| By RICHARD R. BURGESS
Northrop Grumman's Integrated Systems and
Aerostructures Sector has been awarded a $1.3 billion five-year Naval Air Systems Command
contract to produce 22 E-2C Hawkeye 2000 radar early warning aircraft, including one for
the French Navy, which recently took delivery of its second Hawkeye. The first production
Hawkeye 2000 is scheduled for delivery in October 2001; initial operational capability is
expected in late 2002. Five operational squadrons will be flying the Hawkeye 2000 by 2006.
France is expected to receive its aircraft in 2003.
Northrop Grumman officials anticipate
significant cost savings resulting from the multiyear contract, which calls for deliveries
to run from 2001 to 2006. "This contract brings significant cost savings to our
primary customer, the U.S. Navy, and offers multiyear savings to international customers
who opt to buy the Hawkeye 2000 during this period," said Robert Schwarz, vice
president of the company's airborne early warning programs.
The Hawkeye 2000 improvements include a
mission computer upgrade (MCU), based on commercial-off-the-shelf technology, that
features the use of advanced control indicator sets (ACISs) for workstations. The
MCU--smaller, lighter, and more powerful than computers installed in earlier versions of
the E-2C--gives the Hawkeye 2000 a cooperative engagement capability (CEC) that provides
the aircraft the ability to fuse data from sensors of other platforms and distribute the
information to weapon-firing platforms to permit target engagement by any platform in the
net. Hawkeye 2000 also features a new cooling system and integrated satellite
communications.
External differences in the Hawkeye 2000
include a steerable circular end-fire array antenna mounted on the underside of the
fuselage and a conical satellite communications (SATCOM) antenna mounted atop the
rotodome. (Company officials said that a shudder caused by the SATCOM antenna may require
relocation of the antenna elsewhere on the aircraft.)
Testing of the Hawkeye 2000 development
aircraft is on budget and on schedule, according to company officials. The aircraft had
completed over 50 flights by April. Testing is expected to be completed in 2001.
As a precursor to the Hawkeye 2000,
Northrop Grumman is installing the MCU in five E-2C Group II versions under a 1996
contract. The modification also includes installation of ACIS workstations and of a new
data loader/recorder, an upgrade of the automatic flight control system (AFCS), and
installation of the dual CAINS II (carrier air inertial navigation system II). Deliveries
of the modified aircraft began in April 1999, with one assigned to Carrier Airborne Early
Warning Squadron 120 (VAW-120), the E-2C fleet readiness squadron at Naval Station
Norfolk, Va., and four to VAW-113 at Naval Air Station Point Mugu, Calif.
The Hawkeye 2000 retains many Group II
systems, including the APS-145 radar, improved IFF (identification friend or foe), dual
CAINS II, global positioning system, JTIDS (joint tactical information distribution
system), and AFCS upgrade. The Group II version of the E-2C, program officials said, is
the standard to which all earlier E-2Cs retained in service will be modified over the next
two years.
Northrop Grumman has proposed a new
program to replace the rotating-antenna APS-145 radar with a next-generation
electronic-scanning radar that, company officials said, would allow more rapid scanning
and result in improved small-target detection in high-clutter and high
electromagnetic-interference environments.
Testing of an infrared search and track
(IRST) system for the E-2C will begin later this year at Naval Air Station Patuxent River,
Md. The IRST, which incorporates a long-range multicolor infrared sensor built by Raytheon
Systems Company, is intended to enable an E-2C crew to detect theater ballistic missiles
and to assist in detecting and classifying other targets.
U.S. Shipbuilding Industry:
Mergers and Muddy Waters
Litton Industries has proposed to acquire
Newport News Shipbuilding (NNS) and, separately, Avondale Industries. If the merger is
carried out, Litton, which owns Ingalls Shipbuilding, would become the nation's largest
shipbuilder.
The result would leave two large
corporations dominating the naval shipbuilding industry in the United States, each owning
three of the "Big Six" shipyards in the nation. "It is a superb strategic
fit for us," Litton President and CEO Michael R. Brown told the Wall Street
Journal, saying the result would be "two strong, broad-based shipbuilders,
capable of building both nuclear and non-nuclear ... and of building all the classes [of
ships] the Navy needs."
Litton officials said they believe that
the company's proposal will not raise the same concerns as an earlier General Dynamics
(GD) proposal, now withdrawn, to acquire NNS. Litton's separate bids for NNS and Avondale,
according to the Wall Street Journal, are structured to ensure that at least one,
if not both, merger proposals will succeed.
Secretary of Defense William S. Cohen's
decision not to support the acquisition of NNS by General Dynamics Corporation led to GD's
withdrawal of its merger proposal and both confused and clarified the overall U.S.
shipbuilding picture. The GD withdrawal still leaves open an NNS-Avondale merger that was
proposed before the GD intentions were announced.
Cohen acknowledged the substantial
potential savings offered by the proposed GD-NNS merger, but said that he thinks the
potential savings could be offset by "efficiency opportunities at Newport News."
He said that the differential "was not now so great as to override the management and
competitive challenges we [the Department of Defense] could face from the merger."
DOD also was concerned about the
potentially dampening effect on competition of the proposed merger. GD and NNS are the
nation's only shipyards currently capable of building nuclear-powered submarines. Some
observers noted that such a merger might result, ironically, in the closure of GD's
Electric Boat Company, because: (a) NNS is the only U.S. shipyard that builds
nuclear-powered aircraft carriers, so could not be closed; and (b) the current and
projected building rate for submarines is insufficient to sustain two shipyards.
GD Chairman and CEO Nicholas D. Chabraja
termed the DOD decision "disappointing," but announced the company's intention
to pursue "other acquisition opportunities."
Raytheon Awarded $135 MillionFor
Standard Missiles, Kits
The Naval Sea Systems Command has awarded
Raytheon a contract valued at $135 million to produce or upgrade a total of 177 Standard
surface-to-air missiles. The Standard missile, produced in several variants, is the Navy's
primary shipboard anti-aircraft weapon and is in the inventories of 13 other nations
around the world.
The contract calls for the procurement of
71 SM-2 Block IIIB all-up rounds (AURs); SM-2 Block IIIB ordnance alteration kits to
upgrade 63 SM-2 Block IIIs to the Block IIIB configuration; 43 SM-2 Block IV AURs; 84
DKT-71A telemetric data transmission sets; and spare parts, shipping containers, and
handling equipment.
The contract also provides for
production, under the Foreign Military Sales program, of 16 SM-2 Block IIIs and 16 DKT-71A
sets for Japan.
Northrop Grumman Selected For 55
Tomcat Upgrades
Northrop Grumman has been selected to
perform a series of upgrades on 55 F-14 Tomcat fighters that will enhance their strike and
reconnaissance capabilities.
Under the contract, a Northrop Grumman
team will modify the aircraft at Naval Air Station Oceana in Virginia Beach, Va. Among the
new or upgraded systems that will be installed in the Tomcats are the global positioning,
digital flight control (DFC), night vision, Fast Tactical Imaging (FTI), and LANTIRN
(Low-Altitude Navigation and Infrared Targeting for Night) systems. In addition, 11
aircraft will receive wing upgrades, and four will receive new test and evaluation
equipment.
The LANTIRN system enables the F-14 to
locate targets on the ground by infrared detection and to laser-designate the target for
the guidance of precision munitions. The DFC replaces the analog computers that operate
the flight controls, improving flying qualities, particularly while in the landing phase
of flight. The FTI enables the crew to transmit digital imagery of hostile territory from
the aircraft's TARPS (Tactical Air Reconnaissance Pod System) to an aircraft carrier up to
several hundred miles away.
Defense Industry
Notes
Lockheed Martin has installed the tailhook
mount structure for its X-35A Joint Strike Fighter (JSF) concept demonstrator aircraft.
The assembly, designed by the company's Skunk Works in Palmdale, Calif., and manufactured
by the company's Tactical Defense Systems unit in Akron, Ohio, is composed of four pieces
of machined titanium that, by being welded together using advanced electronic beam
technology, provide greater strength than a component made from a single piece of
titanium, according to company officials.
The Evolved SeaSparrow Missile
(ESSM)--being developed by Raytheon Missile Systems--has been successfully
launched for the first time from a new VLS (vertical launching system) canister
at the White Sands Missile Range, New Mexico.
Boeing has been awarded a $50
million increase to a contract for low-rate initial production of 2,527 Joint Direct
Attack Munition (JDAM) kits. The JDAM is a precision-guided bomb used by U.S.
aircraft in Iraq and Yugoslavia in recent months.
Newport News Shipbuilding has been
awarded a $30 million Naval Sea Systems contract for work on the Nimitz-class
nuclear-powered aircraft carrier USS Harry S. Truman. The carrier will
receive modernization upgrades to its information technology and combat systems, as well
as some maintenance and repairs.
The Department of Defense has announced
the proposed sale to Bahrain of Raytheon-built AIM-120B AMRAAMs (advanced
medium-range air-to-air missiles). The contract--estimated at $110 million--calls for the
delivery of 26 missiles and 50 launcher rails, as well as missile containers, spare parts,
and support and test equipment; the contract also would pay for software integration,
maintenance training, pilot training, and other services. The missiles would be deployed
on Bahrain's F-16 fighters.
Marconi Aerospace Electronic Systems
has delivered to the Navy its first ALQ-99 Band 9/10 radar jamming transmitter for
the EA-6B Prowler electronic warfare aircraft.
Northrop Grumman has announced an
agreement to acquire the Information Systems Division (ISD) of California Microwave
Inc. ISD specializes in airborne reconnaissance and surveillance systems, ground-based
satellite communication systems, and mission planning systems.
C.T. "Tom" Burbage has
been named president of Lockheed Martin Aeronautical Systems (LMAS) and a vice
president of Lockheed Martin. Burbage had served since November 1995 as LMAS vice
president for the F-22 program and as F-22 team general manager.
J. Robert Bray has been elected chairman
of the board-elect of the American Association of Port Authorities (AAPA). Bray
has been executive director of the Virginia Port Authority since May 1978. |
