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.
Air Force Gen. John Gordon, a former deputy CIA director, will become President Bush's new homeland security adviser, White House spokesman Ari Fleischer said April 29. As head of the White House Office of Homeland Security, Gordon will help coordinate White House policies with Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and other defense and intelligence agencies, Fleischer told reporters in Washington, D.C.
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.
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.
NIMA HONOR: The National Imagery and Mapping Agency (NIMA) has recognized Space Imaging of Denver, Colo., with an award for its work in support of Operation Enduring Freedom in Afghanistan, the company announced April 28. NIMA presented the award at the 2003 Management Association for Private Photogrammetric Surveyors (MAPPS) luncheon held last month in Washington. Space Imaging owns Ikonos, the first 1-meter resolution commercial imagery satellite.
The Bell Boeing CV-22 Osprey program has cleared a program milestone, performing the first exercise for the aircraft's critical terrain-following radar system, according to the U.S. Air Force. The event marks the latest in a recent flurry of flight tests aimed at proving the V-22's value to the Pentagon's top acquisition officer before he decides the program's fate. A meeting is scheduled May 20 between Marine Corps and Air Force V-22 officials and E.C. "Pete" Aldridge, undersecretary of defense for acquisition, technology and logistics.
International Launch Services (ILS) postponed the launch of SES Americom's AMC-9 satellite due to a hardware problem with the Proton K launch vehicle that has required the entire rocket to be de-stacked. The launch had been scheduled for scheduled for April 26. During pre-launch verification activities at Baikonur Cosmodrome, Kazakhstan, technicians identified a launch vehicle component anomaly requiring a fix that couldn't be performed on the launch pad.
NASA's launch of its Galaxy Evolution Explorer (GALEX) spacecraft was successful, the agency said April 29. The spacecraft was launched April 28 from a Pegasus XL rocket at approximately 8:00 a.m. EDT, approximately 11 minutes after the Pegasus was released from its L-1011 host aircraft flying off the coast of Cape Canaveral, Fla.
NEW DELHI - India has successfully flight-tested a Lakshya Pilotless Target Aircraft (PTA) with a new engine, an Indian defense ministry official said. The aircraft was tested April 28 at the integrated test range at Chandipur in the eastern Indian state of Orissa. Lakshya was inducted into the Indian air force (IAF) in 2000. The version just tested has a new engine developed by the Defence Research and Development Organization (DRDO).
The U.S. Marine Corps wants an electromagnetic gun for its new family of Marine Expeditionary Family of Fighting Vehicles (MEFFVs), the MEFFV program manager said April 28. Development of the gun will draw upon the Army's research into electromagnetic guns, said Col. Dennis Beal. Beal said the Marine Corps looked at a variety of options before choosing to pursue an electromagnetic gun. Those options included developing a directed energy weapon, using a conventional gun and developing an electro-thermal chemical gun.
NEW DELHI - The Indian air force has demanded that Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd. (HAL) correct serious problems with the Adour engines that power the service's Jaguar fighter aircraft. A senior air force official said a number of Jaguars have been grounded, in part because of problems with the reheat fuel control units, which have caused extensive damage to the engines. The Jaguar fleet, which is overhauled and upgraded by the state-owned HAL, is equipped with Adour MK-811 and MK-804 engines.
The U.S. Defense Department is moving to simplify management of a $1.4 billion annual investment in chemical and biological defense resources. A Joint Program Executive Office for Chemical and Biological Defense (JPEO-CBD) is being created to manage centrally all related procurement and research programs.
The head of the Missile Defense Agency has approved a plan that would make it easier to enlarge the Ground-based Midcourse Defense (GMD) system in Alaska if the Defense Department decided to pursue such an expansion, an agency spokesman said April 28.
EAGLE VISION: Veridian Corp. said April 28 the Air Force had awarded it a contract worth up to $37.7 million to develop satellite image processing systems for the Air Force's Eagle Vision program. The program provides a platform to downlink and process commercial satellite imagery into "geocoded" electronic images for use by Air Force mission planners and intelligence analysts.
Moving the scheduled first launch date for the Global Positioning System (GPS) III up two years to fiscal year 2010 was one of the options discussed at a recent meeting of top Air Force officials, although no firm decision to accelerate the program has been made yet, according to the Air Force.
NEW DELHI - India and France have begun talks on a French offer to provide the Mirage 2000-5 fighter aircraft. "Talks on licensed production of Mirage 2000-5 aircraft is on top of the agenda during the French Defense Minister Michele Alliot-Marie visit to India beginning April 28," said an official of the Indian Ministry of Defense.
In response to a request from the Marine Corps, Naval Air Systems Command (NAVAIR) and the UH-1N Huey engineering test team at Naval Air Station Patuxent River, Md., have rushed a new forward-looking infrared (FLIR) system into operations in Iraq, NAVAIR announced April 28.
The European Aeronautic Defence and Space Co. (EADS) will push ahead with plans to expand in North America despite the recent transatlantic rift between the U.S. and France and Germany over Iraq, a senior EADS executive said April 25. Ralph Crosby Jr., chairman and CEO of EADS North America, told defense reporters in Washington that EADS plans to expand its manufacturing base in the U.S., primarily through acquisitions but also through partnerships with U.S. prime contractors.
Fueled by a new $125.5 million contract, an international software upgrade program for the F-16 is moving forward after a nine-month delay. The U.S. Air Force is awarding the deal to Lockheed Martin Aeronautics and the contract includes F-16s owned by the European Participating Air Forces - Belgium, Denmark, Norway, Portugal and the Netherlands.
SPACE ROLE: Space systems were a major contributor to the U.S.-led military victory in Iraq, providing early warning, satellite imagery and other services to the warfighter. But space also will play a key role in rebuilding Iraq, says U.S. Army Lt. Gen. Joseph Cosumano, head of Army Space and Missile Defense Command. For instance, satellite imagery could be useful in tracking oil well fires, he says. An Army space support team is assigned to the Pentagon's Office of Reconstruction and Humanitarian Assistance (ORHA) to ensure it gets the space-based products it needs.
NEW DELHI - India and France are beginning talks here on Mirage 2000-5 multirole fighters, which India wants to both buy and build under license. The talks are "top of the agenda" during the visit of Michele Alliot-Marie, the French defense minister, to New Delhi beginning April 28, an Indian defense ministry source said. A delegation from Dassault Aviation made a presentation on licensed production to Nalini Ranjab Mohanty, the head of India's Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd. (HAL), last year in Bangalore.
Three House members are requesting more information about the Air Force F/A-22 Raptor, saying recent Pentagon testimony about the Lockheed Martin aircraft left key questions unanswered. During an April 11 hearing of the House Government Reform Committee's national security subcommittee, Defense Department and Air Force officials estimated that the Air Force could afford to buy 225 to 235 Raptors under the aircraft's congressionally mandated $36.8 billion production cost cap (DAILY, April 14).
DEFENSE MARKUPS: When Congress reconvenes the week of April 28-May 2 after a two-week recess, one of the first matters lawmakers will address is the fiscal 2004 defense authorization bill. The House Armed Services Committee plans to begin subcommittee markups of the bill May 1 and finish action on the legislation at the full committee level May 7 (DAILY, April 23). The Senate Armed Services Committee intends to start subcommittee markups May 6 and wrap up at the full committee level by May 9.
