an early solicitation by the German military, said Bob Smith, Northrop Grumman's business development director for unmanned systems. The flight had been delayed by Operation Iraqi Freedom.
LE BOURGET, France - In spite of short-term uncertainty caused by the present crisis in the commercial aviation market, "long-term expectations are good," observes Giorgio Zappa, chairman and CEO of Alenia Aeronautica. With a flexible and diversified strategy, aimed at maintaining the company's financial and economic performance while increasing its competitive level, Zappa sees the company in 2003 as achieving target performance despite unfavorable market conditions.
SES Astra awarded Lockheed Martin Commercial Space Systems a production contract for two communications satellites, the companies said June 17. Terms of the deal were not disclosed. The contract calls for the production of two A2100 geosynchronous satellites to provide direct-to-home broadcast services across Europe. SES Astra is a subsidiary of SES Global.
Seat belts for military vehicles may need to be redesigned so troops are more comfortable using them when they wear flak jackets, a defense official said June 17. Military personnel sometimes say they "don't want to wear a seat belt when they're wearing their flak jacket. It's cumbersome," said David Chu, undersecretary of defense for personnel and readiness. "But it means that you have to design the belts in the vehicles so that [people] can be belted in despite the equipment that they're wearing."
A fledgling DOD system for sharing security information with federal, state, and local law enforcement is gaining momentum across the country, according to Lt. Col. Rolf Palmer of the Defense Intelligence Agency's (DIA) Joint-Intelligence Task Force for Combating Terrorism (JITF-CT). The Joint Regional Information Exchange System (JRIES) was developed in response to the unique needs of the JITF-CT, Palmer said. Stood up shortly after the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, one of JITF-CT's missions is to provide force protection at DOD facilities.
The House Appropriations Committee has added $30 million to the U.S. Coast Guard's fiscal 2004 budget request to help keep the Eagle Eye unmanned aerial vehicle effort on track. The funding increase would pay for design, testing and evaluation work for the Bell Helicopter Eagle Eye, according to a report explaining the committee's FY '04 homeland security appropriations bill. The Coast Guard plans to acquire the surveillance UAV as part of its Deepwater aircraft, ship and communications modernization program.
LE BOURGET, France - The proposed military avionics project of Finmeccanica and BAE Systems is close to reality, according to Finmeccanica President and CEO Pier-Francesco Guarguaglini. The new joint venture, referred to as AeroSystems, will be "colossal," with annual revenues of 1.7 billion euros ($2 billion), he said.
LE BOURGET, France - The U.S. Defense Department's top weapons buyers who were barred from participating in the Paris Air Show this year may not be coming back to future events. The Pentagon plans to cut its foreign appearances by staging a significant presence every two years at only two international events - the United Kingdom's Farnborough Air Show and Singapore's Asian Aerospace event, organizers of both shows told The DAILY.
