General Dynamics Land Systems (GDLS) announced Oct. 9 it has signed a teaming agreement with the Denel Group of South Africa to jointly customize and market long-range and lightweight 105mm artillery systems for domestic and international customers. Those systems will be based on Denel's 105mm Light Experimental Ordnance (LEO) artillery system, which can be towed or mounted. LEO has a maximum range of about 30,000 meters (18.6 miles), which is comparable to most 155mm systems.
NEW DELHI - Within a week of test-firing a short-range, nuclear-capable Ghaznavi missile, Pakistan test-fired another nuclear-capable missile, the Shaheen-1. The Oct. 8 launch was part of a series of tests of Pakistan's missile systems, said a diplomat with Pakistan's embassy here. Pakistan tested the Ghaznavi missile on Oct. 3 (DAILY, Oct. 6). The diplomat said more tests would follow. The Shaheen is a liquid-fueled missile that can be fired on 15 minutes notice, the diplomat said.
Northrop Grumman is consolidating its unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) expertise by merging its Advanced Tactical C4I (ATC4I) organization into its Unmanned Systems unit in San Diego, the company announced Oct. 8. Currently part of Northrop Grumman's Mission Systems sector, ATC4I produces the Army's RQ-5 Hunter UAV. Northrop Grumman acquired ATC4I from TRW in 2002. Unmanned Systems, formerly Ryan Aeronautical, is part of Northrop Grumman's Integrated Systems sector.
ROCKET ORDER: General Dynamics Armament and Technical Products will produce Hydra-70 70mm rockets, motors and warheads for the U.S. Army, Navy and Air Force until March 2006 under a $98.6 million order, the company said Oct. 9. The order extends deliveries on a contract awarded to the company in 1999. The rockets can be fired from Apache and Cobra helicopters, F-16s and other platforms, the company said.
THE BOEING CO. will continue work on a digital topographic model of the Earth from radar data collected by the space shuttle Endeavour under follow-on orders from the National Imagery and Mapping Agency (NIMA) worth $9.2 million, the company said. The award, under NIMA's Shuttle Radar Topography Mission (SRTM) program, brings the total contract award to more than $19 million, Boeing said. The SRTM mission flew on Endeavour in February 2000. The goal of the program is to produce digital topographic data for 80 percent of the Earth's land surface.
PRAGUE - Struggling Czech weapons manufacturer ZVI is to be put up for sale in a tender, the Czech government has announced. Cabinet ministers agreed on the step Oct. 8 after deciding against nationalizing the Vsetin-based company, which produces a range of medium-caliber weaponry and ammunition. The company was placed in the hands of the state-run Czech Consolidation Agency (CKA) last year after its owners, the Trustfin Group, ran into serious financial difficulties.
Finmeccanica and Boeing could begin collaborating on aerospace and defense programs as early as next year, according to an executive with Finmeccanica SpA. The two companies signed an agreement in January to explore possible joint initiatives and growth opportunities in aerostructures, commercial aircraft, aircraft modification, unmanned aerial vehicles, satellite systems, navigation, launch services, defense, missile defense, space infrastructure and avionics (DAILY, Jan. 28).
FUNDRAISING: Australia's Metal Storm Ltd. has completed a share purchase plan that raised about $5 million, which it plans to use for research and development programs, the electronic ballistics company said Oct. 9. The company has made "several significant product-related developments recently" and the money will help it "drive these along the path to commercialization," CEO Charles Vehlow said.
The FAA has approved language aimed at clarifying that its Office of the Associate Administrator for Commercial Space Transportation (AST) will regulate the emerging field of commercial suborbital reusable launch vehicles (RLVs) (DAILY, Oct. 6), an FAA source said Oct. 9. FAA Administrator Marion Blakey communicated her approval of the language in a letter delivered to the House Science Committee Oct. 6, the source told The DAILY. The FAA is preparing to publish its conclusions in the Federal Register. "That's in process," the source said.
The House Appropriations Committee has drafted an $87 billion fiscal 2004 supplemental appropriations bill that adds tens of millions of dollars to the Bush Administration's request to buy extra jamming and communications equipment. In giving the Army a $46 million increase for improved portable radio-frequency jammers, a report explaining the bill says currently fielded equipment "does not provide an effective defense against remotely detonated explosives being used increasingly against American soldiers."
ALLIANT TECHSYSTEMS, Minneapolis Dan Murphy has taken the CEO role under a previously announced leadership succession plan. Paul David Miller retains his post as chairman of the board and continues as corporate officer. Thomas R. Wilson succeeds Murphy as group vice president, Precision Systems. CONNEXION BY BOEING, Seattle Elissaveta Ivanova has been appointed communications manager for Europe. ENGINEERED SUPPORT SYSTEMS, St. Louis
UAV SUPPORT: AAI Corp. will continue to maintain U.S. Army Tactical Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (TUAV) systems under a $15 million contract modification, the company said Oct. 8. The company's Unmanned Aerial Vehicle Systems unit is maintaining TUAV systems that are supporting U.S. warfighters in Operation Iraqi Freedom.
Prognostic programs will become more critical for logistical operations as the U.S. military begins to deploy its systems for network-centric warfare, according to a program official with Honeywell International. The U.S. military has been successfully gathering and processing data through diagnostic tools over the last 10-12 years, said Mike Cuff, Honeywell program manager for the Army's Future Combat Systems program.
The U.S. Air Force's F/A-22 Raptor has made further strides in resolving its avionics problems, a Pentagon panel has concluded. The Defense Acquisition Board (DAB), which met Sept. 23, "found that the test program continues to make progress to improve avionics stability," according to an "information paper" released by the Defense Department Oct. 8. A July review yielded similar comments (DAILY, July 21).
Lockheed Martin officials said Oct. 8 that they are assembling a bid for the U.S. Army's Aerial Common Sensor (ACS) that would provide extensive interoperability with other Army systems and other military services. At the annual meeting of the Association of the U.S. Army (AUSA), Lockheed Martin Management & Data Systems announced that Orincon Corp., which Lockheed Martin recently acquired, has joined its team in the competition to develop ACS, the Army's next-generation intelligence-gathering aircraft.
Allied Aerospace Industries of Tullahoma, Tenn., will provide three flight-ready experimental vehicles to demonstrate short-duration scramjet flight, NASA said Oct. 8. The contract for the X-43C project is valued at nearly $150 million over 66 months, NASA said. The X-43C is to demonstrate scramjet acceleration from Mach 5 to Mach 7 using an engine provided by the U.S. Air Force. It also is to demonstrate operation of a hydrocarbon fuel-cooled scramjet.
PRAGUE - Up to 1,000 people may lose their jobs at debt-laden Aero Vodochody under one of several options being considered by the Czech aircraft maker's management. Aero confirmed Oct. 7 that it is looking at several "variants" regarding the number of jobs to be cut in coming months. The move comes as a government-appointed commission continues to examine options for the future of the company, which the Czech government recently agreed to support by extending $300 million in state guarantees until 2008.
A "digital divide" still prevents the individual soldier from participating in and benefiting from network-centric operations, according to Lt. Gen. William Wallace, who commanded the U.S. Army's Fifth Corps during the war in Iraq. "The world ... that the U.S. Army soldier lives in is on the ground, in the dirt," Wallace said in a presentation at Aviation Week's NetCentric Conference in Washington Oct. 8. "The network does not extend to him, and it needs to."
Raytheon Co. will developed a miniaturized Global Positioning System navigator with an adaptive anti-jam capability for the U.S. Air Force Research Laboratory's Miniature Navigator Demonstration (MIND) program, the company said Oct. 7. Under the $6.9 million contract, Raytheon Space and Airborne Systems will design and demonstrate a navigator system capable of operating in a high-speed environment against various GPS jammer threats, the company said.
Defense contractors may have to change their views about competition to develop a common operating picture for the U.S. military, according to a senior Boeing official. Most companies remain focused on working alone to generate sales, growth and recognition, Carl O'Berry, vice president of strategic architecture for Boeing's Integrated Defense Systems division, said Oct. 8.
Boeing has established the 7E7 Council, made up of senior executives from companies that could work on the mid-sized aircraft's airframe, the company said Oct. 8. "We all have a strong interest in sharing our challenges and solutions," Walt Gillette, Boeing's vice president of engineering, manufacturing and partner alignment for the program, said in a statement. "We must succeed on each part of the airplane to be successful on the entire airplane."
The U.S. Defense Department's Networks and Information Integration (NII) office is working to synchronize and tie together its senior leadership communications, from the president through the secretary of defense and the leaders of the major military commands.
Three companies have received additional contracts to continue work on pre-prototype payloads for the Air Force's projected Space Based Radar (SBR). Harris Corp., Northrop Grumman Corp. and Raytheon Co. each got about $37.5 million for the effort on Oct. 7. Earlier this year, each received about $8.6 million (DAILY, Feb. 26). The new contracts will run until September of 2004, according to the Department of Defense. Another year of work would follow that, for a total effort of three years, an industry official said.
