Credit analysts with Standard & Poor's removed United Defense International (UDI) from CreditWatch and affirmed the company's "BB-" corporate credit rating, according to a report released July 2. United Defense was placed on CreditWatch May 28 after the company announced plans to acquire U.S. Marine Repair Inc. (USMR) for $316 million (DAILY, May 30). The acquisition was financed with $16 million cash and $300 million borrowed from the company's existing credit facility.
FEWER PEOPLE: As the Navy faces a growing gap between the number of personnel it has and the number it needs, the service wants to concentrate on building platforms that require fewer people to operate, according to Vice Adm. Mike Mullen, the deputy chief of naval operations for resources, requirements and assessments. Personnel shortfalls are one of the top items on the Navy's unfunded list, Mullen says. "They're our most important resource, they're our most expensive resource." Investment in new technology would help solve this problem, he says.
COMPANY OF IMMIGRANTS: One reason Northrop Grumman will be able to easily integrate TRW into its operations is because today's Northrop Grumman is the product of 15 mergers and acquisitions, company Chairman and CEO Kent Kresa says. "I many times say that the new Northrop Grumman is a company of immigrants," he says. "If you think about the company over the last decade from where we started, only about 10 percent of the people are originally from the core companies. We're all from the various companies and we sort of think like immigrants.
EXCHANGE FLIGHTS: Russian test pilots and engineers may come to the U.S. as part of an ongoing cooperative program between Naval Air Systems Command and the Gromov Flight Research Institute (GFRI), NAVAIR says. A team of U.S. test pilots and engineers were in Russia from May 31 to June 9, in search of possible future engineering and flight cooperative programs between NAVAIR and GFRI.
Raytheon Co.'s Loiter Attack Missile (LAM), one of two missiles it is developing for the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency's NetFires program, completed its first flight June 17, the company reported. LAM and its sister weapon, the Precision Attack Missile (PAM), are intended to be fired vertically from a canister. The turbojet-powered LAM would fly a search pattern looking for targets, while the rocket-powered PAM would fly directly to a target.
EADS CONTRACT: The European Aeronautic Defence and Space Co. will deliver power amplifiers to California-based ViaSat for U.S. military Multifunctional Information Distribution System (MIDS) terminals, EADS announced July 2. The contract is worth $13 million, EADs said, and has a $30 million option for the delivery of additional units.
FORT WORTH, Texas - Lockheed Martin Aeronautics Co. plans to make slight changes to the outer shape of the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter following a customary review of the aircraft's exterior mold lines. With the JSF "lines freeze" that occurred June 27, Lockheed Martin has decided to make the forward fuselage five inches longer than previously planned to ensure the JSF's avionics, sensors and other equipment fit comfortably inside the plane, company representatives told The DAILY in a recent interview at the plant here where the JSF is being developed.
NO NUKE ROCKETS: NASA will not be exploring nuclear fission rocket technology as part of its $1 billion, five-year Nuclear Systems Initiative (NSI), according to NSI Program Executive Ray Taylor. NASA abandoned development of nuclear fission rockets in the 1960s. "We recognize now that in the ... perhaps not-too-distant future, the time will come to re-look [at] that area, but right now it's a fairly big bite to take to begin in earnest with nuclear-electric propulsion," Taylor says.
ARROW AGREEMENT: The State Department has approved Boeing's license for co-production of Israel's Arrow missile, according to a Boeing spokeswoman. The Boeing Co. applied for a license in January to cooperate with Israel Aircraft Industries, the prime contractor for the missile defense system (DAILY, Jan. 25). "The technical assistance agreement has been signed," says Marta Newhart, a spokeswoman for Boeing's international program. The Israelis wanted a U.S.-based manufacturer to increase production of the missile and promote possible foreign sales.
NASA has selected the next two missions in its Small Explorer (SMEX) program, the aerospace agency announced July 2. The first mission, to be launched in 2005, is the Explorer for Spectroscopy and Photometry of the Intergalactic Medium's Diffuse Radiation (SPIDR). SPIDR will map the filaments of hot gas that make up half the normal matter in the nearby universe.
Lockheed Martin Corp. has completed a series of tests to determine if it is qualified to compete with Raytheon Co. for Air Force buys of the GBU-10 and GBU-12 laser-guided bomb kits, and is optimistic it has met requirements, a company spokeswoman said.
SPACE POST: Former NASA employee Ken Monroe has joined the staff of the House Science space subcommittee, where he will oversee the space shuttle program. Monroe worked at Kennedy Space Center, Florida, for 17 years: 11 for NASA and three each for TRW and Rockwell International. He most recently was a senior program manager for product development at Qwest Communications.
Raytheon announced July 1 it expects to take an additional charge to complete two engineering and construction projects in Massachusetts. The projects are related to the company's obligations to complete certain projects as a condition of selling its engineering and construction business to Washington Group International in July 2000. After the sale, WGI filed for bankruptcy protection and has since restructured its operations.
Wall Street analysts gave mixed reactions to the $7.8 billion merger of Northrop Grumman and TRW, with most analysts affirming their ratings for Northrop while downgrading those for TRW. Aerospace and defense analysts with Standard & Poor's affirmed their "BBB-" corporate credit rating for Northrop Grumman following the July 1 announcement (DAILY, July 2).
NEW DELHI - India has decided to acquire advanced sensors from the United States for surveillance along the Line of Control in the troubled Indian state of Jammu and Kashmir. After the Indian cabinet accepted a proposal June 14 for installation of sensors along the Line of Control, the Indian ministry of defense began shortlisting U.S. companies to provide the advanced sensors.
Citing the continued slowdown in the telecommunications industry, Loral Space & Communications has slashed its revenue and earnings guidance for 2002. For the year, Loral's revenues are expected to increase to about $1.2 billion, a 15 percent increase over 2001 revenues. Previous guidance called for a 20 percent increase.
Austria's July 2 decision to buy the Eurofighter aircraft is a defeat for the U.S.-made F-16, but still leaves room for American-made weapons, according to U.S. sources. While Austria opted for what the government there calls a "European" program, the Raytheon Corp. already has been in preliminary discussion to sell its AIM-120 Advanced Medium Range Air-to-Air Missile (AMRAAM) and AIM-9 Sidewinder to Austria, a company spokeswoman told The DAILY.
The Navy and Marine Corps are close to finishing a long-term plan to integrate their tactical air assets, according to a senior Navy official. Although discussions are "not over yet," the chief of naval operations, the secretary of the Navy and the Marine Corps commandant are committed to the integration plan, Vice Adm. Mike Mullen, the deputy chief of naval operations for resources, requirements and assessments, told reporters July 2 at a breakfast in Washington.
NEW DELHI - Pakistan and the United States will conduct their first joint tri-services exercises later this month, including their armies, navies and air forces. The exercises are slated to be larger than the joint Indo-U.S. defense exercises held May 15-18, and would be located around Jhelum, Kharian and the Sonmiani naval range, about 20 miles from Karachi.
KERNAN RELEASED: Army Gen. William F. Kernan is being released "with great regret" from his assignment as Supreme Allied Commander Atlantic, the Defense Department said July 2 in an announcement widely expected since the department first announced changes to the Unified Command Plan in April. After Kernan leaves his command in October, the deputy SACLANT will assume day-to-day operations of NATO until the alliance decides on a new command structure, according to the Pentagon.
LAUNCH DELAY: Lockheed Martin has delayed the first launch of its Atlas V booster to allow the engineering team to repeat tests on the vehicle umbilical retract systems, the company said July 2. The Atlas V was slated to carry the HOT BIRD 6 satellite to space July 29. That will be rescheduled for early or mid August, pending range availability.
The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency has selected two competitors to proceed with development of prototype Unmanned Ground Combat Vehicles (UGCVs) that will show how much mobility, endurance and payload can be increased in the absence of crewmembers. Carnegie Mellon University of Pittsburgh and Lockheed Martin Corp.'s Missiles and Fire Control unit, Dallas, each won contracts of about $5.5 million to build full prototypes in Phase II of the program, which is slated to wrap up in December 2003.
NASA has extended the period of performance of Boeing's Payload Ground Operations Contract (PGOC). The contract was to expire June 30, but NASA has extended it to Sept. 30, an extension worth $25.3 million. The change brings the total contract value to almost $2 billion, according to the aerospace agency. The original contract was awarded in 1987 to McDonnell Douglas Space and Defense Systems. The company now is owned by the Boeing Co.
