The Pentagon's Defense Acquisition Board (DAB) approved low-rate initial production (LRIP) for the Marine Corps' H-1 helicopter upgrade on Oct. 23, only a year and a half after the program was nearly canceled for a breach of the Nunn-McCurdy Act. Following the formal award of the $202 million LRIP contract to Bell Helicopter next month, the company immediately will begin remanufacturing six UH-1N Huey and three AH-1W Super Cobra helicopters to the UH-1Y and AH-1Z configuration. Production will take place at company facilities in Amarillo, Texas.
GUN MOUNTS: General Dynamics Armament and Technical Products will produce Trainable Gun Mount Systems for the conversion of four C-130H2 aircraft into AC-130U gunships, the company said Oct. 24. The work will be done under a $49 million contract from the Boeing Co.
ASSISTING TECHNOLOGY: The European Space Agency's SMART-1 lunar scout spacecraft will become the first to use gravity assists in conjunction with a solar-electric ion engine, ESA says. Gravity assists, which use planetary gravity to accelerate or brake spacecraft, first were used by NASA's Pioneer 10 in 1973 and have become a standard part of spaceflight used by all ESA interplanetary missions. SMART-1 will combine gravity assists from Earth with its ion engine, which uses electrically charged gas for propulsion.
EADS Astrium of the United Kingdom will build the Aeolus satellite for the European Space Agency, the U.K.'s Department of Trade and Industry said last week. Aeolus is intended to study the Earth's wind patterns and is due to be launched in 2007 for a three-year mission, the department said. Data from the satellite could help improve predictions of extreme weather conditions, including major storms.
Oct. 27 - 28 -- Light Armored Vehicles 2003, "Improving the Lethality, Survivability and Mobility of the Warfighter," Doubletree Hotel, Crystal City, Arlington, Va. For more information call 800-882-8684, email [email protected] or go to www.idga.org. Oct. 28 - 29 -- Nanotech Venture Fair 2003, Loews Coronado Bay Resort, Coronado, Calif. For more information call (818) 888-4444, email [email protected], or go to www.nanotechventurefair.com.
BOEHLERT ON ISS: House Science Committee Chairman Sherwood Boehlert (R-N.Y.) is "very concerned" that NASA did not tell Congress about the degradation of environmental monitors and exercise equipment onboard the International Space Station (ISS). "The Science Committee has asked repeatedly whether the grounding of the space shuttle presented any threats to the ISS crew, and we were told that it did not," Boehlert says. "Clearly, that was not the case.
GROUND EFFECT: Control problems continue to delay the first flight of the X-50A Dragonfly unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV), according to Tony Tether, director of the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA). A joint effort by DARPA and Boeing, the Dragonfly is a unique hybrid helicopter that can transition to a fixed-wing jet by stopping its rotor in flight (DAILY, Aug. 21). "When you only have one vehicle, you're very cautious," Tether says.
The Iraq war showed that the U.S. military needs to improve its missile warning capabilities and its management of electronic signals in the battlespace, according to a new assessment by the Army's 32nd Army Air and Missile Defense Command (AAMDC).
ATK Thiokol Propulsion engineers have started detailed analyses of the first test of a space shuttle solid rocket motor with five segments instead of the usual four, according to a company spokesman. The goal of the Oct. 23 static test, which apparently met or exceeded all objectives, was to push various components of the motor beyond normal limits to help engineers verify safety predictions for the four-segment motor, the company said in an Oct. 24 announcement.
NEW DELHI - As part of a move for closer defense ties, China has agreed to train Pakistani air force pilots at bases in both countries. An agreement on training was completed Oct. 23 in Beijing by Cao Gangchuan, China's defense minister, and Air Chief Marshal Kaleem Saadat, head of Pakistan's air force, who is visiting China, according to a Pakistani diplomat here. Under the agreement, China also will train Pakistani air force engineers to overhaul and maintain the jointly produced JF-17 Thunder fighter, training that will take place in China.
PANAMA CITY, Fla. - The U.S. Navy's investment in readiness paid big dividends for the United States in Operation Iraqi Freedom (OIF) and will continue to do so, according to Adm. Vernon E. Clark, chief of naval operations. Coupled with sea basing, readiness is the key to allowing U. S. forces to operate without dependence on other countries for basing and other support, he said last week at the National Defense Industrial Association's Expeditionary Warfare Conference.
Lawmakers were awaiting a proposal from the Bush Administration late Oct. 24 aimed at reaching a compromise on controversial Buy American provisions in the House fiscal 2004 defense authorization bill, congressional and industry sources said.
SUPPLEMENTAL CONFERENCE: House and Senate negotiators tentatively are scheduled to meet Oct. 28 to finish the $87 billion fiscal 2004 supplemental appropriations conference report, which would fund military operations and reconstruction in Afghanistan and Iraq. Completion of the FY '04 energy and water appropriations conference report, which could include funding for nuclear weapons development, may occur later in the week.
Lockheed Martin and Northrop Grumman say they have successfully tested mine countermeasure systems that could be adapted for use aboard the U.S. Navy's Littoral Combat Ship. Officials with Northrop Grumman's Oceanic and Naval Systems business unit said Oct. 23 that earlier this month they successfully tested the company's AN/AQS-24 mine detection system. The test was conducted from Sept. 30 to Oct. 2 in the waters off Corpus Christi, Texas, and involved the USS Scout (MCM-8), an Avenger-class minesweeper.
A key Senate panel is considering a proposal to have the U.S. Air Force lease 20 KC-767A tankers and buy 80 of the Boeing-made planes, instead of leasing all 100 aircraft as the Air Force wants to do, congressional sources said Oct. 23. Sen. John Warner (R-Va.), chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, has begun pitching the 20/80 proposal to other committee members in one-on-one meetings, a Senate source told The DAILY.
Raytheon Co. posted a $35 million loss for the third quarter on Oct. 23 due to cost growth on key defense electronics programs and changes on technical service contracts. The $35 million net loss for the quarter compares with a $147 million net profit a year ago. Net sales for the quarter totaled $4.4 billion, compared with $4.1 billion a year ago. Overall government and defense sales for the quarter increased 3 percent, from $3.6 billion a year ago to $3.7 billion.
The "dream" of developing a hypersonic vehicle that can take off from a runway and fly into space is still alive at the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), according to Director Tony Tether. This vision was embodied in the joint DARPA/NASA/Air Force effort known as the National Aerospace Plane (NASP). The X-30 NASP program was aimed at demonstrating a single-stage-to-orbit space vehicle that would take off from a runway.
Honeywell will provide network services, operations and support to NASA under two contracts that could total $1.7 billion, the company said Oct. 23. One contract, for mission operation and support to the Goddard Space Flight Center, Md., has a five-year performance period with a limited two-year extension, Honeywell said. The Earth network services contract is for five years. The mission support work includes pre-launch conceptual studies and planning for missions such as the Solar Heliospheric (SOHO) spacecraft and the Hubble Space Telescope.
PANAMA CITY, Fla. - Joint cooperation, innovation, and new technology were the keys to the success of I Marine Expeditionary Force in Operation Iraqi Freedom, according to the force's commander. Lt. Gen. James T. Conway, commander of I MEF, said Oct. 21 at the National Defense Industrial Association's Expeditionary Warfare Conference here that old and new problems and areas of concern also emerged from the operation.
ITT INDUSTRIES NIGHT VISION has been selected by Public Works and Government Services Canada for the Canadian army's Surveillance, Target Acquisition and Night Observation (STANO) program, the company said. The value of the contract, including options, training and spares, is about $16 million, and is the largest Canadian army contract awarded for night vision devices. ITT will produce and deliver more than 5,000 units of its AN/PVS-14 Monocular Night Vision Device.
Johns Hopkins University's Applied Physics Laboratory is in line for a five-year U.S. Air Force contract worth up to $10 million to support concept development of the Airborne Electronic Attack (AEA) system-of-systems and other Air Force electronic warfare projects.
Despite concerns over their ability to monitor possible health hazards in the International Space Station (ISS), NASA officials and station astronauts say they remain confident there is no immediate danger.
