The House accepted Senate changes to Science Committee Chairman James Sensenbrenner Jr.'s (R-Wis.) bill which amends the Fastener Quality Act (FQA) to exempt fasteners subject to FAA regulation from further testing. The FQA requires most nuts, bolts, screws and other metal fasteners sold in the U.S. to be tested and documented by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) certified laboratory.
SPAR AEROSPACE of Canada has entered a strategic alliance with Ellipso Inc., a Washington-based startup developing a constellation of communications satellites in elliptical orbits designed to maximize coverage in heavily populated areas. Under the arrangement announced last week Spar will provide system definition support services in exchange for an equity position in Ellipso. Spar may also provide low noise amplifiers, electronic power conditioners and other products for Ellipso satellites under the arrangement.
Veridian will sign a definitive agreement to acquire Pacific-Sierra Research (PSR), a move the company says will strengthen its position in the information technology arena.
ORBITAL IMAGING CORP. completed its first year of space operations with some 100 deep sea commercial fishing boats as customers, as well as a $45 million NASA contract to provide ocean color imagery to more than 300 researchers. The Orbital Sciences Corp. subsidiary launched its OrbView-2 satellite on Aug. 1, 1997, and has since notched a 98% availability rate, the company reported.
CHUNGHWA TELECOM of Taiwan and Singapore Telecom plan to launch a jointly owned commercial telecommunications satellite on an Ariane 4 rocket this month, the Taiwanese company reported. The ST-1 will be the first commercial satellite for Taiwan, and will cover China, India, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore and Sri Lanka.
Boeing's license to participate in the international Sea Launch venture with Ukrainian and Russian partners was quietly suspended by the State Dept. last month pending an interagency review of whether the U.S. company has violated the Arms Export Control Act in the commercial effort.
NATIONAL INSTRUMENT COMPANY's Labview computer language is enabling NASA to use IBM Thinkpad laptop computers to monitor systems on its X-38 prototype of a crew return vehicle for the International Space Station. Engineers carry the laptops in the B-52 that drops the X-38 in tests, using it to prepare the on-board instruments for free flight. The "Portable Diagnostic Terminal" software was developed at Johnson Space Center.
The General Accounting Office has identified more than $6.5 billion in the Pentagon's fiscal 1999 procurement and research, development, test and evaluation (RDT&E) funding lines that could be cut, including several high profile programs such as the U.S. Navy's F/A-18E/F. The GAO, in a draft report on DOD's 1999 budget obtained by The DAILY, also identified cuts of $112.8 million in prior year appropriations that could be made.
Rockwell Collins, Inc., Cedar Rapids, Iowa, is being awarded a $6,440,073 cost-sharing-contract ($3,997,656, Government portion; $2,442,417, Contractor portion) to provide for research and development to produce the next-generation security cards for programs employing Global Positioning System (GPS) technology. There were 9 firms solicited and 8 proposals received. Expected contract completion date is December 31, 1999. Solicitation issue date was April 10, 1998. Negotiation completion date was June 16, 1998.
Alliant Techsystem said yesterday that the U.S. Army is getting ready to deploy two Outrider unmanned aerial vehicle systems, now that the UAV has successfully completed its Advanced Concept Technology Demonstration. Two Outrider systems are available for deployment, but an Army spokeswoman said no decision has been made to deploy the systems, or where to deploy them once such a decision is made. Each system includes four UAVs, two Humvees with shelters, and ground control equipment.
EDO CORP., New York, has completed the acquisition of the assets of the Technology Services Group of Global Associates Ltd., Falls Church, Va., for $4.8 million. Edo said the business will be operated as EDO Technology Services and Analysis (TSA), and will provide operations and systems analysis to the Dept. of Defense and other governmental agencies. Frank Fariello, chairman and CEO of EDO, said TSA will be a separate unit of the Combat Systems business and should contribute to EDO sales and earnings immediately.
B/E Aerospace Inc. completed its acquisitions of Aerospace Lighting Corp. (ALC) and SMR Aerospace Inc., B/E reported yesterday. "Both companies give B/E substantial new competitive opportunities to cross-sell its breadth of products and services to both existing and new airline and general aviation customers and to participate in their purchase decision-making processes at a significantly earlier stage," Amin Khoury, chairman of B/E, said in a statement.
CHINA AEROSPACE CORP. has received proposals from four European companies about possible partnership arrangements on a new large bus for geostationary satellites, according to Internet reports. The new satellites will be designed, built and launched in China, but China Aerospace wants a foreign partner to help it with the effort. Satellites based on the new bus will be built after the turn of the century, according to the reports.
Sverdrup Technology, Inc., Fort Walton Beach, Fla., is being awarded a $6,200,000 indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity-contract to provide for evaluation of automatic target recognition/sensor fusion in the sensor technologies integration laboratory. Expected contract completion date is August 3, 2007. Solicitation issue date was October 24, 1997. Negotiation completion date was July 29, 1998. Air Force Research Laboratory, Wright- Patterson AFB, Ohio, is the contracting activity (F33615-98-D-1232).
The U.S. Air Force has returned four of the 10 B-2 stealth bombers at Whiteman AFB, Mo., to flying status after suspending training flights last week to replace ejection seat initiators. The 509th Bomb Wing stood down last Thursday when a problem with the initiators was discovered by the manufacturer, OEA of Fairfield, Calif., during routine acceptance testing (DAILY, Aug. 7). The B-2 has eight initiators, and all have been replaced on each of four bombers. These four were fixed by Saturday morning, an AF spokesman said yesterday.
Wallace-Kettering Neuroscience Institute, Kettering, Ohio, is being awarded a $6,188,250 cooperative-agreement-contract ($4,900,000, Government portion; $1,288,250, Contractor portion) to cover work with the Air Force Research Laboratory Human Effectiveness Directorate to leverage resources, pursue technology concepts of mutual interest and address technology advancement to improve neuroscience patient outcomes and/or aircrew cockpit application. Expected contract completion date is August 5, 2000. Solicitation issue date was March 5, 1998.
KAYSER-THREDE will provide the dummy payload that will fly on the next Ariane V in lieu of the Eutelsat W2 communications satellite, which was pulled from the planned October certification flight after another Eutelsat platform was lost in an industrial accident (DAILY, June 17). The Munich-
FAA has awarded information technology contracts valued at $1.25 billion to 14 small or disadvantaged businesses in its "largest such outreach effort," the agency said Friday. DOT Secretary Rodney Slater said the awards give these firms an "opportunity to compete for federal contracts," and FAA Administrator Jane Garvey said the companies "bring superior talent and resources to the FAA." The contracts cover computer services ranging from help desk operations to investment analysis support.
HUGHES SPACE AND COMMUNICATIONS has slipped the planned Sept. 15 launch date of the Navy's UHF F9 after inspections revealed poor workmanship in the installation of a capacitor in the communications payload. A new launch date has not been set. Although the Navy communications satellite is based on Hughes' HS 601 spacecraft, the company said the delay was not related to anomalies detected in the spacecraft control processors of three orbiting HS 601 satellites.
A jury late Friday awarded $760.6 million in punitive damages to 38 workers at the former Lockheed Corp. who said they were harmed by toxic chemicals while working on projects such as the stealth fighter. The judgment by the California Superior Court jury was against five chemical makers - Exxon Corp., Shell Oil Co., Unocal Corp., Ashland Inc. and DuPont.
Systems&Electronics Inc., St. Louis, Mo., is being awarded a $67,818,853 face value increase to a firm-fixed-price-contract for partial definitization of an undefinitized contractual modification to the existing 60K Loader (Tunner) contract for the purchase of 44 loaders under the FY 98 requirement. The loader is a self-propelled, air-deployable, hydraulically operated lift to transfer up to 60,000 lbs. of cargo. It is named in honor of Maj. Gen. William H. Tunner, commander of the 1948-49 Berlin Airlift and Air Transport Command.
ARINC, Annapolis, Md., is being awarded a $6,123,000 cost pus fixed fee contract to provide for upgrade and ensure conformance of Maintenance Trainers with most recent C-5A/B aircraft system configurations and perform needed maintenance reports to Trainers as needed. There were six firms solicited and one proposal received. Expected contract completion date to be determined by Task Orders, expected to commence approximately Aug. 15, 1998. Solicitation issue date was May 6, 1998. Negotiation completion date was July 28, 1998.
Bell-Boeing Joint Program Office, Patuxent River, Md., is being awarded a $40,000,000 ceiling priced modification to previously awarded contract N00019-96-C-0054 for incorporation of an engineering change proposal to revise the internal cargo handling system for the MV-22 low rate initial production aircraft. Work will be performed in Ridley Park, Pa. (80%) and Fort Worth, Texas (20%), and is expected to be completed by September 2000. Contract funds will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year.
Optimus Corp., Ellicott City, Md., was awarded on Aug. 5, 1998, an indefinite delivery/indefinite quantity contract (with firm-fixed-price delivery orders), with a cumulative total of $15,900,550. 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.
