Boeing Co., Lockheed Martin Corp. and Raytheon Co. formally have entered the competition to develop and build the Joint Common Missile (JCM). The three firms, which have been conducting system definition and risk reduction for the program, submitted proposals by the deadline of late Nov. 17 (DAILY, Oct. 7), company spokespersons said Nov. 18. The selection of a prime contractor is expected in March 2004 and will launch a system development and demonstration (SDD) phase that is to last about four years.
UFO ARRIVES: The U.S. Navy's UHF Follow-On (UFO) F11 satellite has arrived at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Fla., where it will undergo final launch preparations for its December launch, satellite building Boeing Satellite Systems said Nov. 18.
The FAA's Joint Planning Office is slated to brief government officials in Washington Nov. 20 on the Access Five plan, which envisions routine operations of unmanned aerial vehicles in the national airspace system in about five years, industry and government officials said Nov. 17. Frasier Jones, an FAA spokesman, said the seminar is closed to the public.
STEREO LAUNCH: NASA has tapped Boeing's Delta Launch Services Inc. to launch the Solar Terrestrial Relations Observatory (STEREO) mission from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Fla., the aerospace agency said Nov. 14. STEREO is to include two spacecraft that will study interactions between the Earth and sun. The launch is scheduled for Nov. 15, 2005. The launch option is included under the Launch Services Contract that NASA awarded Delta Launch Services in 2000.
The cost to build and deliver the U.S. Army's Aerial Common Sensor (ACS) is expected to total around $5.9 billion, according to a senior Army official. The Defense Department is expected to release its cost estimate for the ACS program in January. It is expected to be considerably higher, said Edward Bair, program executive officer for intelligence, electronic warfare and sensors.
NEW DELHI - India will refurbish Vietnam's MiG-21 fleet under a $200 million agreement signed Nov. 17. The deal was completed at a meeting between defense officials from both countries, headed by Ajay Prasad, India's defense minister, and Lt. Gen. Nguyen Huy Hieu, Vietnam's vice defense minister. India's state-owned Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd. (HAL) competed for the contract with original aircraft builder RAC MiG of Russia, said senior defense ministry officials here.
Northrop Grumman Corp. has won a $39.4 million contract extension, plus an option for $40.5 million more, for continuing work on U.S. military early-warning satellites that detect missile and space launches and nuclear detonations, the company announced Nov. 17.
The U.S. Air Force and Navy are looking at the possibility of merging the third and fourth clusters of the Joint Tactical Radio System (JTRS) program, officials said Nov. 17.
The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) and the U.S. Air Force have chosen the contractor teams that will compete in the six-month first phase of the Force Application and Launch from the Continental U.S. (FALCON) program.
ROCKWELL NOTES: Aviation electronics and communications company Rockwell Collins will issue $200 million in long-term debt notes, the company said Nov. 17. The proceeds will go to repay outstanding commercial paper and help finance the acquisition of training and simulation company NLX.
General Dynamics Advanced Information Systems will continue work on the Common Network Interface under an $11 million contract from the U.S. Navy, the company said Nov. 14. The interface is a software package intended as an upgrade to combat systems aboard several classes of Navy combat ships, the company said. The interface receives inputs from sensors and data links, resolves inconsistencies and outputs the results to display devices and other command and control systems.
Loral Space & Communications reported losses in revenue and profit for the third quarter. Net income for the quarter, which ended Sept. 30, fell from a net loss of $57 million a year ago to a net loss of $128 million this year. Third-quarter revenues fell from $211 million a year ago to $47 million. Company officials partially attributed the loss to a reversal of an $83 million sale of the Telstar 18/Apstar V satellite. The sale was converted to a lease arrangement.
The Army is considering making Northrop Grumman's Fire Scout unmanned aerial vehicle part of the Hunter Standoff Killer Team (HSKT) advanced concept technology demonstration (ACTD), according to Col. William Gavora, commander of the Army's Aviation Applied Technology Directorate (AATD) at Fort Eustis, Va.
DRS Technologies Inc. has received an $8.5 million contract from the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) to develop and demonstrate new technology to improve day and night infrared sensing of targets, the company announced last week. The contract, plus options, supports the Adaptive Focal Plane Array (AFPA) program establish by DARPA's Microsystems Technology Office (MTO). The Parsippany, N.J., firm will perform the first phase of the program and be eligible for the second and third phases as well, the company said.
The U.S. Air Force has begun looking at the possibility of assigning a "long-dwell asset" the responsibility of tracking friendly forces on the battlefield, a service official said Nov. 17 at a conference on intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR).
WYNNE NOMINATION: Michael Wynne, the acting undersecretary of defense for acquisition, technology and logistics, is slated to testify before the Senate Armed Services Committee Nov. 18 to discuss his nomination by President Bush to take the job permanently. Wynne has filled the position on an interim basis since Undersecretary E.C. "Pete" Aldridge Jr. retired in May.
Nov. 16 - 21 -- 2003 ASME International Mechanical Engineering Congress, Marriott Wardman Park & Omni Shoreham Hotels, Washington, D.C. Contact John Varrasi at (212) 591-8158, email [email protected] or go to www.asme.org. Nov. 16 - 21 -- Defense Research and Engineering Conference and Exposition (DREX), Marriott Wardman Park & Omni Shoreham Hotels, Washington, D.C. Contact John Varrasi at (212) 591-8158, email [email protected] or go to www.asme.org.
KC-135E RETIREMENT: The fiscal 2004 defense authorization conference report, newly approved by Congress, will prevent the U.S. Air Force from retiring more than 12 KC-135E tankers in FY '04. The Air Force has been planning to phase out 68 KC-135Es by the end of FY '06, including 44 in FY '04 (DAILY, July 25). But lawmakers say that while some of the aging aircraft may be difficult to maintain, large numbers should not be retired until an overall approach to modernizing the Air Force's aerial refueling fleet is better understood.
ARMY HEARING: The Senate Armed Services Committee has rescheduled a hearing on current Army issues for Nov. 19. Acting Army Secretary Les Brownlee and Army Chief of Staff Gen. Peter Schoomaker are to testify. The hearing had been slated for Nov. 13 but was postponed when the Senate launched a marathon debate on judicial nominations (DAILY, Nov. 10).
Even if the U.S. Army equips all its helicopters in Iraq and Afghanistan with the most modern missile defense equipment, as demanded by the service's top civilian official, they still will be vulnerable to weapons like the rocket propelled grenade, industry officials say. A heat-seeking missile apparently downed a CH-47 Chinook in Iraq on Nov. 2, killing 16. A rocket propelled grenade, or RPG, is thought to have hit a UH-60 Black Hawk in Iraq on Nov. 7, killing six.
