The Pentagon's Defense Acquisition Board (DAB) signed off on the U.S. Navy's request that the projected CVX class aircraft carrier have a large deck and be nuclear powered, the Dept. of Defense said Friday. The DAB considered various propulsion alternatives and associated developmental costs and operational and technical risks, as well as the proven merits of nuclear propulsion, DOD said.
The U.S. Air Force has developed a "balanced, time phased approach" to modernization, but any further delays will boost costs and hurt readiness, warns Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. Michael E. Ryan.
General Dynamics' acquisition of National Steel and ShipbuildingCo. (NASSCO) of San Diego (DAILY, Oct. 9) could have important political benefits for the company. It could make a supporter of a present critic of the U.S. Navy's New Attack Submarine (NSSN) program - Rep. Duncan Hunter (R-Calif.), chairman of the House National Security procurement subcommittee, who represents a district adjoining the one NASSCO is in.
ECHOSTAR COMMUNICATIONS said there will be no loss of service from the failure of four traveling-wave-tube amplifiers on its EchoStar III spacecraft at 61.5 degrees West longitude. However, satellite-builder Lockheed Martin has warned the Littleton, Colo.-based satellite services company that additional TWT failures are possible. As a result, EchoStar has started the procedure that could lead to an insurance claim on the platform, which was launched Oct. 5, 1997.
Bob Dorran has been appointed PT6A sales manager responsible for customers in the north east region states of Wisconsin, Indiana, Ohio, Michigan, Delaware, New Jersey and Pennsylvania.
Joseph Hassab has been appointed president, assuming the duties temporarily held by S. Kent Rockwell. Rockwell will continue as chief executive officer and vice chairman.
The U.S. Navy is looking to adapt an existing missile or other weapon for its New Attack Submarine to destroy high-speed surface vessels. The weapon, which the service wants by fiscal 2002 or sooner, according to an Oct. 9 Commerce Business Daily notice, would be fired from the New Attack Sub's torpedo tubes, vertical launch system, six-inch launchers, ejector for the Mk. 2 acoustic countermeasures set, or the three-inch signal ejector. The Navy will also entertain new launcher concepts.
BOEING'S ROCKETDYNE PROPULSION&POWER unit has reached the halfway point in testing the new RS-68 rocket engine intended to power Boeing's Delta IV series of expendable launch vehicles. In tests at Edwards AFB, Calif., Rocketdyne engineers have been conducting low-power engine hot-fire tests since last month. The test series started Aug. 8 with a cold flow test on the first RS-68 development engine. Power levels on the big new engine reached 60% early this month, Rocketdyne said.
The Pentagon is likely to make cost a key performance parameter of weapon systems, and cancel programs that don't measure up "I would like to see cost as a key performance parameter for every large system we buy right now," U.S. Air Force Lt. Gen. Frank B. Campbell, director of force structure, resources and assessment for the Joint Staff, told a meeting of the American Helicopter Society Wednesday in Arlington, Va.
Douglas Stetson has been named manager of the Solar System Exploration Program Office in the Space and Earth Sciences Program Directorate at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif. He replaces John C. Beckman, who has recently been appointed manager of JPL's Systems Division, overseeing space mission development.
INMARSAT's Assembly of member governments has set April 1, 1999, as the date the internationally owned cooperation will become a public limited company. Under the new structure approved last April, a public limited company will seek an initial public offering within two years of formation, while an intergovernmental organization will continue to meet Inmarsat's public service obligations, including the Global Maritime Distress and Safety System. The new company will be based in London.
Richard M. Whiston, executive vice president and general counsel, has been appointed to lead the company's efforts to expand its space propulsion business and its involvement in the emerging Russian market.
PANAMSAT has shipped its PAS-8 spacecraft to the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan in preparation for launch early next month on a Proton rocket. The satellite, a Space Systems/Loral FS 1300 spacecraft with 24 C-band and 24 Ku-band transponders, will be located at 166 degrees East longitude. In conjunction with PAS-2, at 169 degrees East, the new satellite will provide expanded and spare capacity for video and telecommunications services in the Asia-Pacific region. In August 1997 another Proton launched PanAmSat's PAS-5 spacecraft for service over the Atlantic region.
Eric Steiner has recently been appointed president of The Fairchild Corporation. Donald E. Miller has been promoted to executive vice president. He will remain general counsel, and will assume more general management responsibilities. Robert A. Sharpe II, has been appointed senior vice president, Operations for The Fairchild Corporation. He retains his position as executive vice president of Fairchild Fasteners and assumes project responsibility in other division of the corporation.
Art Davis, former deputy director of Security at National Reconnaissance Office, has been named president. He replaces former president, Joe Parks, who has stepped aside to concentrate on his duties as chief executive officer.
Air targets, the frequently forgotten part of the unmanned aerial vehicle family, are again being neglected, according to Rear Adm. Bart Strong, program executive officer for Cruise Missile and Joint UAV Projects.
Aydin Corp. of Horsham, Pa., has sold its West Coast Microwave Components Div. to Communications&Power Industries Inc., and the proceeds were used to pay down the company's outstanding debt to Lockheed Martin Corp. The DAILY incorrectly reported in the issue of Oct. 7 that Lockheed Martin had sold the unit.
The FAA yesterday said it plans to inspect Boeing 737 jetliners and modify them if necessary to fix fatigue cracks on the forward pressure bulkhead, located just forward of the flight deck. "The proposed [Airworthiness Directive] is prompted by reports of structural fatigue cracks in the fuselage bulkhead that could result in rapid decompression of the aircraft," FAA said. Cracks have been found in three bulkhead areas - the side chord, vertical chord and on the bulkhead web, the agency said.
Top Pentagon planners have offered two B-2 stealth bombers for possible use against Serb targets in Yugoslavia, officials said yesterday. The offer was made to Gen. Wesley Clark, commander in chief of U.S. forces in Europe. The Pentagon's decision doesn't mean the B-2 will see its first use in combat, even if NATO decides to take military action in the next few days to blunt Serb aggression in the Yugoslav province of Kosovo. The final decision will be left to Clark, one Pentagon official said.
Stuart F. Platt, Adm. U.S. Navy, retired, has been named president and chief executive officer. Bruce H. Blakey, president and founder of WESMAR has become chairman of the board.
COMSAT MOBILE COMMUNICATIONS has signed a nine-year contract with AT&T worth roughly $18 million to provide phone-home service for U.S. sailors and Marines at sea using Inmarsat satellites and Comsat Earth stations. Although AT&T will charge users $1 a minute for the service, Comsat Mobile Communications said it is expanding a practice of offering "full-period leases" pioneered under a $57 million contract with the FAA.
