The U.S. Air Force has begun to reassess its plans for fielding a next-generation bomber, according to a service document. A November 2001 unclassified report, "Long-Range Strike Aircraft White Paper," notes that a 1999 Air Force white paper called for starting the replacement process by 2013 and achieving an initial operational capability for the new bomber in 2037. The 2001 paper says the 1999 conclusions may now be outdated and that the Air Force is starting to re-examine them.
The X-45B model of the Air Force's Unmanned Combat Air Vehicle (UCAV) will be substantially larger than the X-45A demonstrator, necessitating changes in planned transport procedures and logistics, according to Program Manager Col. Mike Leahy. The size change is the result of better aerodynamics modeling, increased size and weight of expected weapons, and lessons learned from the X-45A design and ongoing demonstrations. The X-45B will be the same size as the eventual operational UCAV.
HONEYWELL CEO: David M. Cote was elected president and CEO of Honeywell by its board of directors on Feb. 19, effective June 30. Cote will replace Lawrence A. Bossidy, who is retiring. Cote resigned as chairman, president and CEO of TRW Inc. on Feb. 19. The company is seeking a successor.
The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) is unlikely to fund both competing Navy Unmanned Combat Air Vehicle (UCAV-N) teams to build demonstrator aircraft, according to Mike Heinz, vice president and general manager of Boeing's Unmanned Systems unit.
As a result of the recent Nuclear Posture Review, the Department of Defense will begin work this year to take the warhead re-entry vehicles currently used on the Peacekeeper intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) and transferring them to the Minuteman III, according to an official from TRW Inc., which is the prime contractor for maintaining the U.S. military's ICBM force.
BAE Systems will deliver three new Type 45 destroyers to the United Kingdom Ministry of Defence under a contract announced Feb. 18. The contract doubles the number of the 7,350 metric ton warships that the MOD has ordered for the Royal Navy. Optimized for air defense roles with the new European Principal Anti-Air Missile System (PAAMS), the vessels will be built jointly by BAE Systems Marine and Vosper Thorneycroft. The MOD claims they will be the most advanced warships of their kind when they enter service beginning in 2007.
The U.S. Army is studying ways to streamline the relationship between its depots and private-sector facilities, according to Army Secretary Thomas White. At a Feb. 14 Capitol Hill seminar, White said that making a "simple change" to a Patriot missile system radar stationed at Fort Bliss, Texas, for instance, can take over a year because the radar has to be shipped to separate Army and contractor maintenance facilities.
The Rocket and Space Corp. (RSC) Energia presented a concept for a Global Space Communication System (GSCS) during the Broadcast&Communication Russia 2002 trade show here Feb. 15. Company representatives said the proposed three-satellite geostationary constellation could cover most of the country's space communication requirements.
LORD APPOINTMENT: Air Force Lt. Gen. Lance W. Lord has been recommended for appointment to the grade of general and will be assigned as head of Air Force Space Command at Peterson Air Force Base, the Department of Defense announced. Lord now serves as assistant vice chief of staff for the U.S. Air Force in Washington.
The time may be right to reconsider the 1994 decision directing NASA to work on reusable launch vehicles and the Department of Defense on expendable ones, according to Gen. Ralph "Ed" Eberhart, the commander-in-chief (CINC) of the North American Aerospace Defense Command at Peterson Air Force Base, Colo.
Drawing on some of the "lessons learned" from the war in Afghanistan, Army Gen. Tommy Franks praised the role of air power and precision bombing as contributing factors to the rapid success of U.S. forces in Afghanistan, but said future conflicts may call for a different mix of forces.
A Feb. 16 test of the Patriot Advanced Capability-3 (PAC-3) system missed two of its three intended targets, the Army reported following the test. The test conducted at White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico involved the launch of two PAC-2 missiles and one PAC-3 missile. Both missiles are used as part of the PAC-3 system. One of the PAC-2 missiles intercepted a QF-4 full-scale drone aircraft, but the second PAC-2 and the PAC-3 missiles both missed their sub-scale targets representing an aircraft and a cruise missile.
February 11, 2002 Lockheed Martin Corp., Marietta, Ga., is being awarded a $10,000,000 cost-plus-award-fee and firm-fixed price with economic price adjustment contract modification to provide for fiscal year 2002 engineering manufacturing development effort for the C-5 Avionics Modernization program. At this time, the total amount of funds has been obligated. This work will be completed February 2002. The Aeronautical Systems Center, Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio, is the contracting activity (F33657-98-C-0006, P00053).
A panel of defense and aerospace industry executives agreed Feb. 19 that the industry must develop ways to be more responsive to changing market conditions and generate more creativity among its workforce. Speaking at the 2002 AIAA Defense Conference in Washington, Daniel Burnham, the chairman and CEO of Raytheon Co., said his concerns about the defense industrial base have changed in the past year.
The Bush Administration's fiscal 2003 defense budget includes $10.5 million to add laser designators to eight Air Force Predator unmanned aerial vehicles, according to service officials. The designators, which would be permanently attached to the Predators, would allow the General Atomics aircraft to acquire targets for other weapon systems.
February 15, 2002 Flight Safety Services Corp., Englewood, Colo., is being award a $10,351,162 firm-fixed-price contract modification to provide for incorporated technical changes and schedule adjustment to existing Avionics Modernization Program prototype effort to the C-5 aircrew training systems contract. At this time, $4,518,241 of the funds has been obligated. This work will be complete March 2004. The Ogden Air Logistics Center, Hill Air Force Base, Utah, is the contracting activity (F42630-99-C-0170, P00046).
Over the course of five tightly choreographed spacewalks during NASA's upcoming Hubble Space Telescope (HST) servicing mission (STS-109), the space agency's on-orbit repair skills will be greatly taxed and sharpened, according to STS-109 Lead Flight Director Bryan Austin. "STS-109 is going to expand our ability to conduct complex and intensive space-based repair and assembly, and I think you'll see that play out through our five EVAs [extravehicular activities] on this mission," Austin said, speaking at a NASA briefing Feb. 15.
Lockheed Martin and the Boeing Co. retained their top spots on the Department of Defense's annual list of contractors receiving the largest dollar volume of prime contracts. The companies finished first and second on the fiscal 2001 list. Lockheed Martin received $14.7 billion in contracts for FY '01, down from $15.1 billion in FY '00. Boeing got $13.3 billion in contracts in FY '01, up from $12 billion in '00.
A new electro-optical and infrared (EO/IR) receiver unit for the Global Hawk unmanned aerial vehicle has been completed under a rushed schedule and will soon be deployed for use in military actions in Afghanistan, according to a Raytheon Co. official involved in the program.
LAIRCM PLAN: Northrop Grumman, the prime contractor for the Air Force's Large Aircraft Infrared Countermeasures (LAIRCM) program, will oversee a development effort to install the missile-defeating system on two C-17s and one C-130. LAIRCM Program Manager Col. Michael A. Cappelano says the Boeing Co., the C-17's original equipment manufacturer, "is performing the design, development [and] installation for LAIRCM on the C-17." He says "Boeing and Northrop work together through their Associate Contractor Agreement which is in place today.
