GE Aircraft Engines, Lynn, Mass., has delivered the first two F414 production engines for the F/A-18E/F to the U.S. Navy, GE reported yesterday. GE will make 28 production engines, 15 to be delivered this year, to support the initial 12 Super Hornets under contract in the low rate initial production phase. Earlier this year, GE received a follow-on contract for 114 more engines to be produced through mid-2001.
Boeing Co. will concentrate its fighter production and program management, including Joint Strike fighter work, in St. Louis, the company reported yesterday. The move is part of a series of consolidations and realignments, mostly in California, Missouri and Washington, to improve operating efficiencies, the company said.
The U.S. Air Force has completed inspection all of its more than 2,000 GBU-15 glide bombs to resolve uncertainties about their reliability. The AF was growing concerned about the state of the GBU-15 inventory because it wasn't sure of the condition of many components. It therefore launched the GBU-15 Reliability Enhancement Program, under which teams of government and industry officials visited every base that has the bomb. Repairs were made when necessary, Frank Robbins, AF program director for precision strike weapons, said in a telephone interview.
LOCKHEED MARTIN won contracts worth about $100 million by the government of Australia for the supply and initial five-year support of four Tactical Air Defense Radar Systems for the Australian Defense Force. Lockheed Martin Ocean Radar&Sensor Systems (OR&SS), Syracuse, N.Y., was selected over other competitors by the Royal Australian Air Force for the Project Air 5375 tactical air defense program last December (DAILY, Dec. 24, 1997).
Despite an increasing need to replace aging KC-130F and KC-130R tankers in the U.S. Marine Corps, the service was unable to allocate funding for the KC-130J replacement aircraft when it put together its fiscal year 2000 program plans, a senior Marine officer said. "Even though it was a commitment this time to put some -Js in [the budget] ourselves, we still don't have them in the POM [Program Objective Memorandum]," Brig. Gen. Bruce Byrum, the Marine Corps' assistant deputy chief of staff for aviation said in an interview.
Retaining safe and reliable nuclear weapons in the absence of underground nuclear testing is "the highest-risk component of the U.S. strategy for sustaining deterrence," according to a report prepared by directors at the National Defense University and the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory. The report, "U.S. Nuclear Policy in the 21st Century: A Fresh Look at National Strategy and Requirements," said the Stockpile Stewardship Program, which the Clinton Administration has established in the absence of testing, "remains a high risk endeavor."
The Boeing Aerospace Support Center at Kelly AFB, Tex., began operations this week when a U.S. Air Force C-17 airlifter arrived from Charleston AFB, S.C., to undergo modifications, the company reported yesterday.
Textron Inc. agreed to sell its Avco Financial Services unit to Associates First Capital Corp. of Dallas for $3.9 billion in cash. Net after-tax proceeds will be about $2.9 billion, which Textron President and CEO Lewis Campbell said will be used for acquisitions and share buyback programs.
The number of people killed in aviation accidents in the U.S. and its territories declined from 1,093 in 1996 to 976 in 1997 "despite a large increase involving aircraft not registered in the United States," the National Transportation Safety Board said. The board said that 236 of the 1997 deaths were attributed to the crash in August on the Pacific island of Guam of a Korean Air 747, compared with five in this category the previous year.
An Outrider unmanned aerial vehicle was destroyed in a crash Monday at Alliant Techsystems' flight test center in Glasscock, Tex., the company and the U.S. Army said. The air vehicle, AV-115, was three minutes into an endurance flight when the engine quit. AV-115 was too far from the airfield to glide back, and went down in a field about two miles from the facility. There no injuries or damage to property on the ground, Alliant said.
House Space subcommittee chairman Dana Rohrabacher (R-Calif.) has charged that Motorola, through its Iridium satellite program, doubled the capacity of Chinese rockets to carry payloads and gave China technology such as exploding bolts which facilitate separation of stages and multiple warheads on ICBMs.
Officials of RSC Energia, aided by cosmonauts on the Mir orbital station, managed last week to elicit a promise of more government funding from the top government official specifically responsible for space. Russian Vice Prime Minister Boris Nemtsov visited Energia and Mission Control Center-Moscow Aug. 7. During a radio talk with the Mir cosmonauts he promised to forward the money earlier promised by Prime Minister Sergei Kirienko during his recent meeting with Vice President Al Gore (DAILY, July 27).
NASA plans to send two of its research aircraft aloft during formation of Atlantic hurricanes this month and next to gain new information on the structure of the deadly storms that scientists hope will improve forecasting and landfall-warning times.
The final Titan IVA in the U.S. Air Force inventory failed shortly after liftoff yesterday, taking with it a $1 billion National Reconnaissance Office spacecraft believed to have been a geostationary signals intelligence platform.
TRIMBLE said yesterday that its board of directors has approved a discretionary stock buyback program of up to one million shares of the company's common stock. The buyback is intended to offset dilutive effects to Trimble's shareholders of the issuance of employee stock options and purchases. Funds to pay for the program will come from working capital. As of July 3, Trimble reported cash and short-term investments of $67 million.
Europe's aerospace industry should see strong growth for 1998 as a whole, barring any major repercussions from Asia's financial crisis, and should match or exceed last year's 17% rise in sales, according to the European Association of Aerospace Industries (AECMA). In its latest annual statistical analysis, "Aerospace Industry: Back to Peak Performance," the trade association says the long term prospects "look to be promising, with an overall growth annually of 2 to 3 percent" for the next 20 years.
Alliant Techsystems reported a record-breaking number of orders and increases in earnings and sales for its 1999 first quarter. The company earned $15.8 million on sales of $256 million, up from earnings of $14.7 million on sales of $252 million in the same period a year ago.
A draft General Accounting Office report recommends reducing funding for various Theater Missile Defense and related programs by $225.9 million because it perceives the funds as not needed at this time. Topping the list of cuts is $105 million for Theater High Altitude Area Defense demonstration and validation, although the GAO also recommends rescinding $66.7 million from THAAD's engineering and manufacturing development phase. The cuts are laid out in draft report on the Pentagon's fiscal 1999 budget plan that was obtained by The DAILY.
LMI Aerospace Inc., St. Louis,, will acquire the assets of Precise Machine Co. (PMC), Irving, Tex., LMI reported. Terms were not disclosed. PMC makes precision machined parts used primarily by the defense, aerospace and financial service industries. The customer base includes Bell Helicopter, Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman and Raytheon. The company had sales of more than $3 million in 1997.
GenCorp, Fairlawn, Ohio, expects the General Motors strike to hurt its profits in the third quarter, which ends Aug. 31, the company reported yesterday. The GM strike affected GenCorp's Vehicle Sealing business, but other segments - aerospace and defense and polymer products, which represent more than 75% of GenCorp's total sales - are expected to continue their trend of improved operating performance. GenCorp expects to report third quarter results on Sept. 14.
Harris Corp. won a $49.9 million contract from the U.S. Air Force for modifications to the Multiple Threat Emitter System (Mini-MUTES). Harris, Melbourne, Fla., said it will augment the Mini-MUTES to meet current and projected threats, incorporate updates and provide for improved interfaces to extend lifetime beyond the 2015 period.
MOOG INC.'S board on Tuesday authorized a buyback of up to 200,000 shares of the company's common stock on the open market at prevailing prices. "We've done a couple of buybacks in the past, and they've paid off handsomely for our shareholders," R.T. Brady, chairman and CEO, said in a statement. "I expect this buyback will be equally beneficial." In January, Moog issued 1.7 million new shares of stock at a price of $34.38. Yesterday, Moog closed at $32.69, down $0.06.
Thomas White has been named senior vice president in charge of American operations in Washington, D.C. Benoot Gosset has been appointed senior vice president in charge of operations for Europe - Africa - Middle East - Asia/Pacific in Velizy, France. Martyn Hurst also in Velizy, France, has been named senior vice president, customer support centers. Jean-Paul Cartoux has been appointed chief financial officer in Velizy. Neal Post has been appointed chief financial officer in Washington, D.C.
