President Bush signed into law the $28.9 billion fiscal 2002 supplemental appropriations bill on Aug. 2, providing $15 billion for the Department of Defense, including $377 million to speed up production of Boeing Joint Direct Attack Munitions (JDAMs). The bill, which Congress finished in late July, became the second supplemental enacted to pay for costs arising from the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. The first supplemental, which Congress passed last September, provides $40 billion for various needs, with about $17.5 billion expected to be spent on DOD.
NEW DELHI - India has created an export policy under which state-owned defense firms will sell weaponry to friendly neighboring countries at cost. The policy is seen as a way to contain China's influence in the region, a senior Indian ministry of defense official said. Countries slated to receive defense supplies at good rates include Myanmar, Indonesia, Nepal, Malaysia, Thailan, Bhutan and Sri Lanka.
As the military prepares to field its newest survival radio, program officials are looking ahead to the next block upgrade that would allow downed aircrews to communicate directly with fighter aircraft.
Calling himself the Defense Department's "biggest skeptic" of the V-22 Osprey, the Pentagon's top acquisition official said the Marines' tiltrotor aircraft has about one year to prove itself in testing before the Pentagon may have to proceed with alternative options.
B-2 WORK: Northrop Grumman's Integrated Systems has agreed with the U.S. Air Force to expand its support work on the B-2 Spirit bomber. Called the Total System Support Partnership, the agreement will add supply chain management and support integration to the existing B-2 contract.
As part of its contract with German airship company CargoLifter AG, Boeing is developing a concept for a mammoth airship capable of carrying early warning radar (EWR) systems for the defense of the U.S. homeland. To carry heavy payloads at altitudes above 60,000 feet, airships must grow to huge size to compensate for low air density, according to Charlie Guthrie, director of rapid prototyping and advanced concepts for Boeing's unmanned systems division.
HARM TEST: The International High-Speed Anti-Radiation Missile (HARM) Upgrade Project (IHUP) successfully completed its second Precision Navigation Upgrade (PNU) recently, according to U.S. Naval Air Systems Command. The test was conducted at the NAVAIR western test range. The PNU is designed to improve HARM's ability to detect, locate and destroy enemy air defenses by including Global Positioning System capability and a new inertial measurement unit.
Austria's plan to buy 24 Eurofighter Typhoons provoked a petition drive led by the Green Party that amassed more than 625,000 signatures in protest of the $1.8 billion deal. The petition campaign constitutionally forces the Austrian parliament to reconsider the issue, but government officials and the parliament's conservative leadership moved quickly to defend the deal Aug. 6. Defense Minister Herbert Scheibner said in published reports that the Typhoon acquisition plan is necessary to establish Austria's air superiority.
Defense electronics maker Elbit Systems Ltd.'s earnings won't be affected if Israel does not become a major partner on the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter program, company President and CEO Joseph Ackerman said Aug. 7. Israel is negotiating joining the JSF program as less than a full partner, but at a level higher than a normal foreign military sales deal (DAILY, Aug. 6).
AGREEMENT: CAE and Airbus have signed a 10-year cooperative agreement to develop a global network of training centers, with the largest fleet of Airbus full-flight simulators in the world, CAE said Aug. 7. CAE will provide equipment, facilities and advanced training technologies, while Airbus will provide courseware and training expertise.
A report released Aug. 6 by Standard & Poor's says continued U.S. military action in Afghanistan likely will have a modest near-term impact on the U.S. aerospace industry. Most of the impact will be felt in increased spending for the replenishment of precision-guided weapons and munitions, according to S&P's Aerospace and Defense Report Card.
On Aug. 5, NASA's Stardust spacecraft began its second and final round of interstellar dust collection while en route to collect samples from comet Wild 2 in 2004. Produced by stars, free-flowing interstellar dust forms the visible "Milky Way" - the hazy white band across the night sky for which our galaxy was named.
CONFIRMATIONS: The Senate has confirmed Stephen Rademaker as assistant secretary of state for arms control, Paula DeSutter as assistant secretary of state for verification and compliance, and Kathie Olsen and Richard Russell as associate directors of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP). Rademaker has been an aide for the House International Relations Committee, and DeSutter has been a staffer for the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence. Olsen has been NASA's chief scientist, and Russell has been chief of staff at OSTP.
ANTI-JAM: Mayflower Communications Co. of Burlington, Mass., will deliver low-cost Global Positioning System anti-jam modules, and an inertial navigator for guiding projectiles, under a $1.4 million contract from the Naval Surface Warfare Center, Dahlgren, Va.
NEW DELHI - India plans to integrate data from the Geographic Information System (GIS) with the Global Positioning System (GPS), for use by Indian defense forces. Overseas and domestic companies are being shortlisted to supply GIS information and integrate it with GPS and other computer-based technologies, according to a senior official with the Indian ministry of defense. GIS is a system of hardware, software and data for analyzing geographical information.
The European Aeronautic Defence and Space Co. (EADS) announced Aug. 7 it has appointed a former Northrop Grumman Corp. executive to lead its North American operations. Ralph Crosby Jr., 54, the former president of Northrop Grumman's Integrated Systems Sector, will become chairman and CEO of EADS North America on Sept. 1. Industry analysts agreed the move was one of a series designed by EADS to improve its standing in U.S. defense circles and gain a greater share of the U.S. market.
Lockheed Martin is in negotiations with ground-based midcourse defense (GMD) prime contractor Boeing about the possibility of developing a follow-on to the company's three-stage missile defense booster slated to begin flight testing next year. The company already is under contract to develop the BV-Plus - a modified version of a three-stage booster that was being developed by Boeing. The boosters carry exoatmospheric kill vehicles (EKVs) in missile defense tests.
Despite recent press reports confirming China's first test of the Russian-made Adder R-77, the U.S. government has not decided whether to allow delivery to Taiwan of the AIM-120 Advanced Medium Range Air-to-Air Missile (AMRAAM), a U.S. government official familiar with the issue told The DAILY. An interagency review involving the departments of State and Defense, as well as the intelligence community, will have to determine whether the conditions have been met to deliver the Raytheon-produced AMRAAM to Taiwan.
The Defense Department's civilian leadership wants the Army to consider using money from the canceled Crusader artillery system to fund a number of additional programs in fiscal year 2004, including the AH-64D Apache Longbow helicopter and the Mobile Tactical High Energy Laser (MTHEL) programs. These programs are being considered as part of the overall plan to address the Army's fire-support capabilities, and would be added to a set of programs already set to receive extra fiscal year 2003 funds originally earmarked for Crusader.
The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) has awarded Boeing $460 million for the next phase in the development of the Air Force's Unmanned Combat Air Vehicle (UCAV), which will include the design and manufacture of two X-45B model aircraft. The funding also will support the manufacture of containers for the new aircraft, upgraded mission control stations, risk reduction modeling and simulation, ground and flight testing, and system level demonstration activities necessary to meet the objectives of Spiral 1 of the program.
NEW DELHI - India has completed its first major defense deal with Belarus, under which critical spares and armaments for Ilyushin IL-76 fixed-wing aircraft and Mi-series helicopters would be supplied to India. The deal was signed Aug. 2 by Belarus foreign minister Mikhail Khvostov, who was visiting India, and Indian defense minister George Fernandes. A diplomat at Belarus' embassy here told The DAILY Aug. 7 that Belarus also will train Indian air force pilots in tactical theater warfare.
NAVY CONTRACT: Anteon International Corp. of Fairfax, Va., will provide engineering services to the U.S. Naval Sea Systems Command under a five-year, $24.5 million contract, the company announced Aug. 7. The company will use commercial-off-the-shelf technology to help modernize Navy undersea warfare systems, and provide logistics modernization support.
