General Dynamics Corp. has formed a company to focus on winning the Lead Systems Integrator contract for the Army's Future Combat Systems (FCS) program, the company announced Jan. 21. Eagle Enterprise Inc. will be headquartered in Falls Church, Va., General Dynamics' home base, and will be led by Michael Bolon, former vice president of engineering design and development for the company's Land Systems group.
The war on terrorism, operational demands, budget cuts and other factors are straining the Navy and Marine Corps today and could reduce their ability to meet future threats, a panel of Navy and Marine flag officers said at a conference here. Replacing ships and aircraft to sustain the existing force is a key concern, the officials said at the Armed Forces Communications&Electronics Association&Naval Institute West 2002 conference.
Signals intelligence (SIGINT) is one of key areas in which Northrop Grumman Corp. hopes to expand its presence, according to Robert Iorizzo, president of the company's Electronic Systems sector. "We want to grow the business [in SIGINT]," Iorizzo said, speaking at a press briefing in Washington Jan. 17. "We don't do a lot of SIGINT business now. We think we have some great technologies and we're trying to link [into] some SIGINT development programs."
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- The U.S. military services, along with the National Reconnaissance Office, NASA and industry, are embarking on a major transformation of the U.S. military communications satellite network. The objective is to make the system far more responsive to the highly mobile combined-force coalition warfare - undertaken in Afghanistan and planned for other locations - in response to the Sept. 11 attacks. Military lessons from Kosovo are another key impetus.
"I think we have sort of moved beyond START II," says J.D. Crouch, the assistant secretary of defense for international security. Crouch says President Bush's proposal to reduce the U.S.'s deployed nuclear arsenal from 6,000 warheads to between 2,200 and 1,700 warheads, to match Russia's reductions, goes beyond the previously negotiated levels, effectively "setting [START II] aside." Verification of U.S.
HURRY UP, UAVs: Although few doubt the ultimate potential of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), "UAVs have been the next big market for a very long time," says Richard Aboulafia, analyst for The Teal Group. "When I started reading about this field as a hobbyist in the 1970s, UAVs were the next huge thing. And it was inconceivable to me [back then] that we would be where we are today.
Although few doubt the ultimate potential of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), "UAVs have been the next big market for a very long time," says Richard Aboulafia, analyst for The Teal Group. "When I started reading about this field as a hobbyist in the 1970s, UAVs were the next huge thing. And it was inconceivable to me [back then] that we would be where we are today.
CARRIER TOUR: Sen. James Inhofe (R-Okla.), ranking Republican on the Senate Armed Services readiness subcommittee, plans to visit the USS John F. Kennedy aircraft carrier battle group off the coast of North Carolina later this month to examine its readiness for an upcoming deployment to the Persian Gulf. Although training is Inhofe's top concern, he also wants to find out whether the carrier has enough ammunition and whether its aircraft are holding up, a spokesman says.
The U.S. Air Force has begun an Analysis of Alternatives (AOA) to help guide development of the Space Based Radar (SBR), according to Air Force Space Command. The study "will examine different SBR concepts and provide the necessary data to support a future SBR acquisition decision," Air Force Space Command said in a statement. Work on the AOA began in Oct. 2001. Completion of the study is expected in September 2003.
Signals intelligence (SIGINT) is one of key areas in which Northrop Grumman Corp. hopes to expand its presence, according to Robert Iorizzo, president of the company's Electronic Systems sector. "We want to grow the business [in SIGINT]," Iorizzo said, speaking at a press briefing in Washington Jan. 17. "We don't do a lot of SIGINT business now. We think we have some great technologies and we're trying to link [into] some SIGINT development programs."
With the ink barely dry on the fiscal 2002 defense appropriations act, lawmakers are scheduled to end their month-long vacation Jan. 23 so they can begin work on the FY '03 budget. The process will formally kick off when Bush gives his State of the Union address on Capitol Hill Jan. 29 and the Admin-istration sends its budget documents to Congress Feb. 4.
INDIA WANTS ENGINES: Although U.S.-imposed sanctions prevented cooperation with India on the Light Combat Aircraft (LCA) for several years, both sides are now hopeful U.S. assistance with the program may be resumed. The LCA, India's premier single-engine tactical fighter, was supposed to be a hallmark of U.S.-Indian cooperation. After India's 1998 nuclear tests, U.S. sanctions ended cooperation and deprived the Indian program of critical software support, aircraft components, and General Electric 404 engines that were to be installed on the aircraft.
Although aerospace and defense companies are studying whether any of their products have homeland defense applications, many are still uncertain about where those applications will fit, according to industry officials. For many companies, it remains unclear who the customer for homeland defense products will be, what the requirements will be and what resources will be available for purchasing such products.
Jan. 27 - 29 -- National Defense Industrial Association presents the 2002 Tactical Wheeled Vehicles Conference, The Double Tree Hotel & Monterey Conference Center, Monterey, CA. For more information contact Angie de Kleine at (703) 247-2599 or email [email protected]. Jan. 29 - 31 -- American Institue of Aeronautics and Astronautics presents Strategic and Tactical Missile Systems Conference (Secret/U.S. citizens only), Naval Postgraduate School, Monterey, CA. Security clearance deadline is December 14.
Although U.S.-imposed sanctions prevented cooperation with India on the Light Combat Aircraft (LCA) for several years, both sides are now hopeful U.S. assistance with the program may be resumed. The LCA, India's premier single-engine tactical fighter, was supposed to be a hallmark of U.S.-Indian cooperation. After India's 1998 nuclear tests, U.S. sanctions ended cooperation and deprived the Indian program of critical software support, aircraft components, and General Electric 404 engines that were to be installed on the aircraft.
If the Air Force decides to go through with its plan to lease Boeing 767 aircraft to replace its aging fleet of KC-135E tankers, the Defense Department will have to ask Congress to modify some of the provisions in the fiscal 2002 defense appropriations act, according to Air Force Secretary James Roche.
The U.S. Air Force has begun an Analysis of Alternatives (AOA) to help guide development of the Space Based Radar (SBR), according to Air Force Space Command. The study "will examine different SBR concepts and provide the necessary data to support a future SBR acquisition decision," Air Force Space Command said in a statement. Work on the AOA began in Oct. 2001. Completion of the study is expected in September 2003.
A move by the U.S. Navy away from the tactical Firescout unmanned aerial vehicle and toward the more strategic Global Hawk may be good news for Northrop Grumman, which makes both UAVs, because there's more money in Global Hawk. But, observers say, it also takes a U.S. player out of the tactical, shipborne, vertical takeoff and landing UAV market and makes that market more open to foreign competitors. Most of the potential Firescout market is overseas, and foreign makers will now have what one source sees as "a gigantic opportunity."
As U.S. defense acquisition officials review options for reviving a sea-based terminal missile defense system to replace the Navy Area Missile Defense program, a clear division is emerging over the use of hit-to-kill technology, according to industry sources.
If the Air Force decides to go through with its plan to lease Boeing 767 aircraft to replace its aging fleet of KC-135E tankers, the Defense Department will have to ask Congress to modify some of the provisions in the fiscal 2002 defense appropriations act, according to Air Force Secretary James Roche.
The mayor of Hawaii county, Harry Kim, is impressed by the solar-powered Helios aircraft, which set an altitude record of 96,863 feet in a flight last August from Kauai. Kim, who has a background in the field of disaster management, thinks the unmanned aerial vehicle would be ideal for such work. He tells NASA Administrator Sean O'Keefe in a Jan. 7 letter that a Helios operations center should be set up on the Big Island.
A NATIONAL BORDER AGENCY?: Officials from the Department of Defense and the Office of Homeland Security have been discussing a number of options for reorganizing agencies that protect U.S. borders. One of those options, says a DOD source familiar with the discussions, is a National Border Agency that would combine functions from the INS, the Border Patrol, the Coast Guard and Customs. "It wouldn't be an entire merger of these organizations, but just functions pertaining to the border," the source says.
