A B-2 bomber that sustained $2.5 million worth of damage in a maintenance accident at Whiteman Air Force Base, Mo., nearly six months ago is still being repaired, an Air Force spokesman said Nov. 5. Five maintenance crewmen working on the plane's left main landing gear on May 15 were injured when the aircraft collapsed, according to a report released Nov. 4 by Air Combat Command.
Next week, Boeing's Unmanned Combat Armed Rotorcraft (UCAR) team will meet with the Army and the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) for a milestone session to decide, among other things, the preliminary design for the company's version of the aircraft.
AEROSPACE CORP., El Segundo, Calif. Russell E. Averill has been appointed principal director in the Electronic Programs Division in Chantilly, Va. Harlan F. Bittner has been promoted to corporate chief architect/engineer and general manager of the Office of the Chief Architect/Engineer. David J. Gorney has been promoted to general manager of the Navigation Division. Michael P. Healy has been appointed to principal engineer in the Office of the National Security Space Architect, Fairfax, Va.
LAUNCH SET: Boeing's new Delta IV rocket remains on schedule for its Nov. 16 launch, the company said. The company said it successfully completed the mating of the Eutelsat W5 spacecraft to the Delta IV
LAUNCH: Arianespace has scheduled the first launch of its heavier-lift Ariane 5 booster for Nov. 28, the company said Nov. 6. The booster, which can carry 10 tons of payload compared with the previous version's 6.5 ton capability, is slated to carry the Hot Bird 7 satellite for Eutelsat and Stentor, a technology demonstrator, for the French space agency.
DRS Technologies, maker of advanced electro-optical systems and ruggedized computers, said Nov. 6 that recent acquisitions helped boost the company's net earnings for the second quarter of 2003, which rose 71 percent over the same period a year ago. Net income for the company's second quarter, which ended Sept. 30, rose from $4.5 million a year ago to $7.7 million this year. Sales for the quarter rose 39 percent over a year ago, from $116.2 million a to $161.2 million this year.
Early doubts by the Defense Department's top acquisition official about using an F/A-18F Super Hornet derivative as a U.S. Navy radar jammer appear to be waning as a critical budget decision approaches, a Boeing Co. executive said Nov. 6. E.C. "Pete" Aldridge Jr., undersecretary for acquisition, technology and logistics, earlier this year panned a joint proposal by the Air Force and Navy to replace aging EA-6B Prowlers with the EA-18G Growler and a mix of bombers and unmanned planes, but program officials say they have detected a change.
Contrary to recent press reports, the Global Positioning System (GPS) constellation is healthy despite the loss of some redundant systems, according to the Air Force's chief engineer at the GPS Joint Program Office. "There's some perception that if I lose redundancy on a satellite, somehow the satellite is no longer operational, and that's simply not true," Col. Rick Reaser said during a presentation at the Air Traffic Control Association's 47th annual meeting in Washington Nov. 5.
Congress should consider extending the deadline for the Quadrennial Defense Review to give new administrations more time to conduct the study, according to the General Accounting Office. The Bush Administration was required to submit its QDR to Congress on Sept. 30, 2001, just eight months after taking office. As a result, some issues, including force structure needs, were not assessed as thoroughly as some officials would have liked, the GAO wrote in a report released Nov. 5.
ENGINE PICK: China Aviation Industry Corp. II has selected Pratt & Whitney Canada's PT6B-67A for its Z-8F helicopter upgrade program, the company said Nov. 6.
NEW FACILITIES: Lockheed Martin Corp. has begun a $13.6 million capital investment project to build fuel test and flight operations facilities at its aeronautics plant in Marietta, Ga., the company said Nov. 6. "These new facilities will greatly increase our ability to quickly and efficiently prepare and deliver aircraft as we progress toward high-rate production," Bob Rearden, the company's vice president and F/A-22 program general manager, said in a statement.
The results of the Nov. 5 congressional elections likely will have an impact on defense programs, but only at the margins, Capitol Hill sources said Nov. 6. The Bush Administration's missile defense program, a frequent target of Democratic criticism, could receive less scrutiny in the Senate now that Republicans will take over that chamber, but Bush has gotten most of what he wanted on missile defense even with a Democratic Senate, sources said.
RADAR ROLLOUT: Northrop Grumman Corp. rolled out the first Multi-role Electronically Scanned Array (MESA) radar antenna for Australia's Wedgetail airborne early warning and control system this week, the company said Nov. 6. The MESA was designed under contract to the Boeing Co., which is building the system for the Australian military. The MESA antenna will be tested through the first quarter of next year.
LONDON - Wing alignment problems are the cause of delays to the initial flight of the first remanufactured Nimrod MRA.4 maritime patrol aircraft PA1, according to press reports here. The problems cropped up when BAE Systems fitted new wings to the original, largely hand-built fuselage keels. The alignment problems apparently were compounded by structural reinforcements needed in the new wing center section, which accommodates the MRA.4's four Rolls-Royce BR710 Mk 101 turbofans.
Northrop Grumman will continue work on the Total System Support Responsibility (TSSR) contract for the U.S. Air Force's E-8C Joint Surveillance Target Attack Radar System (Joint STARS) aircraft, the company said Nov. 4. The one-year, $98.5 million contract is for the third year of the seven-year program. Northrop Grumman was awarded the TSSR contract, which has a total estimated value of more than $500 million, two years ago (DAILY, Sept. 21, 2000).
The Senate should encourage the Bush Administration to seek arms cuts beyond those contained in a proposed treaty with Russia, according to Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman Carl Levin (D-Mich.). The Senate also should urge the President Bush to consider speeding up the reductions contained in the treaty, Levin wrote in an Oct. 7 letter to leaders of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, which is drafting a resolution to ratify the arms pact.
The Pentagon's Missile Defense Agency soon will retire the Airborne Surveillance Testbed (AST), a highly modified Boeing 767 that has been used since 1985 to collect infrared data on missile tests, according to MDA.
The U.S. needs to begin moving appropriate elements of the national airspace system (NAS) into space, according to Ron Morgan, vice president for strategic planning at Lockheed Martin Air Traffic Management (ATM) systems. "Where there is a business case to do so, we need to transition elements from the NAS to space-based capabilities," Morgan said during a presentation at the Air Traffic Control Association's 47th annual meeting in Washington Nov. 5.
A TRW-built laser vaporized two 150mm projectiles in the first successful use of a directed energy weapon against artillery rounds, Army and industry officials said Nov. 5. The Mobile Tactical High Energy Laser (MTHEL) testbed scored both hits during live-fire tests Nov. 5 at the High Energy Laser Systems Test Facility at White Sands Missile Range, N.M. "From an Army standpoint, this shows that this [weapon] has a lot of versatility," William Congo, spokesman for the U.S. Army Space and Missile Defense Command, told The DAILY.
ORION UPGRADE: EADS CASA will modernize nine Lockheed Martin P-3 Orion aircraft the Brazilian air force bought from the U.S. Navy, the company said Nov. 4. It also will sell 12 C-295 aircraft to Brazil to replace that country's aging C-115 Buffalo transports, EADS CASA said.
HAMILTON SUNDSTRAND has teamed with Japan's Ishikawajima-Harima Heavy Industries (IHI) to support development of the HS engine control system for Rolls-Royce's Trent 900 engine. The engine control system includes the full authority digital engine control (FADEC), fuel metering unit, variable stator vane (VSV) actuator, fuel pump and permanent magnet alternator. IHI will be responsible for providing the VSV actuator and the input/output board for the FADEC. Hamilton Sundstrand became a partner with Rolls-Royce on the Trent 900 in November 2001.
With the future of the $10 billion CVN(X) experimental aircraft carrier apparently brighter than ever, the Navy may need a boost of more than $1 billion to its research and development budget to keep pace with the accelerated program, said a defense analyst. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld has been a skeptic on the carrier plan. But at a Pentagon briefing Nov. 4, a day after he reviewed with Navy officials a proposal to build a more advanced version of the Navy's CVN(X)-1 design in 2007, Rumsfeld offered only positive comments about the plan.
