TRW has signed an agreement with Spar Aerospace Ltd. to acquire 100% of Astro Aerospace Corp., a Spar subsidiary that specializes in space deployables, TRW reported yesterday. Based in Carpinteria, Calif., Astro makes lightweight mechanical systems that can be stowed for launch and deployed in space to form solar arrays and reflectors. The company, which employs about 100 people, reported 1997 annual sales of about $23 million.
Ballistic Missile Defense Organization Director Lt. Gen. Lester Lyles, during a conference in El Paso, Tex., discussed the "cost growth" in almost all of BMDO's major theater missile defense efforts, not a funding "shortfall," as reported in The DAILY of Dec. 17. In addition there is no funding in the Pentagon's 2000-05 budget for national missile defense.
December 16, 1998 Electric Boat Corp., Groton, Conn., is receiving $54,216,405 to exercise an option under previously awarded contract N00024-98-C-4039 to provide for the manufacture, testing and delivery of one production main propulsion unit for the third Virginia class submarine. Work will be performed in Sunnyvale, Calif., and is expected to be completed by June 2003. Contract funds will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. The Naval Sea Systems Command, Arlington, Va., is the contracting activity.
Controllers at the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory lost contact with the Near Earth Asteroid Rendezvous (NEAR) probe Sunday, shortly after the probe's on-board systems aborted a planned 15-minute engine burn that would have set up a rendezvous with the asteroid 433 Eros on Jan. 10.
Top Pentagon procurement officials have authorized the U.S. Air Force to start production of the F-22 stealth fighter following a program review last Thursday. Pentagon acquisition chief Jacques Gansler gave the AF the green light to award the production contract for the first two F-22s, designated Production Representative Test Vehicles, and long-lead funding for next year's lot 1 production of six aircraft. The review was favorable, an AF official said yesterday.
DaimlerChrysler has given British Aerospace a deadline of around Jan. 1 to choose between DASA and GEC-Marconi for the proposed pre-European merger, according to week-end press reports in the U.K.
FAA SMALL AIRPLANE DIRECTORATE has issued the first U.S. type certificate for a Russian design, clearing it for import. The type certificate was issued at the Ilyushin plant for the IL-103, an all-metal, two-seat aircraft powered by a 210 HP Teledyne Continental Motors IO-360ES engine with a Hartzell propeller.
The U.S. Air Force is launching a research and development program into new missile control technologies, looking specifically at the use of reaction jet controls for future missiles. The reaction jet control technology would be "applied to next generation weapon systems to produce increased maneuverability and multi-mission performance capability," the Air Force said in Dec. 21 Commerce Business Daily notice.
The Pentagon estimates it could cost as much as $2.3 billion to deal with the effects of the planned reallocation of the frequency spectrum to give commercial users access to parts of the spectrum that have been the domain of the military. Deputy Defense Secretary John Hamre told Congress in a letter that "In the current capped funding environment, those reallocation costs directly threaten the readiness of our forces."
NASA has picked 48 researchers to share about $33 million worth of grants for microgravity biotechnology research in such areas as protein crystallization, cell science and new technology development that could lead to new designer drugs, "tissue engineering" and new biosensors.
NASA has exercised an option with Orbital Sciences Corp. for 25 test flights of the X-34 air-launched reusable launch vehicle testbed, beginning as soon as the two flights required under the basic contract are completed.
Russia's Khrunichev production center plans to fly its new Briz-M alternative to the Block DM Proton kick stage built by RSC Energia in March or April, with the Russian Raduga-1 satellite aboard.If the Briz-M works as advertised, the Itar-Tass news agency says it will also be used to launch a commercial satellite for Lockheed Martin Intersputnik. The U.S. State Dept., however, may have other ideas if Russia doesn't shut off the flow of missile technology to Iran (DAILY, Dec. 18).
The NASA/Orbital Sciences X-34 testbed is likely to be the first reusable launch vehicle to use the new Reusable Launch Vehicle Support Complex now under construction adjacent to the Shuttle Landing Facility at Kennedy Space Center, Fla. NASA has exercised a 25-flight option for X-34 flight tests, including many from KSC, and the $8 million RLV complex should be ready in time to accommodate at least some of those flights.
The second day of U.S. and U.K. bombing attacks against Iraq marked the first operational use of the U.S. Air Force's B-1B bomber, and first use of the service's enhanced Block 1 Conventional Air Launched Cruise Missile. Defense Secretary William Cohen and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Henry H. Shelton said Friday that the target set was expanded from around 50 targets to 75. Most of the attacks were focused on southern Iraq.
International Space Station flight controllers in Moscow and Houston have fired both reboost engines on the Zarya control module together for the first time, raising the new Station's orbit by about four miles. Controllers also checked out the automatic rendezvous and docking system that will guide the station to a hookup with the Russian Service Module, now scheduled for next July. The Kurs rendezvous system worked as planned, NASA said in a Station status report.
LOCKHEED MARTIN AND COMSAT CORP. were asked by the U.S. Dept. of Justice for additional information related to the companies' merger plans. Lockheed Martin said Friday that both intend to respond promptly. Regulus LLC, a wholly-owned Lockheed Martin subsidiary, offer to buy up to 49% of the outstanding shares of Comsat common stock (DAILY, Sept. 22).
Pentagon and industry sources don't think the ongoing budget deliberations on DOD's missile defense programs will greatly alter the troubled Theater High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) missile program. While there could be some reclassification of upcoming THAAD flight tests, no one expects the program to be killed, even though that option was presented at budget deliberations, sources said. One source hinted the upcoming THAAD flights might be termed "seeker characterization" tests. That way, if the missile fails to hit a target, the test won't appear to be a bust.
Eleven of Britain's 12 Tornados based in Kuwait completed attacks against Iraq on Thursday night in three waves on air defense and command and control sites, airfields with a defensive potential, and Republican Guard infrastructure buildings, reporters were told here Friday at the U.K. Ministry of Defense. The Tornados encountered light AAA fire, but sustained no damage. The 12th aborted en route to the target because of guidance system problems, and retained its bombs.
Coltec Industries said it "remains committed" to its merger with BFGoodrich. In a letter late Thursday to R.S. Evans, chairman and chief executive officer of Crane Co., Coltec also disputed Crane's claim that it had made an earlier, higher offer for Coltec. On Tuesday, Crane had filed a lawsuit to block the Coltec-BFGoodrich move, claiming it had a previous written agreement that Coltec was obligated to notify Crane if it was approached by a third party about a possible merger or other business combination (DAILY, Dec. 16).
The Global Positioning System (GPS) is "probably going to be a primary means" rather than the sole means of navigation, FAA Administrator Jane Garvey said, and "some kind of backup is going to be needed for the foreseeable future."
While most of the modern world worries whether its computer-based systems can survive the shock of ticking over to the year 2000, the U.S. National Institute of Standards and Technology is looking out for industries that use copyright dates delineated in Roman numerals. While MM is clearly the way to write 2000 Roman-style, 1999 poses more of a problem. NIST librarians have settled on MCMXCIX rather than MIM for next year, although sticklers among them point out that the ancient Romans probably would have used MCMXCVIIII.
