The U.S. Air Force is planning to launch an engineering and manufacturing development program to enhance the rocket motor of the AIM- 120 Advanced Medium Range Air-to-Air Missile. The service plans to spend about $60 million in fiscal 2004-2005 for a kinetic energy improvement, Judy Stokley, the U.S. Air Force's AMRAAM program director, said in a telephone interview from her office at Eglin AFB, Fla.
U.S. Navy Secretary John Dalton said yesterday he is trying to convince lawmakers to restore a number of proposed cuts to programs like the F/A-18E/F Super Hornet in the fiscal year 1999 defense authorization and appropriations bills. Dalton, who has been on Capitol Hill for the past few days meeting with lawmakers on the issue, said he is optimistic that funding for the F/A-18E/F, CVX aircraft carrier and DD-21 destroyer may be restored during conference.
Lockheed Martin has completed natural icing tests on the C-130J airlifter, bringing it a step closer to FAA certification and initial deliveries later this year. The company said it expects certification in the third quarter of this calender year, with deliveries starting weeks after that. The C-130J has completed more than 30,000 test points in the lengthy certification process. The U.K. will be the first country to receive the C-
The FAA has reopened the comment period on its proposal to require modifications to fuel system wiring on Boeing 737 series aircraft. The agency said Tuesday that it has "determined that further discussion and input may be beneficial prior to the adoption of a final rule" and reopened the comment period for 45 days, or until Aug. 31. New generation 737 series are not affected by the proposal.
A problem with a data communications link has forced another delay in Lockheed Martin's planned hot-fire test of a Russian-built RD-180 rocket engine with the components that will go into its planned Atlas IIIA rocket. Originally scheduled to be conducted July 15 in the Saturn V/Space Shuttle Main Engine test stand at Marshall Space Flight Center, the test has been slipped to "no earlier than July 29," according to a NASA spokesperson.
A U.S.-built instrument aboard the Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM) spacecraft launched last November from Japan is giving scientists a bird's-eye view of ocean surface temperatures in the Pacific as the warm- water El Nino phenomenon shifts to a cold-water La Nina event.
The June 10 crash of Bombardier's CL-327 unmanned aerial vehicle at the end of the U.S. Navy's vertical take-off and landing UAV demonstration at Yuma, Ariz., came when lower fuel tank attachment lugs failed, according to the U.S. Navy's UAV Joint Program Office. The failure, which occurred five hours and nine minutes into a six- hour endurance flight, caused the fuel tank to separate from the vehicle, resulting in fuel starvation. The UAV was destroyed. It was the system's longest flight in the demonstration (DAILY, June 15).
Pilatus Aircraft has agreed to sell its wholly owned subsidiary Pilatus Britten-Norman to private investment company Litchfield Continental Ltd. The subsidiary is the designer and manufacturer of the Islander light utility aircraft series. Operations will continue under the original name.
Lockheed Martin Corp. earned $289 million on sales of $6.5 billion in its 1998 second quarter, down from earnings of $308 million on sales of $6.9 billion in the same period a year ago, the company reported yesterday.
Northrop Grumman has received a contract from a consortium of the Danish companies Per Udsen and Terma Elektronik for electro-optical sensors for the Royal Danish Air Force's F-16 fighters. Northrop Grumman said the award, terms of which were not announced, marks the first international sale of the reconnaissance, infrared surveillance, target acquisition (RISTA) system.
The Pentagon has told Congress it opposes language in the House version of the fiscal year 1998 defense authorization bill that would require it to develop an organic depot maintenance capability for the C-17. DOD, in the second increment of an appeals package sent to congressional defense authorization conferees, said the House language would severely limit the authority of the secretary of defense to manage depot maintenance to get the greatest benefit for every dollar.
Frank L. Culbertson, the veteran astronaut who has headed NASA's side of the trailblazing series of Space Shuttle missions to Russia's Mir orbital station, has been named acting deputy program manager for operations on the International Space Station. Culbertson, a retired Navy captain who has flown on two Shuttle missions, will replace Astronaut Kevin Chilton, an Air Force brigadier general selectee who is returning to his military career this summer.
The U.K. Ministry of Defense is expected to revive the Bomb Enhancement Program, intended to fit a guidance mechanism to dumb bombs. The MOD realized several years ago that it needed such a system for 500-, 1,000- and 2,000-pound bombs, prompting it to issue Staff Target 1248. But the program has languished and its funding was removed pending completion of the Strategic Defense Review.
Rotary Rocket Co. plans to control its proposed "Roton" reusable launch vehicle with human pilots who would fly the all-composite vehicle to orbit at about 160 nautical miles, deploy a satellite, and then ride the vehicle through a water-cooled reentry to an autorotation landing on retractable rotors.
Raytheon Systems Co. has completed installation of all 25 reference stations for the first phase of a three-phase Wide Area Augmentation System (WAAS), the company said yesterday. Raytheon said WAAS, as the next-generation aerial navigation system, will provide en route coverage through Category I precision approach capabilities by increasing the accuracy, availability and integrity of signals from the Pentagon's Global Positioning System (GPS).
Senior U.S. intelligence officials said last week that they, like the Rumsfeld Commission, see Iranian aspirations to develop an ICBM, but that it would be "extremely difficult" for Iran to achieve such a goal within five years.
A Harris Corp. restructuring to sharpen competitiveness in the semiconductor market prompted Moody's Investors Services to confirm the company's senior unsecured debt rating at A3. Harris, of Melbourne, Fla., said Monday that it will cut 2,300 jobs, or 8% of its workforce, as part of a $142 million pretax restructuring charge.
Norway plans to conduct a demonstration next month that would be the first to employ all its ground-based air defense systems. The day-long demonstration, slated for Aug. 5 at the U.S. Army's short-range air defense range near Oro Grande, N.M., will involve the ground-based Advanced Medium-Range Air-to-Air Missile (AMRAAM), RB 70 MANPADS infrared missile, and the 40mm L70 anti-aircraft gun.
United Parcel Service yesterday confirmed it is close to a final decision on an order for up to 30 aircraft from either Airbus or Boeing. UPS' fleet of 216 aircraft are all U.S.-built. Meanwhile, reports are circulating that British Airways, up to now a U.S. customer, is considering an order for up to 30 Airbus aircraft.
Raytheon Co. announced two separate transactions yesterday, both intended to help it focus on core businesses. It acquired AlliedSignal's Communications Systems business for about $62.5 million, and sold its Raytheon Systems Limited Flight Training unit to GE Capital for about $68.5 million. The net proceeds of about $6 million will be used to reduce debt. Both deals are expected to be completed in the third quarter.
BOEING paint-stripping system, to be used by the U.S. Navy to strip Boeing T-45A training aircraft, has been put into operation at NAS Kingsville, Tex., the company said. To house the robotic gantry Flashjet Coatings Removal System, the Navy has modified one of six bays in the Kingsville Corrosion Control facility. Boeing said the system, which it described as economical and environmentally safe, can be to used to strip other carrier- based tactical aircraft.
U.S. general aviation aircraft shipments jumped 61.8% to 956 for the first six months of 1998, according to the General Aviation Manufacturers Association. Aircraft billings for the period rose 20.8% to $2.4 billion, said GAMA President Ed Bolen. Shipments of piston-engine aircraft increased by 92% to 672, jet deliveries were up 21.8% to 173 and turboprop shipments rose by 12.1% to 111, Bolen said.
U.S. monitors were not present for the technical exchanges going back to 1994 between satellite manufacturers and Chinese technicians dealing with mating three U.S. satellites to Chinese launch vehicles, according to Sen. Jon Kyl (R-Ariz.), a member of the Senate Intelligence Committee. A Kyl spokesman yesterday identified the satellites and launch dates as follows: Optus B-3 (Hughes) in August 1994; Echostar-1 (Martin Marietta) in December 1995, and Lockheed-Martin's Cosat/Chinastar-1 - designated Zhongwei I in China - May 1998.
Boeing Co. has won a $12.5 million U.S. Navy contract for the fiscal 1998 production buy of Standoff Land Attack Missile-Expanded Response cruise missiles. The order for 22 missiles, announced Friday, could increase in the coming weeks. The Navy is seeking to reprogram funds that would allow it to buy another 20 missiles this fiscal year.
