F-22 DELIVERY: Lockheed Martin Aeronautics Co. has delivered the last F-22 Raptor flight test aircraft to be produced under the program's engineering and manufacturing development phase, the company announced April 15. Over the next nine weeks, Raptor 4009 will be tested and evaluated to see how easy the aircraft is to maintain and repair, according to the company.
The European Union's plan to create a 60,000-man rapid reaction force (RRF) could eventually lead to increased support for ballistic missile defenses in Europe, according to William Schneider, chairman of the Defense Science Board.
Northrop Grumman's offer to sweeten its bid for all outstanding shares of TRW Inc. won't create a financial burden for the $18 billion defense giant, according to an industry analyst. Company officials said April 14 they would trade $53 worth of Northrop Grumman stock for each share of TRW common stock, up from the previous offer that was worth $47 per share. The company also announced it is extending its pending exchange offer to midnight May 3.
March 12, 2002 McDonnell Douglas Corp., a wholly owned subsidiary of the Boeing Co., Long Beach, Calif., is being awarded a $23,005,000 (estimated) firm-fixed-price, time and material contract modification to provide for computer software upgrade and engineering services. This effort supports the B-1B aircraft. At this time, $2,912,611 of the funds has been obligated. This work will be complete December 2002. The Oklahoma City Air Logistics Center, Tinker Air Force Base, Okla., is the contracting activity (F34601-99-C-0001).
Canard Rotor/Wing (CR/W) aircraft such as the Boeing Co.'s Dragonfly unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) could one day complement tiltrotor aircraft such as the Bell-Boeing V-22 Osprey on certain military missions, according to Dragonfly Program Manager Steve Bass. The concepts take opposite approaches to solving the same problem - combining the flexibility of a vertical takeoff and landing (VTOL) rotorcraft with the speed and range of a fixed-wing aircraft.
The U.S. Naval Surface Warfare Center (NSWC) at Indian Head, Md., will team with Lockheed Martin Corp. to develop a specialized warhead able to destroy chemical and biological facilities, according to the Navy. The Agent Defeat Warhead was approved as a 2002 advanced concept technology demonstration and is part of a larger effort develop a variety of explosive fills to neutralize chemical and biological agents.
AIRSHOW: China will hold the fourth China International Aviation and Aerospace Exposition in Zhuhai, one of the country's special economic zones, from November 4 to 10 this year. Over 40 companies from the United States, Canada and France, including industry giants Boeing and Airbus, have confirmed they will attend the exposition. Two websites dedicated to the airshow will be launched, at www.airshow.com.cn and www.airshowchina.com.
The Bush Administration has concluded that the international Missile Technology Control Regime (MTCR) allows the export of the Northrop Grumman Global Hawk and General Atomics Predator unmanned aerial vehicles to close allies, according to Defense Department documents. The Administration also has determined that the Boeing X-45 Unmanned Combat Air Vehicle (UCAV) and the armed version of the Predator are compliant with the Intermediate-range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty, the documents show.
U-2S DELIVERED: Lockheed Martin Aeronautics delivered the first U-2S reconnaissance aircraft equipped with upgraded cockpit displays and controls on April 15, according to the company. The aircraft went to the 9th Reconnaissance Wing at Beale Air Force Base, Calif. The entire fleet of 31 U-2S aircraft and four trainers is scheduled to receive the upgrades by 2007.
U-2S DELIVERED: Lockheed Martin Aeronautics delivered the first U-2S reconnaissance aircraft equipped with upgraded cockpit displays and controls on April 15, according to the company. The aircraft went to the 9th Reconnaissance Wing at Beale Air Force Base, Calif. The entire fleet of 31 U-2S aircraft and four trainers is scheduled to receive the upgrades by 2007.
Russian funding won't guarantee "the full-scale development of the ISS [International Space Station] Russian segment," Russian Aviation and Space Agency head Yuri Koptev said April 12 during the Cosmonautics Day celebration here. The 2002 state budget provides $2.9 billion in funding for Russian participation in the ISS program, which is 1.6 times the amount provided in 2001. However, Koptev said, "the workload for station operations grew significantly, as well."
As speculation increases about whether the U.S would be able to use its high-tech air operations facility at Prince Sultan Air Base in Saudi Arabia to coordinate a major offensive against Iraq, Lockheed Martin officials say the software system at the heart of the center's operations could easily be re-established at another location.
MOSCOW - Russian funding won't guarantee "the full-scale development of the ISS [International Space Station] Russian segment," Russian Aviation and Space Agency head Yuri Koptev said April 12 during the Cosmonautics Day celebration here. The 2002 state budget provides $2.9 billion in funding for Russian participation in the ISS program, which is 1.6 times the amount provided in 2001. However, Koptev said, "the workload for station operations grew significantly, as well."
The Bush Administration has concluded that the international Missile Technology Control Regime (MTCR) allows the export of the Northrop Grumman Global Hawk and General Atomics Predator unmanned aerial vehicles to close allies, according to Defense Department documents. The Administration also has determined that the Boeing X-45 Unmanned Combat Air Vehicle (UCAV) and the armed version of the Predator are compliant with the Intermediate-range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty, the documents show.
The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency's (DARPA) Orbital Express program is gearing up for a critical design review (CDR) this winter, in anticipation of a six- to 12-month on-orbit demonstration to begin in fiscal year 2006. The $100 million program is an Advanced Technology Demonstration (ATD) aimed at developing architectures and technologies for refueling, upgrading, and reconfiguring spacecraft while they are in orbit.
The European Union's plan to create a 60,000-man rapid reaction force (RRF) could eventually lead to increased support for ballistic missile defenses in Europe, according to William Schneider, chairman of the Defense Science Board.
The U.S. Naval Surface Warfare Center (NSWC) at Indian Head, Md., will team with Lockheed Martin Corp. to develop a specialized warhead able to destroy chemical and biological facilities, according to the Navy. The Agent Defeat Warhead was approved as a 2002 advanced concept technology demonstration and is part of a larger effort develop a variety of explosive fills to neutralize chemical and biological agents.
A Deutsch Bank report on the business outlook for Northrop Grumman Corp. says products made by the company's Information Technology and Integrated Systems sectors provide a solid base to capitalize on key emerging defense and federal IT markets. Deutsche Bank Securities analyst Christopher Mecray, author of the report, says the immediate effect of the Sept. 11 attacks on Northrop's IT Sector was to reduce sales as federal agencies reallocated funds toward security.
As speculation increases about whether the U.S would be able to use its high-tech air operations facility at Prince Sultan Air Base in Saudi Arabia to coordinate a major offensive against Iraq, Lockheed Martin officials say the software system at the heart of the center's operations could easily be re-established at another location.
MORE UAVs: The Army will need a family of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) and can't afford to just rely on the Shadow 200 Tactical UAV, according to Eddie Bair, program executive officer for intelligence, electronic warfare and sensors at U.S. Army Communications-Electronics Command (CECOM). "We're going to have families of UAVs," Bair says. "It's not just going to be a single UAV, i.e., the brigade commander's UAV, i.e., Shadow 200. We're going to have to have a longer-legged UAV.
NEW JOINT PROGRAM OFFICE: Air Force Lt. Gen. Brian Arnold is standing up a joint program office (JPO) for the Space Based Radar, according to Peter Teets, the undersecretary of the Air Force for space and director of the National Reconnaissance Office (NRO). The new JPO, to be based out of the Air Force Space and Missiles Center in Los Angeles, will be responsible for implementing the Space Based Radar roadmap sent to Congress in February.
JSF SPLIT: Aerospace analysts have not reached a consensus about how the winner-take-all contract to develop the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter program will affect the U.S. defense industrial base, according to a new report by the Congressional Research Service.
