Texcom, Inc., Portsmouth, Va., is being awarded a $24,672,350 indefinite-delivery/ indefinite-quantity, cost-plus-fixed fee contract to provide engineering services in support of Navy communications programs. Programs include shipboard switching systems, UHF/VHF/HF radio equipment support, Link 2, commercial wideband SatCom, LHD communications, microwave and integrated communications and battlegroup cellular and related systems. This contract contains three one-year options which, if exercised, will bring the total cumulative value of the contract to $99,194,587.
First flight of Boeing's new Delta III space launch vehicle has been slipped until Wednesday night because of the threat posed by Hurricane Bonnie to Cape Canaveral Air Station, Fla., where the new rocket is poised on a refurbished Delta II pad. The Delta III, carrying the Galaxy X satellite built by Hughes for PanAmSat, was originally scheduled for launch last night (DAILY, Aug. 24).
Northrop Grumman Corp. plans to reduce its annual operating costs by about $300 million through a series of actions that include realignment of its operating units, consolidation of facilities and laboratories and other management actions, the company reported yesterday. Northrop Grumman hopes to have the plan in action by 2001.
Silicon Power Corp., Malvern, Pa., is being awarded a $11,478,947 cost- sharing contract to provide for research and development to produce high and medium power semiconductor switching devices for use on various electronic systems. This was a Broad Agency Announcement. There were 5 proposals received. Expected contract completion date is November 24, 2002. Solicitation issue date was August 15, 1997. Negotiation completion date was August 11, 1998. Air Force Research Laboratory, Wright-Patterson AFB, Ohio, is the contracting activity (F33615-98-C-5853).
RMI Titanium Co., Niles, Ohio, formed a holding company, RTI International Metals Inc., as part of a proposed restructuring. RTI will exchange shares of common stock on a one-for-one basis for all of the current outstanding common stock of RMI Titanium. RMI then will become the wholly-owned subsidiary of RTI. The rights of the shareholders will be unchanged under the charter and bylaws of the new holding company.
Whittaker Corp., Simi Valley, Calif., sold the assets and business of its integration services unit, Aviant Information Inc., to Enterprise Consulting Group Inc., a wholly-owned subsidiary of Superior Consulting Holding Corp. Proceeds from the sale will be used to reduce Whittaker's bank debt, the company said.
CAS Inc., Huntsville, Ala., is being awarded a $150,000 increment of a $7,135,141 cost-plus-fixed-fee contract with a cumulative total of $49,998,752 (base year plus five 1-year options) to provide scientific, engineering, and technical assistance and testbed support to the Joint Land Attack Cruise Missile Defense Elevated Netted Sensor System (JLENS) Project Office, U.S. Army Space and Missile Defense Command. The period of performance is approximately fifty (50) months. Work will be performed in Huntsville, Ala. (79%),Columbia, Md. (5%), Fairfax, Va.
Boeing added a reconfigurable flight control system to the F/A-18E/F Super Hornet that is intended to enhance safety and the pilot's ability to recover control in the event of loss of the actuator that directs movement of the horizontal tail control surface. Flight tests at NAS Patuxent River, Md., demonstrated superior flying qualities with only one operational horizontal tail actuator, Boeing said.
The Canadian department of national defense has decided to defer buying a low cost standoff missile, although the program is still part of the country's long-term capital plan, a Canadian military official said. The standoff missile competition is "on the back burner," the official told The DAILY late last week. "It's been pushed outside the five-year planning window" established by Canada.
Lockheed Martin has delivered the first C-130J airlifter to its launch customer, the U.K. Royal Air Force, which will begin its own operational test and evaluation once the aircraft arrives at Boscombe Down on Aug. 26. Deliveries to the U.K., which has bought 10 C-130Js and 15 stretched C-130J-30s, will be completed in early 2000, Lockheed Martin said yesterday. The start of deliveries is two years behind schedule largely because of delays in the flight test program.
Raytheon Training Inc., Binghamton, N.Y., was awarded on August 14, 1998, a $150,000,000 indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity-contract to provide for contractor logistics support through September 2008 for the Training System in support of the B-2 aircraft. Solicitation issue date was April 27, 1998. Negotiation completion date was July 27, 1998. Aeronautical Systems Center, Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio, is the contracting activity (F33657-98-D-0005).
Allied Signal Aerospace, Phoenix, Ariz., is being awarded a $7,388,807 cost-plus-fixed-fee-contract to provide for the Joint Expendable Engine Concepts (JETEC) III research and development program. This program seeks to demonstrate advances in gas turbine engines that will facilitate reduced fuel consumption and production costs. This was a Program Research and Development Announcement, there were three proposals received. Expected contract completion date is July 29, 2002. Solicitation issue date was August 13, 1997. Negotiation completion date was July 28, 1998.
Tejon Ranch Co., Lebec, Calif., reached an agreement to sell to Northrop Grumman Corp. the 1,415-acre radar test facility that Northrop has leased from Tejon since 1980, Tejon reported. The $4.3 million sale is scheduled to close during the fourth quarter, following completion of the land parcelization being approved and processed by Kern County.
General Electric Aircraft Engines, Cincinnati, Ohio, is being awarded a $5,991,500 modification to previously awarded contract N00019-96-C-0176 for the Joint Strike Fighter F120 Turbofan Engine Program - Phase II. This modification exercises options for combustor five-cup sector rig altitude test expansion; core reliability, maintainability and safety; weapons system contractor integration; engine low pressure design assessment/trade/system integration; and high pressure turbine nozzle fabrication efforts.
Japan's Ministry of International Trade and Industry (MITI) plans to spend a reported $175 million on two satellites that will be designed to test how well low-cost satellite components stand up in space, all in an effort to make Japan more competitive in the international satellite-building marketplace.
The second F-22 being readied for transfer to Edwards AFB, Calif., for flight testing completed its first aerial refueling Sunday after vibration problems last week forced the U.S. Air Force and Lockheed Martin to replace one of the two Pratt&Whitney F119 engines that power the fighter.
Aeromaritime Mediterranean LTD, Chantilly, Va., is being awarded a delivery order amount of $785,803 as part of a $5,527,206 firm-fixed-price indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract for maintenance and overhaul for the T703-AD-700A (r) compressors in Support of the OH-58D Kiowa Warrior. Work will be performed in Malta and is expected to be completed by September 30, 2003. Contract funds will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. There were 11 bids solicited on June 11, 1998, and nine bids received. The contracting activity is the U.S.
U.S. Marine Corps planners are looking at several ways to arm helicopters with precision-guided rockets. "We have seen in operating in urban environments, you need some kind of direct fire with precision that can minimize collateral damage," says Brig. Gen. Bruce Byrum, Marine Corps assistant deputy chief of staff for aviation. One of the options under consideration is putting a small charge in the Laser Guided Training Round already used by the Marines.
GOES-10, the newest U.S. Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite, reached its operating location over the Pacific at 135 degrees West longitude Friday. Launched April 25, 1997, GOES-10 was called out of on-orbit storage last month when the GOES-9 weather satellite suffered technical problems (DAILY, July 17).
Boeing's new Delta III space launch vehicle is scheduled make its first flight tonight, lifting off from a refurbished pad at Cape Canaveral Air Station, Fla., with the 8,546-pound Galaxy X telecommunications satellite aboard. An upgrade of the workhorse Delta II and an "evolutionary step toward the Delta IV," the Delta III uses lightweight composite structures, strap-on boosters and a cryogenic second stage to roughly double the Delta II payload capacity (DAILY, April 27).
The Pentagon's Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency wants to run electro-magnetic interference testing on the Miniature Air Launched Decoy in coming weeks, according to Lt. Col. Walter Price, the MALD program manager. The tests would be necessary before MALD can be used aboard aircraft carriers. The Air Force has sponsored the MALD technology demonstrations, although the Navy has been briefed on the program. Price says MALD has been designed to handle the stresses of carrier takeoffs and landings.
Sources in Moscow say the now-twice-delayed Russian Service Module still won't be ready to launch to the International Space Station in April of next year as scheduled. Look for announcement of a new slip in the Station assembly schedule after the Station program meeting in the Russian capital coming up next month, or possibly earlier. The "Zarya" FGB space tug scheduled to be the first Station element launched on Nov. 20 is on hold at Baikonur Cosmodrome, awaiting the go-ahead for final processing.
Russia's main spaceport is changing rapidly as it shifts gears for the post-Soviet era, with some facilities being refurbished for commercial space applications and the International Space Station while others await abandonment because they fail to fit the new shape of Russian space activity. Since 1994, when the commercial activity here was just beginning as the remnants of the Soviet space program cast about for a new direction, the situation at the cosmodrome has actually improved in some respects, dire reports of its disintegration notwithstanding.
