The U.S. Air Force is looking at a number of options to protect commercial jetliners from man-portable surface-to-air missiles, not just one product or system, according to a senior Air Force officer. "We're not looking at something and saying 'We need this capability, this one thing,'" said Col. Larry Rexford, chief of the Air Force's Combat Survivability and Electronic Warfare Division. "We're looking at a range of capabilities."
NOMINATION: President Bush intends to nominate Thomas W. O'Connell to be assistant secretary of defense for special operations and low intensity conflict, the White House said April 30. O'Connell is the senior manager for intelligence and information systems at Raytheon Co.
Three months after accelerating the deployment of the Large Aircraft Infrared Countermeasures (LAIRCM) system, the Air Force will focus on reducing its size and reliability, according to an Air Force official. Plans call for reducing the size of the turrets that contain the LAIRCM system, Lt. Col. Robert Franklin, deputy director of the LAIRCM program, said April 30.
Responding to criticism of the performance of the AH-64 Apache attack helicopter during the war in Iraq, a Boeing Apache official and a retired former Apache commander said the aircraft's record proves it is survivable, although it's too early to draw definitive lessons learned from the conflict.
The U.S. Air Force announced late April 30 that it will be able to buy an extra F/A-22 Raptor this year because of cost savings achieved by prime contractor Lockheed Martin Corp. and its suppliers. Savings that Lockheed Martin achieved by renegotiating contracts with suppliers will help the Air Force increase its fiscal 2003 purchase of F/A-22s from 20 to 21 without adding money to the program, congressional sources said.
CARLISLE BARRACKS, Pa. - A U.S. Army wargame staged here this week is probing how the Objective Force concept fits the mold of joint operations. In a secondary experiment, Army wargamers are discovering that radical new approaches to using airlift and reconnaissance assets may offer a big payoff on a future battlefield. United Quest 03, taking place April 27-May 2, is the first transformation wargame cosponsored by the Army War College and U.S. Joint Forces Command.
PRAGUE - BAE Systems has confirmed that it owns a minority stake in Czech arms dealer Omnipol. A Czech newspaper recently reported that BAE Systems had not bought into the company because the Czech government failed to approve the purchase of 24 BAE-Saab Gripen fighters last year. The Czech daily Lidove Noviny reported this week that BAE Systems would have been interested in a partnership with Omnipol, which is almost 90 percent owned by the debt-laden Omnyx company, only if ministers had agreed to purchase the fighters.
Marine Corps Maj. Cody Allee made the last flight of the thrust-vectored X-31A aircraft at approximately 5:30 p.m. April 29 at Naval Air Station Patuxent River, Md. Allee completed an automated landing at 24 degrees angle of attack and 121 knots - a 31 percent reduction from the aircraft's normal landing speed of 175 knots (see photo).
Many aircraft program managers undervalue aircraft survivability systems, according to Cmdr. Andrew Cibula, director of the Joint Aircraft Survivability Program Office (JASPO).
PRAGUE - Both the United Kingdom and the United States are being considered to possibly provide a temporary defense of Czech airspace between 2005 and 2009, Czech defense minister Jaroslav Tvrdik told journalists April 30 after meeting with his British counterpart, Geoff Hoon. Tvrdik's comments came as the Czech government prepares to examine options for protection of its airspace beginning in the first quarter of 2005, when its entire fleet of MiG-21 aircraft is due to be decommissioned.
The Marine Corps may seek additional upgrades to its family of LAV-25 light armored vehicles beyond those already scheduled to receive funding, the program manager said April 28. The possible new upgrades include a bigger gun and a stabilized, electrically powered turret, said Col. John Bryant, the LAV program manager.
Raytheon Co. has received a $242 million contract from Greece's ministry of defense to produce electronic warfare equipment for the Block 52+ F-16s of the Hellenic Air Force. Raytheon said the contract is one of the largest for electronic warfare systems in its history.
The U.S. Navy's Space and Naval Warfare (SPAWAR) Command has awarded a five-year Indefinite Delivery/Indefinite Quantity (IDIQ) contract that could be worth $17.3 million to Titan Corp., the company announced April 29. Titan's Advanced Products & Design Division will provide hardware system integration, design, and support services for the Navigation Sensor System Interface (NAVSSI) systems.
NEW DELHI - The Indian army has decided to set up a central information warfare agency in an attempt to overcome shortcomings in the gathering and distribution of critical information, according to a senior Indian Army official The information warfare agency would be part of the military operations directorate, the official said.
A fuel-line malfunction marred a recent operational flight test of the AGM-158 Joint Air-to-Surface Standoff Missile (JASSM), according to a source close to the program. The flight test at White Sands Missile Range, N.M., occurred after the U.S. Air Force lifted a five-month freeze on the program. The delay was caused by an apparently unrelated actuator defect that spoiled the Lockheed Martin program's first operational test flight on Oct. 24.
Technology enabled United States forces fighting in Iraq to act faster than Iraqi troops could react, which helped head off serious opposition and made the war more revolutionary than the first Gulf War, several defense analysts said in recent interviews. However, the use of advanced technology for communications, command and control, computers, intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (C4ISR) also drove such a great demand for bandwidth that it challenged those who manage it.
NEW DELHI - India's military research agency, the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO), tested on April 29 an advanced version of its nuclear-capable Prithvi surface-to-surface missile. "Today's test was basically to test the new guidance system in the Prithvi-2 missile", said an official of the Indian Ministry of Defence (MOD). In March 2003, DRDO tested a Prithvi-2 with an advanced warhead.
Strong contributions from the recently added Mission Systems and Space Technology sectors helped Northrop Grumman's first-quarter revenue jump 49 percent from a year ago, the company said April 29. First-quarter sales rose from $3.9 billion in 2002 to $5.9 billion this year. First-quarter net income rose from a loss of $283 million a year ago to a net gain of $253 million this year.
The Defense Department wants to give the Missile Defense Agency greater leeway in how it spends its money, but legislation to do that is meeting resistance from some lawmakers and groups critical of the Bush Administration's missile defense approach.
The U.S. Air Force expects industry to respond by May 7 to a request for information on the Global Positioning System (GPS) III program that was issued on April 24. The action, which follows an April 17 meeting at the Pentagon of high-ranking Air Force officials (DAILY, April 21), would lead to a request for proposals in June, the Space and Missile Systems Center said in an April 28 response to reporters' questions.
EW CONTRACT: The U.S. Army Communications-Electronic Command awarded CACI Inter-national, Inc. a contract worth an estimated $11 million to help develop the specifications for the Army's tactical electronic warfare (EW) system, company officials said April 29. Successful completion of the contract will lead to the development, fabrication, testing and delivery of tactical EW vehicles designed by a joint development team.
