Fairchild Aerospace has established Millennium Leasing Co. to "provide operating and finance leases for Fairchild Aerospace customers." Fairchild said yesterday that Millennium is the "first enterprise of its kind established for a regional aircraft manufacturer....It will also remarket used aircraft taken in trade from Fairchild Aerospace customers." Josef Laakso, VP-worldwide sales finance, who joined Fairchild Aerospace in 1996 from Mellon Bank's Leasing Group, was named president of the new leasing company.
Fairchild Aerospace has officially launched the Envoy 7, the corporate version of its 70-seat 728JET regional jet. Priced for the first 10 customers at $28.5 million, the aircraft is forecast to transport 16 to 19 passengers 4,200 n.mi. at an altitude of 41,000 feet and a cruise speed of .8 Mach. "The Envoy 7 offers $40 million accommodations, such as a cabin fully six feet, 11 inches high and 55.5 feet long [width is 128 inches], for less than $30 million," Fairchild Chairman and Principal Carl Albert said at the NBAA show.
Gulfstream Aerospace and Executive Jet signed a $1.3 billion deal at the NBAA convention in Las Vegas Monday that establishes a Gulfstream V shares program, adds aircraft to the existing GIV shares program, and makes the aircraft manufacturer responsible for maintenance on Executive Jet's NetJets fleet of Falcon, Hawker and Gulfstream jets for the next five years.
Orbcomm, the "little LEO" satellite-based messaging system set up by Orbital Sciences Corp. and its international partners, expects to break even in the fourth quarter of 1999, following the start of full commercial service next month. Scott L. Webster, Orbcomm chairman and CEO, told The DAILY yesterday the company is commissioning newly launched satellites at the rate of two per week, and expects to have all 28 of the small data relay platforms it has launched to date up and running by mid-November.
The FAA has commissioned the 350th Automated Surface Observing System (ASOS) three months ahead of schedule. The agency will eventually support 569 of the weather monitoring systems, and the total program includes 900.
October 15, 1998 Litton Systems Inc., Woodland Hills, Calif., is being awarded a $5,967,000 face value increase to a firm-fixed-price contract to provide for 78 Embedded Global Positioning System (GPS)/Inertial Navigation System (INS) units, associated chassis modifications, and mounts applicable to the F/A-18 aircraft. This effort supports foreign military sales to Australia. Expected contract completion date is Sept. 30, 2000. Aeronautical Systems Center, Wright-Patterson AFB, Ohio, is the contracting activity (F3365794-C-2181-P00030).
NASA's QuikSCAT ocean scattterometer spacecraft, developed and built in roughly one year using procedures developed under the agency's faster-better-cheaper approach, is stuck on the ground because of concerns about the reliability of its Titan II launch vehicle in the wake of the August Titan IV launch failure. A NASA spokesman said yesterday the spacecraft is ready to go on its planned Nov. 24 launch date, but will be kept on the ground indefinitely because "it's better to err on the side of safety."
Boeing and Lockheed Martin each dropped the low-end launcher from their final proposals for the Evolved Expendable Launch Vehicle (EELV) to cut costs, but they don't expect a decline in the small satellite launch business, military and industry officials said. The Pentagon on Friday awarded the bulk of the initial launch services for EELV to Boeing in a $1.37 billion contract for 19 of 28 planned missions. Lockheed Martin got a $650 million contract for nine missions (DAILY, Oct. 19).
THIOKOL PROPULSION, a division of Cordant Technologies in Brigham City, Utah, has won a contract from the U.S. Army Industrial Operations Command for more than 8,800 M-278 infrared flares, designed to dramatically increase night vision.
General Dynamics reported earnings of $94 million on sales of $1.17 billion for its 1998 third quarter, up from earnings of $82 million on sales of $988 million in 1997. The Marine segment of the company reported sales of $627 million and operating profit of $68 million, compared to sales of $547 million and operating profit of $55 million a year ago.
Boeing engineers have developed changes in the control software for the new Delta III space launch vehicle that they believe can handle an unexpected roll mode blamed for the Aug. 26 failure of the first Delta III. "The roll instability which led to the Delta III failure can be corrected by a change to our control software," Clarence Quan, chairman of Boeing's Delta III investigation panel, said in a company press release issued yesterday.
Condor Systems Inc., San Jose, Calif., signed an agreement with Litton Industries to buy one of Litton's electronic warfare units, the Applied Technology Div., also of San Jose., for about $120 million. Litton said the deal is subject to government approval under provisions of the Hart-Scott-Rodino Act and other contingencies, but if approved, it would be the fifth defense electronics-related acquisition since 1994 by Condor, which specializes in intelligence and electronic warfare systems.
HIGH WINDS forced a one-day delay in the planned launch yesterday of the ninth U.S. Navy UHF Follow-On communication satellite aboard an Atlas IIA rocket from Cape Canaveral Air Station, Fla. Range safety officers scrubbed the launch out of concern the wind could carry debris from an aerial explosion onto populated areas. Officials scheduled another attempt at 3:09 a.m. EDT today.
One of two teams competing for a $10 billion U.K.-U.S. ground reconnaissance vehicle program is leaning towards the Hellfire missile for the vehicle, program officials said. Officials of the Sika team, which consists of Lockheed Martin, British Aerospace, General Dynamics and Vickers, said at the Association of the U.S. Army convention in Washington last week that they were evaluating several missile candidates for the vehicle.
Dean C. Borgman, former senior vice president at Boeing Co.'s helicopter unit in Mesa, Ariz., has been appointed president and chief operating officer of United Technologies' Sikorsky Aircraft Corp. Borgman, 57, will report to Eugene Buckley, who will continue as Sikorsky's chief executive officer and who becomes chairman of the Stratford, Conn., company with Borgman's appointment. Buckley plans to retire next year.
October 14, 1998 Lockheed Martin, Government Electronics Systems, Moorestown, N.J., is being awarded a $13,126,258 modification to previously awarded contract N00024-97-C-5197 to exercise an option for 138,936 man-hours to perform AEGIS combat system baseline upgrade developments and critical experiments. Work will be performed in Moorestown, N.J., and is expected to be completed in September 2000. Contract funds will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. The Naval Sea Systems Command, Arlington, Va., is the contracting activity.
Gulfstream Aerospace Corp., Savannah, Ga., set records for both earnings and sales in its 1998 third quarter, with profits of $103.7 million on 35% higher sales of $626.2 million, the company reported yesterday. In the same period a year ago, Gulfstream posted earnings of $60.7 million on sales of $464 million. Gulfstream delivered 16 aircraft in the third quarter (nine Gulfstream IV-SPs and seven Gulfstream Vs), compared to 14 aircraft (six GIV-SPs and eight GVs) in the third quarter of 1997.
Boeing received 11 new orders for the Boeing Business Jet (BBJ), increasing the total number of sales to 46, the company reported at the 1998 National Business Aviation Association (NBAA) show in Las Vegas. The 11 new orders include nine aircraft bought for the NetJets fractional ownership program, and two from unidentified customers. The BBJ made its first flight on Sept. 4, and the company said it expects to receive certification in November. Eight BBJs are scheduled for delivery to customers by the end of the year.
Two top Pentagon electronic warfare self-protection programs may face several more hard months before they are considered in good shape, according to Tony Grieco, who oversees EW projects for the Office of the Secretary of Defense. The Navy's Integrated Defensive Electronic Countermeasures (IDECM) program and the Army-led Common Missile Warning System (CMWS) were recently rebaselined, but "I'm not sure that they're over the hump," Grieco said in an interview at the Pentagon.
General Electric Capital Aviation Services (GECAS) has placed a firm order for one A319, 15 A320 and 14 A321 aircraft, Airbus Industrie said yesterday. The GE Capital subsidiary had announced its plans to buy the airliners last month at the Farnborough Air Show. Deliveries are slated to begin in 2002 and run through 2006. The jets will be powered by CFM International engines.
October 13, 1998 Raytheon Company, Sensors and Electronic Systems, El Segundo, Calif., is being issued a not-to-exceed $7,331,550 ceiling price order for 15 AN/APG-65 radar data processors used on AV-8BII+ aircraft. Work will be performed in El Segundo, Calif., and is expected to be completed by September 2001. Contract funds will not expire at the end of the fiscal year. The contract was not competitively procured. The Naval Inventory Control Point, Philadelphia, Pa., is the contract awarding activity (N00383-98-G-001A) (Order 5097).
Bombardier unveiled plans to launch an "all-new transcontinental business jet" that will carry eight passengers and baggage nonstop across North America at Mach 0.82 when it enters service in 2002. The "Continental Jet," said Bombardier Chairman Laurent Beaudoin, will be aimed at "the emerging and important super midsize business jet segment."
