Boeing Co. has received a contract for phase two concept advanced development work on the Navy's Multi-mission Maritime Aircraft, and Lockheed Martin is in line to receive a similar contract, a Naval Air Systems Command (NAVAIR) spokesman said. Boeing received a $20.5 million contract from NAVAIR on Feb. 6, and Lockheed Martin's contract is "coming shortly," Justin Ward said Feb. 10. "It's administrative," he said. "As soon as they [complete] the paperwork," Lockheed Martin will get its contract.
The F-35 Joint Strike Fighter program is holding costs steady despite the first significant cut in orders, a senior Pentagon official said Feb. 7. The Pentagon's six-year spending plan unveiled Feb. 3 would cut roughly 400 aircraft from the U.S. order. The reduction drops the total JSF order to about 2,600, which includes the United Kingdom's order for 150 F-35Bs, the short-take-off-vertical-landing variant.
President Bush intends to designate Hansford T. Johnson, the assistant secretary of the Navy for installations and environment, to be acting secretary of the Navy, the White House said Feb. 7. Johnson will replace Susan Morrisey Livingstone as acting secretary while tending to his current duties, the Department of Defense said Feb. 7. Livingstone became acting secretary on Jan. 24, when Gordon England left the Navy to join the new Department of Homeland Security. She asked not to be considered to succeed England, according to DOD.
A House-Senate conference committee has tentatively agreed to add $10 billion to a fiscal 2003 non-defense appropriations bill to continue the war on terrorism. The Senate already had approved $3.9 billion for war-related intelligence activities (DAILY, Jan. 21). At the Bush Administration's request, the House-Senate panel tentatively has agreed to provide an extra $6.1 billion for defense: $4.5 billion for operation and maintenance and $1.6 billion for personnel.
Rep. John Larson (D-Conn.) and Sens. George Allen (R-Va.) and Chris Dodd (D-Conn.) have reintroduced legislation that would double funding for aeronautics research and development at NASA and the FAA over five years. Under the proposal, aeronautics R&D funding would reach $1.15 billion at NASA and $550 million at the FAA by fiscal 2008. The bill is designed to make the U.S. aerospace industry more competitive internationally by reversing a long-term decline in aeronautics R&D spending.
Administrator Sean O'Keefe defended NASA's process for forming the independent Columbia mishap investigation board during a press conference Feb. 10, saying the formation of a more independent "blue ribbon" panel would have slowed the investigation in its critical early stages.
Officials with Northrop Grumman Ship Systems sector on Feb. 10 unveiled details of a monohull ship design they say would meet the Navy's requirements for a Littoral Combat Ship. The ship, based on the Visby-class corvette built by Sweden's Kockums, would be nearly 105 meters (346 feet) long and weigh 2,700-2,800 tons, Northrop Grumman officials said in a media briefing in Washington. Kockums has partnered with Northrop Grumman on the project.
Phil Condit, chairman and chief executive officer of The Boeing Co., faces daunting challenges, including declines in commercial aircraft sales and in demand for commercial space launches, but he also sees significant new business opportunities in which he thinks the company is well-positioned to succeed. Boeing no longer thinks of itself as mainly a builder of airplanes and spacecraft but as a large-scale systems integrator, Condit said in an interview last week.
Members of the newly formed Suborbital Institute visited Capitol Hill this week for a series of briefings intended to raise awareness of the emerging market for suborbital reusable launch vehicles (RLVs). The Institute is a trade association made up of companies who are exploring applications for suborbital RLVs. Using a stair-step approach, the companies are attempting first to develop small, "sustainable niche" markets, according to Pat Bahn, CEO of TGV Rockets, Inc. and Washington director of the Suborbital Institute.
Three companies - Boeing, Lockheed Martin and Northrop Grumman - have told the Missile Defense Agency they each plan to compete to become the prime contractor for a new ground-based interceptor test bed that could shoot down missiles in their boost phase of flight, MDA announced in the Feb. 6 Federal Business Opportunities.
GREEN LIGHT: Arianespace flight 159, the final mission for the Ariane 4 booster, was approved for launch over the weekend and is scheduled to carry the Intelsat 907 telecommunications satellite to orbit on Feb. 12. The Ariane 4 entered service in 1988, according to Arianespace, which is transitioning to the Ariane 5.
Another RQ-8A Fire Scout unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) successfully completed the first of several flight tests at Naval Air Station Patuxent River, Md., according to officials with Northrop Grumman's Integrated Systems sector. The tests, conducted in January, involved a second test vehicle built as part of the program's engineering manufacturing and development phase. Three more air vehicles will be built as part of the program's low-rate initial production phase
BANGALORE, India - The deep-penetration Jaguar aircraft is set to become a mainstay of the Indian air force after the government agreed with the recommendations of an air force report that calls for upgrading existing aircraft and buying more. The state-owned Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd. (HAL) has begun upgrading 18 two-seat Jaguars, in addition to the upgrades of 17 single-seat aircraft that already are underway, HAL Chairman Nalini Rangan Mohanty said in a Feb. 7 interview at the Aero India 2003 expo here.
Feb. 9 - 11 -- Helicopter Association International's Heli-Expo 2003, Dallas Convention Center. For more information call (703) 683-4646 or go to www.heliexpo.com. Feb. 10 - 13 -- Fatigue Concepts' course on fatigue, fracture mechanics and damage tolerance. Rose College, Oklahoma City. Call (916) 933-5000 or go to www.fatigueconcepts. com. Feb. 11 - 12 -- NAVWAR Conference, "NAVWAR After 9/11." Aerospace Corp., Los Angeles, Calif. SECRET clearance required, U.S. only. For more information call (888) OLD-CROW or visit www.crows.org.
ZERO-SUM GAIN: The loss of the space shuttle Columbia could have a positive impact on U.S. space programs if plans are implemented to develop new orbiters or multiple pathways to space, according to senior aerospace and defense analyst Byron Callan of Merrill Lynch. Ensuring access to space through multiple paths "may result in greater attention to providing funding for two strong suppliers of expendable launch vehicles and renewed development of other reusable concepts," Callan says.
SPACE LAUNCHES: The market for commercial space launches has plummeted in recent years, in part because of the decline in demand from the battered telecommunications industry, and Boeing chairman and CEO Phil Condit does not expect it ever to return to the level of its heyday. "We think that the launch rate is going to be relatively low, but relatively stable," he said in an interview with Aviation Week Group editors.
Spacehab, Inc. reported a net profit of $1.2 million for the second quarter of its 2003 fiscal year, although the destruction of the shuttle Columbia, which was carrying the company's Research Double Module (RDM) in its cargo bay, leaves the company's future earnings uncertain.
V-22 ASSESSMENT: The V-22 program at Naval Air Station Patuxent River, Md., hosts a visit this week by Aldridge, who is looking for an update on the aircraft's critical recent flight tests. "My trip ... should get me a little bit more education on how they are progressing," he says. "I haven't heard of any real problems yet." Aldridge plans to review the program's flight test plan and get an update on the plane's reliability, among other measurements.
DEVELOPING THE ORD: The military services in general, and the Marine Corps in particular, are trying to do a better job of communicating operational weapon requirements to defense contractors, according to Marine Corps Assistant Commandant Gen. William Nyland. Doing a better job of developing the operational requirements document (ORD) before the early milestones of a weapons program is key, he says. "We have not historically done a great job in [developing the ORD]," he says.
ARMY BUDGET: Army Secretary Thomas White and Gen. Eric Shinseki, Army chief of staff, are scheduled to appear before the House Armed Services Committee Feb. 12 to provide their first congressional testimony on the Army's fiscal 2004 budget request. The request includes about $1.1 billion to continue research and development for the recently restructured RAH-66 Comanche helicopter program.
Rep. Dana Rohrabacher (R-Calif.), chairman of the House Science Committee's space and aeronautics subcommittee, plans to reintroduce legislation that would offer tax incentives to promote greater commercial investment in space, according to a spokesman for the congressman.
TANKER LEASE: A decision on the potential $17 billion lease of 100 Boeing 767 tankers for the Air Force could be reached this week, says E.C. "Pete" Aldridge Jr., the undersecretary of defense for acquisition, technology and logistics. Perhaps mindful of several previous false starts for the lease deal last year, Aldridge says his prediction may be more of a preference. "We would like to [reach a decision], but whether or not we can depends on a lot of external" factors, he says. A go-ahead decision likely will trigger another series of deliberations over funding.
