COOPERATION: The heads of India's Space Research Organization (ISRO) and Bhabha Atomic Research Center are urging more Indian-U.S. cooperation in space and nuclear energy. ISRO head K. Kasturirangan and Bhabha head Anil Kakodkar visited the U.S. ahead of Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee, who met with President Bush in New York on Sept. 12.
GROUND VS. SKY: When the Next Generation Space Telescope (NGST) becomes operational at the end of the decade, its affordability may surprise skeptics and boost the case for space-based observatories over ground telescopes, according to NGST Project Manager Bernard Seery. "At some point it may become cheaper to send these things into space than do it on the ground," he says. "I think NGST may surprise people.
Integrated Defense Technologies Inc. announced Sept. 13 it plans to buy BAE Systems' Advanced Systems unit for $146 million cash. Company officials said they expect the deal to close during the fourth quarter of 2002. Based in Gaithersburg, Md., Advanced Systems designs and produces radio frequency surveillance equipment used in signals intelligence operations. Its products include receivers, tuners, demodulators and signal analyzers that perform signal intercept identification, location and analysis functions.
ROBUST PRODUCTION: The market for light wheeled combat vehicles should remain robust for the next 10 years, according to Forecast International/DMS senior weapons analyst Gregory Fetter. Vehicle production should peak in 2007 with more than 1,800 vehicles being produced for a total value of $1.35 billion, Fetter says in a recently released report. Overall, 15,377 vehicles, worth more than $9.63 billion, are expected to be produced from 2002-2011, he says. The market is being driven by the U.S. Army's choice of a Piranha vehicle variant for its Interim Combat Brigades.
GOOD TO GO: The Army is "good to go" for the Oct. 2 Defense Acquisition Board (DAB) meeting on its troubled RAH-66 Comanche helicopter program, according to Claude Bolton, assistant secretary of the Army for acquisition, logistics and technology. In addition to restructuring the program for the sixth time earlier this year, "we've done several things," Bolton says. "We've been through an [Army Requirements Oversight Council] with the Army. We did another review about a week or so ago, to make sure we're ready.
Sept. 15 - 18 -- Air Force Association 2002 National Convention & Aerospace Technology Exposition. Marriott Wardman Park Hotel, 2660 Woodley Road, N.W., Washington, DC. For more information contact Melissa Braxton at (703) 247-5843 or Napoleon Byars at (703) 247-5850. Sept. 18 - 19 -- U.S. Maritime Security Expo & Conference - Jacob Javits Convention Center, New York City. For more information or to register visit www.maritimesecurityexpo.com.
Changes in technology and doctrine are prompting the Air Force to consider changing the designation of the Raptor fighter from F-22 to F/A-22, an Air Force spokeswoman said. The change may be announced Sept. 17 at the annual Air Force Association convention in Washington. "Right now, we're considering [a] change in the designation of the F-22" to F/A-22, a designation like that of the Navy's Hornet, F/A-18, which has the ground attack mission as well as the air-to-air mission, the spokeswoman said.
The House-Senate conference committee charged with crafting a final fiscal 2003 defense authorization bill is making progress in resolving differences over missile defense, congressional sources said Sept. 13.
ROTORCRAFT STRIKE: A labor union strike at the Boeing Co.'s rotorcraft plant in suburban Philadelphia would be a blow to the multi-service V-22 Osprey tiltrotor aircraft and the Army's RAH-66 Comanche helicopter, which are already at risk of being terminated, Rep. Curt Weldon (R-Pa.) writes in a letter urging Boeing management and workers to resolve their differences. The union was threatening to strike as early as Sept. 14.
JDAM ACCELERATION: Boe-ing will produce 18,840 Joint Direct Attack Munition (JDAM) kits under a $378 million contract, the company said Sept. 13. Boeing is expanding its production facility in St. Charles, Mo., to accommodate the increased kit orders. The company plans to deliver 2,800 kits a month by August 2003. They will be a mixture of 2,000-pound and 1,000-pound warhead kits, Boeing said.
For the Navy's Multi-mission Maritime Aircraft (MMA) program, an effort that ultimately could see production of 187 planes for $15 billion to $20 billion, Boeing is proposing a variant of its 737-700 aircraft and Lockheed Martin is proposing a new version of it P-3 Orion.
DEFENSE SECTOR TRENDS: The restructuring of the defense sector over the next two to four years likely will be a key issue for investors, according to senior Merrill Lynch analyst Byron Callan. Investors and industry observers should consider several key issues, he says. The first is that Defense Department efforts to secure more competition and innovation may favor small to medium-sized defense companies, and likely will attract commercial information and electronics firms, he says in a report released last week.
The greatest threat to U.S. airpower in a war with Iraq will come from Iraq's air defense capabilities, not the Iraqi air force, according to military analyst Anthony Cordesman of the Center for Strategic and International Studies. "The [Iraqi] air force, in many ways, is a cipher. The helicopter strength, while real, was largely ineffective during the Iran-Iraq war, and could be paralyzed by American air power in future operations," Cordesman said in a Sept. 12 presentation at CSIS headquarters in Washington.
TEAMS PICKED: NASA has selected four teams to lead the development of advanced technology for in-space propulsion, the aerospace agency said. The awards, part of the In-Space Propulsion (ISP) program, cover four areas: aerocapture; high-power electric propulsion for nuclear systems; power conversion technologies for nuclear electric propulsion; and solar sails. Each team includes several principal investigators from NASA and industry.
Dassault and Eurocopter may reap the most profit from the French government's approval Wednesday of a proposed boost in defense spending, an aerospace analyst says. President Jacques Chirac's proposed military budget makes good on campaign promises from last spring to increase defense spending to 2.3 percent of Gross Domestic Product (GDP), up from 1.8 percent now.
The Pentagon is opposing a Senate proposal that would put a senior defense official in charge of anti-corrosion efforts for all military equipment and infrastructure, saying the provision actually would make the Defense Department's job more difficult by adding an unnecessary layer of bureaucracy.
L-3 Communications is buying Northrop Grumman's Electron Devices and Displays-Navigation Systems - San Diego businesses, the New York-based company announced Sept. 12. Terms of the deal, which company officials said they expect to close in November, were not disclosed. The companies are units of Northrop Grumman's Electronic Systems sector.
Raytheon Co. has won a $24.1 million Navy contract for low-rate and full production of the Tactical Tomahawk strike weapon. The contract, awarded Sept. 11 by Naval Air Systems Command, comes less than a month after the first test flight of the missile near Point Mugu, Calif. After the Aug. 23 test, Raytheon quoted Navy Capt. Bob Novak, Tomahawk program manager, as saying that the event "represents the best in industry and government teamwork and allows execution of the low-rate initial production contract."
MISSILE WORK: Raytheon Co. will produce 301 AGM-65K Maverick missile guidance and control sections under a $9.2 million production contract option exercised by the Air Force.
Boeing's Tracking and Data Relay Satellite-I (TDRS-I), which has had its orbit raising prolonged by several months due to a problem with a propellant tank, should finally reach geostationary orbit by the end of this month, according to the company. After two six-minute engine burns earlier this week, "we're getting very close" to the spacecraft's operational orbit of 22,300 miles, Boeing spokesman George Torres told The DAILY. "We're up over 16,000 [miles] on the perigee."
LAUNCH: International Launch Services plans to launch the Hispasat 1D communications satellite on Sept. 18 from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, the company said. The satellite, built by Alcatel Space Industries of France, will be operated by Hispasat S.A. of Spain. The satellite is to be launched on an Atlas IIAS booster.
The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency's Affordable Moving Surface Target Engagement (AMSTE) system has for the first time demonstrated the ability to attack a moving surface target with a Joint Direct Attack Munition (JDAM), DARPA announced Sept. 12. AMSTE is a network-centric targeting system in which data from multiple airborne ground moving target indicator (GMTI) radar sensors are fused to provide precision-guided weapons with real-time target position updates while in flight (DAILY, Sept. 7, 2001).
