Defense Daily articles from April 2004

Defense Daily archives from April 2004

Space PEO: SBIRS High GEO Segment Falls One Year Behind.(Pentagon Engineering Office)(Space Based Infrared System)(geostationary)
April 1, 2004... By Amy Butler COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo.-- Lt. Gen. Brian Arnold, the Air Force's program executive officer for space, told reporters yesterday the geostationary (GEO) satellites of the Pentagon's $8.6 billion next-generation early missile...

HAC-D Questions Air Force On C-17 Contract.
April 1, 2004... By Sharon Weinberger The chairman of the House Appropriations Committee defense subcommittee expressed concerns at hearing Tuesday about the way the Air Force has handled the second multiyear procurement contract for Boeing [BA] C-17...

Finmeccanica Chief: Foreign Companies Need Fair Environment For JSF Contracts.(Joint Strike Fighter )
April 1, 2004... By Lorenzo Cortes The process of awarding contracts within Lockheed Martin's [LMT] F-35 Joint Strike Fighter (JSF) program is leaving some foreign companies unhappy with the tilt towards American firms, according to Finmeccanica chairman...

Navy Surface Forces Chief Would Eventually Like To Swap An Entire ESG.(expeditionary strike group )
April 1, 2004... By Lorenzo Cortes As the Navy refines and builds upon the initial experiences of its Sea Swap personnel initiative for ships, the service's surface forces chief would eventually like to swap out the crews of an entire expeditionary strike...

Lockheed Martin Working 'Alternative Missions' Task For Navy JASSM.(Brief Article)
April 1, 2004... By Lorenzo Cortes Lockheed Martin [LMT] is working on a $1.2 million "alternative missions" contract add-on to its base contract with the Navy to produce the AGM-158 Joint Air-to-Surface Standoff Missile (JASSM) for integration onboard...

L-3 To Leverage IBM Expertise In $80 Million Deal.(Brief Article)
April 1, 2004... L-3 Communications [LLL] yesterday said it will pay IBM [IBM] about $80 million over five years to benefit from the computer giant's expertise in chip and system design, technology integration, customization and the assembly and manufacturing...

IMI Unveils Red Sky System For MANPADs.(man portable air defense )(Brief Article)
April 1, 2004... Israel Military Industries (IMI) this week introduced its Red Sky Short Range Air Defense (SHORAD) system designed to expand the capabilities of existing man portable air defense (MANPAD) missiles. Red Sky provides 24-hour passive...

GAO: Technological Maturity of Weapons Programs Affects Later Stages of Development.(General Accounting Office )(Brief Article)
April 1, 2004... A General Accounting Office study of 51 DoD programs states that if a particular system is not attaining high levels of knowledge in technology, design and production, it will incur risk, affect technological maturity and accelerate cost growth...

Pentagon Announces Possible $1.77 Billion Radar Sale To Taiwan.(Brief Article)
April 1, 2004... The Pentagon on Tuesday notified Congress of a possible foreign military sale to Taiwan for advanced radars designed to enhance the country's air and missile defense early warning system. The Defense Security Cooperation Agency, which...

Air Force Has Positive Impression From Cope India 04 Exercise, Plans Training Changes.
April 1, 2004... By Lorenzo Cortes The Air Force's recently completed Cope India 04 exercise with the Indian air force (IAF) was a positive experience for the service that will likely result in changes to certain training procedures, according to the...

GenCorp Reports First Quarter Loss On Auto Woes, Pension Expense.(Brief Article)
April 1, 2004... GenCorp [GY] yesterday said it swung to a loss in the first quarter due to pension expenses and declines in operating results at its automotive segment. The company's defense segment, Aerojet, was the lone bright spot, increasing sales and...

Australian Firm Adacel To Supply JSF Software.(Brief Article)
April 1, 2004... Australia's Ministry of Defence said recently that Melbourne-based Adacel Technologies would supply speech recognition software for Lockheed Martin's [LMT] Joint Strike Fighter (JSF) program. According to a statement issued by the...

Defense Briefs.
April 1, 2004... The Israeli Ministry of Defense (MoD) recently said the marketing activity of 40 Israeli defense companies operating for the last three years in Latin America has resulted in defense contracts worth over $1 billion dollars. This figure was...

Northrop Grumman Official: STSS Ahead of Schedule For '07 Launch.
April 2, 2004... By Amy Butler COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo.--The Missile Defense Agency's (MDA) Space Tracking and Surveillance System (STSS), a satellite program geared to identify and track incoming ballistic missiles during their midcourse phase, is ahead of...

Rumsfeld Promises No Action On Tankers Until After Independent Study.(KC-767)
April 2, 2004... By Sharon Weinberger Even with the preliminary results of an Inspector General report now out, Rumsfeld in a recent letter promised Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) that no action would be taken on Air Force tankers until after an independent...

HSV-2 Swift Offers Test Bed For Navy LCS.(Littoral Combat Ship )
April 2, 2004... By Ann Roosevelt The Navy is evaluating performance and modular mission packages on the leased Bollinger/Incat USA wave-piercing catamaran HSV-2 Swift learning what might apply to the future Littoral Combat Ship (LCS). Basically, Swift...

SYS Technologies Acquires Small Defense Software Firm.(Brief Article)
April 2, 2004... SYS Technologies [SYYS], an engineering services firm, yesterday said it has acquired Polexis, a small private firm that provides advanced data management software to DoD and defense industry customers, for $6 million. Polexis, based in...

Air Force Defends Need For Two Rocket Makers Despite Renewed Push For One.
April 2, 2004... By Amy Butler COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo.--Senior Air Force officials are defending their policy of maintaining two domestic rocket makers--Lockheed Martin [LMT] and Boeing [BA]--despite 50 percent increase in cost and yet another study under...

Boeing To Produce Components For Israeli Arrow Interceptor.(Brief Article)
April 2, 2004... Boeing [BA] was recently awarded a $78 million contract by Israel Aircraft Industries (IAI) to build Arrow II interceptor components, the company said yesterday. The contract, which could potentially exceed $225 million if all options are...

Boeing GPS III Team Includes Two Galileo Contractors.(Brief Article)
April 2, 2004... By Amy Butler COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo.-- Boeing [BA] this week unveiled its team--including two foreign companies--for the Air Force's multibillion-dollar, nextgeneration precision timing and navigation program. The first Global...

Lockheed Martin Tries To Close Risk On JCM Bid Ahead of SDD.
April 2, 2004... By Lorenzo Cortes In an effort to minimize the risk ahead of a potential systems development and demonstration (SDD) contract for the Army-led, multi-service Joint Common Missile (JCM) program, Lockheed Martin [LMT] is conducting its own...

Deepwater Team Inks Long-Lead Material Contract With Turbomeca For HH-65 Engines.(Brief Article)
April 2, 2004... By Calvin Biesecker The Turbomeca group of France's SNECMA signed a letter contract on Tuesday with the industry team managing the Coast Guard's modernization program for the procurement of long-lead materials for engines the company will...

Defense Briefs.(Brief Article)
April 2, 2004... Michael Wynne, the acting undersecretary of defense for acquisition, technology and logistics signed the formal Acquisition Decision Memorandum (ADM) yesterday on the F/A-22 aircraft. That memorandum lays out the path for the aircraft to enter...

Defense Watch.(trends in aerospace industry)
April 5, 2004... The Latest Word On Trends and Developments In Aerospace And Defense Sea-Air-Space. Tomorrow the Navy League kicks off the 2004 Sea-Air-Space Exposition at the Marriott Wardman Park Hotel in Washington, D.C. Senior officials from both...

Space PEO Looks Forward To New Competitor With GD, Spectrum Astro Deal.(program executive officer )(General Dynamics)
April 5, 2004... By Amy Butler COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo.-- The Air Force's three-star space program executive officer said this week the newly announced purchase of satellite maker Spectrum Astro by defense giant General Dynamics [GD] could breathe some new...

First ATK Mid-Range Munition Test Successful.(Alliant Techsystems)
April 5, 2004... By Ann Roosevelt Alliant Techsystems [ATK] scored a direct hit that was "pretty stupendous" with the Mid-Range Munition-Kinetic Energy (MRM-KE) projectile April 1 at Yuma Proving Ground, Ariz., a company official said. The guided...

Navy Explores HSV For Mine Warfare.(High Speed Vessel )
April 5, 2004... By Ann Roosevelt Navy mine warfare sailors are examining, testing and demonstrating equipment--boats, helicopters and unmanned air vehicles--and concepts of how the Incat/Bollinger USA catamaran, the High Speed Vessel (HSV)-2 Swift, might...

Elbit Activating Subcontractors For IDF's 'Digital Army'.(Israel Defense Forces )
April 5, 2004... By B.C. Kessner TEL AVIV, Israel--Officials from Israel's Elbit [ESLT] here recently said the company is selecting subcontractors for work on the Israel Defense Forces' (IDF) Digital Army program and that some of the subsystems are already...

Senate Authorizes $7.7 Billion For Coast Guard; Bumps Deepwater Request $30 Million.
April 5, 2004... The Senate last Tuesday approved an authorization bill for the Coast Guard that would add about $200 million to the service's $7.5 billion request in FY '05. The bill would also add $30 million to the Coast Guard's $678 million request for...

Curtiss-Wright Acquires Small Lubricant, Coatings Firm.(Brief Article)
April 5, 2004... Curtiss-Wright [CW] on Friday said it has acquired selected assets of the Everlube Products Division of Morgan Advanced Ceramics for $6.4 million, a company from which it buys the most of its coatings and lubricants used in its metal treatment...

Marine Corps Working On Vehicle Hardening Policy.
April 5, 2004... By Sharon Weinberger With a mounting death toll associated with improvised explosive devices and small-arms attacks, the Marine Corps is looking at establishing a formal policy that would require new standards for hardening its vehicles,...

New Sea-Based Interceptors To Include Fixes To Attitude System.(product enhancement of missiles)(Standard Missile-3 )
April 6, 2004... By Sharon Weinberger The next batch of Raytheon [RTN]-built missiles for the Pentagon's Seabased Missile Defense (SMD) system will include engineering fixes designed to solve a glitch in the missile's attitude control system, according to...

Northrop Grumman Ship Systems Chief Sees Rail Guns Soon For DD(X).(Philip Dur)
April 6, 2004... By Lorenzo Cortes Even as the 155mm Advanced Gun System (AGS) produced by United Defense Industries [UDI] for the DD(X) surface combatant will bring extended and penetrating engagement ranges for fire support, a top Northrop Grumman [NOC]...

Helicopter-Capable Surface Combatants Top Demand For Assets, LaFleur Says.
April 6, 2004... By Lorenzo Cortes The Navy is experiencing a high demand for surface combatants capable of sustaining helicopter-borne operations, according to Naval Surface Forces/Naval Surface Forces Pacific chief Vice Adm. Timothy LaFleur. ...

DoD Considers Merger of National Security Space Offices.(National Security Space Architect (NSSA))(National Security Space Integration (NSSI))
April 6, 2004... By Amy Butler COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo.--Senior Defense Department officials are considering whether to integrate three space-related offices in yet another realignment resulting from the 2000 Space Commission led by Defense Secretary Donald...

Stryker Mobile Gun System, NBC Vehicles On Target For Production Decision.
April 6, 2004... By Ann Roosevelt The General Dynamics [GD] Stryker Mobile Gun System and Nuclear Biological and Chemical (NBC) Reconnaissance Vehicles, part of the family of Stryker vehicles for Stryker Brigade Combat Teams (SBCTs), are on schedule for a...

Hull Form PDR For DD(X) Takes Place This Week, Dual-Band Radar Next Month.(preliminary design review)(Brief Article)
April 6, 2004... By Lorenzo Cortes The ongoing maturation of the DD(X) future surface combatant being built by a Northrop Grumman [NOC]-Raytheon [RTN] team includes this week's preliminary design review (PDR) of the wave-piercing tumblehome hull form...

Navy Special Warfare Community Sees Advantages In HSV.(high-speed vehicles)
April 6, 2004... By Ann Roosevelt The Navy special warfare community is spread over a series of ships when it deploys with battle groups, so there's an advantage in having a single platform for command and control and all the teams and equipment, according...

England Sees Healthy Shipbuilding Industrial Base With Current Slate of Orders, FRP.
April 6, 2004... By Lorenzo Cortes The current batch of hull orders and the increased maintenance demands of the Navy's Fleet Response Plan (FRP) leave the state of the shipbuilding industry and their shipyards in a healthy position, according to Secretary...

Tadiran Communications Offering Full-Duplex Tactical Radio.
April 6, 2004... By B.C. Kessner TEL AVIV, Israel--Israel's Tadiran Communications recently displayed its new full-duplex personal network radio designed for lower echelon soldiers not normally equipped with individual radios. "In the IDF, the lower...

BAE SYSTEMS To Buy STI Government Systems For $27 Million.(STI Government Systems)(Brief Article)
April 6, 2004... BAE SYSTEMS yesterday said that it had reached a definitive agreement with STI Industries to purchase the assets of STI Government Systems for $27 million in cash. STI Government Systems develops solutions for government customers with its...

ATK Sees AARGM Technology As Fountainhead For Other Applications.(Advanced Anti-Radiation Guided Missile)
April 6, 2004... By Lorenzo Cortes Alliant Techsystems [ATK] wants to use the technological solutions it is garnering from the Navy's Advanced Anti-Radiation Guided Missile (AARGM) program and apply it forward to other weapons and solutions within its...

Editor's Note.(Brief Article)
April 6, 2004... Save the Date! "Commercial Imagery via Satellite: Next Generation Use in Public and Private Sector Programs," a 90-Minute Teleseminar on Tuesday, April 20th, 1:30PM EST, presented by Defense Daily and Satellite News. For more information or to...

England Says STOVL Version of JSF Is 'Critical Design' of Entire Program.
April 6, 2004... By Lorenzo Cortes The overall success of the multi-service, multinational F-35 Joint Strike Fighter (JSF) produced by Lockheed Martin [LMT] relies on the performance of the short takeoff, vertical landing (STOVL) variant, according to...

Fallon Sees HSV-Type Ships Fulfilling A Multitude of Tasks, Including Command Ship.
April 6, 2004... By Lorenzo Cortes The Navy sees great utility for ships like the High Speed Vessel (HSV) types currently used for certain missions and experiments, such as transportation, counter-mine activity and perhaps even as a command ship, according...

Composite Hull Demonstrator Vessel Planned Under Accelerated Cutter Effort.
April 6, 2004... By Calvin Biesecker Forced to accelerate the schedule for a new small cutter due to the poor condition of its 110-foot Island-class vessels, the Coast Guard and an industry team helping it, are moving toward a detailed design that would...

LaFleur Optimistic About Counter-Small Boat Solutions Via Task Force Hip Pocket.(Vice Adm. Timothy LaFleur)
April 6, 2004... By Lorenzo Cortes One of the new technological developments generating optimism in the fleet currently is work on counter-small boat systems through its Task Force (TF) Hip Pocket initiative, according to Naval Surface Forces/Naval...

England: Drive For Efficiency Not Only About Saving Money.
April 6, 2004... By Lorenzo Cortes The Navy's initiatives to improve efficiency and reduce end-strength are not only driven by cost savings but by a need to upgrade the fighting ability of the fleet, according to Secretary of the Navy Gordon England. ...

Lockheed Martin, Raytheon Squaring Off For Multibillion Navy SATCOM Deal.
April 6, 2004... By Amy Butler The Navy is expected this summer to announce the winner of a multibillion contract to design and build the Pentagon's next-generation constellation of narrowband satellites. Officials expect the Mobile User Objective...

Army Funds Stryker Enhancements.
April 7, 2004... By Ann Roosevelt The Army's future budget plans fully fund improvements to the final two of six Stryker Brigade Combat Teams (SBCT) and retrofit some of that equipment on earlier brigades, Army officials said. The idea is to make the...

Marines Used Army Parts For Their Vehicles, General Says.(Brief Article)
April 7, 2004... By Lorenzo Cortes The high tempo of operations and the demanding climates last year in Operation Iraqi Freedom (OIF) led Marine Corps units to make use of as many spare parts as they could find--including cannibalizing pieces from...

Lockheed Martin, DRS Only Bidders For Next Round of Naval Displays.
April 7, 2004... By Calvin Biesecker Lockheed Martin [LMT] and DRS Technologies [DRS], the incumbent suppliers to the Navy for the Q-70 computer systems and displays, will continue producing the system after a planned re-compete resulted in no new...

Acquisition Reports Note 55 Percent Spike In Rocket Cost.
April 7, 2004... The largest single increase in program cost--a 55 percent jump in cost for the Air Force's next-generation rocket program--included in the most recent Defense Department selected acquisition reports should come as no surprise. Senior Air...

ATK Plans To Install Quick Bolt Technology On Entire AARGM Arsenal.
April 7, 2004... By Lorenzo Cortes Building from the success in installing and testing Quick Bolt off-board data processing technology, Alliant Techsystems [ATK] is going to incorporate the solution on the entire arsenal--over 1,700 weapons--of the AGM-88E...

Oto Melara Taps Themis Computer For Advanced Naval Gun Controls.
April 7, 2004... Themis Computer has been chosen to provide rugged USPile-USB VMEbus single-board and TGA3D+ graphics adaptors for use in Oto Melara, a Finmeccanica Company, 76/62 high speed, medium caliber gun systems, the company said yesterday. Working...

New Zealand Taps Australia's Tenix For New Navy Ship.
April 7, 2004... New Zealand has chosen Australian company Tenix Defence Pty Ltd as the preferred bidder for a $327 million shipbuilding project, known as Project Protector, the New Zealand Minister of Defence said yesterday. "Tenix's bid meets Defence and...

Lockheed Martin Team Floats Latest Design Proposal of LCS Bid.
April 7, 2004... By Lorenzo Cortes The decision to lengthen the semi-planing monohull form design of Lockheed Martin's [LMT] Littoral Combat Ship (LCS) bid and utilize steel for the construction of the vessel are two of the major elements in the Baseline...

Tiger HAP Variant Clears French and OCCAR Qualification.(Organization for Joint Armament Cooperation)
April 7, 2004... The HAP variant of the Tiger attack helicopter produced by the Eurocopter group of the European Aeronautic Defence and Space Co. (EADS) last week gained military certification from France's DGA defense armaments authority and the European...

LHAR To Be More Aviation Capable, Official says.(Brief Article)
April 7, 2004... By Sharon Weinberger After reviewing some of the lessons learned for Operation Iraqi Freedom and Afghanistan, the Navy is considering adding more aviation capabilities to its new amphibious assault ship, the LHA(R), according to a senior...

Hornet Industry Coalition To Boost Australian F/A-18 Self Protection.(Brief Article)
April 7, 2004... The Hornet Industry Coalition is part of Australia's approximately $230 million effort to equip F/A-18 Hornet fighters with state-of-the-art electronic warfare self protection systems to ensure the aircraft are able to defend themselves against...

Correction.(Brief Article)
April 7, 2004... The April 6 issue of Defense Daily misidentified the teaming arrangement for the Navy's DD(X) future surface combatant. Northrop Grumman [NOC] is leading the DD(X) effort. [Copyright 2004 PBI Media, LLC. All rights reserved.]

Eyeing BAMS Work, Lockheed, General Atomics Plan Demos For Mariner UAV.(Broad Area Maritime Surveillance )
April 7, 2004... By Amy Butler A Lockheed Martin [LMT]-General Atomics Aeronautical Systems [GA] team is planning three upcoming demonstrations of its modified Predator B unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV)--called the Mariner--that will eventually join in a...

OIF Commanders Press Comms, Combat ID Requirements.(Operation Iraqi Freedom)(combat identification )
April 7, 2004... By Lorenzo Cortes Naval service commanders who led forces in Operation Iraqi Freedom (OIF) last year pressed the continued need for improved communications solutions and combat identification (ID) solutions yesterday. "As industry...

Lockheed Discloses Anti-Surface Warfare Role For JASSM, Talks 'Extreme Range'.(Joint Air-to-Surface Standoff Missile)
April 7, 2004... By Lorenzo Cortes Lockheed Martin [LMT] yesterday disclosed it is working on an antisurface warfare application of its AGM-158 Joint Air-to-Surface Standoff Missile (JASSM) for the Navy and also outlined the broad tenets of its...

JSF First Flight Faces Six-Month Delay.(Joint Strike Fighter)
April 7, 2004... By Sharon Weinberger As part of the overall delay in the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter (JSF) development program, the aircraft's first flight is likely to slip by about six months, according a senior Lockheed Martin [LMT] official. The...

Raytheon Awaits Joint Common Missile Selection.
April 7, 2004... By Ann Roosevelt Soon after an April 22 Defense Acquisition Board (DAB) meeting, Raytheon [RTN] will find out if it is successful in its Joint Common Missile (JCM) bid to replace series of current missiles such as Hellfire and Maverick for...

Lockheed Martin Hopeful DoD Will Fund CHARC Tech Demo In FY '05.(Covert High-speed Attack and Reconnaissance Craft)
April 7, 2004... By Calvin Biesecker Lockheed Martin [LMT] is working with Pentagon officials to obtain funding next fiscal year to build three or four versions of a SWATH hull craft based on a concept the company has developed over the past year using its...

Services Name Electronic Attack As Top JUCAS Priority, DARPA Manager Says.(Joint Unmanned Combat Air System )(Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency )
April 8, 2004... By Amy Butler Pentagon officials have opted to prioritize the development activities necessary to conduct electronic attack missions--sidelining the Navy's priorities for penetrating intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance--for the...

Pentagon Inspector General Challenges Basic Assumptions of Tanker Lease.
April 8, 2004... By Sharon Weinberger The executive summary of the Pentagon's Inspector General (IG) report questions a variety of issues related to the Air Force's plans to acquire 100 refueling aircraft from Boeing [BA], and challenges one of the central...

Lockheed Martin Drives Titan Cost Down 10 Percent; Adds Protection.
April 8, 2004... By Calvin Biesecker Lockheed Martin [LMT] and Titan [TTN] yesterday announced new merger terms that drive down the price of the deal by about 10 percent while leaving Lockheed Martin an out should a Justice Department investigation into...

Navy Taps Battelle Life-Saving Curtains For Submarines.(Naval Sea Systems Command)
April 8, 2004... By Ann Roosevelt Naval Sea Systems Command recently completed an $850,000 order for Battelle's life-saving lithium hydroxide curtains for the U.S. submarine force, the lab said yesterday. By late this year, every submarine in the fleet...

Systems Requirements Reviews To Get Underway For Two New Coast Guard Ships.
April 8, 2004... By Calvin Biesecker Integrated Coast Guard Systems (ICGS) plans to get systems requirements reviews and contract design underway this year for two new classes of cutters as part of an accelerated acquisition strategy for portions of the...

CV-22 Program Six Months Behind Schedule.(Brief Article)
April 8, 2004... By Lorenzo Cortes The Air Force special operations CV-22 variant of the V-22 tiltrotor produced by a Boeing [BA]-Bell Helicopter Textron [TXT] team faces a six-month schedule lag, according to the joint program office program manager. ...

Marine General Notes MPF (Future) Ship Will Still Focus On Lift.(Maritime Pre-positioned Forces)
April 8, 2004... By Lorenzo Cortes While the Navy and the Marine Corps look to expand the versatility of sea lift assets with the Maritime Pre-positioned Forces (Future) (MPF (Future)) ship, the Marine Corps Combat Development Command (MCCDC) chief Lt....

MH-60R On Schedule, Contract, Lockheed Martin Says.
April 8, 2004... by John R. Guardiano Deployment of the MH-60 Romeo helicopter will not be delayed and the Navy has renewed its commitment to this aircraft with a new production contract, an official from the industry team said on Tuesday. The MH-60R...

Pentagon Inspector General Challenges Basic Assumptions of Tanker Lease.(Brief Article)
April 8, 2004... By Sharon Weinberger The executive summary of the Pentagon's Inspector General (IG) report questions a variety of issues related to the Air Force's plans to acquire 100 refueling aircraft from Boeing [BA], and challenges one of the central...

With JSF Slippage, Boeing Sees Potential Window For More Super Hornets.(Joint Strike Fighter)
April 9, 2004... By Lorenzo Cortes The one-year, $5 billion slip in the overall progress of Lockheed Martin's [LMT] multi-service, multinational F-35 Joint Strike Fighter program might open room for the Navy to purchase as many as two more squadrons' worth...

Pentagon Inspector General Sets Sights On C-130J Aircraft.
April 9, 2004... By Sharon Weinberger In his executive summary of an investigation focused on the Air Force plans to acquire aerial refueling aircraft, the Pentagon's Inspector General (IG), Joseph Schmitz, wrote that in addition to his concerns about the...

MDA Director To Retire.(Missile Defense Agency)
April 9, 2004... The Missile Defense Agency (MDA) yesterday announced that director Air Force Lt. Gen. Ronald Kadish plans to retire effective Sept. 1. Deputy Director Air Force Maj. Gen. Henry "Trey" Obering has been nominated to replace him with the rank...

CVN-21 Will Be The 'Big Hammer' of ESF, Admiral Says.(Expeditionary Strike Force )
April 9, 2004... By Lorenzo Cortes The future multibillion CVN-21 aircraft carrier program managed by Northrop Grumman [NOC] for the Navy is going to be the planned "big hammer" of the service's Expeditionary Strike Force (ESF) concept, according to a Navy...

Lockheed Martin Claims Successful Stockpile Reliability Test of ATACMS Block IA.(Army Tactical Missile System )
April 9, 2004... Lockheed Martin [LMT] successfully fired an Army Tactical Missile System (ATACMS) Block IA missile from a High Mobility Artillery Rocket System (HIMARS) launcher Wednesday at White Sands Missile Range, N.M., a company official said. The...

Albaugh Confident Boeing Will Get Air Force Tanker Deal This Year.
April 9, 2004... By Calvin Biesecker Boeing's [BA] defense chief Jim Albaugh on Tuesday said he's confident that it will work out a deal with the U.S. government this year for a multibillion lease-buy of 100 767 refueling tanker aircraft despite the...

IDF Expands Counterterrorism Training For Combat Soldiers.
April 9, 2004... By B.C. Kessner TEL AVIV, Israel--Three years of combat in built-up areas against a dynamic enemy has taught IDF commanders valuable lessons about training soldiers to perform counterterrorism (CT) and other missions previously exclusive...

Army Prepares To Release RFP For Theater Support Vessel.(request for proposals)
April 9, 2004... By Ann Roosevelt In the next couple of weeks, the Army will firm up plans for the release of a request for proposals (RFP) to industry for a Theater Support Vessel (TSV) that could be operational within three years, service officials said....