ACQUIRED: Esterline Corp., which builds avionics and sensors and provides advanced materials for the aerospace and defense markets, has acquired Leach Holding Corp., which builds electromechanical relays, switching devices and power distribution assemblies. The acquisition will add $120 million to the company's annual revenue base, Esterline said July 9. The deal is expected to be completed in early August. "Leach fits our stated strategy to consolidate manufacturers of superior aerospace components," Robert W. Cremin, Esterline's CEO, said in a statement.
NORTHROP GRUMMAN, Herndon, Va. Robert F. "Bob" Brammer has been named vice president and chief technology officer of the information technology sector. L. William "Bill" Varner has been named vice president, intelligence operations for the company's TASC business unit.
JSF ASSEMBLY: Production of the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter is starting to snowball. Assembly of the forward fuselage for the first flight-test jet is scheduled to get under way July 12 at Lockheed Martin facilities in Fort Worth, Texas, less than two months after Northrop Grumman announced it had begun building the center fuselage in Palmdale, Calif. (DAILY, May 20). In just a few weeks, Lockheed Martin expects to kick off wing production in Fort Worth. Within a few months, BAE Systems plans to start assembling the aft fuselage and tails in Samlesbury, England.
Although the House and Senate fiscal 2005 defense appropriations bills contain most of the money the Pentagon sought for ballistic missile defense, proposed cuts to a few specific programs would hurt efforts to overcome countermeasures that enemies might use to stymie U.S. anti-missile systems, according to the Defense Department. DOD's comments are contained in recent "appeals" intended to influence the House-Senate conference committee that is writing the final version of the appropriations bill.
JTRS CONTRACTOR: The U.S. Army, the lead service for the Defense Department's Joint Tactical Radio System (JTRS) Cluster 5 program, plans to announce a contractor selection the week of July 12-16, a service spokeswoman says. General Dynamics and ITT Industries are competing to be the prime contractor for Cluster 5, which will provide man-packable and handheld radios and radios used with munitions and small unmanned aerial vehicles.
NASA has awarded three $20 million contracts to BAE Systems, Ball Aerospace and Technology Corp. and ITT Industries for the formulation phase work on the Hyperspectral Environmental Suite of instruments for the next generation of Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellites (GOES). GOES is operated by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. A single contract eventually will be awarded that will provide infrared and visible environmental data observation capabilities for the GOES-R Series of geosynchronous satellites.
July 11 - 14 - AIAA/ASME/SAE/ASEE 40th Joint Propulsion Conference, Broward County Convention Center, Fort Lauderdale, Fla. Call (703) 264-7500, fax (703) 264-7657 or go to www.aiaa.org. July 17 -- National Aviation Hall of Fame Enshrinement Ceremony, Dayton Convention Center, Dayton, Ohio. For information contact Ron Kaplan at (937) 256-0944, email [email protected] or go to www.nationalaviation.org.
AIR FORCE Abacus Technology Corp., Chevy Chase, Md., is being awarded a $7,093,453.17 firm fixed price contract to provide for Command, Control, Communications, Computer (C4) contract. Location of performance is Kirtland Air Force Base, N.M. Total funds have been obligated. Solicitation began March 2004 and negotiations were completed July 2004. The 377th Contracting Squadron, Albuquerque, N.M., is the contracting activity (FA9401-04-R-0004).
ELEVATOR RACE: The nonprofit Spaceward Foundation of Mountain View, Calif., is collecting pledges to fund an X Prize-like competition intended to spur the development of space elevator technology, according to Spaceward Foundation Manager Metzada Shelef. The "Space Elevator Challenge" prize will be awarded to the first team that can haul 550 pounds (250 kilograms) of payload moving at 22.5 miles per hour (10 meters per second) up a 10-mile (16 kilometer) tether using a beamed power system.
NO REPORT: The lack of reliable data on the impact of offsets on the U.S. economy has been a concern for many years, prompting Congress to enact legislation requiring federal agencies to collect data on their impact. However, a final report and recommendations from the National Commission on the Use of Offsets in Defense Trade still are pending, says Katherine Schinasi, the managing director of acquisition and sourcing management for the General Accounting Office.
SI INTERNATIONAL INC. has been awarded a five-year blanket purchase agreement to provide services and technical support for the Space and Missile Systems Center Space Programs. SMC is a unit of the U.S. Air Force Space Command and is responsible for satellite items, command and control, development and acquisition of space launch, design and research. Under the contract, SI International will provide systems protection training support, integrated logistics support, software engineering, systems security engineering and systems engineering and integration.
FCS SENSORS: Raytheon, the Ground Sensor Integrator (GSI) for the Army's Future Combat Systems (FCS) program, is in negotiations to finalize the terms of $375 million in subcontracts recently awarded to Lockheed Martin Missiles and Fire Control of Orlando, Fla., and Raytheon Network Centric Systems of McKinney, Texas, for work on FCS ground sensors. Lockheed Martin will develop automatic target recognition, medium-range electro-optical/infrared and Reconnaissance and Surveillance Vehicle Mast sensors.
NASA has completed testing on an advanced high-speed inlet for propulsion systems to power air transport vehicles at supersonic speeds. Through adjustments to the Parametric Inlet's geometry, tests at NASA's Glenn Research Center in Cleveland over the last two weeks helped refine the inlet's performance. The Parametric Inlet accomplishes all of the supersonic cruise compression externally, unlike typical inlets that rely on internal and external compression. The tests showed performance was comparable to typical inlets, the aerospace agency said.
