Atlantis Systems International, of Brampton, Ontario, has signed a technology licensing agreement with the Canadian Department of National Defence to sell products based on helicopter deck landing simulator technology.
The U.S. Air Force has assigned a second Defense Satellite Communications System satellite to a Boeing Delta IV rocket, the Boeing Co. announced June 25. The DSCS III A3 satellite will be deployed by a Delta IV Medium expendable booster, scheduled for launch in the second quarter of 2003 from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Fla. The Air Force Space Command operates 10 Phase III DSCS satellites, which provide defense officials and battlefield commanders secure voice and high-rate data communications.
Joint Strike Fighter demonstration aircraft of both competitors are preparing to vault new hurdles after advancing in their STOVL flight testing. The Lockheed Martin-led team's X-35B demonstrator took off vertically from a Palmdale, Calif., hover pit June 25, sustained a hover for "about two minutes," and landed, the company announced. During the flight, the pilot executed pitch, yaw, roll and down-and-up maneuvers, company spokesman Jim Saye said.
Harris Corp. of Melbourne, Fla., will provide the Ka-band spot antennas for the Department of Defense's Wideband Gapfiller Satellite (WGS) program, according to the company. WGS is a high-capacity satellite system, jointly funded by the U.S. Air Force and Army, to support the warfighter with newer and greater wideband communications capabilities. The WGS contract for Harris - awarded by Boeing Satellite Systems, Inc., of El Segundo, Calif. - could reach $30 million by 2006 if the government exercises options for up to six satellites.
California businessman Dennis Tito, who became the world's first space tourist earlier this year by flying to the International Space Station aboard a Russian Soyuz, will appear at a congressional hearing June 26 to discuss the potential for putting other non-professional astronauts in space.
The Bush Administration's nominee for deputy under secretary of defense for logistics and materiel readiness said June 22 that she wants to conduct a thorough review of the U.S. military's system for obtaining spare parts for weapons systems. Diane Morales, who was deputy assistant secretary of defense for logistics from 1990 to 1993, testified at her nomination hearing before the Senate Armed Services Committee that she would conduct an "end-to-end study" of the logistics system.
KAISER ELECTRONICS, a Rockwell Collins company, has been awarded the F-22 Raptor Award of Distinction by Lockheed Martin Aeronautics Co. for its performance on the F-22 program. Kaiser produces the F-22's head down displays, including the up front display and the primary and secondary multifunction displays.
Pratt&Whitney, East Hartford Conn., is being awarded a $6,153,732 firm-fixed-price contract to provide for purchasing of spare parts, 149 each fan duct, turbine for the F100-200/220E engine of the F-15/F-16 aircraft. The work is expected to be completed May 2002. At this time $6,165,964 of the funds have been obligated. There were 20 firms solicited and six proposals were received. Solicitation began February 2001; negotiations were completed March 2001. The work will be performed in El Cajon, San Diego, Calif.
The first flights and sustained hovers demonstrated here by Lockheed Martin's X-35B Joint Strike Fighter bring a new option for vertical flight, and heat up the competition with contender Boeing for the multi-billion JSF program contract. As the two companies move into the final concept demonstration phase of the JSF program, it is widely viewed that their respective Short Takeoff Vertical Landing (STOVL) solutions will carry the most weight in the contract source selection, expected Sept. 30 of this year.
Russian observers said a Swiss firm's attempt to impound two Russian aircraft at the Paris Air Show last week could cast a pall over French President Jacques Chirac's planned visit to Russia next month. During last week's show, French bailiffs tried to impound a Russian Su-30MK fighter and a MiG-AT trainer. Both planes ended up leaving the air show and flying back to Russia.
Fitch Ibca, Duff&Phelps, the international ratings agency, has upgraded Raytheon Co.'s ratings outlook from negative to stable. Fitch analysts say the upgrade reflects the company's near-record backlog and significant breadth in defense electronics, tactical missile systems, and aircraft product offerings. The rating also considers "management's commitment to improve credit quality and financial flexibility by reducing fixed costs, divesting non-core businesses and growing operating cash flow," Fitch said.
General Electric Aircraft Engines, Lynn, Mass., is being awarded a $5,096,380 priced basic ordering agreement order of for 13,774 high pressure turbine blades used on the F-404 engine in F/A-18 aircraft. Work will be performed in Lynn, Mass., and is expected completed by June 2003. Funds being used are Defense Base Operations Fund and will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. This contract was not competitively procured. The Naval Inventory Control Point, Philadelphia, Pa., is the contracting activity (N00383-00-G-0001-0155).
Senate Armed Services Committee ranking Republican John Warner (Va.) will try to add as much as $5 billion to the Bush Administration's fiscal 2002 defense budget request, a spokesman said June 25. The Administration has proposed boosting the Defense Department's budget by almost $33 billion, to $329 billion. "He would like to see as much as $5 billion more and is going to work with the White House on that," Warner's spokesman said.
ALLIANT TECHSYSTEMS (ATK) has been awarded a basic contract with options totaling a potential $11 million from McDonnell Douglas Corp., a subsidiary of the Boeing Co., to study technology concepts for a composite cryogenic fuel tank that could be used on a next-generation reusable launch vehicle (RLV) under development by NASA in the first phase of the Space Launch Initiative. SLI is a program aimed at developing technologies for a new RLV that could cut the cost of access to space.
(Editor's note: The following is excerpted testimony from the responses by Michael W. Wynne, nominated to be the Department of Defense's under secretary of defense for acquisition and technology, to written questions from the Senate Armed Services Committee. Wynne testified June 22.) Q: In your view, what are the major challenges that will confront the Deputy Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition and Technology?
L-3 COMMUNICATIONS of New York City announced its Space and Navigation division has developed a new family of low-cost, high-reliability wheels designed to stablize and control the next generation of satellites. Designated the MARS Series, the family of wheels is radiation hardened with a 15-year life expectancy, and can address both reaction wheel and momentum wheel missions. MARS qualification testing will be complete by the first quarter of 2002.
THE EUROPEAN SPACE AGENCY has awarded the largest contract in European space astronomy history for the manufacture of two ESA astronomy satellites. The contract, valued at 369 million euros ($317 million USD), went to prime contractor Alcatel Space of France. Astrium GmbH of Germany and Alenia Spazio of Italy are part of the satellite consortium.
C-130 CONVERGENCE: Robertson is working on plans to streamline the diverse C-130 fleet. "C-130 is ... getting old," he says. "We've got 20 different models scattered across eight different major commands. When you deploy C-130s you have to deploy a different maintenance package for every different model of airplane you send. And we have concluded that it's not impossible to bring those different models of airplanes together into a single model - we call it the C-130X.
INTEGRAL SYSTEMS of Lanham, Md., has been awarded a contract by Loral Skynet to provide the primary and backup control software for the Telstar 8 satellite. The contract also requires Integral to provide software responsible for autonomous operations for the planning and execution of daily ion propulsion maneuvers. Telstar 8 will be the first of Space Systems/Loral's new model 1300 series of satellites. This will be the seventh Telstar satellite operated with Integral's Epoch 2000 satellite control products.
The Bush Administration plans to send Congress a fiscal 2002 budget amendment that calls for $18.4 billion in additional defense spending, a congressional aide told The DAILY late June 22. The amount is significantly less than the $20 billion to $30 billion plus-up to the original FY '02 budget submission that many observers had expected. "It's less than the Pentagon wanted by a longshot," the aide said.
DON'T MESS WITH C-17: Gen. Charles T. Robertson, commander in chief of U.S. Transportation Command, explains why modifying the C-17 to give it more cargo room would be a mistake. "The flexibility of the C-17 is one of its greatest attributes - that is, its ability to land on short runways," Robertson says. "We can park eight C-17s on the same ramp we can park three C-5s.
An attempt by the unmanned Helios solar-powered aircraft to reach 100,000 feet, possibly by late July, will help prepare for the day when such vehicles will fly routinely in civil airspace.
The future of trans-Atlantic defense mergers appears shaky in the short term following the decision of the European Commission to block the proposed GE-Honeywell merger, several defense analysts said. Not only will U.S. defense companies be more cautious about merging with their European counterparts, but U.S. regulators may scrutinize the activities of European defense companies in the U.S. more closely than normal, some analysts said.
MARS SPRINT: Mars was closer to Earth on June 21 than it had been in a dozen years. The red planet, which will remain bright in the sky for the next couple of weeks, came within 42 million miles of Earth. However, according to NASA, the really close visit during "opposition" - when orbits put Earth between Mars and Sun - will come in August 2003. That's when Mars will be only 34.6 million miles away. That's also when NASA plans to send two rovers to Mars, each capable of exploring distances greater than the 1997 Mars Pathfinder rover, Sojourner.
FUNDING BOOST? Sen. Christopher "Kit" Bond (R-Mo.) is considering proposing an amendment to increase defense spending in the fiscal 2001 supplemental appropriations bill by up to $1.45 billion, according to a congressional aide. The $6.5 billion bill now includes $5.5 billion for defense. The additional money would be for operation and maintenance (O&M) and personnel costs, since Bond believes they are underfunded in the supplemental. It's possible some of the extra O&M money would be used to alleviate shortages of aviation spare parts, the aide says.
