An upgrade of the F-16's radar being developed and promoted by Northrop Grumman to help reduce the cost of sustaining the aircraft would allow Global Positioning System-aided bombs to be dropped with more precision than otherwise possible. Northrop Grumman has pitched the APG-68(V)X upgrade to the U.S. Air Force and attracted attention at the AF's F-16 program office and Air Combat Command - but, so far, no funding.
A coalition of business executives is pushing the Pentagon to establish more partnerships with private-sector companies, allowing those companies to take over more activities traditionally managed by the military. For example, DOD "should start with clearly commercial activities like payroll, travel, telecommunications and data processing - where U.S. companies have demonstrated world class competence," according to the Washington-based Business Executives for National Security (BENS).
NASA has picked 25 small businesses to negotiate for Phase I contracts worth as much as $100,000 each for one-year feasibility studies on advanced space exploration technologies, which could lead to $500,000, two-year Phase II contracts.
Raytheon Systems Co. and the U.S. Navy plan to finalize design of the AGM-154C Joint Standoff Weapon in coming months. The task includes selecting an infrared seeker. "We are looking at several seekers," Bob Pergler, Raytheon's requirements manager for interdiction weapons, said in a telephone interview yesterday.
The V-22 tiltrotor aircraft has begun meeting requirements for carrying external loads. In one recent test flight at NAS Patuxent River, Md., Air Vehicle 8 carried a 10,000-pound sling load on the aft hook. The aircraft started in helicopter mode then transitioned to aircraft mode, hitting 230 knots forward speed, Marty Shubert, a Bell Helicopter Textron test pilot, said in a telephone interview from Pax River. The required speed was 220 knots.
Litton said its Electron Devices Div., San Carlos, Calif., was selected by Raytheon Systems Co. for the first release of a four-year requirements contract to supply all traveling wave tubes used in the active seeker of the AIM-120 Advanced Medium Range Air-to-Air Missile (AMRAAM). The first release requirement contract is for about $5 million for about 800 tubes. The value of the four-year total is more than $21 million for about 3,500 tubes. Deliveries are slated to begin in 1999 and run through 2002.
U.S. Army plans to develop a longer range, more capable Hellfire anti- tank missile have been drastically altered by a decision to halt efforts on the Modernized Hellfire program and fold it into the Defense Advanced Research Project Agency's Advanced Fire Support System (AFSS). The Army wanted to start engineering and manufacturing development of the Modernized Hellfire in 2003 and begin full rate production around 2008.
Selected Acquisition Report (SAR) programs as of June 30, 1998, are detailed in the following table, released this week by the Dept. of Defense (DAILY, Aug. 19). Dollar figures are in millions. For SAR data as of Dec. 31, 1997, see The DAILY of April 8, 1998. Changes To Date Weapon System Base Cost Year Base Current Qnty Year Year ARMY:
Litton expects to receive up to $50 million for its subcontractor work on OAO's support contract for the North America Air Defense (NORAD)/U.S. Space Command Mission and Architecture Support contract. Greenbelt, Md.-based OAO picked Litton's PRC unit, of McLean, Va., as one of several subcontractors for its $180 million, nine-year indefinite delivery/indefinite quantity support contract, Litton said Monday. Leonard M. Pomata, Litton vice president, called the award "very significant" because it keeps the company involved in NORAD work.
Gulfstream Aerospace Corp. completed its acquisition of K-C Aviation from Kimberly-Clark Corp. for $250 million in cash. K-C provides business aviation services. Gulfstream, announcing the development yesterday, said the acquisition is part of its growth strategy and will allow it to accelerate the aircraft completion business, diversify and grow its aircraft maintenance and parts business, and establish its name in the aircraft engine service market.
Concurrent Computer Corp. said BFGoodrich Aerospace has picked its Integrated Data Acquisition and Control System (IDACS) as Next Generation Test Equipment. Concurrent, of Fort Lauderdale, Fla., said yesterday that the Aircraft Integrated Systems (AIS) Div. of BFGoodrich intends to implement fully integrated, turnkey test standards to support its product lines.
Xetron Corp., Cincinnati, a subsidiary of Northrop Grumman, won a $7.8 million contract from the U.S. Army Communications and Electronics Command for continued production of a specialized radio communications device, the Frequency Hopping Multiplexer (FHMUX).
NASA has awarded Aerojet GenCorp of Sacramento, Calif., a $16.4 million contract to develop the deorbit propulsion stage for the first space test of the X-38 prototype of a space station crew return vehicle.
The German-Russian Eurockot venture has been picked to launch a U.S.- German Earth sciences mission on its Rockot vehicle, which is based on the SS-19 ICBM. The Gravity Recovery Climate Experiment (GRACE) will consist of two satellites that will compare the earth's gravity field with climate parameters over five years. Germany's Dornier Satellitensysteme GmbH is building the spacecraft for the mission, which is jointly funded by NASA and the German Aerospace Center DLR.
THE PENTAGON said Lockheed Martin has received an $18.2 million contract to support the LANTIRN system flown by Egypt on its F-16s. The Pentagon disclosed in a July 22 contract announcement that the contract will be for Egypt. Lockheed Martin said on Aug. 18 that it had won a LANTIRN support contract from a customer who asked not to be identified.
Cordant Technologies Inc., Salt Lake City, earned $126 million on sales of $1.8 billion in its 1998 fiscal year, compared to earnings of $82.4 million on sales of $890.1 million in the previous year. Sales at Thiokol Propulsion grew 8% to $655.9 million, with increases in the Missile Defense, Space Shuttle RSRM and commercial launch motor programs. Operating income jumped 43% to $78.8 million due to higher margins in the commercial launch motor program and reduced corporate overhead allocations due to increased ownership in Howmet.
British Aerospace has offered no comment on press reports here that it proposed to assist Libya's civil aviation infrastructure. Libya has been under a United Nations arms and trade embargo since its alleged support of the terrorist bombing of PanAm 103 over Scotland in 1988, killing 270 people.
Rolls-Royce will provide Trent 800 engines worth $390 million to power an additional 15 777s ordered by American Airlines. Deliveries of the 777-200IGWs are scheduled for 2000 and 2001. The American Airlines order, valued at $2.1 billion, was announced last Friday (DAILY, Aug. 17). The latest order brings the number of Rolls-Royce powered 777s for American to 34, with the first scheduled to enter service in January 1999.
Pentacon Inc., a distributor of fasteners and other small parts and provider of inventory management services based in Houston, signed a definitive agreement to acquire ASI Aerospace Group Inc. The transaction is expected to close in September. ASI, which has annual sales of about $73 million, supplies fasteners and other related components to the aerospace industry. It has facilities in San Diego, Torrance and Pasadena, Calif., and Arlington, Tex.
Alliant Techsystems said yesterday it has resumed test flights of its Outrider Tactical Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (TUAV). The return to testing follows an investigation of the Aug. 10 crash of an Outrider near the company's flight operations center in Hondo, Tex. Two flights were conducted Aug. 14, with all mission objectives accomplished and no flight anomalies observed, the company said.
TRW said it has delivered a communications, navigation and identification (CNI) avionics system to the U.S. Air Force for the F-22 fighter. "Our F-22 team really worked hard to deliver this system, which is one of the most important deliveries in our division's history," Chuck Harman, director of CNI systems for TRW's Avionics Systems Division, said in a statement. "We are very proud of this system and are confident it will complement and enhance the innovative technology and firepower employed on the F-22."
The U.S. Navy has awarded a $16.5 million contract to the DD 21 Shipbuilder Alliance for Phase 1 system concept design work in the DD 21 Destroyer program. The Alliance is comprised of Litton's Ingalls Shipbuilding Div. and General Dynamics' Bath Iron Works. Bath will serve as the Alliance prime contractor for the first phases of the program, which will ultimately include the construction of 32 new ships beginning in fiscal year 2004.
Chromalloy Gas Turbine said the federal district court in Wilmington, Del., has ordered United Technologies to "fulfill its obligations" under an agreement it made in 1985 to provide Chromalloy the data and parts required to develop and perform Pratt&Whitney-approved repairs on P&W engines.
Lockheed Martin said it will spend about 33% less on tooling for its X-35 Joint Strike Fighter prototypes than it spent on tooling for the prototype of the F-22 fighter. The savings are being achieved by designing the prototype tooling using electronic design systems that eliminate the need to build master parts, Lockheed Martin said. Two X-35 JSF prototypes are being built at Lockheed Martin's Skunk Works in Palmdale, Calif.
