RAPTOR TESTING: Lockheed Martin's F-22 Raptor team completed a key phase of logistics testing and evaluation this week, the company announced June 13. In the tests, hundreds of aircraft parts were removed and reinstalled to make sure the aircraft's maintenance instructions meet Air Force requirements. The tests were conducted by a team of U.S. Air Force personnel, including the service's first group of F-22 maintenance instructors, supported by contractors at Lockheed Martin's Marietta, Ga. Facility.
Lockheed Martin U.K. Integrated Systems said June 12 it has added Meggitt Defence Systems and Supacat, both of the U.K., to its team bidding for the Watchkeeper battlefield surveillance system. Meggitt, of Ashford in Kent, will provide Spectre 3 unmanned aerial vehicles. The delta-wing vehicles will have three-meter (10-foot) wingspans. Supacat, of Dunkeswell, Devon, will provide the 6X6 High Mobility Truck vehicle, which will carry a launch ramp and the ground station from which the Spectre 3 will be operated.
NEW DELHI - India is considering working with overseas defense companies to market its indigenously developed Advanced Light Helicopter (ALH), which is manufactured by the state-owned Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL). A senior HAL official told The DAILY June 13 that there is a proposal from European companies to jointly sell the aircraft on the international market. Another source said the companies are BAE Systems of the United Kingdom, Eurocopter of France and Israeli Aircraft Industries Ltd.
ERAGNY, France - Sagem S.A. is working with several defense companies to establish a schedule for test-firing munitions from a weaponized version of its Sperwer unmanned aerial vehicle. The Sperwer EC (extended capacity) UAV, which had its first flight last fall, is capable of flying for 12 hours with a 50 kilogram (110 pound) payload or four hours with a 100 kilogram (220 pound) payload, according to the company.
SONIC CRUISER: Vought Aircraft Industries Inc. is forming a development "sub-team" to support its participation in Boeing's Sonic Cruiser program, the company announced June 13. The companies on the team are Alcoa Inc., ATK Composites Co., Cincinnati Machine, Cytec Engineered Materials, Nova-Tech Engineering and Parker Aerospace. Vought and its team members will help provide design, machine tool and advanced materials technologies for the Sonic Cruiser aircraft program. Vought plans to add more team members, primarily from foreign markets, the company said.
The X-31A thrust vectoring aircraft has resumed flight testing at Naval Air Station Patuxent River as part of a multinational effort to demonstrate extremely short takeoff and landing (ESTOL) capability, Boeing announced June 13.
SEA LAUNCH plans to launch the Galaxy IIIC satellite for PanAmSat on June 15. The company, which has the Boeing Co. as a majority owner along with partner companies from Russia, Norway and Ukraine, plans to launch the satellite to geosynchronous transfer orbit from its platform on the Equator. The satellite, built by Boeing Satellite Systems, will provide Internet, video, audio and data services to areas of the United States and Latin America.
DATA MANAGEMENT: General Dynamics Canada will supply and integrate a new data management system for the CP-140 Aurora, Canada's long-range maritime patrol aircraft, under a $128 million contract from the Canadian Department of National Defense. The company will supply a new mission computer, integrate upgraded sensors and provide ground facilities and logistics support.
Army officials said June 12 they plan a rapid fielding of their new Prophet signals intelligence (SIGINT) system because it is significantly more capable than the legacy systems it is designed to replace. Pre-production versions of the Prophet already are supporting the war on terrorism in undisclosed locations, according to Edward Bair, the Army's program executive officer for intelligence, electronic warfare and sensors, and Lt. Col. William Stevenson, the Prophet product manager.
When NASA's Comet Nucleus Tour (CONTOUR) launches next month, it will mark the beginning of a highly flexible mission that will bring the spacecraft into unprecedented proximity with at least two comets. Comet nuclei are thought to be chunks of ice and rock left over from the formation of the solar system that are hidden from distant observers by the comet's atmosphere and tail. Some scientists believe comets may have brought the building blocks of life to Earth 3.8 billion years ago.
The Missile Defense Agency (MDA) and the U.S. Navy plan to conduct the fifth test of the Sea-Based Midcourse Defense (SMD) June 13, the same day that the United States will withdraw from the Anti-Ballistic Missile treaty. "It's a fluke that it's on the day of the withdrawal," Chris Taylor, an MDA spokesperson, told The DAILY, adding that nothing is being done in the June 13 test that would have violated the treaty.
The U.S. State Department is concerned about the increasing use of West European companies to divert U.S. defense technology to embargoed countries, according to an annual report to Congress. Since 1990, the State Department has conducted a series of overseas inspections to ensure that U.S. arms exports have reached their proper destinations. The results of these inspections, which are known as the "Blue Lantern" program, are summarized in the report.
The Hayman Fire, considered a serious threat to the Lockheed Martin Astronautics Waterton plant southwest of Denver, grew to 87,000 acres on June 11. On June 12, company officials said the fire had advanced to within 12 miles of the facility, where Titan and Atlas rockets and a number of NASA spacecraft are built.
CRASH: A U.S. Air Force Special Operations MC-130 crashed on takeoff near Gardez, Afghanistan, on June 12. The cause of the crash was unknown, but U.S. Central Command said it is unlikely enemy fire brought the aircraft down. Ten people were aboard the aircraft.
ATK (Alliant Techsystems) will continue to build solid propulsion systems for all three stages of the U.S. Navy's Trident II Fleet Ballistic Missile, the company announced June 12. The work will be done under a $65 million contract from Lockheed Martin Space Systems Co.'s Missiles & Space Operations division of Sunnyvale, Calif. The contract covers production of the propulsion systems through 2005. The Trident II was deployed in 1990 and is planned for deployment beyond 2020.
Israel has begun operating the second battery of its Arrow missile defense system, but the unit is "not at its full capacity," according to an Israeli official in Washington.
DRS Technologies of Parsippany, N.J., will build flight control computers for EH-101 helicopters under a $2.6 million contract from Smiths Aerospace Electronic Systems. Smiths Aerospace, a unit of Smiths Industries of the United Kingdom, will supply the computers to AgustaWestland, which is supplying the EH-101s to Denmark. The company's DRS Flight Safety and Communications unit, based in Carleton Place, Ontario, will build the systems, the company said June 11. Deliveries are expected to begin in May 2003 and continue through 2005.
If BAE Systems goes ahead with a bid for TRW, even as Northrop Grumman is pressing for such a deal, it might find the U.S. government cool to the idea, one analyst said. BAE apparently is interested in TRW's $2 billion space and electronics unit and its $3 billion systems division. The Clinton administration was relatively quick to approve the British company's offer to buy parts of Lockheed Martin in 2000, but the Bush administration might say no to any BAE Systems bid today for all of TRW, said the analyst, Paul Nisbet of JSA Research.
ARIANESPACE, Evry, France Jean-Marie Luton has been elected chairman of the company. Jean-Yves Le Gall has been elected CEO of the company. CARNEGIE MELLON UNIV., Pittsburg, Penn. Jared L. Cohon, president, has been appointed to the Homeland Security Advisory Council. DYNCORP, Reston, Va. Chuck Taylor has joined the company as director of corporate communications. FLIGHTSAFETY BOEING, Seattle, Wash. Bill Gardner has been appointed vice president - Asia.
TANK CONTRACT: NASA has extended its contract with Lockheed Martin Space Systems of New Orleans for shuttle external tanks to September 2008. The company will produce 35 Super Lightweight External Tanks for the space shuttle program, at a rate of not less than six a year. The original contract, issued in 2000, called for production of not less than eight a year, so the change adds $341 million to the contract.
Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman Carl Levin (D-Mich.) said June 10 that he hopes to get an explanation for why the Missile Defense Agency (MDA) plans to stop publicly releasing specifics about the targets or countermeasures used in tests of the Ground-based Midcourse system. Levin told a Defense Week seminar that there may be good reasons for classifying that information but he does not know what they are.
