Lockheed Martin has pulled together assets from across its organization to pursue business in the global telecommunications services market, a $50 billion sector the company believes will grow to $120 billion by 2002.
David Evans has been named director of the Office of Oceanic and Atmospheric Research. Andy Rosenberg will succeed Evans as deputy assistant administrator for NOAA Fisheries in Silver Spring, Md.
Aviation Sales Co., Miami, agreed with Primark Corp., Waltham, Mass., to acquire Triad International Maintenance Co. (TIMCO) for $70 million in cash, the companies reported yesterday. The acquisition, subject to government approvals, is expected to close by Oct. 15.
The U.S. National Transportation Safety Board, citing numerous reports of control shaft failures in the Pratt&Whitney JT8D-1 through -15 engine, yesterday recommended that fuel pumps on all the engines be modified. The engines power Boeing 727, 737-100/200, DC-9 and MD-80 aircraft. Argo-Tech of Cleveland, which makes the pumps, has issued service bulletins on the mods, and the NTSB said the changes should be made in accordance with the bulletins, which are intended to reduce misalignment of and wear.
Phil Marshall has been appointed general manager for the Delta rocket manufacturing and final assembly facility in Pueblo, Colo. Russell L. Szczepanik has been appointed as Information&Communications Systems director of Marketing in Australia and New Zealand.
John Merry has accepted the position of vice president and general manager, Hunt Valley Operations. Todd Johnston was appointed vice president, Transportation, Operations.
Herbert F. Satterlee, III has been appointed president and chief executive officer, with a mandate that includes acquiring funding for the company, accelerating QuickBird satellite development, and revitalizing the Digital Globe database.
The Air National Guard's 109th Air Wing, which is taking over sole responsibility for supporting the National Science Foundation in the Antarctic, is looking to receive three ski-equipped U.S. Navy LC-130Rs and convert them to LC-130Hs, which will also feature skis. The Navy and ANG have shared the support function, but starting around February 1999 the ANG will provide all support. In addition to four C-130H conventional landing-gear Hercules, the ANG already flies seven ski- equipped LC-130Js.
Alliant Techsystems yesterday won the U.S. Air Force competition for engineering and manufacturing development of the Hard Target Smart Fuze, planned for use on penetrator weapons. Alliant got $16 million to develop the burst-point optimizing fuze by October 2001. About 110-120 fuzes will be built in the EMD phase. There is a production option, 1,000 fuzes would be built.
Microvision Inc., Seattle, delivered its second helmet-mounted display (HMD) to Saab and Ericsson Saab Avionics for evaluation in their aircraft simulators. The prototype, a full-color, high-resolution HMD system, features Microvision's Virtual Retinal Display (VRD) technology, and supports the effort with Saab and Ericsson to evaluate VRD for HMDs in fighters.
Boeing Co. on Monday delivered the first of 80 C-17s to be built under a seven-year multi-year procurement program to the U.S. Air Force at Charleston AFB, S.C. The plane will be the 41st Globemaster III in the AF inventory. Boeing said it is also the 29th C-17 in a row to be delivered ahead of schedule. It was scheduled for delivery by the end of the month. The aircraft features an improved mission computer, an enhanced fuel quantity system, new engine nacelles and improved aeromedical evacuation capabilities, Boeing said.
Canada has decided to buy 13 Advanced Harpoon Weapon Control Systems to be used on Halifax-class patrol frigates, according to system prime contractor Boeing Co. AHWCS is used for missile flight planning, including selectable terminal trajectory and multi-target, multi-Harpoon missile engagements, Boeing said. It can be used on ships, submarines, and for ground-mobile launchers. The system is slated to undergo its critical design review in October, with system testing starting in mid-1999. AHWCS deliveries are planned for 2000.
The U.S. Army has slipped the first intercept test of the Patriot Advanced Capability-3 (PAC-3) missile defense system because of seeker problems. The test, which was to have been next month, has been delayed until the first quarter of fiscal year 1999, a spokeswoman for the Army's Program Executive Office for Air and Missile Defense Office in Huntsville, Ala., told The DAILY yesterday. She cited seeker hardware and software issues. The decision to delay the program was made in the past few weeks.
Several companies have initiated talks with the U.S. Navy about the commercial use of a non-polluting hydrogen peroxide-based rocket fuel developed by the Naval Air Warfare Center Weapons Div. at China Lake, Calif., according to the Navy. Researchers are trying to earn patents for the fuel, which relies on the heat-producing decomposition of hydrogen peroxide to water and oxygen, NAWC said late last week. The Navy wouldn't identify the catalyst.
STARSEM, the Franco-Russian joint venture established to market space launches on Soyuz rockets, has been picked to launch the replacement Cluster plasma-science mission for the European Space Agency. ESA will pay the Aerospatiale-Arianespace-Russian Space Agency-Samara Space Center combine $69 million to launch the four Cluster satellites on two Soyuz launches in June and July 2000. The original Cluster mission was lost in the failure of the first Ariane V rocket (DAILY, June 5, 1996).
IRAN WILL JOIN five Asian nations in a joint effort to build a $20 million satellite for telecommunications and "monitoring," according to the Iranian news agency IRNA. The satellite will be manufactured in conjunction with China, Pakistan, Mongolia, Thailand and South Korea, while Iran has offered to build ground support equipment, IRNA said last week. Representatives of the six participating nations met in Tehran to discuss the project, according to the news agency.
Japan's second attempt to dock two robotic spacecraft in orbit failed last week, leaving the National Space Development Agency (NASDA) trying to determine how to rejoin the two spacecraft that make up the seventh in its Engineering Test Satellite series (ETS-7). A NASDA spokesman said yesterday the two spacecraft were stable and about 5 kilometers (3.1 miles) apart after unsuccessful docking attempts Friday and Saturday. Mission managers were trying to decide how to proceed, the spokesman said, with no timetable for action set.
Lockheed Martin Advanced Environmental Systems Inc., Albuquerque, N.M., is being awarded a $23,382,698 cost plus fixed fee contract for dismantlement of submarines, to accomplish low level radioactive waste volume reduction in Russia. Work will be performed in Severodvinsk, Russia, and Bolshoy Kamen, Russia, and is expected to be completed by Sept. 30, 1999. Contract funds will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. There were 125 bids solicited on Sept. 4, 1997, and five bids were received.
OC Inc., Alexandria, Va., is being awarded an indefinite delivery/indefinite quantity contract (with firm-fixed-price delivery orders), with a cumulative total of $16,638,340. Appropriation number and dollar value will be issued with each delivery order. Two contracts were awarded from one solicitation. Competitive, with 8(a) set-aside. Test and Evaluation Center Office Program Support for the Office of the Under Secretary of Defense (OUSD), Acquisition and Technology (A&T), Director, Test, Systems Engineering, and Evaluation Test Facilities and Resources.
Northrop Grumman signed a definitive agreement to acquire Inter- National Research Institute Inc. (INRI) for $55 million in cash, Northrop Grumman reported yesterday. INRI, which is expected to record 1998 revenues of about $60 million, is a privately owned software and application development company specializing in command and control, tracking, data fusion and mapping for the Dept. of Defense and key suppliers.
