Feb. 1 - 3 -- NDIA 2004 Tactical Wheeled Vehicles Conference, "Current Force to Future Force," DoubleTree Hotel & Monterey Conference Center, Calif. Contact Angie De Kleine, (703) 247-2599, email [email protected] or go to www.ndia.org. Feb. 3 -- Issues in Aviation, "American Aviation a Century after Kitty Hawk: our past, present and future," Daniel Webster College, Nashua, NH. Contact Annette Kurman, (603) 577-6625, fax (603) 577-6001, email [email protected] or go to www.dwc.edu.
STRONGER TIES: Strengthening their ties in space cooperation, India and Brazil have signed an agreement calling for more joint space-related activity, including space and atmospheric research and gathering remote-sensing data. Indian Foreign Affairs Minister Yashwant Sinha and Brazilian External Relations Minister Celeo Amorim signed the agreement last week, which follows on a memorandum of agreement for space cooperation signed by the two countries in 2002.
The U.S. Department of Defense's fiscal 2005 budget request, released Feb. 2, focuses billions of dollars on military hardware integral to the DOD's transformation plan and includes funding for a new generation of Navy ships, tactical aircraft, communication systems and space-based radar. "We are under fire. We are still in a war on terrorism," a senior defense official said at an embargoed briefing Jan. 30. "Everything has to account for that situation."
HYPERSONIC FUTURES: While NASA gears up for the next flight attempt of its X-43A demonstrator (DAILY, Jan. 30), doubt is being cast over the agency's future hypersonics programs. The X-43A was to have been followed by the larger X-43C and the X-43B, a reusable hypersonic vehicle that would have landed on a runway. However, both follow-ons are part of the Next Generation Launch Technology (NGLT) program, which now falls under the management of NASA's new exploration office (Code T). Rear Adm.
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. - Some of the American military systems being developed and used overseas in the war on terrorism should be adapted for use in the homeland, according to Gen. Ralph "Ed" Eberhart, commander of Northern Command and North American Aerospace Defense Command. The list, he said in response to a question at a conference here, would include "almost everything that we've used for the away game - how could we use it in the home game?" Future Imagery Architecture
SMALL BUSINESS: Small businesses increasingly are becoming more involved in teaming with prime contractors on U.S. Defense Department acquisition programs, say industry executives. "With two procurements I was recently involved in, the Navy specified that contractors respond with a subcontractor development plan, and a percentage of that would go to small businesses," says Graham Alderson, EG&G Technical Services' submarine combat systems program manager.
The U.S. Department of Defense expects to have approximately 50 "horizontal fusion" network-centric warfare (NCW) initiatives underway in 2005, according to John Osterholz, DOD's director for architecture and interoperability. "Horizontal fusion" refers to the fusion of tactical data from multiple sources. The word "horizontal" refers to reaching across traditionally stovepiped organizations, while "fusion" refers to the process and applications that allow the network-centric merging of information.
AAM MARKET: Although Operation Iraqi Freedom (OIF) saw no major aerial engagements, this will not hinder sales of air-to-air missiles in the future, says Larry Dickerson, a missile systems analyst with Forecast International Inc. "Sales of air-to-air missiles (AAMs) over the next 10 years will total $12.2 billion. Some 49,379 missiles will be produced, the lion's share - nearly 50 percent - by American and European firms," he says. The value of annual production will increase steadily over a decade, reaching $1.5 billion by 2012, he says.
The Bush Administration plans to seek a $1.2 billion increase in ballistic missile defense (BMD) spending in fiscal 2005, partly to buy additional interceptors and radars for the Ground-based Midcourse Defense (GMD) system, according to officials and documents. The Administration's FY '05 budget request, which the White House sends to Congress Feb. 2, provides $10.2 billion for BMD, up from $9 billion in FY '04. The Missile Defense Agency, DOD's primary entity for BMD, would get $9.1 billion in FY '05, up from $7.6 billion the previous year.
The Army is requesting an increase of $2.7 billion in its budget for fiscal year 2005, to $98.5 billion, compared with the $95.8 billion appropriated for the current fiscal year. Neither of these figures account for supplemental appropriations approved for fiscal year 2004, or any potential supplemental to be requested in fiscal year 2005. The proposed budget does not include funding to be used in connection with the war efforts in Iraq and Afghanistan.
House and Senate committees plan to hold hearings this week to begin moving the Bush Administration's fiscal 2005 defense budget through Congress. Michael E. O'Hanlon, senior fellow in foreign policy studies at the Brookings Institution, predicted it will be fairly easy for DOD to get its spending proposal through Congress.
SHARING: Northrop Grumman Corp.'s Newport News sector and General Dynamics' Electric Boat division will share an $8.4 billion multi-year buy of five Virginia-class submarines for the U.S. Navy, the companies said. The contract replaces an earlier block-by agreement.
COOPERATION: Lockheed Martin has signed a memorandum of understanding with Poland's Przemyslowy Instytut Telekomunikacji (PIT) defense electronics company to cooperate on missile defense projects. The companies will focus initially on radar technologies, Lockheed Martin said.
Four space organizations have created the National Space and Satellite Alliance (NSSA) to coordinate their Washington operations and help unify their space policy advocacy. The National Space Society, Satellite Industry Association, Space Foundation and Washington Space Business Roundtable formed the NSSA.
The U.S. Air Force says it is well on its way toward fixing various glitches that have afflicted the C-130J, the newest version of the C-130 Hercules. The service's problems with the Lockheed Martin-built aircraft prompted Thomas Christie, the Pentagon's director of operational test and evaluation (DOT&E), to label the C-130J "not operationally effective" and "not operationally suitable" in his recently released fiscal 2003 annual report on military acquisition programs. Christie said problem areas include software and aircrew workload.
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. - A new group at the Pentagon has been established to keep programs like the Joint Tactical Radio System (JTRS) on track during the budget process, according to Marine Lt. Gen. Robert M. Shea, director of command, control, communications and computer systems for the Joint Staff. The staff's Force Capability Board, he said at a conference here Jan. 29, feeds into the Joint Requirements Oversight Council (JROC), which in turn feeds into the budget process.
The fiscal 2005 defense budget proposal could mark a significant year for procurement, analysts at the Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments (CSBA) said Jan. 29. President Bush will ask Congress for $401.7 billion in defense spending when the budget is released Feb. 2, according to the Department of Defense, an increase of about 7 percent over fiscal year 2004 (DAILY, Jan. 27). That figure does not include war costs, a funding request that may come later in the form of a supplemental appropriations package.
NEW DELHI - India will begin technology demonstrations this year of its Geo-Aided Navigation (GAGAN) system to bolster air traffic safety, according to an official with the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO). Launch of the GSAT-4 satellite carrying the GAGAN signal is scheduled for 2005 or 2006, with the system expected to begin operation in 2006 or 2007, the official said.
EDITOR'S NOTE: Electronic versions of Aerospace Daily dated Feb. 2 will not be sent out until shortly after 9 a.m. on Feb. 2, so that we can include a special section detailing the U.S. Department of Defense's fiscal year 2005 budget request, which is embargoed until then. Print subscribers will receive the special section as part of the Feb. 3 issue.
NATO CHIEF: Members of the Senate Armed Services Committee held a closed executive session meeting Jan. 29 with NATO Secretary General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer, according to a committee spokesman. It was their first opportunity to meet him and they discussed "current issues facing NATO," the spokesman said.
PRAGUE - The Czech ministry of defense is looking for "serious offers" for 47 L-159 light combat aircraft it says the Czech military does not require. Ministry officials told The DAILY Jan. 29 that the aircraft would be heavily discounted because they have been used by the air force. The Czech state ordered 72 L-159s in the late 1990s but officials now say they believe only 24 are needed following cutbacks imposed on the military budget.
SEARCH AND RESCUE: General Dynamics C4 Systems will provide 650 AN/PRC-112G HOOK2TM combat search and rescue radios to Greece-based TEOTEC S.A. for use by Greece's air force. The value of the contract was not disclosed but it includes an option for 300 additional radios, the company said Jan. 28. The radios provide two-way messaging and Global Positioning System location capabilities.
For the fourth quarter of 2003, The Boeing Company reported a net income of $1.1 billion, up from the fourth quarter 2002 net income of $590 million. Meanwhile, revenue for the fourth quarter of 2003 was $13.2 billion, down from fourth quarter 2002 revenue of $13.7 billion, the company said Jan. 29. The company's reported net income for 2003 totaled $698 million, on revenues of $50.5 billion. Net income for 2002 was $492 million, on revenues of $54.1 billion, the company said.
