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.
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.
EXERCISE: The Second Marine Expeditionary Force will conduct a capabilities exercise July 18 at Camp Lejeune, N.C., of an amphibious Marine Air Ground Task Force (MAGTF), the Marine Corps announced July 1. The exercise will feature a range of capabilities, including Harrier takeoff and landing, non-lethal weapons demonstrations, and chemical-biological response forces.
After four months of sometimes contentious negotiations, Northrop Grumman Corp. agreed July 1 to purchase TRW Inc. for $7.8 billion, which would create the second largest U.S. defense contractor, with revenues approaching $27 billion. Under the deal, which is subject to U.S. and European regulatory approval, Northrop Grumman would offer $60 of Northrop Grumman stock for each share of TRW stock. Officials for both companies said they expect the deal to be completed in the fourth quarter of 2002.
The U.S. military's ability to create a common picture of the battlefield has been complicated by the growing number of sensors used to collect information, a Marine Corps official said June 28. "You're receiving so much from so many sources" that it becomes difficult to combine that information quickly into a format warfighters can use, according to Lt. Gen. Emil Bedard, deputy commandant of the Marine Corps for plans, policies and operations, who testified before the House Armed Services Committee's terrorism panel.
According to the General Accounting Office, the Department of Defense has decided to take action related to 10 of the 13 recommendations made in 2001 by the Space Commission. Congress chartered the commission to assess the organization and management of space activities that support U.S. national security interests, and to make recommendations for improvements. Many changes have been implemented in the last few months, and it's too early to tell if they will enable the DOD to "promote U.S. interests in space more effectively," the GAO said.
The Senate has approved legislation calling for a new high-level position at the Defense Department to handle intelligence. The intelligence legislation, approved as an amendment to the fiscal 2003 defense authorization bill, would create the civilian post of undersecretary of defense for intelligence. The undersecretary would be a civilian appointed by the president and confirmed by the Senate.
NASA's $1 billion, five-year Nuclear Systems Initiative (NSI) has not been meeting the kind of political resistance that many in the agency had expected, according to NASA officials. NASA's fiscal year 2003 budget calls for nearly $1 billion to be spent on the NSI in two major areas - developing radioisotope power systems, and basic research aimed at developing nuclear-electric propulsion systems for interplanetary spacecraft (DAILY, June 26).
June 24, 2002 AIR FORCE Honeywell, Inc., Sensor and Guidance Products, Clearwater, Fla. Is being awarded a $6,087,440 contract modification which exercises an option for the Tri-Service Embedded Global Positioning System (GPS) and Intertial Navigation System (INS) Embedded Global Intertial (EGI) to purchase ninety-four AH-64 Production Units and ninety-four Recurring Delta Hardware. This work will be completed May 2004. The Aeronautical Systems Center, Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio, is the contracting activity (F33657-99-C-2040, P00085).
JSTARS: Northrop Grumman has selected a Pratt & Whitney/Seven Q Seven team to supply integrated propulsion pod systems, including P&W JT8D-219 engines, for re-engining the Joint Surveillance Target Attack Radar Systems (Joint STARS) fleet. The new engines are more powerful and fuel-efficient than the Pratt & Whitney TF33-PW-102 engines they will replace, Northrop Grumman said.
The Department of Defense has millions of dollars of overpayments and underpayments to contractors on its records and the problem is likely to continue because of complex management and payments processes, according to the General Accounting Office. "Even when payment discrepancies are identified, they are not always promptly resolved," the watchdog agency says in a new report.
Goodrich Corp. received a contract from the Air Force to serve as a strategic supplier of aircraft landing gear for the Air Force, Army, Navy and the Defense Logistics Agency.
TRW Inc. is being awarded a sole-source contract to test the Brilliant Anti-Armor (BAT) Submunition on a Hunter unmanned aerial vehicle, according to a contract announcement. The company will be responsible for engineering and technical support for a planned flight demonstration, says the announcement, posted June 28 on Federal Business Opportunities. The demonstration would be the first time the Army has tested a weapon on an operational UAV.
Although the mysterious "particulate contamination" that pushed back the launch of NASA's Comet Nucleus Tour (CONTOUR) has not yet been identified, the spacecraft has been cleaned off and is on track to launch July 3. Launch is scheduled to take place at 2:47 a.m. EDT. Fueling of the Delta II launch vehicle's second stage began June 30 at Launch Complex 17 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Fla., and a launch readiness review took place July 1.
NEW DELHI - India has tested the Russian Smerch rocket launch system as part of trials before the purchase of the system for the Indian army. A senior Indian ministry of defense official said Smerch was tested June 30 at India's Balasore facilities in the eastern Indian state of Orissa. The official said more trials will be carried in the desert of Rajasthan and the upper reaches of Jammu and Kashmir. An unspecified number of Smerch batteries are expected to be inducted into the Indian army after the completion of the tests, in about two years.
Israel has requested 2,030 tube-launched, optically tracked, wire-guided (TOW) 2A missiles, the Defense Security Cooperation Agency notified Congress June 27. The sale, which would include publications and logistics support, is estimated at $80 million, according to DSCA.
CASA BUY: French air force authorities have exercised an option to buy three more EADS CASA CN-235 aircraft, the Madrid, Spain-based company announced June 28. The French ministry of defense bought two CN-235s earlier, a contract that included options for three more. On June 24, EADS CASA received notification that the option would be exercised, the company said.
Naval Air Systems Command (NAVAIR) is expected soon to award a contract to the Boeing Co. to supply the Korean air force with the Stand-off Land Attack Missile-Expanded Response (SLAM-ER) weapon system, according to a notice issued last week in Federal Business Opportunities.
SUPPLEMENTAL PUSH: Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld says he is disappointed that Congress did not pass the fiscal 2002 supplemental appropriations bill before leaving town for its week-long July 4th recess. He says the legislation, now before a House-Senate conference committee, should be finished "immediately" after the recess. "Those are funds that are needed for the global war on terrorism," Rumsfeld says.
COOPERATION: Officials from Lockheed Martin Corp. and the Russian aerospace company Khrunichev Enterprises recently made the rounds in Washington to discuss possible Russian-U.S. cooperation on missile defense, according to House Armed Services procurement subcommittee chairman Rep. Curt Weldon (R-Pa.). In addition to meeting with Weldon, officials from the two companies met with Lt. Gen. Ronald Kadish, the head of the Missile Defense Agency.
EBERHART CONFIRMED: The Senate late June 27 confirmed Air Force Gen. Ralph Eberhart as head of the new U.S. Northern Command. The command, based at Peterson Air Force Base in Colorado Springs, Colo., will focus on homeland security. Eberhart also is commander of U.S. Space Command and the North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD).
NATIONAL TEAMS: The so-called "national teams" of the missile defense program will issue their first engineering products sometime in mid-July, Kadish says. In February, Boeing received a $24 million contract to begin system engineering and integration work for the national team, and Lockheed Martin received a $23 million contract for the development and integration of battle management, command and control, and communications capabilities.
July 7 - 11 -- ATCA International Technical Conference & Exhibits. Hotel Inter-Continental, Berlin. Call (703) 522-5717, fax (703) 527-7251 or email [email protected]. July 9 - 11 -- Association for Unmanned Vehicle Systems International presents Unmanned Systems 2002. Disney's Coronado Springs Resort, Lake Buena Vista, Fla. For more information call (703) 920-2720 or email [email protected].
