JOINT AIR-TO-SURFACE STANDOFF MISSILE program officials got the green light to begin a 40-month engineering and manufacturing development program. Pentagon acquisition chief Jacques Gansler signed the acquisition decision memorandum late Tuesday. The JASSM EMD program has been extended a couple of months to allow for more testing (DAILY, Nov. 11).
Members of the Aerospace Safety Advisory Panel (ASAP) are likely to recommend that NASA halve the radiation dose allowed crew members on the International Space Station, out of concern prolonged exposure on the orbiting facility could have long-term health effects on astronauts.
The French government said it would transfer its 46% holding in Dassault Aviation to state-controlled Aerospatiale, according to press reports from Europe yesterday. The move is considered another step in the consolidation of the French d efense industry, which started with plans to merge the Lagardere group's Matra business with Aerospatiale.
NATO has kicked off a study to see how it can aggressively execute a campaign of Suppression of Enemy Air Defenses (SEAD) without risking collateral damage or fratricide. The study - "Minimizing Collateral Damage While Performing SEAD Operations in Peace Support Operations" - will try to determine if any technical or tactical changes can improve current SEAD operations, a U.S. Air Force official said yesterday at an Association of Old Crows session in Washington.
Top NATO procurement officials have deferred until next spring any action on an alliance-owned Airborne Ground Surveillance (AGS) system, but committed to making a decision at their next meeting on whether to support the program. The Conference of NATO Armaments Directors (CNAD) has debated what to do about an AGS system for the past couple of years. The group meets twice a year, but a decision on whether to acquire an AGS capability hasn't been forthcoming because of disagreements between member nations.
A Litton Industries unit will participate as a subcontractor in Raytheon Systems Co.'s $107.5 million, multi-year Thermal Omnibus contract to supply Driver's Vision Enhancement systems to the U.S. Army and Marine Corps. Litton said yesterday that its Data Systems Div. will produce more than 6,600 Display Control Modules in an effort initially worth $18 million, under which deliveries will begin in mid-1999. Up to 8,000 additional systems could be built.
The Pentagon's Ballistic Missile Defense Organization plans to use the $1 billion in added funds Congress recently provided primarily to enhance testing and accelerate a handful of development activities, sources familiar with senior level Pentagon meetings told The DAILY.
NASA's Deep Space 1 technology testbed, already plagued by a balky xenon ion engine, put itself into a safe mode after its on-board software indicated a possible problem with the star tracker intended to help guide the probe to an asteroid rendezvous next summer.
The U.S. Air Force will send several surveillance and intelligence aircraft to undisclosed Gulf countries in support of possible military action against Iraq in coming days. The Pentagon on Wednesday approved the movement of more than 120 c0ombat aircraft, including F-117s, B-1Bs an d B-52s, which will bolster some 170 planes already in the area (DAILY, Nov. 12). Also to be deployed, an Air Force official said yesterday, are three EC-130H Compass Calls, three E-3C AWACS planes and one E-8C Joint STARS.
The Senate and House Intelligence Committees face some significant seat changes in the new Congress as well as packed legislative schedules. Sen. Richard Shelby (R-Ala.), who breezed through his race for re- election, will still chair the Senate Intelligence Committee, and Sen.
The single-engine aircraft industry has assembled its heavy-hitters, with former U.S. Federal Aviation Administrator Langhorne Bond at the top, to push for European adoption of rules allowing single-engine commercial instrument flights with passengers.
Raytheon Co. won an $8.9 million U.S. Air Force contract to integrate the Traffic Collision Avoidance System (TCAS II) and the Terrain Awareness Warning System (TAWS) on 63 C-141C aircraft. The contract, awarded to Raytheon's Waco operation by the Warner Robins Air Logistics Center, Ga., also provides for integration of the TCAS II on 33 C-141B aircraft. The C-141Bs were re-designated as C models under a previous contract with Raytheon for installation of a new digital autopilot and Global Positioning system.
Aero Vodochody shareholders have approved the strategic partnership between Aero, Boeing and CSA Czech Airlines, Boeing reported. Under the agreement, the Boeing Ceska joint venture acquired a 35% share of Aero and invested 950 million Czech crowns ($30 million) in the aircraft maker. Boeing holds a 90% share of Boeing Ceska, while CSA holds 10%.
HAWK CORP.'s board of directors authorized the repurchase of up to $2 million of its common stock, the Cleveland company reported yesterday. It said all shares repurchased will be held as treasury shares available for reissue in connection with the company's stock option plan and for general corporate purposes.
The U.S. Navy is about to conclude its technical evaluation of the Block 89A upgrade of the EA-6B Prowler tactical jamming aircraft, a milestone that will put it closer to the goal of initial operational capability in fiscal year 2000. Navy testers are certifying the last item, according to Capt. Steven L. Enewold, the EA-6B program manager. The test program is slated to be completed in the next two weeks.
Carl Kukkonen, former director of the Center for Space Microelectronics Technology at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, has launched a startup company to make the micro-technology developed at JPL for advanced space probes available for commercial use in such terrestrial areas as communications, medicine, agriculture, industrial controls and environmental monitoring. Based in Altadena, Calif., Kukkonen's ViaSpace Technologies LLC has obtained license options for four technologies he helped develop at JPL under NASA and Defense Dept. sponsorship.
Controllers at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory were analyzing data yesterday to determine why the xenon ion engine aboard the Deep Space 1 probe shut itself down after four and a half minutes Tuesday and wouldn't restart. The shutdown came at the beginning of a planned 16-hour engine test intended to take the engine through different throttle levels up to full thrust. Subsequent attempts to start the engine were unsuccessful, with the engine going through its normal restart sequence without generating any thrust, JPL said in a status report.
TONY EDWARDS will take over as head of Defense Export Services in the U.K. Ministry of Defense effective Dec. 14, the MOD reported. Edwards, who will succeed Sir Charles Masefield, has stepped down as chairman of the aerospace interests of TI Group plc. Edwards began his career with Rolls-Royce in 1962. He moved to General Electric (U.S.), and later served as a vice president and deputy general manager (Europe) for Motorola. He also served as president of the Canadair Aerospace Group of Bombardier Inc.
Lockheed Martin Tactical Aircraft Systems, Fort Worth, Tex., yesterday delivered the aft fuselage component for Japan's first production F-2 to Mitsubishi Heavy Industries. Lockheed Martin will deliver all the aft fuselages for the planned 130 production F-2s, and also will provide all the wing leading edge flaps, eight of 10 left-hand wing boxes, all the stores management systems and other avionics and avionics support equipment components.
The U.S. Navy is about to begin operational evaluation of the F/A-18E/F Super Hornet, with the first of seven aircraft to be used during the assessment having completed its first flight at Boeing's St. Louis facility last Friday. Minor changes are being made to the aircraft, E6, before it is accepted by the Navy and delivered to test squadron VX-9 at the Naval Air Warfare Center, China Lake, Calif.
Top NASA managers, faced with a Russian economic crisis that threatens the International Space Station partnership, have adopted a wait-and-see approach to privatization of at least one of the four orbiters in the U.S. Space Shuttle fleet because all four spacecraft may be needed to support the Station.
American Aircarriers Support Inc. (AAS) said it acquired most of the assets of Condor Flight Spares Inc. AAS, of Fort Mill, S.C., supplies spare parts to airlines and parts distributors; Florida-based Condor buys and sells landing gear parts for commercial and cargo aircraft.
Mir Cosmonauts Gennady Padalka and Sergei Avdeyev installed a French-built "meteor trap" outside the station late Tuesday in a five-hour, 54-minute spacewalk that took the spacesuited pair all over the aging orbital facility. Scientists hope the device will contain remnants of the Comet Tempel-Tuttle when a French cosmonauts retrieves it early next year. Tuesday's spacewalk installed the trap in time for the Leonid meteor storm coming up next Tuesday (DAILY, Nov. 10).
