PRAGUE - The United Kingdom Ministry of Defence (MOD) has confirmed it is talking to Czech officials over the possible sale or lease of used Tornado F-3 fighters from Britain, despite first issuing a denial. A defense ministry spokesman told The DAILY last week that it was "not true" that negotiations were under way following a report in Czech daily Pravo that Britain could supply up to 14 Tornado aircraft by 2006 on the basis of a Czech-U.K. inter-governmental agreement (DAILY, April 16).
NEW DELHI - The Indian air force has demanded modifications from Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd. (HAL) to the Adour engines installed in its Jaguar fighter fleet, because of poor performance in the engines' reheat fuel control units. A senior air force official said a number of the aircraft have been grounded partially because of problems with the units, which have caused extensive damage to the engines. The air force's Jaguar fleet, which is overhauled and upgraded by the state-owned HAL, is equipped with Adour MK-811 and MK-804 engines.
AMC-9 LAUNCH: International Launch Service (ILS) is scheduled to launch the AMC-9 satellite for SES Americom on April 28 from Baikonur Cosmodrome, Kazakhstan, ILS said April 24. The satellite is intended to expand the company's telecommunications services in North America.
The U.S. Army believes it may be on the verge of deploying a system that would reduce substantially the logistical difficulties and dangers of getting equipment and supplies to troops in the field, according to a senior Army official. The system, called Precision and Extended Glide Airdrop System (PEGASYS), is a Global Positioning System-guided parafoil that can be dropped from high altitudes and steered to precise locations on the battlefield at specified times.
An Army general said April 24 that he would like to accelerate the Theater High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) system and the Medium Extended Air Defense System (MEADS).
The U.S. Defense Department would be free to upgrade some of its weapon systems without going through the appropriations process under a new legislative proposal. Military officials hope to use a proposed pilot program, which was inserted into an already controversial energy policy bill, to help clear a backlog of projects intended to boost the efficiency of aircraft, tanks and ships. But a $100 million spending cap introduced at the last minute may render ineligible an Air Force effort to re-engine the Boeing B-52H fleet.
NEW DELHI - A select committee of the Indian parliament has criticized the Indian Ministry of Defence for not completing the purchase of an advanced jet trainer (AJT) for the Indian air force. The latest report from the select committee on defense says that "even after a lapse of nearly 20 years since the air force set about to acquire an AJT," the government still hasn't done it.
BAE Systems will supply explosives to the U.S. Army Joint Munitions Command under a contract worth up to $141 million, the company said April 23. BAE Systems Ordnance Systems, which operates the Holston Army Ammunition Plant, will manufacture the explosives for integration into a variety of weapon systems, the company said. The work is expected to be completed by September 2007.
Raytheon Co. announced April 23 that its chairman and CEO, Daniel Burnham, will step down on July 1. Company president William Swanson will take his place. The announcement came a day after Raytheon released its first quarter 2003 earnings. Although the company's defense businesses performed well, those gains were offset by further losses posted by the company's Raytheon Aircraft (RAC) unit. First-quarter revenues for RAC declined 7 percent compared with the same period a year ago, primarily due to lower aircraft deliveries.
The American Physical Society (APS) is nearing completion of a study on the technical feasibility of developing systems to shoot down ballistic missiles in their boost phase of flight.
F-2 CONTRACT: Lockheed Martin Aeronautics will build components for eight additional F-2 fighters under a $160 million contract from Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (MHI), the company said April 23. The company already is producing components for Japan's first 57 F-2s.
L-3 Communications Corp., a major contractor to the U.S. Department of Defense and intelligence agencies, has reported first quarter results it said showed "strong growth in sales, operating income, diluted earnings per share and free cash flow compared to the 2002 first quarter."
The Boeing Co. on April 23 reported a net loss of $478 million for the first quarter of 2003 on revenues of about $12.3 billion. The loss included an after-tax charge of $818 million, mostly for the loss of value in companies and assets acquired by Boeing, (DAILY, April 14), and $159 million to strengthen the reserves of Boeing Capital Corp., the company's financing arm for commercial aircraft buyers. The first-quarter 2003 net loss follows a net loss of $1.25 billion a year ago on revenues of $13.8 billion.
PATUXENT RIVER, Md. - After achieving the world's first computer-controlled extremely short takeoff and landing (ESTOL) maneuver on a runway April 22, the X-31A experimental test flight program is drawing to a close at Naval Air Station Patuxent River. During an ESTOL landing, the aircraft approaches the runway at relatively slow speeds and at a high angle of attack (AOA), with its nose pointed upward. It then executes a highly precise, computer-controlled derotation maneuver two feet above the runway to come in for a safe landing.
A proposal by the Department of the Navy (DoN) to more fully integrate Navy and Marine Corps fighter aircraft raises several issues that Congress may want to consider, according to a new report by the Congressional Research Service (CRS).
Northrop Grumman Corp. and teammate Schweizer Aircraft Corp. have flight-tested a new four-bladed rotor for the Navy's RQ-8 Fire Scout unmanned helicopter. The test was conducted April 18 on a manned Fire Scout prototype at Schweizer's Elmira, N.Y., facility, Northrop Grumman said April 23. Ground, hover, taxi and flight evaluations were conducted.
President Bush has signed legislation creating a memorial to the astronauts lost in the Space Shuttle Columbia accident, NASA said this week. The Columbia Orbiter Memorial Act, which was part of the fiscal 2003 budget supplemental signed last week, calls for a memorial to be placed in Arlington National Cemetery near the memorial to the crew of the shuttle Challenger.
NASA's manager of the space shuttle program said he will leave his post once the Columbia Accident Investigation Board (CAIB) finishes its investigation and a "return to flight" path for the shuttle fleet has been established. Ronald D. Dittemore, who has held the post for four years, said he had decided to leave before the loss of the Columbia on Feb. 1, but decided to stay on after that. Dittemore became a regular feature of NASA briefings in the wake of the shuttle disaster, before the CAIB was named and began its investigation.
ALCATEL, Paris Aurelie Boutin has been appointed director, press relations. ALLIED DEFENSE GROUP, Vienna, Va. Monte L. Pickens has been named chief operating officer. ANALEX, Alexandria, Va. C.W. Gilluly, John Sanders and Gerald Young are retiring from the board of directors. Lt. Gen. Lincoln D. Faurer (USAF, ret.), Alan L. Kaplan and Daniel R. Young have been nominated to fill the positions. ATLAS AIR WORLDWIDE HOLDINGS, Purchase, N.Y. Ron Lane has been named chief marketing officer.
Several defense analysts who favor deep cuts in the U.S. defense budget say the quick and decisive victory against Iraq's numerically superior army bolsters their case for slashing weapons spending and force sizes. Even supporters of the Pentagon's long-term spending plan concede that military budgets will face intense pressure by the end of the decade, thanks to a projected surge in entitlement spending and rising federal deficits.
Boeing Co. has chosen BAE Systems to supply a low-band jammer for Special Operations Forces C-130s, and installations should begin in 2006, according to the Air Force official in charge of the program. Boeing picked BAE Systems over ITT on March 21 after a competition, according to Scott Warren, electronic warfare management director, the special programs division at Warner Robins Air Logistics Center, Ga. On March 31, Boeing received an $18 million contract to proceed with the program, which ultimately will run about $160 million, including production.
The House and Senate Armed Services committees are expected to consider the fiscal 2004 defense authorization bill in early May, according to congressional sources. House Armed Services has scheduled subcommittee markups over two days: May 1 for the strategic forces, projection forces, readiness and total force panels, and May 6 for the tactical air and land forces and terrorism panels. The full committee plans to take up the bill May 7.
ESTOL: The X-31A successfully conducted its first extremely short takeoff and landing (ESTOL) maneuver on a runway at Naval Air Station Patuxent River, Md., April 22. The X-31A landed at a 12-degree angle of attack, at 175 knots. Future ESTOL approaches will increase the angle of attack.
