Cuts by Senate appropriators in the $367.8 million RAH-66 Comanche budget request for fiscal year 1999 could delay first flight of the second prototype and slow enhancements of the only prototype now in the flight test program. The Senate cut $18.6 million from the program, $10 million for flight testing and $8.6 million for engineering changes. The House added $24 million to reduce risk to the mission equipment package and to accelerate the second prototype.
GenCorp's Aerojet received $42 million from Defense Support Program prime contractor TRW for delivery of a infrared sensor for the last DSP satellite, the company said Thursday. Aerojet said it was the final award for its DSP work, which is winding down as the U.S. Air Force starts replacing DSP with the Space-Based Infrared System. Aerojet still has an on-going $264.7 million contract for DSP support through 2001 and for retrofit support through 1999.
British Aerospace Systems and Equipment (BASE), along with partner Honeywell Sensor and Guidance Products, won a contract from the U.S. Air Force to supply Terrain Awareness and Warning Systems (TAWS), BAe reported. BAe said the TAWS capability was developed from BASE's fighter aircraft digital terrain system TERPROM, and is installed via a SEM-E module into Honeywell's Embedded GPS/INS (EGI), the H-764G, already in service on many Air Force aircraft.
Fabrication of the first Miniature Air Launched Decoy, intended to spoof enemy air defenses, is being completed and flight tests are slated to begin in October. Six of 10 MALDs being built for flight testing are in various stages of assembly by Teledyne Ryan Aeronautical in San Diego. The first decoy is expected to be completed by Sept. 1, said U.S. Air Force Lt. Col. Walter Price, MALD program manager for the Pentagon's Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency.
L-3 Communications, New York, named Gen. John Shalikashvili (USA-ret.) to its board of directors. The appointment increased board membership to 11. Shalikashvili served as the 13th chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff for two terms from 1993 to 1997.
THE SECOND F-22 prototype arrived yesterday at Edwards AFB, Calif., following a non-stop flight from Dobbins ARB, Ga., an Air Force spokesman said. The aircraft will be used for high angle of attack (AOA) testing. Lockheed Martin and the Air Force have expanded the F-22's AOA to 16 degrees, but want to reach at least 18 degrees by the end of the year. After completing its AOA work, the aircraft, known as Raptor 4002, will be used for weapons separation tests.
The U.S. Army is taking its first look at the utility that Micro Air Vehicles may have for future scout missions. The effort is part of a larger computer simulation experiment by the service's Mounted Maneuver Battlespace Lab at Ft. Knox, Ky., that is playing unmanned ground vehicles and future scout vehicles in brigade and battalion-level reconnaissance missions.
Howmet Corp., Greenwich, Conn., will expand its manufacturing capacity, building a new aero-airfoil plant and expanding three plants that make industrial gas turbine (IGT) components. "We are taking these steps with full awareness of aircraft cycle projections and long-term IGT needs," David Squier, president and chief executive officer, said in a statement. "After evaluating all market factors, we are convinced that this is the right time to take actions which will show our customers they can count on us to meet their needs."
AMERICAN TRANS AIR announced orders for two Boeing 757s to be delivered in the fall of 1999. ATA currently operates eight 757s with a ninth scheduled to be delivered in December. The company also recently signed a purchase agreement for five L-1011-500s to support growth in its charter service. These are to be added to its fleet over the next 15 months.
The Ballistic Missile Defense Organization and the Army are expected as early as this week to present options to a high-level Pentagon board on how to proceed with the troubled Theater High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) missile program, industry sources said. Included in those options is one that would cancel the program, sources said. However, program officials within BMDO and industry sources believe that is very unlikely.
British Airways' order Tuesday for a new fleet of Airbus A320s and the extended range version of the Boeing 777 (DAILY, Aug. 26) gives it new operating flexibility that will change the way it serves some markets. The airline plans to extend its decision to buy A320 family planes to include its Deutsche BA and Air Liberte divisions, giving it fleet commonality, cost and maintenance efficiencies across its European operation. The eventual inclusion of DBA and Air Liberte also will make the A320 order much larger than the 59 firm aircraft ordered Tuesday.
The U.S. Air Force is looking with great interest toward acquisition of a space-based synthetic aperture radar (SAR) system that could augment a relatively small fleet of Joint STARS aircraft and reduce the footprint of Air Expeditionary Forces, Lt. Gen. Marvin R. Esmond, the deputy chief of staff for air and space operations, said yesterday.
European Space Agency controllers working out of NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center finished thawing the hydrazine fuel in the ESA/NASA Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO) Tuesday night, but it could be "weeks" before it is known whether the spacecraft spinning out of control at the Lagrangian point can be rescued.
Taiwan's Aerospace Industrial Development Corp., which hopes to become privatized before the end of the year, has invited strategic investors to purchase its shares. An AIDC spokesman said the organization hopes to release at least 50% of its 905.59 million outstanding shares for sale to qualified domestic and foreign companies in the aviation, shipping, electronics, metal and financial industries. A screening team is expected to meet during the first half of 1999 to select qualified investors.
An Ariane 44P launch vehicle orbited the ST-1 direct-to-home broadcast satellite for a Taiwan/Singapore joint venture Tuesday night. Liftoff of the European rocket, assisted by four solid-fuel strap-on boosters, came at 7:07 p.m. EDT from the Guiana Space Center in Kourou. At third-stage injection into geostationary transfer orbit the launch was on target, according to the Arianespace launch consortium.
Russia's air forces are trying to get as much as they can out of their aircraft as they downsize for lean years ahead, developing versatile planes capable of handling more than one mission and upgrading existing aircraft for maximum service. On the eve of the 86th anniversary of the Russian Air Force, its Commander-in-Chief, Col.-Gen. Anatoliy Kornukov, outlined the shape the service will take after its merger with part of the disbanded Air Defense Forces is completed later this year.
Northrop Grumman is aiming to replace the AlliedSignal Aerospace AN/APS-133(V) radar used on the C-17 airlifter with a variant of its AN/APN-241 used on the C-130J and some C-130Hs. The company has developed a Block B variant of the APN-241 with a 22- inch aperture for use on aircraft, like the C-17, that can't house the standard model which has a 36-inch aperture, Robert W. DuBeau, vice president for avionics systems at Northrop Grumman's Electronic Sensors and Systems Div., said in an interview here.
ASTRONAUT WILLIAM F. READDY has taken over as deputy associate administrator for Space Shuttle at NASA headquarters, a temporary "rotational" assignment that will leave the three-time space veteran eligible for future Shuttle missions. Readdy will be responsible for top-level Shuttle policy planning and coordinating Shuttle safety across the agency. He replaces Astronaut Steve Oswald, who has returned to the active astronaut corps at JSC.
Harris Corp., Melbourne, Fla., won a contract from the U.S. Navy Space and Naval Warfare Systems Command for high frequency radio communications systems. Harris' RF Communications Div., Rochester, N.Y., will supply high frequency broadband communications systems for Navy warships. The contract is initially valued at $18 million, with options that could increase the value to $91 million.
AEROQUIP-VICKERS said John H. Weber resigned as its executive vice president and president of Vickers to take a position in another industry. The two companies make components for industrial, aerospace and automotive markets.
Lockheed Martin signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Mitsubishi Electric Corp. to explore joint business opportunities. "We believe the agreement will serve our mutual interest effectively over the next several years," Thomas Corcoran, president and chief operating officer of Lockheed Martin, said in a statement. "Accordingly, we are working together to pursue business interests in Japan, and we expect to add specifics to the agreement over the balance of 1998 and into 1999."
The U.S. Navy wants planned upgrades to the Joint Direct Attack Munition to be limited so that unit cost of the weapon doesn't exceed $50,000, a Navy official said. JDAM now costs about $14,000, but the Navy is considering upgrades that would boost the price of its GPS-aided guidance kit. The Navy plans to pay for the more capable JDAM by buying fewer units.
SOCIETE EUROPEENNE DES SATELLITES is preparing for a Saturday launch of its Astra 2A direct-to-home satellite aboard a Proton launcher at the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. The Hughes-built satellite is scheduled to provide 32 active Ku-band transponders at 28.2 degrees East longitude for digital television, radio and multimedia services to the U.K. and Ireland. Liftoff is scheduled for 8:31 p.m. EDT Saturday, with a 10-minute launch window.
ORBITAL SCIENCES CORP. has shipped eight more Orbcomm "Little LEO" low Earth orbit communications satellites from its Germantown, Md., plant to Vandenberg AFB, Calif., for integration into a Pegasus air-launched booster. The eight small satellites, stacked like poker chips at the nose of the Pegasus, are scheduled to be launched next month. If the launch is successful, they will be the 21st through 28th satellites deployed for the Orbcomm constellation, making the system available "virtually full-time," Orbital reported.
