The Turkish government has begun negotiations with Sikorsky Aircraft for 50 additional Black Hawk helicopters, officials said. Sikorsky was disappointed in 1993 when Turkey decided to buy 20 Cougar helicopters from Eurocopter instead of the 50 Black Hawks. It bought 45 Black Hawks in 1992, but the next batch of 50 was suspended because of reaction in Turkey to statements in the U.S. Congress about American arms sales to Turkey.
Unova Inc., an industrial technologies company headquartered in Beverly Hills, Calif., signed a definitive agreement to acquire Cincinnati Milacron's machine tool operation for about $178 million in cash. Unova, announcing the deal Friday, said it is expected to be finalized in early October. The Milacron group, whose activities are directed at the stand-alone machine and systems market, primarily in the aerospace and general manufacturing industries, will become part of Unova's Industrial Automation System (IAS) segment, based in Warren, Mich.
Operational testers who spent about two months flying the F/A-18E/F Super Hornet at NAS China Lake, Calif., found the strike fighter operationally effective and reported "no task degradation" despite a relatively minor lateral movement of the jet during some high g turns.
U.S. Navy planners are considering boosting the service's airborne tactical reconnaissance capability by fielding four Tactical Airborne Reconnaissance Pod Systems (TARPS) that are entirely digital.
Flight testing of the second F-22 fighter had to be halted after pilots noticed a vibration problem that has prompted the U.S. Air Force and Lockheed Martin to replace one of the stealthy fighter's two Pratt&Whitney F119 engines. Pilots discovered a 2-axial vibration during the fourth and fifth flights of the aircraft at Lockheed Martin's Marietta, Ga., facility. The vibration was discovered while flying at high altitudes in certain power settings, an AF spokesman said Friday.
With the Joint Standoff Weapon entering U.S. inventory in larger numbers, international interest in acquiring the missile is growing. Australia may be the hottest prospect at the moment, according to one official. Israel also has expressed interest in the weapon. The Middle East market, however, may be closed off for several years.
Space Gateway Support of Herndon, Va., has been picked for a joint base operations contract at Kennedy Space Center, Cape Canaveral Air Station and Patrick AFB, Fla., that could be worth more than $2 billion over 10 years. The winning company is a joint venture of Northrop Grumman Technical Services, Herndon; ICF Kaiser Defense Programs Inc., Fairfax, Va., and Wackenhut Services Inc., Palm Beach Gardens, Fla.
Lockheed Martin will deliver its first C-130J airlifter today. In a ceremony at the company's Marietta, Ga., facility, the U.K. Royal Air Force will accept the first of 25. Deliveries to the U.S., Australia and other customers are expected to follow on short order.
Hawker Pacific Aerospace, Sun Valley, Calif., signed a three-year service agreement to provide landing gear repairs and overall services on Canadian Airlines International's fleet of widebody DC-10-30s. Earlier this year, Hawker signed a contract with Canadian Airlines to provide those support services for the airline's 737s. The value of the contracts was not disclosed.
A Norwalk, Conn., research firm estimates the market for fuel cells will grow at an annual rate of 29.5% over the next five years, rising from an estimated $355 million this year to $1.3 billion in 2003. Business Communications Company, Inc. (BCC), sees the need for renewable, clean energy sources driving the market. Fuel cells produce electricity from chemical reactions, and are commonly used in space and military systems, transportation and applications that need a portable power source.
A U.S. Air Force initiative to upgrade KC-135 tankers to comply with vertical separation rules of the International Civil Aviation Organization will be restricted to small businesses, the AF said. Results of a market survey for the KC-135 Reduced Vertical Separation Minima (RVSM) program prompted the service to limit the upgrade of some 580 aircraft to small businesses.
The U.S. Navy is looking to expand its involvement in small unmanned aerial vehicles and is getting ready to ask for science and technology proposals to develop the UAVs and associated operational concepts.
The U.S. Navy is considering swapping the EA-6B planes it will use as prototypes for the Improved Capability (ICAP III) program to ensure that the most capable of the electronic support jammers remains available to warfighters.
The U.S., responding to the Aug. 7 bombings of two U.S. embassies in East Africa, struck terrorist facilities and infrastructure in Afghanistan and Sudan with Tomahawk Land Attack Missiles from Navy ships in the Arabian and Red Seas. The strike was timed to hit as many terrorists as possible at a camp in Afghanistan. President Clinton said the sites were an "imminent threat" to the U.S., and that strong evidence suggested a relationship to exiled Saudi national Osama bin Laden, who is suspected of having orchestrated the embassy bombings.
ARINC Incorporated, Annapolis, Md., has received a $1.4 billion contract from the Army's Communications Electronics Command at Ft. Monmouth, N.J., to provide a range of services supporting ongoing life extension programs for a number of platforms. Under the Rapid Response to Critical Systems Requirements (R2CSR) contract, ARINC will provide engineering services, studies, analyses, replacement parts, manufacturing, repair capability and installation and integration capabilities. Work under the contract is anticipated to run until 2003.
Iridium LLC has launched its first two replenishment satellites, using a Chinese Long March 2C/SD launch vehicle to place one of the new spacecraft where it can take over for a satellite that has failed and to deploy the other as an on-orbit spare in the same orbital plane.
U.S. space officials are keeping a close eye on the rapidly changing economic situation in Russia as the banks and markets there weather the shakeout that followed the de facto devaluation of the ruble, but there has been no change in the way NASA relates to its shaky International Space Station partner since the action.
L-3 Communications completed its acquisition of SPD Technologies Inc. for $230 million, subject to a post-closing adjustment. L-3 also expanded its commercial information security capability with the acquisition of a network security products business, Trident Information Protection Toolbox, and the formation of a new subsidiary for secure communication systems for commercial customers.
ALLIEDSIGNAL AEROSPACE, Phoenix, won a $7.4 million contract for the Joint Expendable Engine Concepts (JETEC) III research and development program. The Pentagon said the program seeks to demonstrate advances in gas turbine engines that will facilitate reduced fuel consumption and production costs.
Three squadrons of British Royal Air Force Tornadoes, due to leave Germany at the beginning of the next century, will be based at RAF Lossiemouth and RAF Marham, according to Doug Henderson, U.K. Armed Forces Minister. About 40 Tornadoes will leave Bruggen in Germany before they cease operations there in late 2001 (DAILY, March 25, June 2 and July 9). Two squadrons will join an existing Tornado squadron at Lossiemouth, and two will form the Tornado Wing at Marham. To make room at Lossiemouth, a reserve Jaguar squadron will be moved to RAF Coltishall.
CPU Tech won a multi-million contract from Honeywell Defense Avionics Systems to provide CPU1750A microprocessors for the Honeywell color programmable display generator for the Air Force's F-16 Common Configuration Implementation Program (CCIP), the Pleasanton, Calif., company reported. The CPU1750A will provide six times faster processing speed than the MIl-STD-1750A it replaces while returning absolute binary compatibility with the existing legacy software, CPU said.
CADE INDUSTRIES INC., under a potential $3 million contract, will produce wing tip and dorsal fairings for the Boeing C-17 Globemaster III airlifter. The multi-year contract, which runs through 2003, will bring backlog of the Okemos, Mich., company to $90.6 million. "We are pleased to be participating in another important Boeing project," said Richard Lund, Cade president and chief executive officer. "This contract is further recognition that Cade Industries meets the highest quality standards and delivery schedule required by leaders in the aerospace industry."
U.S. Army ground crews who maintain the AH-64D Apache Longbow helicopter now have the interactive electronic technical manual (IETM), which replaces about 30,000 pages of printed technical information, Boeing reported. The IETM is the only Class IV system, which stores data in a hierarchical manner, in service, Boeing said. It said Class I through III systems provide data in a linear manner, a format more prone to cause errors.
Lockheed Martin Federal Systems, Owego, N.Y., won a $61 million, two- year contract from the U.S. Navy to develop a common cockpit prototype for the H-60 helicopter fleet, the company reported yesterday. The goal of the common cockpit effort is to ensure air crew and vehicle survivability and enhance mission effectiveness through a Commercial-Off-the-Shelf (COTS) based common cockpit. Other benefits include efficiencies in volume buying, parts supply and maintenance and operations and training.
