Goodrich Corp.will supply Full Authority Digital Engine Control Systems (FADECs) for U.S. Army CH-47 Chinooks, the company said Aug. 14. The work will be done under several Army contracts expected to generate up to $50 million in revenue by the end of 2004, the Charlotte, N.C.-based company said. Goodrich's Engine Control Systems facility in West Hartford, Conn., is the prime supplier of fielded FADEC systems to the Army, the company said.
The majority of international satellite operators find that Lockheed Martin's A2100 satellite is the easiest to operate, according to a report by the Futron Corp. Boeing's 601 and 702 satellites were rated the most difficult to operate because of their performance complexity and declining levels of customer support, according to the report, entitled "Geo Commercial Satellite Bus Operations: A Comparative Analysis." The report, released Aug. 13, is based on a survey of eight major satellite operators in North America, Europe and Asia.
A software glitch has caused a one-day delay in the launch of a proposed new interceptor booster for the Ground-based Midcourse Defense (GMD) system, according to the Missile Defense Agency. The test, known as Booster Verification-6 (BV-6), is now scheduled for Aug. 16 instead of the previously announced date of Aug. 15 (DAILY, Aug. 8, Aug. 11). The booster, developed by Orbital Sciences Corp., is expected to lift off from Vandenberg Air Force Base, Calif., sometime between 2 p.m. and 8 p.m. East Coast time.
NEW DELHI - The Indian air force plans to use an Israeli-built Phalcon radar as part of a communications platform to help steer military aircraft away from heavily defended areas, a defense ministry official said. India plans to mount the radar on an Ilyushin IL-76 aircraft, which would be able to transmit images in real-time to other military aircraft. "Pilots transit long distances and may suddenly enter heavily defended areas, which can be notified on [a] real-time basis with the new platform," the official said.
ANTEON INTERNATIONAL, Fairfax, Va. Lt. Gen. Michael A. Canavan (U.S. Army, ret.) has been appointed group senior vice president for homeland security. FLIR SYSTEMS, Portland, Ore. John D. Carter, a principal at the consulting firm Goldschmidt Imeson Carter, has been elected to the board of directors. HERLEY INDUSTRIES, Lancaster, Pa.
SALE COMPLETE: Lockheed Martin has completed the sale of $1 billion worth of 30-year convertible bonds, $150 million more than it had expected, the company said Aug. 13. Proceeds will be used for "general corporate" purposes, such as debt reduction, working capital, capital spending or acquisitions, the company said.
Final demonstration firings of the High subsonic, Optically guided, Tube launched anti-tank missile (HOT) missile from a Tiger helicopter were conducted last month and the HOT firing post has been qualified for the Tiger helicopter, EADS/LFK of Germany said this week. In a series of 39 firings since 1997, stationary and moving targets were engaged at ranges between 600 and 4,000 meters (1,968-13,000 feet). The Tiger engaged targets both from a hovering position and from forward flight, EADS/LFK said.
LOCKHEED MARTIN has successfully demonstrated an automatic air collision avoidance system on a U.S. Air Force F-16, the first time such technology was used on a production F-16, the company said. Five pilots made 287 test runs using the system during six F-16 flights originating from Fort Worth, Texas in June. Simulated targets representing other aircraft were generated by a ground station and datalinked to the aircraft. The system is a cooperative effort between the U.S.
The U.S. Navy has launched the flight test phase for Raytheon's new APG-79 Active Electronically Scanned Array (AESA) radar, according to an Aug. 13 announcement. AESA is being tested on the program's first customer, Boeing's F/A-18E/F Super Hornet. Naval Air Systems (NAVAIR) Command staged the first flight of the advanced radar on July 30 after integrating the system on the next-generation F/A-18.
NASA and the Canadian Space Agency (CSA) successfully launched the $40 million Scientific Satellite Atmospheric Chemistry Experiment (SCISAT-1) spacecraft from Vandenberg Air Force Base, Calif., on Aug. 12. Canada's first new scientific satellite since 1971, SCISAT-1 is intended to help a team of international scientists improve their understanding of the depletion of Earth's ozone layer, with a special emphasis on the changes occurring over Canada and in the Arctic.
Two pre-development studies designed to define the U.S. Air Force's technical and planning needs for launching the Airborne Joint Tactical Radio System (JTRS) Cluster 4 program next year have opened for bids. The deadline for responses to the Electronics Systems Center at Hanscom Air Force Base, Mass., is Sept. 10 at 3 p.m., according to Air Force acquisition documents posted Aug. 13 announcing the competition.
EDO Corp. of New York will support AN/ALQ-161 defensive systems on the B-1B bomber under two contracts totaling $10 million, the company said Aug. 13. The first award, valued at $7.2 million, is for developing an upgrade to the digital radio-frequency memory to help counter advanced threats. The second award, worth $2.9 million, is to continue development on the next generation of AN/ALQ-161 preprocessor flight software. Both contracts were awarded by the Air Logistics Center at Robins Air Force Base, Ga.
A U.S. senator is seeking to bolster federal efforts to monitor and limit certain defense trade contracts that he believes are killing American jobs. Sen. Chris Dodd (D-Conn.), whose state is home to such major aerospace firms as Pratt & Whitney and Sikorsky, recently won Senate approval of legislation that would require the Defense Department to assess the impact of offsets on the U.S. industrial base.
The Missile Defense Agency has released a report highlighting 24 examples in which MDA-funded technology has been commercialized. One example is the WindTracer Coherent Doppler Lidar system, which uses pulsed laser energy to detect air currents created by large commercial aircraft. The system was developed by CLR Photonics, the commercial products division of Coherent Technologies Inc. (CTI), which has received MDA funding to develop laser-based technology for missile tracking, discrimination and kill assessment.
U.S. Army Aviation and Missile Command wants industry input on the idea of using guided interceptors to protect light armored vehicles against attack by kinetic energy (KE) penetrators. The interceptors, which would be fired from the vehicles themselves, would be part of an "active protection system," or APS, according to the command.
Large unmanned aircraft flying in formation could help address the U.S. Defense Department's chronic airlift shortfall, according to a study by Lt. Col. Chad Manske, special assistant to the commander of U.S. Joint Forces Command in Norfolk, Va. A former C-17 pilot, Manske wrote a study exploring the unmanned airlift concept last year while attending the Air Force's School of Advanced Air and Space Power Studies at Maxwell Air Force Base, Ala.
The Royal Australian Navy has awarded Raytheon Co. the second in a series of contracts to upgrade the electronic warfare systems aboard its Collins-class diesel-electric submarines. The contract, valued at $54 million, calls for the production of hardware and software components to support the installation of five Combat Control System (CCS) Mk 2 weapons control systems aboard the submarines. The work will be performed by Raytheon Australia Pty Ltd., a subsidiary based in Canberra.
The Japan Defense Agency (JDA) has picked GE Aircraft Engines' CF6-80C2 engine for its next-generation military cargo aircraft, the C-X, GEAE said Aug. 12. The defense agency is scheduled to take delivery of the first engine in 2006. The contract could be worth $1 billion over the program's 30-year life, GEAE said. The engine already has been picked for Japan's E-767 AWACS early warning aircraft, the KC-767 tanker/transport and the B-747 executive transport.
PROWLER TRAINER: Lockheed Martin will provide the U.S. Navy and Marine Corps a two-seat EA-6B Operational Flight and Navigational Trainer under a $16 million contract, the company said Aug. 12. The Prowler trainer will use some of the design the company is developing for the aircraft's weapons system trainer, which it is developing under a contract awarded in 2000.
The U.S. Navy plans to allocate additional funding to develop special mission modules for installation aboard its Littoral Combat Ship (LCS), a senior Navy official said Aug. 12. Mission modules packages currently being planned for the ship include the SH-60S helicopter; the Remote Minehunting System (RMS); and the Close-in Weapons System, Block 1 (CIWS-1B). Those module packages are designed to counter threats from diesel-electric submarines, subsurface mines and fast-attack boats.
