WCMD: Lockheed Martin Missiles and Fire Control-Orlando will produce 1,677 Wind Corrected Munitions Dispenser (WCMD) tail kits under an $11 million contract from the U.S. Air Force, the Department of Defense said March 24. WCMDs are kits designed for the precision release of cluster weapons.
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.
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.
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.
SAGEM AVIONICS INC. of Paris has acquired the assets of avionics company ARNAV Systems Inc., of Puyallup, Wash. Sagem said the acquisition will complement its existing line of LCD cockpit displays, data processing and communication systems, airborne weather services and satellite phones. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.
The U.S. Navy's decision to delay the prime contract award in the VXX presidential helicopter program could threaten the jobs of former Comanche employees that Sikorsky had hoped to reassign to the VXX, according to the company. The Navy announced March 23 that it is delaying the contract award, originally expected in the spring, to allow for more risk reduction work (DAILY, March 23).
BAE SYSTEMS, Farnborough, United Kingdom Dick Olver will be appointed a non-executive director on May 17 and will succeed Sir Richard Evans as chairman on July 1. GLOBALSECURE HOLDINGS, Landover, Md. Craig R. Bandes has been named chief executive officer, succeeding C. Thomas McMillen, who has resigned as CEO and from the board of directors to pursue other opportunities. NATIONAL SPACE SOCIETY, Washington George T. Whitesides has been appointed executive director. OTPICS1, Westlake Village, Calif.
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).
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.
KAMAN AEROSPACE CORP. has been selected to supply structures and engineering work for the US101 helicopter that Lockheed Martin and AgustaWestland have proposed for the VXX presidential helicopter competition. If the team wins, Kaman would perform metallic and composite structural manufacturing work at its Jacksonville, Fla., and Wichita, Kan., facilities, and contribute engineering resources.
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.
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.
ACQUIRED: Intelsat Ltd. has completed its acquisition of the North American satellites and related customer contracts of Loral Space & Communications Corporation. The acquisition included five Telstar satellites, four already in orbit and one scheduled for launch later this year. The spacecraft have been renamed Intelsat Americas (IA) 5, 6, 7, 13, and 8. The $961.1 million purchase adds full coverage of North America to the Intelsat fleet and expands its customer base in the broadcasting, cable television and corporate networking segments, according to Intelsat.
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. 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.
