The drop in net profit for Northrop Grumman Corp. in 2002 largely reflects changes in accounting procedures to reflect the real value of some assets and charges for discontinued operations. Net profit for the company fell from $427 million in 2001 to $64 million in 2002 (DAILY, Jan. 29). The drop largely reflects a rule change passed by the Securities and Exchange Commission dictating how companies record charges for goodwill and other intangible assets.
The House Appropriations Committee announced major organizational changes on Jan. 29, including several new appointments to the defense and NASA subcommittees and the creation of a subcommittee to fund the new Department of Homeland Security (DHS). Committee Chairman C.W. "Bill" Young (R-Fla.) said Rep. Roger Wicker (R-Miss.) will replace retired Rep. Joe Skeen (R-N.M.) on the defense panel. Wicker's congressional district includes Columbus Air Force Base, which trains pilots.
Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) proved their value for use in future submarine operations during the Navy's recent "Giant Shadow" experiment in the Bahamas, according to Capt. Bill Toti, the experiment's joint force maritime component commander.
Goodrich Corp. announced Jan. 29 it was selling its Avionics Systems business to L-3 Communications Corp. for $188 million cash. The sale is part of the company's push to become "a systems supplier, not a component supplier," a Goodrich spokesman said. "We want to focus on markets where we can be either number one or number two."
LONDON - Norway announced new partnership agreements with the four-nation Eurofighter Partner Companies (EPCs) on Jan. 28, indicating renewed interest in the Eurofighter Typhoon for the Norwegian air force. Norway will negotiate with the partner companies - Alenia Aeronautica, BAE Systems, EADS-CASA and EADS-Deutschland - on general terms and conditions for future cooperation with Norwegian industry. Separate contracts would follow between Norwegian companies and the EPCs.
The U.S. Air Force is starting a new effort to develop a self-protection upgrade for the B-1B fleet only weeks after the service canceled a troubled, five-year-old effort to achieve the same capability. Air Combat Command is standing up a working group to consider the issue of a B-1 defensive system replacement within a month, said Maj. John Watson, B-1 program element monitor in the office of the assistant secretary of the Air Force for acquisition.
SUCCESSFUL LAUNCH: Two U.S. Air Force satellites were successfully deployed Jan. 29. A Boeing Delta II carried GPS IIR-8, which will join the Global Positioning System fleet, and XSS-10, an Air Force Research Laboratory demonstration microsatellite.
With its envelope expansion tests completed, the first completely upgraded Marine Corps AH-1Z Super Cobra helicopter is engaged in external stores jettison testing at Naval Air Station Patuxent River, Md. For the tests, a variety of equipment is attached to the helicopter's hard points and dropped in flight, including 2.75-inch rocket packs, auxiliary fuel tanks and dummy Hellfire and Sidewinder missiles.
Fourth quarter profits for Northrop Grumman Corp. jumped 71 percent over a year ago due to earnings from its recently acquired Newport News Shipbuilding unit, company officials said Jan. 28. Earnings for the former TRW military and space units, which were acquired in mid December, were not included in the 2002 results.
House and Senate panels are gearing up to consider legislation that could influence the modernization of the nation's air traffic control system and authorize future funding for the FAA's research and development activities. The House Science Committee likely will hold hearings on FAA authorization legislation sometime in March, according to a committee spokeswoman.
MRM: Alliant Techsystems (ATK) will continue development of the U.S. Army's precision-guided Mid-Range Munition (MRM) under a $21 million contract, the company said Jan. 28. A gun-launched, guide-to-hit demonstration of MRM is scheduled for September, and the system design and development phase is expected to begin in 2004.
Raytheon will leverage many of the technologies developed for the Navy's DD(X) next-generation destroyer and lessons learned during the LPD-17 program when competing for the Littoral Combat Ship, company officials said Jan. 28. "Our vision is ... to look at the new problems through the architectures and systems developed for the DD(X)," Raytheon DD(X) program manager Jack Cronin told defense reporters in Washington.
COMMUNICATIONS: Thales Communications is defining and testing communication systems under two study contracts awarded late last year by the French defense procurement agency, the company said Jan. 28. The first contract is for development of a high-speed radio demonstrator, which could allow for faster communication rates for naval and land forces. The second is for the definition and testing of software for tri-service radios, which are to be compatible with the U.S. military's planned Joint Tactical Radio System by using the Software Common Architecture standard.
LONDON - In the run-up to the Ministry of Defence's selection of a prime contractor for the Royal Navy's two new 50,000-ton aircraft carriers (CVFs), unofficially expected to be announced Jan. 30, industry opinion is divided on whether BAE Systems or Thales will lead the program. BAE Systems has not endeared itself to the MOD with major delays and cost overruns on several of its major military procurement programs, including the Eurofighter and Nimrod MRA.4 aircraft and Astute submarines.
The Army is upgrading seven of its 11 experimental High Mobility Artillery Rocket System (HIMARS) launchers to an early production capability in preparation for operational tests next year. A sole-source contract is being awarded to Lockheed Martin's Missiles and Fire Control unit, according to a recent Army acquisition notice. The planned upgrades are not related to reports that the Pentagon is considering the acceleration of HIMARS launchers into the field by as early as 2004, Army officials said Jan. 28.
Astrium will design and build the Venus Express spacecraft for the European Space Agency (ESA) under an 82.4 million euro ($90.6 million) contract, the company said Jan. 28. Venus Express, which would be the first European spacecraft to visit Venus, is scheduled to launch in November 2005 from Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. The program has cut costs by reusing the design of the Mars Express spacecraft and spare instruments from that program and the Rosetta spacecraft.
Raytheon officials said Jan. 28 they are exploring new ways of using their Standard Missile-3 (SM-3), including pairing it with a different kind of radar and deploying it on land instead of just at sea. "We need to be innovative," said Rick Yuse, vice president of the missile defense business area for Raytheon Integrated Defense Systems. "One of the things we're doing is looking at how we can integrate some of the systems and components that we use from other parts of missile defense to solve some specific problems."
Boeing Co. and Lockheed Martin Corp. are nearing the end of work on the first of two concept advanced development phases in the Navy's Multi-mission Maritime Aircraft (MMA) program, and are expected to begin efforts on the second phase next month, a Naval Air Systems Command spokesman said.
C4ISR: BAE Systems C4ISR will provide two more Dagger and Talon high-capacity satellite communications systems for the United Kingdom's Defence Communications Services Agency, the company said Jan. 28. Dagger is mounted on a Land Rover and Talon is a man-portable deployable terminal.
Naval Air Systems Command (NAVAIR) is calling for industry to submit designs for a new vertical-lift aircraft to replace the aging VH-3D presidential helicopter. The VH-3D is a twin engine, all-weather helicopter flown by Marine Helicopter Squadron One (HMX-1), which is responsible for transporting the president and other heads of state. Originally derived from the Sikorsky S-61 series, the first version of the VH-3D was flown by the Navy nearly 40 years ago.
Two U.S. Air Force satellites are slated to launch Jan. 29 from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station on a Boeing Delta II rocket. The booster is carrying GPS IIR-8, which will replace SVN-22 in the Global Positioning System satellite constellation, and XSS-10, an Air Force Research Laboratory experimental microsatellite. XSS-10 is to test autonomous and manual control of the satellite, performa autonomous navigation and visually inspect the Delta II's second stage, according to Boeing.
