U.S. military officials see North Korea's ability to strike beyond the Korean peninsula as one of the key considerations resulting from Pyongyang's successful test of the two-stage Taepo Dong 1 intermediate range ballistic missile on Monday. "Does the Taepo Dong bother me any more than the Scud or the No Dong? On the Korean peninsula it doesn't," a senior U.S. military official, who asked not to be named, told reporters yesterday. "...It certainly bothers me in that it has a longer reach."
Raytheon Co. said it has ratified a new, two-year labor agreement with the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers. The pact covers 3,800 workers in Raytheon facilities in nine cities. Among the new contract's provisions are a 5% wage increase the first year of the contract and a 4% increase the second, and an increase in the amount employees pay for health benefits.
A Boeing Delta II has been cleared to launch five Iridium replenishment satellites from Vandenberg AFB, Calif., Friday, after company engineers determined the failure of the new Delta III last week apparently was unrelated to hardware the new rocket has in common with the old. Liftoff from Space Launch Complex 2 at VAFB is scheduled for 5:35 p.m. EDT, with only a five-second launch window available to position the satellites properly in the Iridium constellation.
The U.S. Air Force's 14th Air Force, Vandenberg AFB, Calif., has established a Space Operations Center to support warfighters. The SOC belongs to the newly established 614th Space Operations Group which has responsibility for the 614th Space Operations Squadron, the 2nd Command and Control Squadron, and the 76th Space Operations Squadron. The support functions will include weather, communications, intelligence, and missile warning and space surveillance, the AF said.
The Administration intends to send an emergency supplemental bill for up to $3 billion for intelligence spending to boost security at overseas embassies, senators said yesterday. Sen. Jon Kyl (R-Ariz.), member of the Senate Intelligence Committee, told The DAILY the supplemental is expected to come to the Hill this week. It will contain funds to "harden" the embassies in immediate need and for other intelligence activities, which he declined to specify.
Europe's Joint Aviation Authorities (JAA) completed validation of the MD Explorer helicopter in its 902 configuration and recommended that the JAA's 27 member nations issue Amended Type Certificates (ATC). Boeing, reporting the development Monday, said it is anticipated that JAA member nations will begin issuing ATCs within the next month.
A conference on Global Positioning System signal interference failed to convince at least some of those attending that the issue can be easily resolved. Sean Gilmore of MIT's Lincoln Laboratory told the Aug. 27 conference in Cambridge, Mass., that noise jammers will affect the civil C/A GPS code out to 85 kilometers, and that spoofers will work out to the horizon. Spoofers can transmit a fake GPS signal to the user.
Now that Denmark has picked Northrop Grumman's Reconnaissance Infrared Surveillance and Target Acquisition (RISTA) system for its F-16s, the company is eyeing several other potential buyers. "We've seen enough programs" to make RISTA a profitable business, Nicholas C. Ceradini, RISTA marketing manager for Northrop Grumman Electronic Sensors and Systems Div., said in an interview here.
British Aerospace is using initial orders for 58 upgraded Hawk 100s from Australia and Canada as the basis for an international sales campaign for lead-in fighter trainers (LIFTs), incorporating further options to meet specific customer requirements.
An "internal wrangle within the U.K." concerning initial maintenance support for the Eurofighter EF 2000, now officially named the "Typhoon," could delay a contract signature for the first production batch of 148 aircraft, according to weekend press reports in London.
A Russian Proton rocket successfully orbited the Astra-2A communications satellite for the Societe Europeenne des Satellites (SES) Sunday. Astra-2A is the eighth satellite in orbit for the Luxembourg-based company and the first to be permanently located at its new orbital position of 28.2 degrees East longitude. From that slot it will provide digital television, radio and multi-media services to the U.K. and Ireland. The Astra 2A platform was built by Hughes Space and Communications, builder of six of the SES platforms in orbit.
Veridian Veda Operations, Camarillo, Calif., is being awarded a 26,669,267 cost-plus-fixed-fee, indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract to provide technical engineering support services for electronic combat systems and warfare systems necessary to perform electronic warfare missions. Work will be performed in Point Mugu, Calif. (81%), and Camarillo, Calif. (19%), and the expected completion date is August 2000. Contract funds will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year.
The Senate Republican leadership is considering having the Senate vote next week on a bill making it the policy of the U.S. to deploy "as soon as technologically feasible" a national missile defense (NMD) to protect against a limited threat, Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott (R-Miss.) said yesterday.
The Pentagon's National Missile Defense Joint Program Office last week released a list of the subcontractors working with NMD Lead System Integrator Boeing Co. Boeing in April was selected as LSI to develop an NMD system that could be deployed as early as 2003 if the Administration deems this necessary based on threat assessments (DAILY, May 1). Last month, the Pentagon decided to move forward with a commercial-off-the-shelf option for the system's interceptor, rather than modifying Minuteman III ICBMs (DAILY, July 27).
Computer Sciences Raytheon, Patrick Air Force Base, Fla., is being awarded a $101,466,200 face value increase to a cost-plus-award-fee contract to provide for FY 1999 range technical services for operation and maintenance of the Eastern Range and the 45th Space Wing. Expected contract completion date is September 30, 1999. The 45th Contracting Squadron, Patrick Air Force Base, Fla., is the contracting activity (F08650-94-C-0001, P00133).
Robertson Aviation Inc., Tempe, Ariz., is being awarded a $15,968,685 (base year total) firm-fixed-price contract, with a cumulative total of $27,979,456 if all options are exercised, for 209 CH-47D Chinook crashworthy extended range fuel system (CWERFS) "A" kits, 25 CWERFS "B" kits, and associated training and technical manuals. Work will be performed in Tempe, Ariz., and is expected to be completed by July 10, 2000. Contract funds will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. This is a sole source contract initiated on June 15, 1998.
Charles Kaman, 79, chief executive officer and president of Kaman Corp., suffered a mild stroke late last week following successful knee replacement surgery, the company reported yesterday. Kaman's physicians report that he is resting comfortably, and are hopeful for a full recovery, the company said. Until Kaman's return, Robert Garneau, executive vice president and chief financial officer, will coordinate ongoing business activities.
General Dynamics Land Systems Inc., Sterling Heights, Mich., is being awarded a $20,835,000 firm-fixed-price contract to rebuild 45 M1A1 Abrams Tank, Abrams Integrated Management XXI Program. Work will be performed in Lima, Ohio (77%); Scranton, Pa. (20%); and Muskegon, Mich. (3%), and is expected to be completed by July 31, 2000. Of the total contract funds, $19,771,335 will expire at the end of the current fiscal year. This is a sole source contract initiated on July 23, 1998. The contracting activity is the U.S. Army Tank-automotive&Armaments Command, Warren, Mich.
Boeing and Lockheed Martin both have Joint Strike Fighter designs that are near the U.S. Air Force's $28 million unit cost goal, and neither has sacrificed requirements beyond what the AF can accept, a senior AF official said last week.
Boeing Commercial Airplane Group selected five mills to supply all its aluminum flat-rolled products and small and intermediate extrusions for the next 10 years. The agreements will have an estimated value of $4.3 billion when finalized and are part of Boeing's new "lean" procurement strategy, under which the company will buy directly from the mills then provide products through a single distributor to external suppliers and internal parts shops.
Congress would be likely to endorse a $510 million NASA plan to keep the International Space Station on track regardless of what happens as NASA's Russian partner faces a government crisis, but the Clinton White House must concede its past Station policy hasn't worked and ask for the help, the chairman of the House Science Committee has told a NASA audience.
Power Spectra Inc., Sunnyvale, Calif., laid off all employees due to lack of operating capital, pending the securing of additional financing. A spokesman said yesterday that the company basically can't meet its payroll. It has been searching for other sources of funding. Power Spectra designs and makes ground penetrating radar systems, laser rangefinders and high-output-power impulse generators for industrial and military applications which use the company's proprietary high-speed gallium arsenide (GaAs) switching devices.
Northrop Grumman Corp., Bethpage, N.Y., is being awarded a $20,497,380 firm-fixed-price contract for the fabrication and assembly of five EA-6B wing center sections. Work will be performed in St. Augustine, Fla. (43%), Bethpage, N.Y. (35%), and Melbourne, Fla. (22%), and is expected to be completed by June 2001. Contract funds will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. This contract was not competitively procured. The Naval Air Systems Command, Patuxent River, Md., is the contracting activity (N00019-98-C-0057).
