The U.S. Navy, which is being assigned more tasks despite significant constraints on the resources needed to accomplish them, is mounting a major drive to integrate its resources into networks. "If we had one more dollar to spend on meeting naval warfare requirements, we would spend it first on networks," VADM Dennis V. McGinn said at an April 10 Navy League meeting in Washington. "Because networks allow the existing nodes of naval capability - whether they are ships, airplanes, submarines or weapons - to be tied to one another."
The Deepwater Project, the U.S. Coast Guard's bold plan to restock and upgrade its complete inventory of technologies, ships and aircraft got its first major budget endorsement this week by the Bush Administration. The fiscal 2002 budget proposal issued by the White House on April 9 would award the Coast Guard $338 million in seed money to jumpstart the development phase of Deepwater, which some analysts estimate will cost $15 billion over 20 years.
These are budget figures, in millions of dollars, for the Dept. of Defense from the Bush Administration's Fiscal Year 2002 budget, which was submitted to Congress on April 9. However, the budget notes that a military spending review is underway.
House Science Committee Chairman Sherwood Boehlert (R-N.Y.) believes the aerospace industry "has some legitimate concerns" about a proposed federal rule on space launch safety, but he is still reviewing the matter, the congressman told The DAILY through a spokesman April 10. "We are still reviewing what the most effective way is of promoting safety and estimate that this will take some time, perhaps even into the summer," Boehlert said.
Contractor MATRA BAe Dynamics (MBD) must rectify shortfalls in the U.K.'s new Advanced Short-Range Air-to-Air Missile to achieve the capability needed by the Royal Air Force, United Kingdom Defence Procurement Minister Baroness Elizabeth Symons said April 10. According to the Ministry of Defence, the contractors have not yet delivered the performance standards specified when ASRAAM was ordered in 1992. The MoD has now made it clear it will take delivery of missiles only when it can be shown that an acceptable standard can be met.
THE BOEING CO. announced it has signed a five-year lease with developer Opus Northwest for 157,540 square feet of new office space at Eastpointe Corporate Center in Issaquah, Wash. Boeing Airplane Services will occupy the building, the company said.
Alliant Techsystems (ATK) has been awarded a $1.2 million contract from Thales Air Defense, of Bagneux, France, to produce launch pod containers for the Crotale NG (next generation) air defense system, the company announced April 10. Deliveries under the contract will continue through April 2002. The Crotale NG is an all-weather, short-range air defense system effective against air threats such as fixed-wing aircraft, attack helicopters, cruise missiles, tactical missiles and stand-off weapons released from aircraft and helicopters.
The Aerospace Industries Association is "not pleased" with the Bush Administration's proposal to increase NASA's budget in fiscal 2002 by less than the inflation rate, according to Christopher Lombardi, AIA's manager of international affairs. The Administration, which released its proposed budget April 9, wants to increase NASA spending by 1.8%, which is effectively a cut because the inflation rate is projected at 2.6%, Lombardi told The DAILY April 10. Rep. Boehlert's welcomes space station goals
Alexander Medvedev, the new head of the Khrunichev State Research and Production Space Center, said the recent successful launch of the new Proton M booster means the center can shift away from using the Block D upper stage provided by RSC Energia and can shift to using its own design, the new Breeze M upper stage. The Proton M launched on April 7, carrying an Ekran-M satellite for the Russian government (DAILY, April 10).
The remanufacture of the U.S. Marine Corps' AH-1W attack and UH-1N light utility helicopters is on schedule, according to program officials, although the program has experienced a non-recurring cost increase between $100 million and $150 million.
AEROTELUB of Sweden, DANISH AEROTECH of Denmark and ASTEC HELICOPTER SERVICES of Norway have formed a joint venture to develop an international logistics support organization for defense helicopters, the companies announced April 10.
Raytheon plans to raise some quick cash by selling a majority stake of its aviation support business to Veritas Capital Inc. for $270 million, including $153 million cash, Aerospace Daily affiliate AviationNow.com reported. Under the deal announced late last week, New York-based investment firm Veritas will buy a 70% ownership of the Raytheon Aerospace Company, a subsidiary of Raytheon's $3.2 billion aircraft unit. Raytheon would keep a 30% interest in the Madison, Miss.-based subsidiary.
U.S. aerospace companies, especially Boeing Co. and its suppliers, could suffer if Beijing and Washington don't resolve their dispute over an American Navy EP-3E reconnaissance plane that made an emergency landing in China April 1, aerospace experts said April 10.
A planned budget boost for NASA's Mars program will help the space agency map out its revamped series of exploration missions, the head of the program said April 10. The Bush Administration's fiscal 2002 NASA budget contains about $430 million for the program, slightly larger than this year's budget, but program director Scott Hubbard said that curve is expected to rise to around $600 million a year in the near future and eventually will total around half a billion in extra money.
An article in The DAILY of April 10 misstated how NASA will treat congressionally earmarked programs. NASA has not requested any funds in its fiscal year 2002 budget to continue funding for congressional earmarks included by Congress in the fiscal year 2001 Appropriations Act. NASA said this action is consistent with the direction it has been given by the Bush Administration.
The Bush Administration must give space and satellite technology a much higher priority if the United States is to remain a strong military power, according to current and former military leaders. Speakers at the 17th National Space Symposium said Tuesday that the nation is becoming more vulnerable even as it increases its dependence on space systems, Aerospace Daily affiliate AviationNow.com reported.
Pratt&Whitney Space Propulsion operations plans to begin development of a full-scale engine demonstrator for a next-generation rocket engine, the RL60, that would be the same size as the company's current upper-stage booster but would pack more punch. "The RL60 will be the highest performing upper-stage engine in the world," said Robert Bullock, the project manager for the program. The company had announced a similar high-thrust engine, called the RL50, two years ago (June 16, 1999), but Bullock said the new engine supersedes that.
NORTHROP GRUMMAN received a $23.6 million U.S. Navy contract to build 78 BQM-74E aerial targets, which emulate anti-ship cruise missiles or enemy fighters.
McDonnell Douglas Corp., St. Louis, Mo., a wholly owned subsidiary of the Boeing Co., is being awarded a $5,560,000 delivery order under a basic ordering agreement for repair support of various systems at the Avionics Repair Facilities at Naval Air Station Lemoore and Naval Air Station Cecil Field. Avionic systems repaired at these sites include APG-65 radar, heads up display, and forward looking infrared radars. Work will be performed in Lemoore, Calif. (50%) and Cecil Field, Fla. (50%), and is expected to be completed by October 2001.
The U.S. Air Force has awarded a 10-year, $601 million contract to GE Aircraft Engines to provide hardware upgrade kits for 1,202 J85-5 engines powering the USAF fleet of 509 T-38 "Talon" supersonic jet trainers. The upgrade kits are being produced at GE's Lynn, Mass., engine production facility, where the J85 engine was first developed more than four decades ago. Delivery of the kits is scheduled to begin later this year.
McDonnell Douglas Training Systems, St. Louis, Mo., is being awarded a $47,150,000 firm-fixed-price contract to provide for six Distributive Mission Training Systems I support of the F-15 aircraft, associated spares, and contractor operator maintenance instructor support for one year. The work is expected to be completed June 2005. Solicitation began January 2001; negotiations were completed March 2001. This effort supports foreign military sales to Saudi Arabia. Aeronautical Systems Center, Wright-Patterson AFB, Ohio, is the contracting activity (F33657-00/C-0041).
The U.S. Marine Corps has awarded Raytheon Co. a $9.5 million contract to develop and produce two representative launchers for the Complementary Low Altitude Weapon Systems (CLAWS), the company announced April 9. The two production representative CLAWS launchers produced during the 24-month program are intended to validate performance and integration requirements.
Northrop Grumman Corp.'s Electronic Sensors and Systems Sector has delivered the first qualification focal plane assembly (FPA) for integration in the U.S. Air Force's Space-Based Infrared Systems-high (SBIRS-high) program, the company announced April 9. The FPA is the primary infrared sensor for the SBIRS-high system, and is the key component that will allow SBIRS-high to detect and track missile launches around the world, the company said.
President Bush intends to nominate Douglas Jay Feith to be under secretary of defense for policy, the White House announced April 6. He is currently the managing attorney with Feith and Zell, P.C., in Washington, D.C. Feith served from 1984 to 1986 as deputy assistant secretary of defense for negotiations policy and was special counsel to Assistant Secretary of Defense Richard Perle from 1982 to 1984. Feith is a graduate of Harvard College and Georgetown University Law Center.
