Key challenges for Raytheon Co. in the upcoming year are finishing two money-losing construction projects, returning its aircraft business to profitability and recouping its pension fund expenses, according to several financial analysts. The most important of these is completing construction of two power plants in Massachusetts, according to senior aerospace and defense analyst Christopher Mecray of Deutsche Bank.
NSF FUNDING: The National Science Foundation has cleared a major hurdle toward doubling its budget over five years, but several more things must happen before the funding increase becomes a reality. President Bush signed a bill Dec. 19 that authorizes boosting the NSF's budget to $9.8 billion by fiscal 2007. Proponents of the legislation say more spending on basic research is needed to preserve the nation's technological edge. But the NSF will not get the additional money until lawmakers provide it in the foundation's annual appropriations bills.
NOT TOTALLY DEPENDENT: The United States' failure to reform its export control regulations has helped European defense and space companies, according to an official with the European Aeronautic Defence and Space Co. (EADS). European companies have come to depend on the U.S. market to sell their products, the official says, but when U.S. export regulations prevented the export of key technologies, European firms were able to design and develop their own systems. Companies that have successfully done this include Airbus, Eurocopter and Arianespace.
According to the scientists working on them, proposed missions to fly unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) on Mars must go the extra mile to prove their scientific worth over longer-duration missions such as orbiters, landers, or rovers. The latest hopeful is NASA Langley Research Center's Aerial Regional-scale Environmental Survey (ARES) mission, selected as one of four finalists in NASA's 2007 Mars Scout program (DAILY, Dec. 18).
BIT OF RESERVE: U.S. special operations troops soon may own a surplus of AC-130 gunships and MH-47 helicopters, a senior defense official says. The fiscal 2004 budget request proposes continuing the replacement of special operations aircraft lost, damaged or aged by Operation Enduring Freedom, and adds some, the official says. "There'll be an effort to get them a bit of a reserve in terms both of helicopters and fixed-wing assets," he says. Overall, special operations accounts also will gain funds to boost manpower, especially at the headquarters level.
Boeing on Dec. 20 revealed its next aircraft design, the unnamed "middle-market" aircraft, ending months of speculation about the reality of its Sonic Cruiser, Aerospace Daily affiliate Aviation Daily reported. Commercial Airplanes President Alan Mulally told journalists the new aircraft "reaffirms the strategy of point-to-point nonstop travel. ... The market is tremendous." Pressure is mounting on Airbus to respond to Boeing's shift from the Sonic Cruiser design to a more conventional, yet cost-efficient 250-passenger aircraft.
ANTI-MISSILE DEPLOYMENT: Lawrence Korb, assistant secretary of defense for readiness under President Reagan; former Sens. Gary Hart (D-Colo.) and Bob Kerrey (D-Neb.); and two Nobel laureates are urging President Bush to reconsider his decision to begin deploying a national missile shield in 2004. In a letter to Bush, they say the technology for such a shield is not mature enough to be fielded and the resources that will be used for the deployment would be better spent on curbing the proliferation of biological, chemical and nuclear materials.
MOSCOW - Kazakhstan President Nursultan Nazarbayev said his country plans to phase out the use of toxic-fuel boosters from Baikonur Cosmodrome and replace them with new Angara boosters. "We are talking about replacing Proton and Tsiklon launch vehicles at Baikonur with the new Angara rockets, and Kazakhstan is ready to participate in this project's funding," Nazarbayev said last week after a visit to RSC Energia facilities and the mission control center in Korolyov, near Moscow.
NEW DELHI - The head of the Indian air force (IAF) said human error is largely to blame for the large number of MiG aircraft crashes here in recent years. Air Chief Marshal Sriniwaspuram Krishnaswamy said Dec. 20 that MiGs have a higher crash rate than other aircraft India has acquired because air force pilots train on MiG-21s because India lacks advanced jet trainers.
ICBM WORK: Northrop Grumman's Mission Systems sector will continue full-rate production of the ICBM Guidance Replacement Program under a $181 million contract from the U.S. Air Force, the company said Dec. 20. The company is upgrading the guidance-system electronics in the Minuteman III missile to extend its service life through 2020.
The U.S. Air Force has awarded Boeing Integrated Defense Systems a contract option to build a third satellite in the Wideband Gapfiller Satellite (WGS) program, the company announced Dec. 20. The WGS satellites are intended to augment the current Defense Satellite Communication System (DSCS). Boeing received funding to build the first two satellites in January (DAILY, Feb. 7) for launches scheduled in 2004. The third satellite is scheduled to launch in 2005.
SHARPER FOCUS: The creation of the Department of Homeland Security will affect the making of future U.S. export control regulations, according to a State Department export controls and nonproliferation official. "We're obviously going to be working very closely with Homeland Security. We're going to be looking at the same questions from slightly different perspectives, but with the same objectives," he says. The area most affected by the department's creation will be technology transfer, according to the official.
Singapore and Israel are in the midst of another round of talks with U.S. Defense Department officials about joining the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter (JSF) program as minor participants, according to a Defense Department official. A Singapore delegation arrives this week to begin talks about the final shape of the Security Cooperation Plan (SCP). An Israeli delegation left late last week after a round of negotiations, the official said.
NASA has awarded funding for nine investigations under its Instrument Incubator Program (IIP), which develops technology for smaller and less expensive earth science remote sensing instruments. The selected proposals focus on measurements of Earth's coastal regions, sea-ice thickness and snow cover, pollution effects, water cycling and other areas. The funded proposals came from researchers at NASA centers, aerospace companies and universities. Total funding for the investigations over three years is about $22 million, NASA said.
Lockheed Martin says technology from a program it is working on for the Air Force could be used to help protect commercial airliners from attack by heat-seeking missiles. The target price per system would be $1 million or less, and devices could be available next year, according to the company. BAE Systems and Northrop Grumman also have said they could offer such systems.
Starting in the fiscal 2004 budget, U.S. Defense Department officials plan to shift more than $90 billion from sustaining current weapons and hardware to more futuristic programs, including laser satellite transmissions and unmanned combat aerial vehicles, a senior defense official said Dec. 19. The "significant" tilt in investment patterns also reflects the increasing strength of Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld's transformation agenda, a frequent cause of bitter disputes with service officials concerned about diversion of funds from existing programs.
The Defense Department has told Congress that major hardware retrofits are unlikely, but software changes are expected, for the F/A-22 Raptors the Air Force plans to buy in the current fiscal year. Although testing of the Lockheed Martin-built fighter is not completed, "there is a low technical risk that a hardware retrofit will be required" for the 23 Raptors slated for purchase in fiscal 2003, DOD wrote in a report recently sent to Capitol Hill.
Two weeks before Poland is set to decide a $3.5 billion fighter competition, Lockheed Martin, a candidate, signed up the Poland Aviation Company (PZL) in Mielec for a minor spare parts contract. PZL Mielec has signed a $380,000 deal with the U.S. aerospace company to supply 69 small manufacturing parts over the next two years. But the deal is described by both companies as independent from Poland's scheduled decision on a multirole fighter on Dec. 27.
A recent briefing the U.S. Navy gave several U.S. and international shipbuilders about the potential sale of diesel-electric submarines to Taiwan may be the first step in establishing a framework for the sale, according to naval analysts. The briefing, held at the Washington Navy Shipyard on Dec. 17-18, was given by Naval Sea Systems Command to representatives of four large U.S. defense contractors: General Dynamics Corp., Northrop Grumman Corp., Lockheed Martin Corp., and Raytheon Co.
