NASA has awarded a $48 million contract modification to Science Applications International Corporation (SAIC), broadening the company's support for NASA's Integrated Financial Management Program (IFMP). The modification to the Unified NASA Information Technology Services (UNITeS) contract provides the IFMP with expanded services, including operational and network infrastructure support. SAIC also will develop module-based software enabling NASA to add or remove interchangeable tools and systems to the program.
A division of New York-based L-3 Communications will provide logistics support services and program management for the U.S. Navy's C-40A Clipper aircraft fleet in 2005 under a $20 million contract, the company said Jan. 18. The contract was awarded to L-3's Link Simulation and Training division by the U.S. Naval Air Systems Command. Four one-year options could push the contract's total value to $100 million, the company said.
NASA accounted for the third-largest unauthorized federal appropriations for the current fiscal year, according to a Jan. 14 Congressional Budget Office (CBO) report on expiring and unauthorized federal spending. Congress allocated $5.4 billion for human space flight, $6.5 billion for space aeronautics and technology, $2.7 billion for mission support and $22.7 million to NASA's inspector general - all in unauthorized FY 2005 appropriations.
The European Commission and Snecma Moteurs have agreed to launch a new research program, VITAL, to cut aircraft engine noise and carbon dioxide emissions, France's Snecma said Jan. 18. The four-year, 90 million euro ($117 million) program will focus on low-pressure engine parts and will evaluate engine designs including counter-rotating fans, turbines with fewer blades and other ideas.
C-130 AMP: Boeing said the first U.S. Air Force C-130 has begun the avionics modernization program (AMP) in San Antonio. The aircraft will undergo a trial installation expected to lead to the modernization of more than 500 Air Force, Navy and Marine Corps aircraft. The program is on track for first flight in early 2006, Boeing said.
Northrop Grumman Corp. is developing heterogeneous urban reconnaissance, surveillance and target acquisition (HURT) technology that would allow warfighters to directly request information about enemy forces from low-flying unmanned aerial vehicles, the company said Jan. 17. The work is being done under an $11.6 million Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency contract.
The V-22 Osprey joint program office is grappling with a new glitch in the tiltrotor aircraft's engine pod a little more than a week before a key program review. Program officials said Jan. 18 that the problem involves a gearbox that uses engine power to turn the rotor blades. In six instances since April 30, 2004, including three in the past month, warning lights aboard the Bell-Boeing aircraft have signaled the presence of tiny bits of metal debris in the gearbox. The Osprey has landed safely in each incident.
Prime contractors for the Department of Defense realize the benefits of moving to open systems architectures (OA) for large programs such as the Navy's DD(X) and the Army's Future Combat Systems (FCS), but they are hesitant about developing such systems, according to a Navy official and an industry watcher.
CHRISTENED: The U.S. Navy's amphibious transport dock ship LPD 19 was christened Mesa Verde in Pascagoula, Miss., Northrop Grumman Corp. announced Jan. 17. The ship's name honors Mesa Verde National Park in southwestern Colorado, which was established in 1906 to preserve sites built by Native Americans. The ship is scheduled for commissioning in 2006 and will be ported in Norfolk, Va. The 684-foot-long, 105-foot-wide ship will have a crew of 360 sailors and three Marines.
South Africa's first locally assembled Hawk Mk.120 trainer aircraft had a successful first flight last week, according to Denel Aviation, which assembled the fighter under contract to Hawk builder BAE Systems. The aircraft took off from Johannesburg International Airport on an 80-minute flight, which confirmed the functionality of the aircraft's flight controls and other systems. Denel, which also builds aerostructures for the Hawk, including its tailplane and airbrake, is assembling all but one of South Africa's 24 new Hawk trainers.
ARMY Capco Inc., Grand Junction, Colo., was awarded on Jan. 12, 2005, a $27,198,356 firm-fixed-price contract for 22,637 BSU-86A/B Fin Assemblies. Work will be performed in Grand Junction, Colo., and is expected to be completed by June 30, 2007. Contract funds will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. There were an unknown number of bids solicited via the World Wide Web on July 16, 2004, and one bid was received. The U.S. Army Field Support Command, Rock Island, Ill., is the contracting activity (W52P1J-04-C-0079).
The U.S. Coast Guard signed a $144 million contract with a joint venture of Lockheed Martin Corp. and Northrop Grumman Corp. earlier this month for production and development of the second Maritime Security Cutter, Large (WMSL), the companies said Jan. 18.
Goodrich Corp. of Charlotte, N.C., has been awarded a contract to overhaul the engine fan cowls and inlets on a fleet of KC-135R Stratotanker military tankers at the U.S. Air Force's Oklahoma City Air Logistics Center, the company said Jan. 18. Financial terms were not disclosed. The work will take place at Goodrich's Alabama Service Center in Foley, Ala. The center is an aircraft component/nacelle/thrust reverser maintenance, repair, and overhaul (MRO) facility.
Parker Hannifin Corp. reported second-quarter net income of $171.1 million on sales of $1.9 billion, up from net income of $55.8 million on sales of $1.6 billion reported for the same period last year. "We are very pleased with our second quarter results, particularly with our 22% sales growth, doubling net income from continuing operations, and strong cash flow," company Chairman and CEO Don Washkewicz said in a statement.
The House Science Committee will host hearings on the Hubble Space Telescope and NASA's fiscal 2006 budget in February, a committee spokesman told The DAILY Jan. 18. Re-elected committee Chairman Rep. Sherwood Boehlert (R-N.Y.) said in December that he would highlight Hubble early this legislative year. Some scientists are pushing for a shuttle mission to service the telescope and extend its life, while NASA has favored a robotic mission (DAILY, Dec. 20, 2004).
Production of the Army Airborne Command and Control System (A2C2S) is being carried out by the Army itself, rather than by industry as originally planned, according to the Army manager of the program. "We are moving production of the A2C2S" to a government-owned and operated facility at the Aviation and Missile Research, Development and Engineering Center at Redstone Arsenal, Ala., Col. Chris DeLuca said in an e-mail message.
CIRCOR International Inc. of Burlington, Mass., which builds valves and other equipment for aerospace companies and other markets, has bought Loud Engineering & Manufacturing Inc. for about $36 million in cash, the company said Jan. 17. Loud, based in Ontario, Calif., designs and builds landing gear systems and related components for military helicopters and airplanes. The company will be combined with CIRCOR's Aerospace Products business unit, located in nearby Corona, Calif.
