A coalition of unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) supporters are conducting flight tests of automatic collision avoidance systems that the team hopes will help persuade the FAA to ease restrictions on the use of UAVs in the national airspace. The flight tests will use Scaled Composites' Proteus as a UAV stand-in, along with a variety of other manned aircraft flying simulated collision courses. The flights will take place March 13 and 14 in Las Cruces, N.M.
The U.S. Army's fiscal 2003 unfunded requirements list contains hundreds of millions of dollars for aerospace systems, including helicopters, missile systems and unmanned aerial vehicles. The list includes $109.4 million to develop and modify the Patriot missile defense system; $76.2 million for moving target indicator improvements and other upgrades to UAVs; $62.3 million for aircrew integrated systems, such as production of crash-activated inflatable airbags to protect helicopter crews; and $124.2 million to develop new defenses for rotorcraft.
Efforts to streamline the Air Force and National Reconnaissance Office's space programs have resulted in a number of "best practices" being adopted by both organizations, according to an Air Force official involved in the effort. Over the past several months, industry and government officials involved in NRO and Air Force space programs have conducted a series of working group meetings to examine how the two organizations run their space programs. The goal is to identify new procedures that can be adopted in contracting, budgeting and planning.
The Air Force's Unmanned Aerial Vehicle Battlelab plans to demonstrate the use of infrared technology to instantly detect and track enemy missiles, and possibly even small-arms fire, from a UAV. IR systems now carried on UAVs have limited range and relatively low sensitivity. More powerful systems that still fit the size and weight constraints of UAVs and allow instantaneous sensing and cuing may be possible with newer technology.
The market for consolidations among second- and third-tier defense contractors has not reached its peak and may involve non-defense related companies, according to several industry leaders. "I don't think we've had the level of consolidation, particularly in the second and third tiers, that we need to have," said Lucy Fitch, vice president of acquisitions and strategies for BAE Systems North America Inc.
COMANCHE SITE: The Boeing/Sikorsky RAH-66 Comanche team has picked an industrial site in Bridgeport, Conn., for the first phase of assembly and delivery of the helicopter, the companies announced March 12.The site will also house the program's office headquarters. About 350 employees working in Trumbull, Conn., will relocate, and up to 150 new jobs are expected to be created as the program moves to preliminary production. The Army has restructured the program and delayed its initial operational capability by two years, from fiscal 2006 to 2008 (DAILY, March 1).
Raytheon Co.'s former Aircraft Integration Systems unit has been Integrated into L-3 Communications Corp. and renamed L-3 Communications Integrated Systems, company officials said March 11. Senior officials with the New York-based defense electronics firm announced in January they had agreed to acquire AIS from Raytheon for $1.13 billion in cash. AIS manufactures intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance equipment for military aircraft.
March 8, 2002 Gulfstream Aerospace Corp., Savannah, Ga., is being awarded a $1,600,000,000 firm-fixed-price indefinite delivery and indefinite quantity contract to provide for up to 20 C-37A aircraft, ten years of full or partial contractor logistics support (CLS) for each aircraft and CLS for in-service aircraft. At this time $43,421,956 of the funds has been obligated. This work will be completed September 2013. The Aeronautical Systems Center, Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio, is the contracting activity (F33657-02-D-2011).
Countries that are developing missiles capable of hitting the U.S. are taking a wait-and-see approach when it comes to fielding countermeasures, an American intelligence official told a Senate panel March 11.
Boeing has elevated three executives to its office of the chairman, the company announced March 11. Joining Boeing Chairman and CEO Phil Condit in the office of the chairman are Michael M. Sears, chief financial officer; David O. Swain, chief technology officer; and Laurette T. Koellner, who has been elected to the new position of chief people and administration officer. The changes are effective March 15, according to Boeing.
Work will continue at the Lockheed Martin military aircraft plant in Marietta, Ga., even though nearly 40 percent of its workforce voted to go on strike over the weekend, according to a Lockheed Martin spokesman. Employees of local 709 of the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers overwhelmingly voted March 10 to reject the company's latest salary and benefits proposal. About 2,700 of the plant's 6,800 workers voted to go on strike.
The Bush Administration's fiscal 2003 defense budget would not be a historically high level of defense spending, according to a report by the ratings agency Fitch Inc. As a percentage of total federal outlays, defense spending is projected to be 17 percent for FY '03, rising to about 17.2 percent in FY '07, according to the March 7 report. "Other than the fiscal years 1996 [through] 2002, these current percentages are lower than any other year in the post World War II-era," the report says.
NASA Missions - Kennedy Space Center - Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Florida (NET indicates a tentative launch date) Date/2002Vehicle Pad Mission April 4 OV-104 (Atlantis) 39B KSC STS-110/International Space Station (ITS SO, MT) T0: TBD May 6 OV-105 (Endeavour) 39-A KSC STS-111/International Space
ENGINE TEST: Atlantic Research Corp. (ARC) conducted a successful ground test of a high-energy Variable Flow Ducted Rocket, the company announced March 11. The engine could lead to the development of lighter, higher-performance airbreathing engines, ARC said.
The C-130 Hercules will provide the tactical airlift for the Army's Future Combat Systems, according to senior Army officials, relegating plans for the development of a Future Transport Rotorcraft to the back burner. "We've already picked the box size and our box size is a C-130," Claude Bolton, the Army's lead acquisition official, told reporters at a March 8 press briefing. "That's been the workhorse, it has been for years, and we don't see that changing."
An Atlas IIA rocket placed NASA's latest Tracking and Data Relay Satellite, TDRS-I, into orbit on March 8. The satellite, a Boeing 601 built by Boeing Satellite Systems, is one of three advanced TDRS satellites NASA is adding to the on-orbit TDRS fleet to provide high data rate communications to the space shuttle, International Space Station, Hubble Space Telescope and other spacecraft (DAILY, March 6). TDRS-H was launched in 2000 and NASA plans to launch TDRS-J in November (see launch schedule on Page 7).
The Navy and Marine Corps' proposed fiscal 2003 budget has raised questions as to whether the services are proposing to spend too much money to maintain aging weapon systems, according to Rep. Jerry Lewis (R-Calif.), chairman of the House Appropriations defense subcommittee.
Pending approval by the Army, the Boeing Co. immediately will begin issuing broad industry announcements for platform and system architecture proposals for the Army's Future Combat Systems, senior Boeing officials said March 11. Late last week, Boeing and its partner, Science Applications International Corp., were awarded a 16-month, $154 million contract to be the lead systems integrator for the concept and technology development phase of the Army's Future Combat Systems (DAILY, March 8).
Northrop Grumman Corp. announced March 11 it has formally notified the Department of Justice and the Federal Trade Commission of its intention to acquire TRW Inc. The action follows a Feb. 22 announcement to TRW shareholders offering to exchange each outstanding share of TRW common stock for $47 of Northrop Grumman stock (DAILY, Feb. 25, 2002).
