The start of a key testing phase for the F/A-22 Raptor was delayed about a month to allow more time for software testing, maintenance planning and training, an Air Force official told a Senate panel March 24. Separately, the Air Force announced it has reached a tentative deal with Lockheed Martin for the purchase of another batch of F/A-22s.
DENVER - The upcoming appointment of the director of the Defense Information Systems Agency (DISA) to head a new global network operations task force for U.S. Strategic Command should help simplify the way the government acquires capabilities for network-centric operations, according to Lt. Gen. Robert Shea, USMC. "We need to change" the way such systems are bought, said Shea, director of C4 Systems for the Joint Staff.
A quote in the Feb. 27 Aerospace Daily article headlined "Industrial base decline is cause for concern" was incorrectly attributed. It should have been attributed to Rear Adm. Rand Fisher, director of naval space technology programs.
BAE SYSTEMS will deliver 54 additional units of its second-generation Advanced Aviation Forward Area Refueling System (AAFARS) to the U.S. Army, the company said. The work will be done under a $54 million contract from the Army's Tank-automotive and Armament Command and is the fifth production order under an eight-year contract. AAFARS is a modular, lightweight, portable combat refueling system designed for rapid refueling of forward-area military helicopters to support deep strikes.
GENERAL DYNAMICS C4 SYSTEMS will provide information assurance, systems engineering, payload and ground element support and logistics to the Boeing Co. for the U.S. Air Force's Transformational Communications MILSATCOM (TCM) program, the company said. The work has a potential value of $22.5 million. Boeing and Lockheed Martin each were awarded roughly $470 million contracts earlier this year to begin the 27-month risk reduction and system definition phase of the program (DAILY, Jan. 20).
A Lockheed Martin-Raytheon joint venture and the U.S. Army will work out a design review and testing schedule for the Non-Line-of-Sight Launch System (NLOS-LS) over the next few months, according to representatives of the industry team. The two companies announced March 22 that their NetFires Limited Liability Co. has been awarded a $1.1 billion contract to develop NLOS-LS, formerly known as NetFires (DAILY, March 23).
NEW DELHI - A test flight of India's new 14-seat transport aircraft Saras is scheduled to occur within a month, said a scientist with the Bangalore-based National Aerospace Laboratory, which is developing the aircraft. Last-minute ground tests are underway at the Aircraft and Systems Testing Establishment at Bangalore, the scientist added. The aircraft is intended to boost the civilian aircraft industry in India, according to the government, but also will be used by the military.
KOREA AEROSPACE INDUSTRIES (KAI) and LOCKHEED MARTIN have invited Israel and United Arab Emirates to test-fly the T-50 Golden Eagle trainer later this year. The countries will be the first possible export customers to fly the aircraft. The South Korean air force is test-flying four prototypes and has been asked by KAI to host demonstration flights later this year.
A radar scatterometer that studies wind movements over oceans is again sending data, three years after the ERS-2 satellite carrying it began experiencing problems with its stabilizing gyros, the European Space Agency said.
EADS DEFENCE AND COMMUNICATIONS SYSTEMS will supply additional regimental information system (SIR) command and communication systems worth 200 million pounds ($240 million) under an order from the French armaments procurement agency. The order mainly involves the production of an additional 131 command post vehicles, 230 light SIR kits used by army captains and 35 mobile kits designed for use in a vehicle or under a field shelter, the company said.
The headquarters of NATO's Supreme Allied Commander Transformation (SACT) has contracted with Savi Technology for a pilot project using Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) technology, which will be linked with Savi's "SmartChain" platform to manage and track consignments between Europe and Afghanistan. The project, to be evaluated for possible expansion, will help determine whether NATO can leverage Savi's real-time platform and RFID technology to enhance NATO logistics collaboration, Savi said March 23. NATO offer
RAYTHEON CO. has delivered the first Improved Thermal Sight Systems for installation on U.S. Marine Corps Light Armored Vehicles. The Marines will test and evaluate the systems' performance between now and July, the company said. If the evaluations are successful, the Marines could buy as many as 416 units.
NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity has found evidence that the rocks at its landing site formed in a "shallow, salty sea," according to Associate Administrator for Space Science Ed Weiler. "This is a profound discovery," Weiler said in a press conference at NASA headquarters in Washington March 23. "It has profound implications for astrobiology, and I'd like to say if you have an interest in searching for fossils on Mars, this is the first place you want to go."
The Air Force's F/A-22 Raptor tentatively has received the go-ahead from top Pentagon acquisition officials to enter a key testing phase, though the start of that effort likely will be delayed a month or so, the Defense Department announced March 23.
RECOVERY: United Defense Industries will build three additional M88A2 Hercules tank-recovery vehicles for the U.S. Marine Corps under a $7.1 million contract from the Army's Tank-automotive and Armaments Command. Deliveries are scheduled through January 2005 for the vehicles.
The U.S. Navy announced March 23 that it is delaying the award of the prime contract for the VXX presidential helicopter program to allow competing contractors Sikorsky and Lockheed Martin-AgustaWestland to perform additional risk reduction work. "The current pace of source selection was determined not to allow for adequate dialogue to transpire between government and industry," the Navy said in a statement. "Specifically, the time allowed for dialogue on the specifications and the industry strategies needed to be extended."
The U.S. Defense Department is asking Congress for permission to reallocate $218 million in previously approved fiscal 2004 funding so the Army could buy satellite communication (SATCOM) equipment, force tracking devices and ground vehicle armor to support current military operations.
U.S. Coast Guard equipment is failing at a higher rate than when the Integrated Deepwater System recapitalization project was conceived, forcing the service to keep repairing older, legacy ships, helicopters and cutters while buying new platforms, Commandant Adm. Thomas H. Collins told senators March 23.
The U.S. Department of Defense needs a full-time top-level manager to oversee the agency's massive financial system to meet a 2007 deadline for streamlining and restructuring its accounting practices, according to the administration's top auditor. U.S. Comptroller General David M. Walker and DOD Comptroller Dov S. Zakheim told the Senate Armed Services Committee's readiness subcommittee that aggressive changes would have to be made to meet Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld's 2007 goal of transforming the agency's financial management systems.
U.S. Joint Forces Command (JFCOM)'s latest NATO/Partnership for Peace Program (PFP) exercise, Cooperative Nugget 04, is using simulation and modeling to improve the handling of information and legal, medical, and procurement issues, as well as more accurately applying NATO standards, according to U.S. Army Reserve Maj. Gen. Thomas Matthews, vice commander, Joint Warfighting Center and exercise director.
