Full-rate production of the RQ-7A Shadow tactical unmanned aerial vehicle has been approved, an Army spokesman said. The Shadow, built by AAI Corp., of Hunt Valley, Md., is designed to help commanders acquire mobile targets, manage a fight and assess battle damage. "Full-rate production was approved by the ASARC," (Army Systems Acquisition Review Council) on Sept. 25, Bob Hunt, a spokesman for Army Aviation and Missile Command, Redstone Arsenal, Ala., said Sept. 26. "The procurement objective is for 28 systems," he said.
A $3 million flight demonstration to test a potentially quieter supersonic aircraft design by Northrop Grumman may be delayed a few months, a company spokesman said Sept. 26. That same day, Northrop Grumman unveiled the design of an aircraft that would yield a sonic boom seven times quieter than the Concorde's, yet fly distances up to 600 nautical miles and at speeds up to Mach 2.4. The design is part of the Quiet Supersonic Platform program, a $35 million, two-year effort by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA).
JSF GUN: General Dynamics Armament and Technical Products will be the gun system integrator for the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter, the company said Sept. 25. The company, a unit of General Dynamics, was selected for the work by Lockheed Martin Aeronautics Co. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.
Several military satellite launches could be delayed indefinitely if the Senate accepts a House-passed $100 million cut in the Air Force's fiscal 2003 request for Lockheed Martin Titan space boosters, the Defense Department has told lawmakers. The House version of the FY '03 defense appropriations bill reduced the $335 million request for the Titan by $100 million, citing "chronic underexecution and excess end-of-year funds." The Senate trimmed the request by $20 million, citing program delays.
Northrop Grumman Corp.'s $7.8 billion acquisition of TRW Inc. still is on target for completion in the fourth quarter, company Chairman and CEO Kent Kresa said Sept. 24. "We expect to close in the fourth quarter. We still are on schedule," Kresa said in a presentation at the Bank of America Securities Annual Investment Conference in San Francisco. Although Defense and Justice department regulators still are reviewing the acquisition, Kresa said he sees "no impediments to being able to do that [acquisition]."
Smaller aerospace and defense companies are continuing to diversify their portfolios and seek technology niches through acquisitions, according to a Sept. 24 report from Merrill Lynch. Byron Callan, senior aerospace and defense analyst, said in the report that the push for consolidation is being driven by several factors, including larger aerospace and defense companies that are selling off parts of companies acquired during the 1990s.
The selection of teams headed by Lockheed Martin Corp. and Raytheon Co. to proceed to the 14-month component advanced development phase of the Navy's $6 billion Multiple User Objective System (MUOS) program doesn't mean one of the two teams will be chosen in 2004 for the system demonstration and development phase.
A House-Senate conference committee has approved several new rules for international arms deals, including a provision that would let foreign nations in some cases lease U.S. equipment for more time than currently allowed.
RESUPPLY: The Russian Progress 9 vehicle is on its way to bring supplies to the International Space Station after launching Sept. 25 from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. The 15,000-pound spacecraft is scheduled to dock with the space station on Sept. 29. An earlier supply vehicle, the Progress 8, was undocked from the station Sept. 24 and moved a safe distance away.
ALCOA, Pittsburgh Charles D. McLane Jr. has been appointed vice president of Alcoa Business Support Services and controller, effective Oct. 1. He will replace Timothy S. Mock, who will formally retire Jan. 31, 2003. DRS TECHNOLOGIES, Parsippany, N.J. Mark J. Williams has joined the company as senior vice president for human resources. GENERAL DEFENSE SYSTEMS, Boca Raton, Fla. Robert E. Ricles has been named chairman. HIENERGY TECHNOLOGIES, Irvine, Calif.
PRAGUE - A Czech military search and rescue helicopter crashed Sept. 24 while conducting ground-level engine tests at the Line air force base near Plzen injuring three ground personnel, air force spokesman Petr Sykora told The DAILY. It is the third incident involving a W-3A Sokol helicopter in the Czech Republic in little more than 18 months.
Pratt & Whitney, the Defense Logistics Agency, and Air Force Materiel Command have signed a strategic supplier alliance charter as part of a Defense Department initiative to improve logistics support, the company said Sept. 25. The agreement calls for P&W, DLA and the materiel command to meet regularly to identify ways to improve logistics support, procurement, quality, program management, engineering and program integration.
One of the biggest challenges facing Lockheed Martin in its efforts to install a high-energy laser on the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter (JSF) is the question of what to do with all the excess heat generated by the system, according to the company's lead for directed energy programs. Laser systems use electricity to produce highly focused beams of light, as well as considerable amounts of waste heat that must be dissipated. Lockheed Martin believes that a 100-kilowatt laser is the minimum power level needed to be an effective weapon for a fighter.
NEW DELHI - India test-fired its short-range air defense Trishul missile from the eastern state of Orissa on Sept. 24. The missile, which is being developed by the Defence Research and Development Organization (DRDO), was tested from a mobile launcher, said Pradipto Bandyopadhyay, a spokesman for the Indian ministry of defense. In January, the missile was tested in sea-skimming mode against low-flying targets.
REDUCTION: Paris-based Alcatel Space said the decline of the commercial space sector will force it to cut its workforce next year. The company plans to lay off 400 employees in the first half of 2003 at facilities in Cannes, Nanterre, Toulouse and Valence, to "adapt to market trends."
The United States and its European allies will need to implement difficult but necessary changes to improve joint interoperability, according to a report from the European Institute. The report, based on a survey of more than 100 political, military and industry leaders on both sides of the Atlantic, recommends that governments establish common equipment standards, reform export control regulations and harmonize the military requirements between nations.
LASER WARNING: BAE Systems will produce integrated laser warning receiver systems under a $3.1 million contract from ATK Integrated Defense Co., the company said Sept. 25. BAE's Integrated Defense Solutions, based in Austin, Texas, will provide the laser warning receivers to ATK for ATK's AN/AAR-47(V)2 Missile Warning Receiver, for use on a variety of U.S. military aircraft.
NEW DELHI - Pakistan and the United States have begun their first consultations on defense cooperation in five years. Undersecretary of Defense Douglas Feith is leading a 40-person delegation to the U.S-Pakistan Defense Consultative Group, its first meeting since 1997. The group's meeting began Sept. 25 in Islamabad. Feith was slated to arrive Sept. 26. A U.S. embassy official in New Delhi said the group would review defense ties between the two countries and discuss counterterrorism operations along the Afghanistan border.
A shortage in the number of full-scale aerial targets will prompt weapon evaluators to maximize the use of each target, according to an Air Force Air Combat Command officer. Maj. Bert Dreher, program manager the Weapon System Evaluation Program (WSEP) at ACC, said only full-scale drones are capable of flying some of the profiles his command needs to collect data on weapon systems effectiveness.
The Defense Department has given a qualified endorsement to two House-passed provisions aimed at giving DOD more flexibility in managing acquisition programs. Both proposals are in the House version of the fiscal 2003 defense authorization bill.
