RICHMOND, Va. - While praising the past efforts of Army logisticians, Michael Wynne, the deputy undersecretary of defense for acquisition, technology, and logistics, said the Army's logistical operations remain too "reactive." Wynne, speaking at the Association of the U.S. Army's 2003 logistics symposium here, said only 20 percent of any given combat unit is engaged in fighting and the rest is engaged in support functions.
Congress has approved a legislative provision that could lead to the installation of anti-missile systems on commercial aircraft. Language accompanying the recently enacted fiscal 2003 supplemental appropriations bill directs the Department of Homeland Security to draft a plan for a potential program to develop missile defenses for airliners. The plan is to include cost and schedule estimates for such a program, including prototype testing.
BAE SYSTEMS will develop and demonstrate the guidance section of the U.S. Army's Advanced Precision Kill Weapon System (APKWS) Block I program under a $26.7 million contract from General Dynamics Armament and Technical Products. APKWS is a low-cost, precision munition for use against soft to lightly armored targets. BAE Systems' semi-active laser guidance section enables Hydra-70 rockets to destroy enemy targets while minimizing collateral damage, BAE Systems said.
CONTRACT COMPLETED: Turkey has agreed to buy four Airborne Early Warning & Control aircraft from Boeing, according to news reports. Turkey signed an interim contract with Boeing for the $1 billion sale last summer (DAILY, June 5, 2002). The contract calls for four 737 AEW&C aircraft and support.
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 results of radar signature testing of sample T-seals from the space shuttle is consistent with radar data observed when an unidentified fragment broke loose from Columbia in orbit on day two of its mission and re-entered Earth's atmosphere, according to the Columbia Accident Investigation Board (CAIB).
The "lessons learned" from the U.S.-led coalition's 22-day march to Baghdad are just now being compiled, but the Pentagon's transformation guru already is forecasting some of the results. The Iraq conflict likely will reveal a "new sweet spot" in the historically fractured relationship between land forces and air power, said Vice Adm. Arthur K. Cebrowski (USN-ret.), director of Force Transformation.
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.
Working under a contract from the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), Raytheon is preparing to choose from among 62 designs for a "morphing" version of the company's Tomahawk cruise missile. Raytheon received a $4.1 million contract from DARPA earlier this year to perform work for the agency's Morphing Aircraft Structures (MAS) program. Lockheed Martin and HyPerComp, Inc. of Westlake, Calif., are working under similar grants (DAILY, March 4), all of which culminate in wind tunnel prototype testing in 2005.
A plan to equip B-52s with advanced targeting pods is gaining momentum as the U.S. Air Force compiles a first draft of its fiscal 2005 budget request this month. A makeshift effort involving two Air Force Reserve B-52s equipped with Northrop Grumman Litening II targeting pods helped confirm the operational feasibility of the concept on April 11, Air Force officials said.
Lockheed Martin Corp. reported net sales of $7.1 billion for the first quarter of 2003, an 18 percent increase over last year partly due to the company's work on the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter and F/A-22 Raptor programs. The company's aeronautics sector reported a net sales increase of 57 percent over the first quarter of 2002, "primarily driven by greater volume on the [JSF] and F/A-22 programs, as well as increased development and support activities on international F-16 programs," the company said.
MDA WORK: Computer Sciences Corp. (CSC) said it will provide program assessment, planning and reporting support to the Missile Defense Agency's Program Integration Directorate under a four-year agreement. Contract options could boost the value of the work to more than $42 million, the company said April 21.
An experimental communications gateway first used in the war with Iraq gave ground troops and fighter pilots a glimpse of the future of networked operations, according to U.S. Air Force officials. The Battlefield Universal Gateway Equipment (BUG-E) emerged from the drawing boards at Hanscom Air Force Base, Mass., within six months to play a key role in the coalition army's 22-day March to the Iraqi capital.
NEW DELHI - Qatar has offered to sell India 12 Mirage 2000-5 aircraft, according to an Indian defense ministry official. Qatar wants to sell nine single-seat Mirage 2000-5 EDAs and three two-seat 2000-5 DDAs, which were bought from France in 1997 and are in good condition. An Indian air force official said the aircraft can be fitted with new missiles and feature advanced avionics and new sensor and control systems.
Raytheon has completed land-based software integration testing of the LPD-17 assault ship's Integrated Ship Electronics suite, the company said April 21. Engineers now will install the software on the first ship, which is scheduled to be christened in July. The software will be used to run the Shipboard Wide Area Network (SWAN), a single fiber-optic network that enables the ship's electronic systems to interact with one another.
A two-year push to virtually eliminate the risk of unexploded submunitions dropped by cluster weapons has yielded some promising new technologies, and a critical testing phase for some of them is to begin this summer.
MANASSAS, Va. - Aurora Flight Sciences Corporation is gearing up for the first flight of a new vertical takeoff and landing (VTOL) unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) the company hopes will play a role in the Army's Future Combat Systems (FCS) program, as well as serve other military and civil users.
NASA has delayed the launch of its Space Infrared Telescope Facility (SIRTF) until mid-August at the earliest, the aerospace agency said April 18. The delay will give engineers time to replace one of the nine solid rocket motors attached to the Delta II launch vehicle. The motor was found to have multiple delaminations within the material that makes up its engine nozzle exit-cone liner, NASA said. SIRTF originally was to launch April 18.
A small El Segundo, Calif., company is developing a launch vehicle it says would reduce substantially the cost of launching satellite payloads and humans into space. Space Exploration Technologies, or SpaceX, is developing a two-stage, liquid hydrogen/kerosene launch vehicle capable of launching satellite payloads into low-earth orbit for about $6 million per launch, according to company founder Elon Musk.
The Department of Defense has taken more steps to improve its management of space activities, but can do more, the General Accounting Office said in a new report. The report, a follow-up to another GAO report issued last year, looked at DOD's response to the recommendations made by the congressionally chartered Space Commission. The Defense Department has completed action on nine of the 10 commission recommendations it said it would follow, GAO said.
April 29 - 30 -- 2003 Annual Programs Review, "Transformation Roadmaps, Future of Precision Engagement," Scott Hall, Howell Auditorium, Defense Acquisition University, Fort Belvoir, Va. Contact Leslie Mueller at (301) 475-6513 or email [email protected]. April 30 - May 1 -- EW Analysis Conference, Army Research Lab, Adelphi, Md. Call (888) OLD-CROW or go to www.crows.org. May 5 - 7 -- Aerospace & Defense Finance Conference, Grand Hyatt New York Hotel, New York City. To register go to http://www.AviationNow.com/conferences.
U.S. military representatives will attend the 2003 Paris Air Show, but the Defense Department is banning flying demonstrations and limiting the number of uniformed participants. Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld has cleared the armed services to attend the Paris Air Show, ending speculation that the U.S. might boycott the show because of anger about France's opposition to war in Iraq.
