The Pentagon is seeking high tech firms to participate in a Dual Use Science and Technology (DU S&T) program this fall to develop new technologies that can be used by the commercial and military sectors. Project managers from the DU S&T program are scheduled to describe the goal of the program and military interests in the commercial sector at an Oct. 22 meeting in Arlington, Va., and at an Oct. 29 meeting in Los Angeles.
The board of directors of Primex Technologies Inc., St. Petersburg, Fla., approved a stock repurchase program of up to 250,000 shares, or about 5% of the company's common stock, Primex reported yesterday. The company said that from time to time and as conditions allow, it may buy back shares on the open market at prevailing market prices or in negotiated transactions off the market.
Tracor Systems Technologies Inc., a subsidiary of Marconi North America Inc., won a five-year contract with a potential value of $90.4 million, including options, to provide engineering services for the U.S. Navy's Physical, Electronic and Computer Sensor Systems (PECSS) program, Marconi reported Tuesday.
Deep Space 1, the first advanced space technology demonstrator built under NASA's New Millennium program, has entered processing at Kennedy Space Center, Fla., in preparation for an Oct. 15 launch aboard a Boeing Delta II. The 1,080-pound spacecraft, built by Spectrum Astro, will test 12 new space probe technologies as it heads toward a flyby of the near-Earth asteroid 1992-KD next July and possibly two dormant comets in 2001.
Overall, the latest financial quarter was fairly normal for the major U.S. aerospace and defense companies, analysts said. "I see pretty respectable gains," said Richard Aboulafia, an analyst with The Teal Group of Fairfax, Va. "In some ways it's a growth market and should be making money, and a lot of people are."
The Pentagon's Selected Acquisition Report (SAR) for the six months ending June 30 says the cost of more than 70 major programs was practically the same as it was six months before, at the end of December. The cost of 77 programs totaled $674.1 billion, only $5.1 million - or 0.001% - less. The reason, according to the report, which will be officially released today, is a $5.1 million correction in the cost of the Navy's Cooperative Engagement Capability (CEC).
The U.S. Army and the Pentagon's Inspector General agree that the life-cycle costs of the RAH-66 Comanche helicopter may be understated. But they disagree to the tune of nearly $30 billion on how much.
Northrop Grumman has won a competition to supply more than 200 targeting pods to the U.S. Air National Guard and Reserve for use on F-16s starting in 2001. The Air Force last week awarded Northrop Grumman a $17.7 million contract for eight Litening Pod systems. The service plans to buy about 264 pods to equip F-16C/Ds in the Block 25/30/32 configuration (DAILY, Oct. 2, 1997). The eight pods are needed to achieve initial operational capability by the year 1999.
BOEING said the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration has granted type certification to the next-generation 737-600 airliner. Deliveries to Scandinavian Airlines System (SAS) are scheduled to begin next month, pending Joint Aviation Authorities type certification approval.
Northrop Grumman won a five-year, $16.5 million contract from the Naval Sea Systems Command to develop the Common Broadband Advanced Sonar System (CBASS), designed to enhance the effectiveness of the MK48 ADCAP torpedo, the company reported yesterday.
Sikorsky Support Services, Stratford, Conn., is being awarded a $147,702,818 indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity requirements contract to procure intermediate and organizational level maintenance for 100 T-2C, 53 TA-4J, 2 HH-1N, and 3 UH-3H aircraft under the Chief of Naval Air Training flight training program. Work will be performed in Meridian, Miss. (70%), Pensacola, Fla. (23%), and Corpus Christi, Texas (7%), and is expected to be completed by August 2003. Contract funds will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year.
DOT Inspector General Kenneth Mead told FAA last week it needs to come up with a "more realistic schedule" for the Wide Area Augmentation System and "should formally acknowledge that its current schedule for the operation of the final phase of WAAS, December 2001, will not be met."
Boeing Co. has begun using a test variant of the E-3 Airborne Warning and Control System (AWACS) aircraft for evaluation of technologies to be show-cased next month in the U.S. Air Force's Expeditionary Force Experiment, or EFX '98. Boeing, using the TS-3 aircraft, is testing a phased array antenna, a broadcast intelligence terminal, the step-one Radar System Improvement Program (RSIP) architecture, and multi-source integration capability. Flight tests will assess how the systems work against live targets.
HELLFIRE Systems LLC, Orlando, Fla., is being awarded $6,205,000 as part of a not-to-exceed $12,400,000 firm-fixed-price letter contract for HELLFIRE II Blast Fragmentation Warhead Missiles and HELLFIRE II Training Guided Missiles. Work will be performed in Orlando, Fla., and is expected to be completed by May 31, 2000. Contract funds will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. This is a sole source contract initiated on July 10, 1998. The contracting activity is the U.S. Army Aviation&Missile Command, Redstone Arsenal, Ala. (DAAH01-98-C-0197).
Preparatory work has started on creation of a holding company which will concentrate on development and production of Mil helicopters. The holding company, called "Mi Helicopters" should include Mil Moscow Helicopter Plant (MVZ), serial-production plants in Kazan, Rostov-on-Don and Ulan-Ude, and the Moscow-based Vpered plant.
The U.S. Air Force is looking to cut funding for three of its newest Global Positioning Satellites in the latest budget drills, although there is a small chance that will change in coming months as the finishing touches are put on the fiscal 2000 budget request.
Navy divers operating from NASA's booster recovery vessels will use side-scan sonar to pinpoint wreckage on the ocean floor of the $1 billion National Reconnaissance Office signals intelligence satellite lost in the Aug. 12 Titan IVA launch failure, the Air Force said yesterday.
Colsa Corp., Huntsville, Ala., is being awarded a definitizing modification to a $59,104,142 firm-fixed-price letter contract for PATRIOT/Hawk Phase III, Royal Saudi Arabian Air Force C3 system integration. Work will be performed in Saudi Arabia (90%); and Huntsville, Ala. (10%), and is expected to be completed by Jan. 30, 2002. Contract funds will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. This is a sole source contract initiated on Jan. 30, 1998. The contracting activity is the U.S. Army Aviation&Missile Command, Redstone Arsenal, Ala. (DAAH01-98-C-0109).
Lockheed Martin Missiles and Space Company, Sunnyvale, Calif., is being awarded a $75,351,942 face value increase to a cost-plus-award-fee-contract to provide for fabrication, assembly, integration, test, and support of nine Multi-Mission Mobile Processors in support of the Space based Infrared System. These units are designed to provide a mobile ballistic and strategic missile warning capability. Expected contract completion date is November 2006. Space and Missile Systems Center, Los Angeles, Calif., is the contracting activity (F04701-95-C-0017/-0046).
Kongsberg Defense and Aerospace, Kongsberg, Norway, is being awarded a $5,290,517 firm-fixed-price contract for FY 98 production requirements for the Penguin MK2 MOD 7 Missile. This will include the procurement of four missiles, 45 missile control test sets, canards/wings, umbilical release units, interconnecting cables, wing lanyards, power unit cables, umbilical cables, alignment power units, and missile power units. Work will be performed in Kongsberg, Norway, and is expected to be completed by January 2000.
Lockheed Martin Astronautics, Denver, Colo., and Universities Space Research Association, Columbia, Md., are being awarded a $9,000,000 (Total Program Value) indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity-contract to provide for studies and research projects in support of the Space Vehicles Directorate, Air Force Research Laboratory, Kirtland Air Force Base, New Mexico.
Lockheed Martin will consolidate its domestic and international business development organizations into a single entity effective Oct. 1, the company reported yesterday. The new Corporate Business Development Group will be led by Robert Trice Jr.
GALAXY X, a new PanamSat Corp. satellite which will provide communications services in the U.S., is set for launch from Cape Canaveral, Fla., on Aug. 24.
