FALLING SHORT: Although European NATO forces have made great strides in improving their defense capabilities, as agreed to in the April 1999 Defense Capabilities Initiative, they continue to fall short due to inadequate defense funding, according to the commander of U.S. NATO forces. "Some of the nations that have a lot of national wealth haven't put as much of that into improving their capabilities as they should," says Gen. Montgomery Meigs.
B-52 BIRTHDAY: Boeing's B-52 Stratofortress turns 50 on April 15. The YB-52 prototype made its first flight on April 15, 1952, and the continually updated production aircraft has served in numerous military operations, including Operation Enduring Freedom in Afghanistan. The B-52 is expected to remain in the fleet for another four decades.
NO SURPRISES: Don't expect many surprises this week when aerospace and defense companies announce their first quarter earnings for the year, says Deutsche Bank Securities analyst Chris Mecray. "Defense results will be in line with guidance this quarter with little or no surprises," he says in a first-quarter preview report. "We expect solid growth over last year, as earlier defense spending increases from the final Clinton budgets begin to take effect.
AEGIS CONTRACT: Lockheed Martin will build three Aegis Weapon Systems for the U.S. Navy under a $173 million contract, the company announced April 12. The order, for systems to be installed on Arleigh Burke-class destroyers, is the first installment of a 17-ship, four-year contract that could be worth up to $1.1 billion. The Aegis system can attack multiple incoming aircraft, missiles, submarines, torpedoes and ships while implementing defenses to protect the fleet.
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.
In his first major address on the future of NASA, Administrator Sean O'Keefe generally avoided programmatic specifics while laying out a vision for a "science-driven" agency with education as part of its core mission. "Our future decisions will be science-driven, not destination-driven," O'Keefe said in a speech at Syracuse University in New York April 12. "We will go where the science dictates that we go - not because it's close, or because it's popular."
INTANGIBLE TECHNOLOGY: Although the members of the Wassenaar Arrangement have agreed to control the export of "intangible technologies," such as emails, faxes, telephone calls and other means of transmitting technical information, the longstanding issue of controls on foreign nationals is not yet being addressed, a senior defense official tells The DAILY. Wassenaar, which includes the majority of the major arms exporting states, sets common rules for regulating the export of defense goods and services.
Lockheed Martin's LinkSensors system is preparing for its first major live demonstration to potential customers this summer at company facilities in Syracuse, N.Y. LinkSensors is a sensor networking system that will not only fuse data, but selectively allow intelligent, automated control of individual sensor nodes, to cooperatively provide better information about targets of interest (DAILY, Oct. 16, 2001).
AWARD: Gilbert Gaudette, Pratt & Whitney Canada Corp.'s vice president-service centers, received the Overhaul & Maintenance Award sponsored by Aviation Week's Overhaul & Maintenance magazine. The award honors managers or executives who have helped improve the efficiency, profitability, reliability and/or safety of maintenance, repair and overhaul. The award was presented at an April 9 dinner at the Corona Ranch in Phoenix.
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.
NO SURPRISES: Don't expect many surprises this week when aerospace and defense companies announce their first quarter earnings for the year, says Deutsche Bank Securities analyst Chris Mecray. "Defense results will be in line with guidance this quarter with little or no surprises," he says in a first-quarter preview report. "We expect solid growth over last year, as earlier defense spending increases from the final Clinton budgets begin to take effect.
The Defense Department's major defense acquisition programs logged a net cost increase of about $133 billion, or 18 percent, for the last reporting period, according to the Pentagon. The quarterly Selected Acquisition Reports (SARs) submitted to the Congress earlier this month provide estimates on the cost, schedule, and technical status of the Pentagon's major acquisition programs. For the quarter ending Dec. 31, 2001, about one third of the total cost increases, or about $42 billion, were for increases in the quantity of procurement programs.
The Defense Department's major defense acquisition programs logged a net cost increase of about $133 billion, or 18 percent, for the last reporting period, according to the Pentagon. The quarterly Selected Acquisition Reports (SARs) submitted to the Congress earlier this month provide estimates on the cost, schedule, and technical status of the Pentagon's major acquisition programs. For the quarter ending Dec. 31, 2001, about one third of the total cost increases, or about $42 billion, were for increases in the quantity of procurement programs.
The chairman of the House Armed Services procurement subcommittee expressed serious concern April 11 about problems with several of the U.S. military's helicopter programs, particularly the Army's RAH-66 Comanche and upgrades for the Army's CH-47F and Marine Corps AH-1 Super Cobra and UH-1 Huey.
MORE INFO: The Department of Justice has requested additional information from Northrop Grumman Corp. about its plans to acquire TRW Inc. Company officials said they would comply with the request. After submitting the information, Northrop must wait 30 days before recommencing its offer to exchange its stock for all outstanding shares of TRW stock.
NASA's history of the Soviet human space flight program has received the Emme Award for Astronautical Literature from the American Astronautical Society. The Emme, named for the first NASA historian, Eugene Emme, is an annual prize created to recognize books that increase public understanding of astronautics. The latest winner is the 2000 book "Challenge to Apollo: The Soviet Race to the Moon, 1945-1974," written by Asif A. Siddiqi, a NASA contract historian.
INMARSAT has launched its Swift64 service, which gives aircraft passengers the ability to access the Internet while flying. The satellite communications service is now available to the corporate jet market and is expected to be available to the commercial airline market by the fourth quarter of this year, according to Inmarsat. The company said Swift64 uses existing aircraft antennas and satellite communications avionics for its service.
NASA Administrator Sean O'Keefe said April 11 that his agency and the Department of Defense plan to collaborate on nuclear propulsion. He also said he has met with Air Force officials to discuss cooperation on reusable launch vehicles, and that resumes are being sifted for a new program executive officer for the International Space Station. O'Keefe said at a conference here that he has been talking with Ronald Sega, the director of defense research and engineering, about nuclear propulsion.
SIRIUS SATELLITE RADIO of New York said it is accelerating its rollout plan for satellite radio service. Its Feb. 14 service launch began in Denver, Houston, Phoenix and Jackson, Miss., and the company plans to offer service to 39 states in the next 60 days. Nationwide service is planned for July 1. The company had earlier planned to introduce service on a city-by-city basis, with national service planned by Aug. 1.
Arianespace is proposing to make its Ariane 5 launcher a prime backup for Japan's unproven H-IIA rocket, a company spokeswoman confirmed to Aerospace Daily affiliate AviationNow.com April 11. Arianespace CEO Jean-Marie Luton visited Japan this week to discuss the deal with government officials, said Arianespace spokeswoman Suzy Chambers. An agreement would allow Japan to transfer payloads to the Ariane 5 if the H-IIA is unable to launch, she said.
The Defense Science Board (DSB) plans to examine whether recent technological advances and the demise of the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty would allow the Defense Department to pursue additional techniques for shooting down enemy missiles, according to board chairman William Schneider.
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. - NASA Administrator Sean O'Keefe said April 11 that his agency and the Department of Defense plan to collaborate on nuclear propulsion. He also said he has met with Air Force officials to discuss cooperation on reusable launch vehicles, and that resumes are being sifted for a new program executive officer for the International Space Station. O'Keefe said at a conference here that he has been talking with Ronald Sega, the director of defense research and engineering, about nuclear propulsion.
European nations may be unable to take advantage of an offset arrangement if they agree to buy American military transport aircraft, according to an industry analyst. Richard Aboulafia, senior aircraft analyst with the Teal Group in Fairfax, Va., said the European countries "have not had a history of coordination" in developing a military transport aircraft of their own.
Faced with an increasing number of space programs that are over budget and behind schedule, a top Air Force official said "total systems" contracts would no longer be used for large space acquisition programs.
