The Pentagon is debating whether to seek an extension for several contractual relief actions enacted by Congress last year that are due to expire at the end of fiscal 2003, a senior Defense Department official said March 4. The FY '03 Defense Authorization Act included provisions that offer military buyers greater flexibility to buy products and services urgently needed for homeland defense requirements, Diedre A. Lee, director of Defense Procurement and Acquisitions Policy, said at The Homeland and Global Security Summit in Washington, D.C.
In an attempt to repair an acknowledged and costly weakness, Air Force acquisition officers are in the final weeks of a three-month effort to elevate systems engineering principles in all procurement programs. Marvin Sambur, assistant secretary of the Air Force for acquisition, has directed all program executive officers (PEOs) to report back by early April, according to an internal memorandum obtained by Aerospace Daily.
With nearly 14 percent of the space shuttle Columbia's mass recovered so far, members of the Columbia Accident Investigation Board (CAIB) are attempting to find the point where hot gas first infiltrated the orbiter's structure. "What we will be doing is trying to follow the heat," CAIB member Roger Tetrault said during a briefing in Houston March 4. "We have more questions than answers right now, but we're getting smarter fast, and I believe that there's a very good chance that we will ... be able to localize the breach."
A funding dispute is preventing the Department of Homeland Security from reviving a satellite-based program designed to aid in detecting forest fires, Rep. Curt Weldon (R-Pa.) said March 4.
PRAGUE - Czech defense officials have denied that the investigation into the crash of an L-159 light combat aircraft last month has been compromised after news that debris from the crashed plane was removed by members of the public. The Czech tabloid Blesk published a picture of the crash scene March 4 along with a photograph of several pieces of equipment from the plane, which crashed Feb. 24 at a military site in central Bohemia during testing of the Plamen (Flame) air cannon (DAILY, Feb. 24, 27). The pilot was killed.
Computer Sciences Corp. will support the design and acquisition of ships for the U.S. Navy's LHA amphibious assault ship replacement program, the company said March 4. The five-year task order is valued at $96 million if all options are exercised, the company said. The Navy is expected to award a contract in 2007 for construction of the next-generation amphibious assault ships, which will replace the existing, and aging, fleet of five LHA-1 class ships. CSC will provide engineering, engineering management and facilities support services.
Lockheed Martin, Gibbs & Cox, Bollinger Shipyards and Marinette Marine will team to compete for the U.S. Navy's Littoral Combat Ship (LCS) program, Lockheed Martin said March 4. "We're really satisfied with the kind of team we've put together here," said a company spokesman. "... As we go forward, we're expecting to have several other additions along the way."
Engineered Support Systems Inc. (ESSI) plans to acquire Technical and Management Services Corp. (TAMSCO), which provides information technology logistics services and telecommunications integration for the Department of Defense. St. Louis-based Engineered Support, which builds support and electronics equipment for the military, will pay $66.5 million for TAMSCO, subject to some price adjustments that may be made after the deal is closed.
ONE BLOCK DOWN: The Air Force's Unmanned Combat Air Vehicle (UCAV) program successfully completed all Block 1 demonstrations Feb. 28, according to the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA). During Block 1, the UCAV program completed 48 discrete laboratory, simulation and flight demonstrations. The final Block 1 activities were two flights that verified the safe operation of the UCAV's weapons bay door at altitudes of 35,000 feet and speeds up to Mach 0.75.
NEW DELHI - India's defense budget would increase slightly in fiscal year 2004 under a budget presented Feb. 28 by Finance Minister Jaswant Singh. The government plans to spend $13.6 billion for defense in that period, compared with $13.54 billion for fiscal 2003. As a percentage of the overall budget, defense would represent 14.8 percent, down from 15.6 percent in FY '03.
Northrop Grumman said March 3 it has completed the sale of its TRW Automotive business, acquired during the December 2002 takeover of TRW Inc., to affiliates of the Blackstone Group for $4.7 billion. The move marks the end of Northrop Grumman's plans to sell or spin off the Automotive business while retaining control of TRW's Space & Electronics and Systems divisions.
CACI BUY: CACI International said it has completed the purchase of Applied Technology Solutions of Arlington, Va., an information technology company with clients in the U.S. intelligence community.
General Dynamics said March 3 it has completed the acquisition of General Motors (GM) Defense, based in London, Ontario. General Dynamics announced last December it was acquiring the company for $1.1 billion in cash (DAILY, Dec. 20, 2002). The acquisition gives General Dynamics additional expertise in the design, development and production of lightweight armored combat vehicles, which are expected to play a major role in the deployment of the Army's Future Combat Systems.
MOTOR WORK: American Superconductor Corp. will lead a team to design and build a prototype 36.5 megawatt superconductor propulsion motor for electric warships, the company said March 3.
The first test of the beam control/fire control system for the Missile Defense Agency's Airborne Laser tentatively is planned to begin in early summer and last several weeks, government and industry sources said March 3. The ABL's kill laser and a target missile will be simulated during the test, which will take place at Lockheed Martin facilities in Sunnyvale, Calif. The beam control/fire control system is designed to guide the kill laser to the target.
A $1.1 billion annual budget to develop chemical and biological weapons defenses for U.S. troops is being focused on dramatically improving a growing arsenal of detection devices, senior Army officials said March 3. Led by the Army's Soldier Biological and Chemical Defense Command (SBCDC), military leaders are focusing a five-year spending plan on developing more sophisticated sensors that can detect and identify harmful agents at standoff range, said Brig. Gen. Stephen Reeves, the Pentagon's program executive officer for chemical and biological defense.
DELIVERED: Northrop Grumman has delivered the first of six E-2C Hawkeye 2000 export configuration aircraft to Egypt, the company said March 3. The former U.S. Navy aircraft was remanufactured and upgraded to the Hawkeye 2000 export configuration, which includes a commercial-off-the-shelf mission computer and advanced operator workstations, Northrop Grumman said. The $174 million upgrade program began in 1999. A second upgraded aircraft is slated to delivery to Egypt in early 2004.
PRAGUE - BAE Systems is paying a $10,000 fine imposed by Czech officials for advertising its Gripen fighters in breach of regulations banning the advertising of weapons.
The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) is funding three contractors to design "morphing" wings that radically alter their shape in flight, allowing for a new class of small, multi-mission unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs). Through the Morphing Aircraft Structures (MAS) program, DARPA hopes to enable a transition in the military from "large expensive systems of piloted aircraft to smaller systems of lethal, autonomous aircraft with combined roles," according to the agency.
The Missile Defense Agency (MDA) has concluded that last December's flight test of the Ground-based Midcourse Defense (GMD) system was unsuccessful because of a faulty computer chip connection in the Raytheon exoatmospheric kill vehicle (EKV), which failed to separate from its booster during flight, MDA officials said March 3.
Despite the progress that's been made in implementing the recommendations of the Rumsfeld-led Space Commission, there still is no "clear champion" for space at the Office of the Secretary of Defense (OSD), according to former commission member Robert Davis.
The level of confidence investors had in the defense industry from early 2000 to mid 2002 is unlikely to return unless defense spending and weapons modernization increases after a war with Iraq, according to a March 3 report from Merrill Lynch. "Defense has been a frustrating group because while fundamentals look decent, [stock] valuations have fallen," senior aerospace and defense analyst Byron Callan writes in the report.
