BAE Systems Integrated Solutions will build Replacement Attitude Heading Reference System (R-AHRS) units for U.S. Navy HH-60 and SH-60 helicopters, the company said last week. The units give pilots attitude and heading angle information during instrument flight conditions, such as at night. The work is being done under an $18.3 million contract. The redesigned units offer improved output accuracy and system reliability, BAE Systems said. The contract calls for the company to deliver up to 60 units a month after production approval from the Navy.
The international market for radars over the next 10 years should be worth a total of $18.36 billion based on based on existing programs, according to a report from Forecast International/DMS. The top radar manufacturers today are expected to dominate the market, the report says. Those companies, which include Raytheon, Northrop Grumman, Thales, BAE Systems and Ericsson, should capture 61.3 percent of the market, or roughly $11.2 billion in contracts, according to the report, entitled "The Market for Radar Systems."
The House approved two measures late Oct. 30 that will provide billions of dollars for extra spending on defense equipment and help pave the way for new aviation development efforts at the FAA. The $87.5 billion fiscal 2004 supplemental appropriations conference report mostly is for military operations and reconstruction in Afghanistan and Iraq but contains $5.9 billion for military procurement and research and development, including hundreds of millions for the purchase of aviation, communications and radio-jamming equipment (DAILY, Oct. 31).
MOSCOW - A Russian Rockot launch vehicle delivered Japan's Space Environment Reliability Verification Integrated System (SERVIS) satellite from the Plesetsk Cosmodrome on Oct. 30, following a one-day delay due to bad weather. The satellite will test commercial electronic components in the harsh environment of space. Sergey Ivanov, the Russian defense minister, visited Plesetsk to observe the launch but the weather-related delay caused him to leave before it occurred.
The Line-of-Sight Anti-tank (LOSAT) weapon system successfully completed another test last week at White Sands Missile Range, N.M., officials with Lockheed Martin Missiles & Fire Control said Oct. 31. During the test, a LOSAT fire unit launched a kinetic-energy missile (KEM) during daylight hours at a stationary armored personnel carrier parked 720 meters (787 yards) away. The armored personnel carrier was destroyed.
FLEET RESPONSE: The U.S. Navy's Fleet Response Concept to prepare ships for rapid deployment to trouble spots could affect defense contractors differently, according to senior aerospace and defense analyst Byron Callan of Merrill Lynch. "Clearly, if fewer ships are forward deployed, then the Navy might be able to live with a smaller fleet," Callan says.
The Defense Department has indicated it plans to review the Air Force's Space Based Infrared System-High (SBIRS-High) following warnings by the General Accounting Office (GAO) that the program could experience more cost and schedule overruns. SBIRS-High, designed to replace the aging Defense Support Program (DSP) missile-detecting satellites, was restructured in 2002 after DOD discovered cost growth of about $2 billion. The launch of the first satellite was delayed from 2004 to 2006.
Although the 10-year forecast for NASA's space sciences budget looks positive, a central program could face trouble as it comes closer to reality, according to a contracting official. That program, Project Prometheus, is likely to draw opposition from some members of Congress and the public once work begins on the project, according to Steven Moran of Raytheon Co.
NH90 FACILITY: Defense contractor Patria officially opened new facilities for the final assembly of the NH90 helicopter in Jamsa, Finland, the company said Oct. 30. Work already has begun there, and Patria is to deliver 50 helicopters between 2005 and 2011, the first of which will to go the Finnish defense forces.
Boosted by strong sales of small-caliber ammunition and work on a space shuttle booster program, Alliant Techsystems (ATK) on Oct. 30 reported revenue growth of 10 percent for the company's second quarter. Second-quarter sales rose from $513 million a year ago to $566 million. Net income rose from $28.4 million a year ago to $36.6 million.
Members of a House Science Committee panel expressed support for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's imperiled Space Environment Center (SEC) at a hearing Oct. 30. Located in Boulder, Colo., the SEC monitors and forecasts space weather phenomena such as solar flares that can adversely affect spacecraft, aircraft, or ground-based electrical power and communications systems. The center is in danger of losing half its staff or possibly closing if proposed congressional spending cuts for fiscal year 2004 are signed into law (DAILY, Sept. 29).
A House-Senate panel approved a fiscal 2004 supplemental appropriations conference report late Oct. 29 that provides tens of millions of dollars above the Bush Administration's request to buy aviation, communications and radio-jamming equipment. The conference report contains $70 million to procure outer wing panels for the Navy's aging EA-6B aircraft, $15 million above the request. It also provides $15 million to buy EA-6B wing center sections, which were not funded in the request.
California-based XCOR Aerospace is expected to become the first commercial reusable launch vehicle (RLV) developer to receive a launch license from the FAA's Office of Commercial Space Transportation (AST), following FAA's assessment that the company's application is "sufficiently complete."
Rockwell Collins' win of the Defense Advanced GPS Receiver (DAGR) production program, worth at least $238 million over the next eight years (DAILY, Oct. 30), is "huge," said Rick Tomy, the company's manager of surface military programs. "In the navigation business, which is what I'm responsible for" at Rockwell Collins, "this is kind of it," Tomy said in a telephone interview. "It's the contract for hand-held military GPS."
PRAGUE - Slovakia and the Czech Republic are unlikely to make a decision on the implementation of the "Common Sky" concept in airspace protection before next spring, according to a senior Slovak defense official.
The FAA plans to decide by the end of November whether to proceed with a full deployment of Raytheon's Standard Terminal Automation Replacement System (STARS) or pursue an alternative, such as a combination of STARS and Lockheed Martin's Common Automated Radar Terminal System (Common ARTS), agency officials said Oct. 30.
Lockheed Martin will provide information technology services to the Centers for Disease Control under a seven-year contract that could be worth up to $465 million, the company said Oct. 30. Lockheed Martin Information Technology will develop applications and support information technology work for the CDC and the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry, the company said.
Naval Air Systems Command (NAVAIR) plans to upgrade 100 UH-1N Huey and 180 AH-1W Super Cobra helicopters to the UH-1Y and AH-1Z configuration by 2014. The helicopters will be upgraded with common drive trains, new rotor heads and avionics and other equipment (DAILY, Oct. 27). The Pentagon's Defense Acquisition Board approved low-rate initial production for the upgrade program on Oct. 23.
Orbital Sciences Corp. will provide two Pegasus launch vehicles and two Taurus launchers to NASA for scientific satellite missions scheduled to be launched from 2006 to 2008, the company said Oct. 30. The Pegasus vehicles will be used to launch satellites for NASA's Space Technology-8 and Small Explorer-10 missions.
NEW DELHI - India conducted a successful flight test of the supersonic cruise missile BrahMos at a range in eastern India Oct. 29. Defense ministry officials here said the test, the missile's fourth, was conducted from a static launcher and BrahMos successfully achieved a maximum range of 290 kilometers (180 miles) and fulfilled all its mission objectives.
NASA Administrator Sean O'Keefe defended the Orbital Space Plane (OSP) program at a Senate hearing Oct. 29, saying NASA has made "absolutely no commitments" to build the vehicle but is engaged in "preparations" to build it if the nation's leaders decide such a program is needed.
