EELV HYPOCRISY: American rocket providers such as the Boeing Co. and Lockheed Martin, who are both building versions of the Evolved Expendable Launch Vehicle (EELV) for the Air Force, have been hypocritical in decrying government subsidies for European launch companies, according to Clayton Mowry, president of Arianespace, Inc. "For the last several years, the U.S. companies have complained about European subsidies, and the European position in the [launch vehicle] marketplace," Mowry says. "And now, as soon as the markets get more competitive ...
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.
EUROCOPTER BUY: The German federal border guard has ordered 11 Eurocopter EC-135 and two EC-155 helicopters, making it the world's largest operator of those two models. The border guard, which began modernizing its helicopter fleet in 1997, already has 24 EC-135s and 155s.
SPACE RADAR: Air Force Secretary James Roche says he intends to participate extensively in planning for the new Space Based Radar (SBR) program to ensure its activities are carefully thought out. Roche says he wants to avoid the kind of cost and technical problems that have plagued other military space programs in recent years. "We're trying first and foremost," he says, "to develop an architecture that will answer the questions as to why we want this and therefore limit people adding ...
Officials with Loral Space&Communications reported a net loss for the fourth quarter of fiscal year 2001 and for the full year, although several operating segments posted strong results. Company officials reported a net loss of $277 million for FY '01, or 86 cents per share, on sales of $1.1 billion. That compares with a net loss of $1.5 billion, or $5.20 per share, on sales of $1.2 billion in FY '00.
Rockwell Collins is working under a $5.9 million contract to merge technology that would defeat attempts to jam Global Positioning System receivers with technology that would send a GPS signal from an aircraft or from the ground, rather than from a satellite.
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.
FOREIGN PARTNERS: The Missile Defense Agency may try to offer industrial partnering opportunities to foreign countries that participate in developing missile defense technologies, according to Suzanne Patrick, the deputy undersecretary of defense for industrial policy. "In attempting to attract international industrial participation, the Missile Defense Agency is likely to use models similar to what's been used on Joint Strike Fighter," Patrick says.
The competition for high-quality aerospace engineers may get more intense over the next year, as both Lockheed Martin Aeronautics and the Boeing Co. hire new talent for some of their core programs. Boeing and Lockheed Martin have programs that require new hires, according to officials from the companies. Lockheed Martin needs new talent for the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter program, while Boeing thinks it may need more workers to accommodate Department of Defense plans to accelerate the Unmanned Combat Aerial Vehicle (UCAV) program.
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.
Members of Congress from Missouri and Illinois are urging the Bush Administration to encourage South Korea to buy St. Louis-built Boeing F-15s for its next-generation fighter program. In a Feb. 14 letter to President Bush, who is scheduled to visit South Korea Feb. 19-21, 15 lawmakers urged him to remember "the importance of Korea's next-generation fighter competition to the United States and the many thousands of workers who build the F-15."
The Defense Department needs to keep a close eye on the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter to ensure it can overcome Russian-made fighters and other potential threats, according to Rep. Randy "Duke" Cunningham (R-Calif.), a highly decorated Navy pilot who sits on the House Appropriations defense subcommittee. While the JSF has impressed many people so far, there is no guarantee that the plane will live up to its promise when it is fully developed, he told Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld at a Feb. 14 subcommittee hearing.
MISSILES FOR MEADS: In addition to the Patriot Advanced Capability-3 (PAC-3) interceptor missile that will be integrated into the Medium Extended Air Defense System (MEADS), Germany has asked that the partners examine incorporating a low-end missile into the system as part of the program's risk reduction effort. The U.S., Germany and Italy are cooperating on MEADS, which will eventually replace the Patriot system for point and area defense missions.
BAE Systems has reported a $1.81 billion before-interest profit on sales of $18.9 billion for fiscal year 2001. The company's order backlog rose 63 percent over FY '00 for a total of $63.1 billion, company officials said in a statement released last week. "Since the early '90s, we have been pursuing a strategy to transform the company into a worldwide business with systems engineering at its heart," CEO John Weston said.
The termination of the Navy's Fire Scout vertical takeoff and landing tactical unmanned aerial vehicle does not affect the design proposal submitted by the "Blue Team" for the Navy's next-generation DD(X) destroyer, Blue Team officials said Feb. 14. The Fire Scout had been considered a likely candidate for use on the DD(X). The Blue Team, led by shipbuilder Bath Iron Works and Lockheed Martin Naval Electronics&Surveillance Systems, is competing against the Gold Team led by Ingalls Shipbuilding Inc. and Raytheon Systems Co.
International Space Station crewmembers Carl Walz and Dan Bursch will conduct a spacewalk Feb. 20 through the station's Joint Airlock, dubbed Quest, the first to be done from the airlock without a shuttle docked. "We wanted to show that we could do an EVA [extra-vehicular activity] without the shuttle present," NASA's Sally Davis, the lead stage flight director, said Feb. 14 at a briefing on the upcoming spacewalk. Spacewalks have been conducted from the Russian section of the station without a shuttle present.
UPGRADED E-8C: Northrop Grumman Corp. has delivered the first upgraded E-8C Joint Surveillance Target Attack Radar System aircraft to the U.S. Air Force under the Computer Replacement Program. This is the first of 10 aircraft being upgraded with commercial-off-the-shelf computers for improved data processing.
The Navy's F/A-18E/F fighter and MH-60S helicopter, the Air Force's C-130J transport plane and the Army's UH-60 Black Hawk helicopter all are strong candidates for increased procurement if Rep. Norm Dicks (D-Wash.), a member of the House Appropriations defense subcommittee, succeeds in adding billions of dollars to the Bush Administration's fiscal 2003 budget request, according to a congressional source.
The Air Force is slated to release a request for information on a revamped Miniature Air Launched Decoy (MALD) program on Feb. 15, sources told The DAILY. The service concluded its current contract with Northrop Grumman for development of the decoy and will now move forward with plans to recompete the program, the sources said. The Air Force is said to have looked at design maturity, management of the program and projected costs as well as future requirements.
The recent cancellation of the Navy's Fire Scout vertical takeoff and landing unmanned aerial vehicle (VTUAV) was prompted by concerns over the vehicle's footprint, operability, and survivability, according to Capt. Rand LeBouvier, head of the Aviation Systems Branch at the Office of the Chief of Naval Operations.
The Federal Communications Commission said Feb. 14 it will allocate 50 MHz of spectrum in the 4.9 GHz band for ultra-wideband (UWB) devices. "This FCC action aligns with new national priorities focusing on homeland security, and will ensure that entities involved in the protection of life and property possess the communications resources needed to successfully carry out their mission," an FCC statement said.
DEFENSE MEETING: Undersecretary of defense for acquisition, technology and logistics Edward C. "Pete" Aldridge will chair the AIAA Defense Excellence 2002 Conference in Washington Feb. 19-20. "The new American way of war will be versatile, real time, in-depth, integrated and comprehensive," he said. "Acquisition excellence is central to this goal."
TRW Inc. has named two executives to new missile defense posts to focus its missile defense efforts and align them more closely with the new Missile Defense Agency (MDA), the company announced Feb. 14. Jerry Agee will serve as vice president and general manager of TRW Systems' new Missile Defense Division. He will oversee the company's work on programs including the Ground-based Midcourse Defense Segment's battle management command, control and communications system, and target boosters. He and his staff will be based in Reston, Va.
