Sen. Robert Byrd (D-W.Va.), the ranking Democrat on the Senate Appropriations Committee, is accusing the Bush Administration of moving too slowly to develop anti-missile devices for commercial aircraft. In a June 5 letter to Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge, Byrd said he is "concerned" that Ridge's Department of Homeland Security (DHS) does not plan to complete system development and demonstration until the end of fiscal 2005, "despite the fact that the threat is real and our commercial airliners remain defenseless" against shoulder-fired missiles.
SETTLED: Northrop Grumman has agreed to pay $111 million to settle a joint complaint by a former TRW Inc. employee and the U.S. Justice Department that TRW, which the company acquired last year, overcharged the government for some federal contracts. Northrop Grumman said the settlement was factored into its bid to acquire TRW.
The Columbia Accident Investigation Board (CAIB) will focus on NASA management and culture in its final public hearing in Washington June 12, as members wind down their investigation and continue writing their final report.
Some of the requirements for the Battle Management Command and Control system (BMC2) to be installed aboard the Air Force's next-generation surveillance and reconnaissance aircraft, the E-10A, have changed, officials with Lockheed Martin and Raytheon said June 9. In contrast to the draft request for proposals (RFP) released in March, the Air Force now seems to be placing more emphasis on software development for the system, Mike Schoultz, Lockheed Martin vice president for the E-10A BMC2 program said in a June 9 program briefing.
MOSCOW - A Progress M1-10 unmanned cargo spacecraft was launched June 8 from Baikonur Cosmodrome, Kazakhstan, to deliver supplies and research equipment for the International Space Station's Expedition Seven crew. The spacecraft is scheduled to dock with the space station on June 11. The progress is carrying about 4,400 pounds of consumables, including water that otherwise would be delivered by the space shuttle.
In an open letter published in several national newspapers June 9, Boeing Chairman and CEO Phil Condit said some Boeing employees "did not behave properly" during the company's competition with Lockheed Martin for launch contracts in the U.S. Air Force's Evolved Expendable Launch Vehicle (EELV) program. The Air Force helped fund the development of two rocket families in support of the EELV program, Boeing's Delta IV and Lockheed Martin's Atlas V. So far, Boeing has received 22 of 29 EELV launch assignments, with the remainder going to Lockheed Martin.
NEW DELHI - Officials from Russia's RAC MiG aircraft company plan to ensure that India's Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd. (HAL) is using authentic spare parts as it upgrades the country's MiGs. A team of MiG officials is overseeing the maintenance and upgrading of India's MiGs (DAILY, May 28) to try to avoid future crashes. India has lost more than 200 MiG-21s in the last decade, including two upgraded MiG-21 bis aircraft that crashed within the last eight months.
A House panel is expected to give the Deepwater modernization program a significant boost by adding more than $200 million to the Bush Administration's fiscal 2004 budget request for the Coast Guard effort. The House Transportation Coast Guard subcommittee plans to approve $702 million for Deepwater, $202 million above the request, when it takes up a Coast Guard authorization bill June 12, according to a spokesman for Rep. Frank LoBiondo (R-N.J.), who chairs the panel.
POOR RELATIONS: Unlike some companies in other industries, aerospace and defense companies cannot afford to allow their supplier relationships to falter, according to Bill Lewandowski, vice president of supplier management for the Aerospace Industries Association. Poor supplier relationships could have devastating consequences. A report from Deloitte & Touche says the supply chains of many global manufacturers are becoming too fragmented, which could prevent them from responding effectively to increased customer demands.
Congressional leaders are expected to continue talks the week of June 9-13 aimed at resolving a dispute that has held up consideration of the fiscal 2004 defense and NASA appropriations bills. Lawmakers have been unable to decide how much money to allocate to each of the 13 Appropriations subcommittees in both the House and Senate.
MARKET ENTRY: Embraer (Empresa Brasileira de Aeronautica S.A.) likely will become a certified supplier of homeland security and defense products to the U.S. government following the opening of a new production facility in Jacksonville, Fla., according to Merrill Lynch analyst Ronald Epstein. The Brazilian regional jet marker announced plans for the facility on June 2. "From a strategic perspective, this move will enable the company to offer the ERJ-145 regional jet as a platform for intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) applications in the U.S.
In an effort to streamline space functions within the U.S. Commerce Department, the Office of Space Commercialization (OSC) is proposing to move from its current home within the Technology Administration to the International Trade Administration (ITA).
MOSCOW - Russia's Space Forces launched the Kosmos-2398 satellite from Plesetsk Cosmodrome on June 4. Space Forces chief Gen. Anatoly Perminov attended the launch. The satellite is thought to be a Parus-class military navigation satellite intended to augment the Tsyklon-B constellation. That constellation has provided navigation and communication services for Russian ships and submarines since the mid-1970s.
NASA and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) said they agree with the findings of a recent report recommending the two agencies cooperate more to accelerate technology transition from NASA to NOAA. NASA is responsible for developing satellites to observe Earth systems and NOAA is responsible for operating civil environmental satellites and disseminating the information derived from them, according to the agencies.
The U.S. delegation traveling to the World Radiocommunication Conference (WRC) 2003 that begins June 9 in Geneva, Switzerland, is pledging to fight perceived spectrum threats to the Global Positioning System (GPS) and some U.S. Navy radars. WRC, held every three years, is a month-long meeting convened to administer disputes over spectrum allocation. Each invited country sends a delegation that has a single vote.
PACKARD AWARD: The U.S. Defense Department's top award for weapons buyers, the David Packard Award, goes to four programs in 2003, including two munitions, a small armored boat and a new family of decontaminants. The Air Force's Passive Attack Weapon, tested and fielded within about 90 days to support Operation Iraqi Freedom, and the Joint Direct Attack Munition, produced in half the time at half the estimated cost, both won. Awards also went to the Navy's Joint Services Family of Decontamination Systems and the Special Operations Craft Riverine teams.
AF SATCOM: Air Force Undersecretary for Space Peter Teets is "absolutely committed" to drawing on commercial satellites for the Air Force's future satcom needs, although the ratio of commercial vs. military still is to be determined, according to Maj. Gen. Robert Dickman (ret.), deputy for military space under Teets. During Operation Iraqi Freedom, 80 percent of the bandwidth used by allied forces was over commercial satellites, Dickman says (DAILY, June 4).
MMA STRATEGY: Top naval aviation planners were slated to meet June 7 to plot the acquisition strategy and future requirements for the Multi-mission Maritime Aircraft (MMA), a Navy spokesman says. Called by Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Vern Clark, the meeting's agenda focuses on discussing details of the aircraft's design and integration into the fleet. MMA is expected to replace the aging Lockheed Martin P-3 Orion as the primary maritime patrol aircraft and submarine hunter.
U.S. Naval Air Systems Command (NAVAIR) on June 6 announced the first batch of hundreds of cost-saving engineering tweaks planned for the V-22 Osprey, marking the first step in the implementation of a new affordability initiative to cut the aircraft's cost by 21 percent. NAVAIR intends to award a contract to Bell Boeing's tiltrotor team to insert 18 "engineering change proposals" into the V-22's design process, according to a June 6 acquisition notice.
June 9 - 12 -- 3rd Annual Intelligent Vehicle Systems Symposium, Grand Traverse Resort and Spa, Traverse City (Acme) Mich. Call Dawn Harper at (703) 247-2584, fax (703) 522-1885, email [email protected] or go to www.ndia.org. June 11 -- AOC Intercrow 2003, Army/Navy Country Club, Arlington, Va. Call (888) OLD-CROW or go to www.crows.org.
Testing is scheduled to begin on the fire control system of the Rapid Airborne Mine Clearance System (RAMICS) in about two weeks, according to a program official with Northrop Grumman's Integrated Systems sector. The U.S. Navy will conduct the testing at Eglin Air Force Base, Fla., Sam Densler, Northrop Grumman program manger told The DAILY in an interview.
LOOSENED GRIP: One of those attempts to reach Mars, Europe's Mars Express spacecraft, accomplished a vital post-launch milestone when it released launch clamps on its Beagle-2 rover last week, according to the European Space Agency (ESA). The clamps kept launch vibrations from affecting the rover, but if they had not been released the rover could not be deployed once the spacecraft reaches Mars. "The Beagle-2 mission would have been over before it had even started," says ESA Lander Manager Con McCarthy.
The Coast Guard has chosen GE Aircraft Engines (GEAE) to build the engines for its new CN-235-300M maritime patrol aircraft, company officials said June 5. Two GE CT7-9C3 turboprop engines will power each CN-235 aircraft. The aircraft are made by the EADS-CASA division of the European Aeronautic Defence and Space Co. (EADS).
