Defense technology company DRS Technologies Inc. realigned its businesses into two operating groups in the wake of its acquisition of Integrated Defense Technologies (IDT), which was completed late last year. IDT designs and develops a range of electronics and technology products for the defense industry.
READY FOR LAUNCH: Space Systems/Loral said March 19 that it has completed the integration and testing of the MTSAT-1R satellite and has shipped it to Japan's space center in Tanegashima, where is to be launched on an H-IIA rocket. The satellite was built for the Japanese Civil Aviation Bureau and the Japanese Meteorological Agency.
EUROPEAN CONSOLIDATION: The recent announcement of General Dynamics' plan to buy Alvis-Vickers of the United Kingdom underlines that European military vehicle manufacturers must consolidate, says Ben Moores, an industry analyst at Frost & Sullivan. Alvis, the leading armored vehicle manufacturer in the U.K. and Scandinavia, complements General Dynamics' European armored vehicle business, Moores says. Acquiring Alvis gives the company the Nordic and Middle Eastern market, he says.
March 22 - 23 -- 12th Annual Conference on Quality in the Space and Defense Industries, Radisson At The Port Hotel & Conference Center, Cape Canaveral, Fla. For information contact Lester Lemay at (254) 776-3550 or go to www.asdnet.org/cqsdi. March 25 - 26 -- Aviation Week presents Defense Budget Conference, Hyatt Regency Crystal City, Arlington, Va. To register go to http://www.aviationweek.com/conferences.
The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) is satisfied with the results of its Grand Challenge unmanned ground vehicle (UGV) competition, despite the lack of a winner, according to spokeswoman Jan Walker. None of the 15 UGVs managed to complete the 142-mile course from Barstow, Calif., to Primm, Nev., with the most successful vehicle traveling about seven miles (DAILY, March 16). DARPA had planned to award $1 million to the team that completed the course in the least time, provided it took them less than 10 hours.
JSF NON-SHUFFLE: The Defense Department, which had been considering changing the order in which the three variants of the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter are designed, now plans to keep things the same: conventional takeoff and landing (CTOL) first, followed by short takeoff and vertical landing (STOVL) and then carrier variant (CV). "The plan now is that we will keep the STOVL as the second one in the queue," Navy Secretary Gordon England says in recent congressional testimony. "And it's that way because there's commonality between STOVL and the CTOL.
OPEN DISCUSSION: NASA has come a long way since the days of the Clinton Administration in its ability to openly discuss plans to send human beings beyond low-Earth orbit, according to Gary Martin, space architect for the agency. The previous Administration instructed NASA to remain focused on the space station and space shuttle, Martin says. As a result, he was forbidden to publicly show artist's conceptions of humans on other planetary surfaces. "They didn't want us to be distracted," Martin says.
Boeing's X-45A unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) is expected to perform its first inert weapon drop at Edwards, Calif., within a week, according to a Boeing spokesman. The first drop will be unguided, using a dummy Small Diameter Bomb (SDB) deployed from the aircraft's weapons bay, according to Boeing spokesman Bill Barksdale. A guided drop is expected to follow by early April.
INTEROPERABILITY: Defense industry players could help the U.S. Department of Defense become more joint by producing products that are interoperable, with open architectures, says Col. Greg Brown, commander, Joint ID Evaluation Team, Joint Forces Command (JFCOM). Brown spoke last week at the JFCOM-National Defense Industrial Association (NDIA) Industry Symposium in Portsmouth, Va. "There is a role for industry to play in the process of integration and interoperability," Brown says. "Proprietary business relationships are a big problem.
Senators return to Washington this week to resume consideration of the Department of Defense's $401.7 billion budget request for fiscal 2005, with House members so far unwilling to go along with a Senate Budget Committee effort to trim that request by $7 billion.
SED: The Air Force and the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) are developing a prototype hypersonic missile for a first flight in 2008, according to Ron Sega, director of defense research and engineering at the Pentagon. The Single Engine Demonstration (SED) program will integrate the Air Force's Hypersonic Technology (HyTech) engine with DARPA air vehicle technology. The SED missile will be powered by a hydrocarbon supersonic combustion ramjet (scramjet) and ultimately should achieve speeds of Mach 7-8, according to Sega.
HAPPY TOGETHER: Redesignating the secretary of the Navy as the secretary of the Navy and Marine Corps would help clarify the Marine Corps' status, former military leaders say. Rep. Walter Jones (R-N.C.) has pushed for such a change for years, and Rep. Duncan Hunter (R-Calif.), chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, says he supports it. "... While both services have made tremendous contributions to the cause of freedom, only one service in this team is recognized in the title of secretary of the department," Hunter says.
PORTSMOUTH, VA. - One of the goals of the Joint National Training Capability (JNTC) is to integrate Combat ID and Blue Force Tracking across Department of Defense operations, according to Joint Forces Command (JFCOM) officials said at a conference here March 18. Combat ID is the process of accurately identifying objects to enable the use of the correct military options and weapons. Blue Force Tracking is a satellite-based system installed in ground vehicles and helicopters that monitors the movement of friendly forces.
MEADS DELAY: A demonstration of the Medium Extended Air Defense System (MEADS) that was scheduled for March 24 has been delayed, probably until April, says Col. John Vaughn, head of the U.S. Army's Lower Tier Air and Missile Defense Project Office. The program is "working through some integration issues" with MEADS in preparation for the demonstration, which is to take place in Italy, Vaughn tells The DAILY. Although program representatives have said in the past that the MEADS radar would track live targets during the demonstration (DAILY, Oct.
NASA's X-43C hypersonic de-monstrator and RS-84 reusable engine program have been canceled following a review of 140 programs inherited by the agency's new Office of Exploration Systems.
Northrop Grumman and Thales submitted bids March 18 for the United Kingdom Ministry of Defence's Watchkeeper imagery and intelligence unmanned aerial vehicle program. The MOD has said it will pick one of the companies this year as winner of the $1.47 billion program, under which the British army will operate the UAVs for 30 years.
PRAGUE, Czech Republic - The European Union and Israel have signed an agreement that lays the foundations for Israel's active participation in Europe's Galileo satellite radio navigation program. The agreement, initialed in Jerusalem March 17, covers cooperative activities on satellite navigation and timing in a wide range of sectors, including science and technology, industrial manufacturing and service and market development, as well as standardization, frequencies and certification.
Rep. Rick Larsen (D-Wash.) asked military officials how they plan to bring a standardized technology network to the Joint National Training Capability (JNTC) during a joint hearing of the House Armed Services Committee's readiness and terrorism subcommittees. "In terms of creating a network of persistent architecture for the JNTC, there does not seem to be one set of standards yet developed," Larsen told the witnesses.
Boeing will manufacture 14 T-45 training system airframes under a $247.6 million contract modification, the U.S. Department of Defense announced March 18. The work will be performed in St. Louis and Warton, Brough, England and is expected to be completed in September 2006.
The Defense Department should shift responsibility for joint command and control (C2) programs to a new joint task force because the current approach of allowing the military services to develop such systems is not promoting true interoperability, an influential think-tank said March 18.
Lockheed Martin has broken ground on an Owego, N.Y., facility for its US101 entry in the VXX presidential helicopter competition, although a decision between it and rival Sikorsky isn't expected until May. "In order to maintain the delivery schedule set by our customer for the presidential helicopter, it is necessary for us to invest our own funds to begin construction activities now, before contract award," Stephen D. Ramsey, the Lockheed Martin US101 vice president and general manager, said in a statement.
The U.S. Army is ramping up testing of the Patriot anti-missile system after a two-year hiatus. The first intercept test since 2002 occurred March 4 and involved a Patriot Advanced Capability-3 (PAC-3) missile successfully destroying a short-range ballistic missile target (DAILY, March 5). Tests planned for June and August will fire PAC-3s at multiple targets, said Col. John Vaughn, who oversees Patriot as project manager for the Army's Lower Tier Project Office in Huntsville, Ala.
