Lessons learned in space and on the ground during the seven U.S. astronaut visits to Russia's Mir orbital station will be applied in earnest this fall as NASA and the Russian Space Agency begin assembling the International Space Station in orbit, according to the final U.S. resident on Mir and one of the top Houston-based managers of Shuttle/Mir operations.
Congressional authorizers' plan to slash funding for the U.S. Army-led Aerostat cruise missile defense program could add more than $70 million to the program's cost, the Pentagon said in a July 2 appeal package sent to Congress. Funding for JLENS - the Joint Land attack cruise missile defense Elevated Netted Sensor program - was requested at $103.9 million. But the Senate authorized only $53.9 million and the House cut funding even further, to $30 million.
The U.S. and U.K. will collaborate on development of a battlefield reconnaissance vehicle, U.K. Defense Secretary George Robertson announced Wednesday. The vehicle will form part of an integrated program to provide tactical battlefield surveillance for an information network for the armed forces of both countries.
Comsat Corp. received a five-year, $57 million contract from the FAA yesterday to provide satellite and ground communications services for the Wide Area Augmentation System (WAAS). The contract has options extending an additional five years, with an estimated value of $120 million. Tom Collins, Comsat Mobile Communications vice president, said that with the satellite service, aircraft position accuracy will "improve tenfold, from 100 meters to as precise as seven meters."
Raytheon Systems Co., Lexington, Mass., received a $22.4 million contract from the U.S. Navy to begin production of Phalanx Block 1B Surface Mode ordnance alteration kits. The Block 1B upgrade incorporates the capability to engage, day or night, small surface craft or low speed aircraft and increases the range at which maneuvering anti-ship missiles can be destroyed, Raytheon said yesterday in announcing the contract.
Sen. John Warner (R-Va.) said yesterday that he and Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott (R-Miss.) are working on a draft amendment that would revive the role of the Defense Technology Security Agency (DTSA) in the strategic export control process. DTSA is to be removed from the Office of the Secretary of Defense on Oct. 1 and shifted to the acquisition part of DOD, where DTSA proponents contend export controls will play a secondary role to maintaining overseas markets.
The first flight of a T-38C Talon trainer with an upgraded cockpit was conducted Wednesday at Williams Gateway Airport, Mesa, Ariz., Boeing Co. said yesterday. The plane, the first of two in the engineering and manufacturing development phase of the U.S. Air Force's T-38 Avionics Upgrade program, flew for an hour and 10 minutes, according to Boeing, the T-38C upgrade prime contractor. The major subcontractor for the avionics package is Israeli Aircraft Industries' Lehav Div.
Qatar Airways has selected IAE V2500 engines to power its fleet of Airbus A320s. It placed firm orders for six aircraft and put options on five more. Initially, the airline will take delivery of a separate batch of four leased A320s, all scheduled to begin operations next year. The purchased aircraft will be delivered from 2001 to 2005.
The Senate Armed Services Committee tentatively plans to hold an open hearing next Thursday on the much delayed nomination of Florida State Sen. Darryl L. Jones as Secretary of the Air Force, a committee spokesman said yesterday. Senate sources said most of those scheduled to testify at next week's hearing were Air National Guard associates who have been critical of him.
High component costs on the Extended Range Multiple Launch Rocket System (ER-MLRS) that caught the attention of Congress have prompted the U.S. Army to restructure the program, the Pentagon disclosed in an appeals package sent to congressional defense authorizers on July 2. A rebaselining of the program in May "cited cost as the reason that the self destruct fuze will not be procured for the FY 1999 through FY 2001 rocket buys," DOD told Congress.
The U.K. plans to joint the Guided Multiple Launch Rocket System program, British defense Secretary George Robertson said. "Guided MLRS will meet the requirement for increased range and precision identified in the Strategic Defense Review," Robertson said in a statement Wednesday as the SDR was unveiled (DAILY, July 8). "This guided rocket will replace the current MLRS rocket, which begins to reach the end of its service life early next century," he said.
QATAR received its third batch of Mirage 2000-5 fighters from France on Wednesday, China's Xinhua news agency reported from Abu Dhabi. It said the first batch arrived in Qatar last December and the second in April.
An article in The DAILY of July 7 (page 30) gave an incorrect Western designation for Russia's Topol-M silo-based ICBM. The correct designation is SS-27.
Ground controllers for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) yesterday started a 72-hour process to replace one geostationary weather satellite that is failing as it reaches the end of its service life with a new one that has been stored on orbit.
Retired Adm. William A. Owens, former vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, has been named vice chairman of the board of Teledesic LLC. Owens, who left as president of Science Applications International Corp. (SAIC) earlier this year when it became apparent he would not be able to meet a personal deadline to become chief executive officer (DAILY, April 1), will work with Teledesic co-CEO Steven Hooper when he joins the Seattle firm in August. In his new job Owens will also serve as CEO of affiliated Teledesic Holdings Ltd.
Having spent $3.2 billion to date on the Theater High Altitude Area Defense System (THAAD) program, the Pentagon's Ballistic Missile Defense Organization is considering restructuring the missile portion of the effort, which has failed in every test to date to hit a target. BMDO Director Lt. Gen. Lester Lyles said yesterday at a Pentagon briefing for reporters that "With the anomalies we've experienced in the THAAD program, the schedule delays, etc., we are within DOD looking at ways we may have to restructure the program.
Boeing Commercial Airplane Group (BCAG) awarded a 10-year, $300 million contract to Thyssen Inc. N.A., Detroit, for distribution of all the company's aluminum flat-rolled products and small and intermediate extrusion for the next 10 years. Boeing said the contract with Thyssen, a subsidiary of Thyssen A.G. of Dusseldorf, Germany, is part of a lean procurement strategy involving a single distributor and a select number of mills. Deliveries under the new contract will begin late this year. Contracts with the mills will be announced shortly, Boeing said.
Lockheed Martin, Raytheon and TRW have been chosen by the Pentagon's Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency to separately develop an Airborne Communications Node that could be flown on the Global Hawk high altitude endurance unmanned aerial vehicle. Each company received a $1 million increment under a $7.6 million prototyping contract, the Pentagon said Monday. Boeing also submitted a bid, didn't receive a contract.
Defense Dept. officials have asked the House to restore F/A-18E/F funding and have called on the Senate to drop reporting provisions on the F-22, warning in the Pentagon's appeals package to the fiscal 1999 defense authorization bill that both programs could incur delays otherwise. House authorizers provided funds for only 27 F/A-18E/F, rather than the 30 requested by the Navy. Of those strike fighters, 26 are slated for the first operational F/A-18E/F squadron.
The Russian government has decided to charge mobile communication companies for the use of radio spectrum as a way to generate some cash for its strapped space program. Two governmental decrees, released on June 25, listed the communications services for which providers will have to pay for use of radio frequencies. The decrees also set rules for holding auctions to determine who gets the licenses for cellular telephone systems in Russia.
Airbus Industrie said yesterday it has booked 287 new firm orders, including 40 widebodies, worth $18.7 billion in the first six months of the year, and that the orders represent 52% of the market for the period. Airbus attributed the performance to major sales to United Airlines, Sabena, Iberia, Air France, and Latin American carriers LanChile, TACA and TAM. Airbus said it had 460 firm orders worth $29.6 billion during all of 1997 when it had a market share of 45%.
Continental Airlines yesterday took delivery of the first 737-800 for a U.S. customer. Continental, which will be Boeing's largest customer this year and next, is scheduled to take delivery of 64 aircraft in 1998 and 58 in 1999.
NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center has handed over the newest U.S. polar-orbiting weather satellite to the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) following a two-month on-orbit verification.
The Commerce Dept. permitted a launch-failure analysis on the Jan. 26, 1995, Hughes Apstar-2 satellite launch failure to be provided to Chinese officials without prior State or Defense Dept. review, Commerce's under secretary for Export Administration testified yesterday.
