The U.S. Air Force will need a higher budget topline even if Congress approves further rounds of base closings, acting Air Force Secretary F. Whitten Peters said yesterday. "I think still beyond [BRAC], if you add together pay raises and fixing the retirement system and talk about modernization, I think it will require some topline increase," Peters told reporters in Washington following a speech to the Air Force Association. He noted that BRAC, defense reforms and more funds all are needed to get the Air Force "to get where we need to be."
PLANAR ADVANCE won a contract to supply electroluminescent flat panel displays to Computing Devices Canada Ltd. for use in the second generation forward looking infrared display in the Abrams tank. The initial shipment, beginning this month, will be for 122 displays with an option for 120 more.
Ford Motor Co. has been licensed to install diagnostic computer chips in its automobiles that will use neural network technology developed by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory to monitor engine firings for fuel efficiency and emission reduction. The license, announced last week, builds on a Technology Cooperation Agreement between JPL and Ford dating to 1993. It gives Ford rights to neural network chip applications in the automobile industry, while JPL retains general rights.
Fairchild Aerospace named three new program managers across the 32- to 98-seat aircraft product line. Stephen Marinshaw will be vice president of the 328/328JET program; Stan Deal will be vice president of the 428JET program, and Jack Pelton will be senior vice president of the 728JET program. All three will be based in Oberpfaffenhofen, Germany. Marinshaw comes from DynCorp Aerospace Technology, where he served as director of engineering. Before that, he was a program manager with Northrop Grumman.
The third stage of the missile tested Aug. 31 by North Korea in a flight over Japan was a solid fuel type, the first ever flown by Pyongyang, Pentagon spokesman Kenneth Bacon said yesterday. He said the first two stages of the vehicle, which attempted but failed to orbit a satellite, were liquid fuel models. The use of three stages means the North Koreans "have gone some way down toward developing a missile with a much longer range capability," Bacon said. The range could be between 4,000 kilometers and 6,000 kilometers, he added.
PENTACON INC., Houston, AND EUROFAST, a subsidiary of Blanc Aero, Paris, signed a strategic alliance to market and distribute each other's product lines. Pentacon distributes fasteners and other small parts and provides related inventory management services.
ELBIT SYSTEMS LTD., Haifa, Israel, and Avioane Craiova SA received funding from the Romanian government to initiate the IAR-99 Soim Trainer Program for the Romanian air force. The two companies teamed to upgrade the IAR-99 into a lead-in trainer for the upgraded MiG-21 Lancer. Funding of $21 million was approved under the 1998 budget, and the first 24 trainers should be delivered by 2001.
DEBIS AIRFINANCE announced an order for two A319s, which will increase its Airbus fleet to 22. The operation, based in Amsterdam, has a portfolio of 80 aircraft on lease to 23 airlines.
The Systems division of ITT Industries Inc., acting through its Federal Services Unit, won two military contracts valued at $298.4 million. The first contract is a 10-year, $283.5 million range and base operations and maintenance support contract for the U.S. Navy Regional Contracting Dept., Fleet and Industrial Supply Center, Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. ITT Industries' Systems unit will fulfill the contract at the Pacific Missile Range Facility (PMRF), Kauai, Hawaii.
Lockheed Martin said it has been selected by the U.S. Strategic Command, Offutt AFB, Neb., to manage the integration, mission support and modernization of its computing infrastructure.
AERO SYSTEMS ENGINEERING, St. Paul, Minn., won a contract from Boeing to modernize its transonic wind tunnel facility in Seattle. ASE said the contract involves design, fabrication, equipment supply and installation of a major portion of the tunnel over the next 30 months. ASE previously was awarded a NASA-Langley contract.
The U.S. should abandon the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty and move aggressively forward with ballistic missile defenses, including placement of interceptors and lasers in space, House Speaker Newt Gingrich (R-Ga.) said yesterday.
Strong performance by commercial electronics and the acquisition of TASC Inc. helped Litton Industries Inc., Woodland Hills, Calif., post 12% higher income of $181.4 million during its 1998 fiscal year. Earnings in 1997 were $162 million. In the same period, sales grew 5%, improving from $4.2 billion in 1997 to $4.4 billion in 1998.
LT. GEN. THOMAS CASE will become the new U.S. Air Force commander of the Alaskan Command and commander of the 11th Air Force, the Pentagon said. Case takes the job held by Lt. Gen. David McCloud, who was killed in a private aircraft accident this summer. Case currently serves as the deputy commander in chief and chief of staff of U.S. Central Command.
DERCO AEROSPACE INC., Milwaukee, won a $50 million contract to upgrade C-130s for Brazil's SIVAM program. Derco will manage and perform scheduled maintenance, supply spares, carry out in-depth modification and provide support training.
EVANS&SUTHERLAND GmbH, Munich, will serve as prime contractor for materials procurement, systems integration and construction management for a complete air traffic control (ATC) training facility in Kaufbeuren, Bavaria. The ATC tower simulator will be the core element of the German Air Force's new training center for military air traffic control. The total contract value, including options, is about $5 million, with completion of the training center expected in September 1999.
Moody's Investors Service placed the senior debt ratings of Boeing Co. under review for possible downgrade due to "the uncertainty about both the timing and the degree of the resolution of Boeing's production problems in its commercial aircraft operations." Moody's said yesterday that about $6.8 billion of long-term debt could be affected. Other concerns listed by Moody's include continuing poor operating performance, the Asian economic crisis and the company's recently announced $5 billion stock buyback program.
SYSTEM RESOURCES CORP., Burlington, Mass., won a contract from the U.S. Dept. of Transportation's Volpe Center for engineering support services in Communications, Navigation and Surveillance (CNS). The contract has a potential value of over $100 million over five years.
A newly lean and aggressive Rockwell Collins is launching itself onto the world stage at Farnborough, with a new image, a new strategy, and new products. "We're no longer just a cockpit avionics company but an aviation electronics company," Clay Jones, executive vice president of Rockwell Collins, told Aviation Week's Farnborough Show News. "We've redefined our operations, charted a new strategic direction, and identified new growth markets."
Boeing Co. predicts a market for its AH-64D Apache Longbow outside the U.S. of at least 600, with several competitions to reach that goal already in progress. Besides the U.S. Army, the Netherlands and U.K. are already buying the AH-64D. But Boeing said at the Farnborough Air Show last week that its business development team "is responding to numerous requests from potential customers worldwide."
Rep. Duncan Hunter's opposition to full funding of the F/A-18E/F Super Hornet apparently hasn't diminished his support for the political action committee of the leading Super Hornet contractors, according to current political action committee filings with the Federal Election Commission.
September 11, 1998 Microwave Instrumentation Technologies Limited Liability Company, Duluth, Ga., is being awarded a $6,377,902 firm-fixed-price-contract to provide for a modernized indoor electrical test range for the nose radome on the F-15 aircraft. There were six firms solicited and two proposals received. Expected contract completion date is March 1, 2000. Solicitation issue date was March 31, 1998. Negotiation completion date was Aug. 27, 1998. Warner Robins Air Logistics Center, Robins AFB, Ga., is the contracting activity (F09650-98-C-0156).
Congressional sources said yesterday that they hoped to put as much as $3 billion in readiness funds into a supplemental bill, some of it as new money and some of it taken out of the fiscal 1999 defense appropriations bill, freeing up funds for other add-ons.
The U.S. Army has ordered its first 100 Hellfire II missiles equipped with a blast fragmentation warhead instead of the standard armor piercing warhead, Lockheed Martin said. The new warhead is optimized to defeat smaller naval targets and non-armored land targets, said Lockheed Martin, which is partnered with Boeing in the Hellfire Systems Co. joint venture. The contract has a potential value of $12.4 million.
