The operations and support cost to the U.S. Army of using some of the Hunter unmanned aerial vehicle systems that are now in storage has been substantially reduced from earlier estimates, according to program manager Col. Mike Howell. Initial projections pegged the annual cost of using each Hunter system at about $3.9 million, but Howell told The DAILY here Wednesday during the Association of Unmanned Vehicle Systems International convention here that some estimates now say the cost could be as low as $1.7 million.
First test of the Patriot Advanced Capability (PAC-3) interceptor will take place this summer, Lyles says. It will use a controlled test vehicle rather than an intercept vehicle. The Army and BMDO plan to field the first unit equipped with PAC-3 in fiscal 1999, but that could be accelerated if the design proves mature during testing.
SAGEM S.A., Paris, said it has won a competition to develop and produce a mission planning and post-flight analysis system for French Navy and Air Force squadrons operating the Rafale fighter. It said the system, known as SLPRM, will progressively replace all existing mission planning systems.
The U.S. Air Force is launching an eight-month study of Poland's command and control infrastructure, aimed at generating a list of technology and C2 upgrades needed to pave the way for full Polish interoperability with NATO. "Our goal in this study is to describe the current Polish command and control structure, highlighting both its strengths and weaknesses, and to develop a complete and comprehensive C2 architecture," said Lt. Col. Thomas J. Cooley, international operations director for the AF's Electronic Systems Center at Hanscom AFB, Mass.
House Appropriations national security subcommittee chairman C.W. (Bill) Young (R-Fla.) has scheduled a closed hearing Wednesday to help him decide whether to support the $350 million add-on proposal for the B-2 bomber in the fiscal 1998 national security money bill. He wants the heads of Strategic Command and Air Combat Command to testify at the same time to be sure they're in agreement. "My heart tells me we should proceed as aggressively as we can" on additional B-2 production, Young says.
A team from the Hungarian Home Defense Forces is visiting Saab's facilities at Linkoping, Sweden, to fly and evaluate the Gripen fighter, Saab and British Aerospace said last week. The two companies are cooperating to market the jet. Hungary is evaluating the Gripen, France's Mirage 2000-5 and the U.S. F-16 and F-18 as it prepares to modernize its air force.
In an effort to reduce the cost of the Joint Standoff Weapon, the U.S. Navy plans to sign a series of commitments with Texas Instruments over the course of the production program that would allow TI to keep as profit any savings it achieves below a specified price.
The Pentagon hopes by September to have an initial assessment of investment priorities for theater cruise missile defense, said Lt. Gen. Lester Lyles, director of the Ballistic Missile Defense Organization. "The reason we are trying to do that is to be able to impact the FY '99 POM [program objective memorandum] deliberations...," Lyles told reporters in Washington on Thursday.
Raytheon E-Systems is working under a contract from Hughes Information Systems Co. to supply a voice communications subsystem in support of the command and control system of the Portuguese Air Force. Hughes is integrating major components of the system for the program's prime contractor, Thomson-CSF Airsys of France.
The Active Electronically Scanned Array (AESA) is "clearly the desired front-end for a radar in the future," according to John Weaver, executive VP of Hughes Aircraft, but the cost of the modules must drop even more. While falling from about $5,000 to around $1,200, another "significant" drop is needed, down to the $125 range, Weaver says. The keys are more utilization by the commercial side of the industry and willingness to accept less than optimum performance in terms of the module itself.
As foreign sales become more vital for U.S. defense companies, the official sees a future in which several larger procurements go through contractors instead of the Pentagon. He says countries are becoming more sophisticated in their procurement capabilities and are putting increased emphasis on offsets and workshare. "They recognize it's very hard to get those through the FMS process."
House and Senate leaders are being urged by companies and associations to extend the research and development tax credit, which expired on May 31. The Electronic Industries Association, which is pressing the move, said it supports the credit "because it provides the economic incentive for U.S. companies to increase their investments in research and development in order to maintain their competitive edge worldwide."
A top Pentagon official says he wouldn't put bets on the outcome of the UAE fighter competition between Lockheed Martin's F-16 and Dassault's Rafale, even though he's convinced the F-16 is the best aircraft at the best price. The problem is that the Pentagon isn't willing to release all the technology that the UAE wants. "If they're looking for a reason to buy French, they've probably got it," the official says. "On the other hand, if they have difficulty in the region, just like in Desert Storm, they're going to have to rely on U.S. assistance.
DRS Technologies Inc., Parisppany, N.J., won a $3.4 million contract from McDonnell Douglas Helicopter Systems to provide Captive Boresight Harmonization Kits (CBHK) for 66 Apache Longbow helicopters for the U.K., DRS said Friday. Options could increase the value to about $5 million.
The Administration is still paying a price for its 1995 decision to finesse the last BRAC recommendation to close depots at Kelly AFB, Tex., and McClellan AFB, Calif. Rather than shut down the depots in these large states so important in the electoral college, President Clinton announced two years ago that private companies would assume the effort with the workforce intact. Last week, the House National Security readiness subcommittee, in its markup of the fiscal 1998 defense authorization, got even.
Moorman says some criticism of the Quadrennial Defense Review's approach to space is unfounded. Lawmakers and industry officials have said it avoided dealing in depth with the future of space programs. "I'm not sure I am as alarmed about that," he says. "In QDR discussions, space was so accepted as a force enabler that there was little discussion of cutting space." This, he says, is simply proof that space is not a target for cuts and setbacks. At the same time, he notes that the QDR is "just a first step in defining a 21st century defense strategy."
The following U.S. Defense Dept. program cuts have been proposed to cover the costs of a $1.9 billion defense supplemental packaged passed by Congress last week as part of an $8.4 billion FY '97 supplemental package. Though there is disagreement between the Congress and the White House on a continuing resolution provision also contained in the package, these cuts are expected to remain. House Senate Conference Department of Defense - Military Fiscal year 1993:
Leaders of one House subcommittee have urged leaders another to prohibit the Federal Communications Commission from selling a key frequency band used for space operations. The telecommunications, trade and consumer protection subcommittee is considering a provision in its FY '98 bill that would allow the FCC to auction off frequencies of 120 MHz of spectrum below 3 GHz.
The flat budget seen for space programs in the next few years isn't necessarily bad news, according to U.S. Air Force Vice Chief of Staff Gen. Thomas S. Moorman Jr. He says it will mean more cooperative R&D and new partnerships between civil, military, commercial and intelligence space sectors. "Don't bemoan these flat budgets, be open to dialogue and size the opportunities," he advises industry representatives at a symposium in Washington.
The U.S. Air Force has dropped plans to develop its own National Missile Defense kill vehicle and has decided to use whatever system the Navy selects from its Enhanced Kill Vehicle competition, says Lt. Gen. Lester Lyles, director of the Ballistic Missile Defense Organization. He notes that the AF never defined its kill vehicle. It opted for the Navy EKV after getting "a better understanding" of the maturity of the current EKV program.
The House and Senate Thursday have passed an $8.4 billion emergency supplemental package that contains $1.9 billion for the Defense Dept., but it's destined to be vetoed by the White House because it provides for an automatic continuing resolution to keep the government from shutting down at the end of the fiscal year if new appropriations bills aren't passed by that time.
The money recommended by the Pentagon in the Quadrennial Defense Review to be added to the National Missile Defense program would go to "a lot of different areas," but some would flow to the contractors for more testing, according to Lyles.
Agreements governing commercial satellite launches in China, Russia and Ukraine are close to expiring, and Washington must redefine its interests and decide to what extent it should monitor commercial launch ventures there, said Catherine A. Novelli of the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative. Previous agreements with the three countries to protect the West's commercial satellite launch market are due to expire in 2000, said Novelli, the USTR's director for Eastern Europe and the Independent States.
The idea of moving to a two-year budget cycle for NASA authorizations appears to be gaining acceptance in the Senate and may be possible starting this year, House Science Committee Chairman F. James Sensenbrenner (R-Wis.) said at a space symposium in Washington yesterday. The House in April approved a two-year authorization for NASA that provides $13.8 billion for fiscal year 1998 and $13.9 billion for FY '99 (DAILY, April 17).
