The U.S. Navy has completed the first lethality demonstration of the AGM-119B Penguin anti-ship missile from a Light Airborne Multipurpose System (LAMPS) Mk. III helicopter. The firing from an SH-60B Sea Hawk against the decomissioned frigate USS Badger took place July 15 at the Barking Sands missile range in Hawaii as part of the Rimpac '98 exercise, according to the Navy's cruise missile and joint unmanned aerial vehicles program office.
The International Workers' Federation has forged a link with Airbus Industrie that officials expect to give cabin crew and ground staff trade unions direct contact with senior engineers and policy makers at the European consortium's headquarters in Toulouse, France. At a recent two-day meeting in there, the Federation team talked with company specialists on a range of topics, including human factors and accident investigation. The visitors were able also to see a number of A340s in a variety of cabin configurations.
Lockheed Martin, under a cost sharing agreement reached with the Pentagon, will have to make a first payment of $15 million if the Theater High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) missile does not hit a target in the next flight test scheduled for the fall. Lockheed Martin would have to pay $20 million if it does not achieve a minimum of two target hits by June 30, 1999, according to details of the cost-share agreement obtained by The DAILY.
Moody's Investors Services said it is reviewing the Prime-1 rating of France's Aerospatiale for possible downgrade. It said it will consider the plan, announced last week, to merge activities of Aerospatiale and Lagardere's High Technologies unit. Moody's noted that the plan calls for Aerospatiale to be privatized, but that government holding in the company has "been a key factor in supporting [its] existing Prime-1 rating." It will also weigh "the structure of the proposed transaction and the implementation process."
UKAMS, which developed and carried out initial production of the U.K. variant of the Principal Anti-Air Missile System (PAAMS) for the Common New Generation Frigate, has become a wholly-owned subsidiary of Matra BAe Dynamics U.K., British Aerospace reported yesterday. The move follows an agreement signed by Matra BAe Dynamics, BAe and GEC-Marconi, formerly UKAMS shareholders.
Western Europe's Daimler Benz Aerospace (DASA) and Matra Marconi Space have agreed with Russia's Khrunichev Space Production Center to a possible pooling of their resources to create an international data base on the global environment. Meeting under the auspices of the European Union and the Russian Space Agency in Brussels yesterday, officials of the three companies said they are developing a business plan for a "Global Environmental Service" (GES) for governments of all sizes and the private sector.
Jean-Luc Lagardere, managing partner of the Lagardere conglomerate, told reporters in Brussels yesterday that the proposed merger of Lagardere's High Technologies unit and Aerospatiale will in effect be a private company, even though France will hold a significant share. "...I think that by the end of the year, the Aerospatiale/Matra company, which may bear another name by then, will be a company in which the state will not have a majority shareholding," the Reuters news agency reported Lagardere as saying.
Work has started at Cape Canaveral Air Station, Fla., on a $250 million launch facility for Boeing's planned Delta IV launch vehicle, the company reported. Working under a temporary right of entry to site No. 37 at the Air Force facility, where NASA tested unmanned Saturn-I rockets in 1964-65, Boeing has started work on a space launch complex that will include at least one launch pad with fixed and mobile towers; a 75,000-square-foot facility where the Delta IV will be assembled horizontally, and related support and test facilities.
The U.S. titanium industry, as a result of a vote by the U.S. International Trade Commission, can now import raw titanium from Russia, Kazakhstan, Ukraine and Japan, pleasing aircraft manufacturers such as Boeing. The ITC voted, 3-0, last Friday to overturn an anti-dumping order against the countries. It found no likelihood that the U.S. titanium industry would be hurt if the order were revoked, according to Mel Schwechter, an attorney with LeBoeuf, Lamb, Greene and McRae, of Washington, D.C.
NASA has hired a Maryland aerospace firm to help the researchers it funds find piggyback space on commercial satellites for their experiments as a way to speed scientific work. Final Analysis Inc. of Lanham, Md., was picked for the indefinite delivery/indefinite quantity "Quick Ride" contract, which has a maximum value of $49 million. The contract will allow for the placement of firm, fixed-price task orders of as little as $1,000 within 30 days.
The U.S. Army wants to buy a multi-spectral imaging system that would allow it to map a 20 square kilometer area from the air in 18 hours. The Army Topographic Engineering Center is looking for a non- developmental system that will be able to collect at least four bands of multi-spectral imagery, the center said in a July 27 Commerce Business Daily notice. The aircraft would collect data at an altitude of about 20,000 feet, at which the sensor should provide a resolution of four meters or better.
Raytheon Systems Co. won a $30 million contract from Boeing to provide 229 computers to support the upgrade to the Royal Air Force's Nimrod Maritime Reconnaissance and Attack Mk. 4 aircraft, Raytheon reported yesterday. Raytheon said it will provide Boeing with 174 workstation processors and 55 input/output processors based on its Model 960 Extended Environment Commercial Off-the-Shelf computers. Raytheon Computer Products, a unit of RSC, began delivery of hardware, data and support in June and will continue through April 2005.
The focus of congressional attention on whether U.S. national security was compromised by China's launches of American satellites will shift today from Space Systems/Loral to Hughes Electronics. Both companies have been involved in the launches, but both have denied any wrongdoing.
A week after Iran tested its Shahab-3 medium range ballistic missile, U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for Near-East Affairs Martin Indyk told reporters a test of a longer-range Shahab-4 missile may take place by 2003. "We have to be concerned not only about the Shahab-3, but the Shahab-4 as well, which is a long-range ballistic missile system which would present an even greater threat," Indyk said yesterday in Washington. Asked when a test might be expected, Indyk said "I believe we are talking about two to five years."
BOEING CO. on Monday rolled out the first 737-700 derivative Boeing Business Jet at Renton, Wash. BBJ, a joint venture with General Electric, has 29 orders. The derivative combines the fuselage of the 737-700 with the strengthened wings and landing gear of the larger and heavier 737-800, providing a range of more than 6,000 n.m. The jet is powered by CFM56-7 engines and can cruise at .82 Mach.
The finishing touches are being put on an export agreement that will clear the way for the United Arab Emirates to buy 80 Lockheed Martin F-16 Block 60 fighters and Raytheon Advanced Medium-Range Air-to-Air Missiles, Martin Indyk, assistant secretary of state for near east affairs, said yesterday.
University of Dayton Research Institute, Dayton, Ohio, is being awarded a $6,800,000 indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity-contract to provide for research and development in the areas of semiconductor sciences, aircraft mechanical/thermal technology, advanced power systems, electrical technology, and aircraft batteries. This was a Program Research and Development Announcement; 53 proposals received. Expected contract completion date is July 3, 2003. Solicitation issue date was August 7, 1997. Negotiation completion date was July 9, 1998.
The U.S. Air Force, which has been reluctant to accept the Navy's Cooperative Engagement Capability for its E-3 AWACS aircraft, is now waiting for the Navy to make a final decision on whether to use CEC. "We have expressed our concerns that we felt the [CEC] technology was not yet mature," an AF official told The DAILY.
Booz, Allen, and Hamilton, Inc., McLean, Va., is being awarded a $10,183,911 modification to previously awarded contract N00421-95-C-K067 to exercise an option for technical and engineering services to support Federal Information Process (FIP)/Non-FIP technical support for information technology programs. Work will be performed in St. Inigoes, Md. (28.84%), Colorado Springs, Colo. (23.14%), Fort Walton Beach, Fla. (12.98%), El Paso, Texas (11.34%), McLean, Va. (11.03%), Stuttgart, Germany (7.17%), Fort Lee, Va. (2.14%), Chesapeake, Va. (2.08%), Tampa, Fla.
The Pentagon said yesterday that it will buy commercial rockets as interceptors for its National Missile Defense system, rather than a derivative of the Minuteman III ICBM. The GBI will consist of two stages. The first will be the GEM-VN stage of the commercial Delta II rocket. The second will be an Orbus 1, part of Orbital Science Corp.'s Storm missile, which is frequently used as a target in missile defense tests.
Tracor Systems Technologies Inc, Rockville, Md., is being awarded a $5,092,783 cost-plus-fixed-fee, indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract for engineering and technical support services for mobile tactical systems, joint combat system, ground theater air control systems and related special programs and projects.
After being forced to slip the Common Support Aircraft in its fiscal 2000 budget build because of a lack of funding, the U.S. Navy has decided to hold off on formulating an acquisition strategy until it has completed an analysis of alternatives and a study of roles and missions, both of which are supposed to begin next year.
Nichols Research Corporation of Huntsville, Ala. is being awarded a $17,900,000 cost-plus-fixed-fee indefinite-delivery, indefinite-quantity contract for systems engineering and technical assistance in the areas of sensor technology, prototype elements, systems and subsystems, and experimentation efforts for sensor technology developments. Work will be performed at Arlington, Va., El Segundo, Calif. and Albuquerque, N.M. and is expected to be completed in July 2003. Contract funds will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year.
The Pentagon said yesterday it has finalized a cost sharing agreement with Lockheed Martin that would come into effect if future tests of the Theater High Altitude Area Defense system are unsuccessful.
