A fortuitous coincidence has apparently given Mitsubishi Electric Corp. an advantage in the expected competition in Japan to build four reconnaissance satellites for about $1.5 billion. MELCO, which has been researching military intelligence satellite technology since the mid-1980s, presented its concept for a constellation of Japanese spysats to key members of the Diet on Aug. 25, only seven days before North Korea fired a multi-stage version of the Taepo Dong missile across Japanese territory (DAILY, Sept. 1).
Saab's JAS-39 Gripen fighter is undergoing aerial refueling trials that are geared mainly to the export market. Saab and British Aerospace, which are co-marketing the jet, developed the refueling system with Britain's Flight Refueling Ltd., the companies said. Flight testing of a mockup probe were conducted earlier this month, during which the aircraft linked with a Royal Air Force VC-10 tanker.
Rolls-Royce will place $50 million of additional manufacturing work in China over the next six years, the company reported Sunday at the Zhuhai Air Show in China. Rolls-Royce also entered into a new materials research program in China.
A team of Lockheed Martin and Australia's ADI has won a competition for the mid-life upgrade of six frigates in the Royal Australian Navy's (RAN) Frigate Upgrade Program. ADI will be the prime contractor. The final value of the program, according to Lockheed Martin, is estimated at about $200 million. Contracts are expected to be signed during the second quarter of 1999 and extend through 2008.
GULFSTREAM AEROSPACE has ordered another 200 BR710 engines for its Gulfstream V business jet, BMW Rolls-Royce said. The engines are slated for delivery between early 2000 and the end of 2002. The order raises the number of BR710s to be delivered to more than 650. Gulfstream has received 116 orders for the twinjet. The GV entered service in April 1997.
The U.S. Air Force will "hopefully" log 184 flight test hours on two F-22 aircraft in time for a series of Pentagon reviews starting Dec. 1 that could clear the way for the service to award a contract for the first production jets late this year.
The DAILY of Nov. 9 contained an incorrect reference to an earlier story. In "Consultant: Dump Shuttle after Station assembly" a reference to the job Hawthorne, Krauss&Associates LLC was hired to do for NASA appears in The DAILY of March 2 not March 9.
The U.S. Air Force should mold its C-130X upgrade program to include some AF Special Operations Command requirements and free up special ops funds to complete electronic warfare upgrades of the Hercules that haven't been considered affordable, according to a report by the General Accounting Office.
LITTON INDUSTRIES said its LTN-92 inertial navigation system has been approved by the FAA for operation for up to 12 hours unaided by GPS, VOR or DME updates in Required Navigation Performance-10 airspace, where aircraft are separated by 10 n.m. in any direction. This, the company said, allows an airliner to fly long overwater flights using the most advantageous routes.
The Pentagon yesterday made public a list of locations in Alaska and North Dakota where it intends to conduct environmental impact studies for possible future deployment of a national missile defense (NMD) system. Several of the locations, including five in Alaska, would violate terms of the 1972 Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty (DAILY, Nov. 17). In making the announcement, Pentagon officials stressed the site selection in no way indicates a decision to deploy an NMD system. Such a decision will not be made until at least 2000.
International Lease Finance Corp. signed a memorandum to acquire as many as 30 100-120-seat A318s after a "detailed evaluation of competing aircraft, primarily the Boeing 717," Airbus Industrie said yesterday. ILFC President Steve Udvar-Hazy said the choice "reflects the market's preference for efficient, new-technology aircraft that are members of an integrated family of common products, giving airlines lower operating costs as well as fleet planning and scheduling flexibility."
The U.S. Navy's Theater Wide ballistic missile defense program could be accelerated as much as five years while using only a small part of the $1 billion Congress added to the fiscal 1999 defense budget for ballistic missile defense. The Navy Theater Wide (NTW), or Upper Tier, program is scheduled for first deployment in 2010. However, funding boosts this fiscal year and next would allow a relatively easy acceleration to 2007 and could allow an acceleration to 2005 if system development is successful, according to a source.
LOCKHEED MARTIN will take a charge of about $350-$400 million in the first quarter of 1999 due to the adoption of a new accounting standard. The standard will take effect Jan. 1, 1999. It requires that costs related to start-up activities be expensed as incurred. Lockheed Martin said it has incurred significant start-up costs in several areas, specifically on the C-130J and commercial launch services programs, and in certain commercial and civil government businesses.
An item in The DAILY of Nov. 16 entitled "More Research" contained several errors, according to a spokesman for NASA's Langley Research Center. Boeing alone is slowing supersonic transport research "as far as we know," the spokesman said, noting that noise reduction is the primary obstacle, and not emissions as reported. Also, NASA does not plan to spend $400 million on a year-long study of noise and weight problems.
The U.S. Navy is getting ready to buy the first kits that will allow Boeing's Standoff Land-Attack Missile Expanded Response (SLAM-ER) weapon to operate in an automatic target acquisition (ATA) mode. The purchase of 134 ATA components would be enough to backfit 67 missiles as well as related equipment, Naval Air System Command said in a Nov. 18 Commerce Business Daily notice. The Navy said it wants to buy up to 70 all-up missiles this fiscal year. They would include the ATA hardware.
The U.S. Navy and Boeing have signed an agreement governing development of the Harpoon Block 2 missile, intended for use against targets in littoral regions, a Navy official said. The two parties have been negotiating the agreement for months. They had to work through a funding termination in the summer that caused the program to be run as a "Section 845" arrangement that works outside the Pentagon's traditional acquisition system (DAILY, July 22). The Navy and Boeing will share the cost of developing the upgrade. The agreement was signed last week.
On the eve of first-element launch for the International Space Station, the Russian Space Agency still wants to pull the newest modules from the Mir orbital station and attach them to the new facility, a top Russian space official said yesterday.
THREE COMPANIES have won the 1998 Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award, the White said yesterday. They are Boeing Airlift and Tanker Programs, Long Beach, Calif.; Solar Turbines Inc., San Diego; and Texas Nameplate Co. Inc., Dallas.
The latest round of quarterly financial results offered few surprises for the U.S. aerospace and defense industry, with most companies performing as expected, according to industry analysts. Paul Nisbet, head of JSA Research, Newport, R.I., said there are no trends to indicate that the group as a whole is doing better or worse than expected.
Lockheed Martin is extending its $1.3 billion offer to buy up to 49% of the outstanding shares of Comsat Corp. until Jan. 14. The company, which said in September that the offer would end on Nov. 24, said yesterday that the extension was made because certain regulatory and shareholder approvals have not been obtained. Terms remain the same.
UKRAINIAN SPACE officials say they don't expect a decision from Globalstar on future Zenit launches for the low Earth orbit communications satellite constellation, following the loss of the first 12 Globalstar satellites in a Zenit failure (DAILY, Sept. 11). Although the Ukrainian Space Agency reported a one-time computer glitch brought down the big rocket after it was launched from the Baikonur Cosmodrome (DAILY, Nov. 3), the head of Ukraine's Security and Defense Council told Western reporters no decision on Zenit reflights in expected this year.
GE AMERICAN COMMUNICATIONS has declared the Oct. 28 launch of its GE-5 satellite a success. Orbited aboard an Ariane 4 vehicle from the Guiana Space Center near Kourou (DAILY, Oct. 30), GE-5 will be placed in geostationary orbit at 79 degrees West longitude early next month to provide coverage over the continental U.S. and Canada. The Alcatel-built satellites carries 16 Ku-band transponders that offer 54 megahertz of bandwidth at 55 watts, GE Americom said.
