The US Air Force is ordering orbital and suborbital space launch services over five years, using demilitarised intercontinental ballistic missiles and commercial rockets. A $49 million contract has been awarded to Alaska Aerospace Development, Spaceport Systems International and Virginia Commercial Space Flight Authority. Elbit Systems will supply 300 joint helmet-mounted cueing systems to Boeing under the first full-rate production award. The $75.6 million contract awarded through the Elbit/Rockwell Collins joint venture Vision Systems International will provide units for the armed forces of Australia, Finland, Greece, Poland, Switzerland and the USA. The German air force will receive new subscale aerial targets by January 2006 under a foreign military sales contract worth $8.7 million awarded by the US Air Force to Composite Engineering. Lockheed Martin will advance to the next phase of a hypersonic technology vehicle demonstration programme called Falcon under a $7.6 million contract awarded by the Defense Advance Research Projects Agency and the US Air Force. Long-lead materials for eight MH-60R multi-mission helicopters will be procured by Sikorsky Aircraft under a US Naval Air Systems Command $12.3 million contract. BAE Systems will design and develop a tactical signals intelligence payload for small unmanned air vehicles under a three-year, $27 million contract awarded by the US Army.
Source: Flight International
