Fairchild Corp., Dulles, Va., will spin off its fastener business in a newly formed subsidiary through a distribution of stock to shareholders, Fairchild announced yesterday. The company said the proposed distribution of Fairchild Fasteners will supersede a previously announced plan to spin off the technology products segment and certain other assets (DAILY, Oct. 9, 1997). "We believe that Fairchild Fasteners will best prosper as a stand-
Bell Helicopter Textron has selected Lockheed Martin to supply the targeting system for the upgraded AH-1Z four-bladed Cobra attack helicopters being developed for the U.S. Marine Corps. Lockheed Martin this month will begin development and engineering work under a 54-month, $7.8 million contract, according to the company's Electronics&Missiles Div. Total value of the program could reach $150 million as the Marines upgrade 180 Cobras.
Loral Space&Communications has increased its ownership in the Globalstar Limited Partnership by purchasing 4.2 million "partnership interests" from founding service-provider partners for $420 million, with half of the sale proceeds set aside to fund Globalstar gateway and user terminal purchases by the selling partners. Meanwhile Loral sold three Soros funds a total of 8.4 million shares of Globalstar stock - equivalent to half of the equity it purchased from the service providers - with stipulations restricting their sale for a year.
A U.S. Defense Meteorological Satellite Program (DMSP) satellite was slightly damaged on July 1 when an external battery used in testing exploded, injuring a contractor employee, the Air Force reported. During a routine test of the Lockheed Martin-built satellite at Vandenberg AFB, Calif., "a contractor was injured after an external battery used to test electrical subsystems exploded after electrical power was applied during a routine test," according to the Air Force Space and Missile Systems Center, Los Angeles AFB.
NAVY Sikorsky Aircraft Corp., Stratford, Conn., is being awarded a $5,853,488 modification to previously awarded contract N00019-96-C-0165 for the fabrication and delivery of communication, navigation, and survivability production kits for two VH-3D helicopters. Work will be performed in Stratford, Conn., and is expected to be completed in September 2001. Contract funds will not expire at the end of the fiscal year. The Naval Air Systems Command, Patuxent River, Md., is the contracting activity.
The U.S. State Dept. has temporarily withdrawn permission for the son of a Chinese general to work on a communications satellite Hughes is building for Asia-Pacific Mobile Telecommunications, which is largely owned by the Chinese state. Under the order announced last Thursday, Shen Jun, the son of Lt. Gen. Shen Rongjun, cannot work on the $650 million deal while State checks out whether Shen had access to sensitive technology that exceeded the limits set by the license that allowed him to work on the program.
Russia's Security Council has approved a development plan for strategic nuclear forces until the year 2010 which contemplates cuts in the strategic nuclear arsenal to a level half that of ceilings specified by the yet-to-be-ratified START-2 Treaty. The plan, submitted July 3 by Marshal Igor D. Sergeyev, Russia's minister of defense, admits that by 2010 Russia will not be able to maintain more than 1,500 strategic warheads. Most of currently operational ground- and sea-based missiles will have exceeded their operational lifetimes by then, he said.
TRW INC. has opened a new electric propulsion test facility at its Redondo Beach, Calif., site to optimize electric thruster designs and perform tests for TRW engineers and paying customers. The "Cryogenic Electric Propulsion Test Stand" provides a 7-by-17-foot test cell and three 48-inch cryogenic vacuum pumps to maintain high vacuum levels during tests. Because system life testing can take as long as 5,000 hours, the facility is highly automated for unstaffed test control and data acquisition.
U.K. Defense Secretary George Robertson appears to have been successful in resisting Treasury demands for annual military budget cuts of up to 2.1 billion pounds ($3.5 billion) in the Strategic Defense Review (SDR), due for publication on Wednesday. Economies are forecasted to be limited to about 500 million pounds ($830 million) in Britain's 22 billion pound ($36.5 billion) yearly defense budget, allowing most major procurement programs to continue with relatively few changes.
ORBITAL SCIENCES CORP. has finalized a deal worth more than $500 million to deliver as many as 12 satellites, with launch services and insurance, to Constellation Communications Inc. for the first phase of its low Earth orbit communications network. Under the deal Orbital will provide as much as $150 million in equity investment and vendor financing for the project, which will put an initial ring of satellites around the equator at about 1,240 miles altitude, followed by another 42 satellites at higher inclinations to provide global coverage by 2003.
The U.S. Air Force is likely to focus future modernization programs on the increasing use of space, unmanned combat air vehicles, and small weapons, according to Lt. Gen. George Muellner, the AF's top acquisition officer. Muellner said in an interview that he sees more and more intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance activity moving from airborne platforms to space. He noted that the Starlite, or Discoverer II, program is a good example of that. It will demonstrate the utility of a space-based ground moving target indicator radar system.
Lockheed Martin plans to test a Russian-built RD-180 rocket engine with the U.S.-built components for its planned Atlas IIIA launch vehicle next Wednesday, barring further difficulties. Originally scheduled for late December 1997, the planned test at the old Saturn V/Space Shuttle Main Engine static stand at Marshall Space Flight Center has been delayed by mishaps and design changes.
Russian officials have decided to deorbit the Mir station next summer instead of at the end of 1999 as a way to conserve scarce resources for the International Space Station. Government officials in Moscow told reporters Thursday the Mir program was promised another $100 million, in rubles, to support flight and ground crews and pay for the robotic Progress capsules that will bring Mir down into the Pacific after a series of controlled deorbit burns.
Engine program managers working on the High Speed Civil Transport are more optimistic about the eventual design being capable of Mach 2.4 than their colleagues in the materials community, declaring that progress so far suggests those speeds - essential to the plane's commercial success - remain practical.
The U.S. Army has awarded contracts to three aerospace companies to design, fabricate and test the Tank Extended Range Munition (TERM), a smart 120mm munition for the Abrams tank. The Army's Tank Automotive Command awarded a total of $1.28 million to Alliant Defense Electronics ($395,742), Boeing North American ($467,424) and Raytheon TI Systems ($414,563). Under the program, Alliant is ultimately slated to get $37 million, Boeing would receive $35.9 million; and Raytheon TI Systems is in line for $49.7 million.
US Airways' order last week for seven firm Airbus Industrie A330 widebody twins kicked off an engine campaign that could wind up being worth more than half a billion dollars. Meeting with Airbus officials in Paris, US Airways Chairman Stephen Wolf on Thursday publicly committed to an expected order of seven firm A330-300s, along with options on seven more and 16 of what Airbus describes as "additional reserved delivery positions."
Lockheed Martin has won two contracts worth a total of $70.7 million for work on two F-22 fighter Production Representative Test Vehicle aircraft. One contract, for $50 million, is for advance procurement to support the effort; the other, for $20.7 million, is to provide sustaining labor in support of the program. Both contracts were announced June 30. They were awarded by The U.S.Air Force's Aeronautical Systems Center, Wright-Patterson AFB, Ohio.
The Office of the Secretary of Defense week is expected to officially grant the Air Force authority to proceed with the Airborne Laser (ABL) program. Acting AF Acquisition Executive Darleen Druyun signed off on Air Force plans for ABL on June 26. The ABL staff within the Pentagon reviewed the program last week. Among issues considered in the review were ability to track a missile in flight and effects of the atmosphere on laser beam propagation.
Air Force Gen. Charles T. Robertson Jr., approved by the Senate as new commander of the U.S. Transportation Command and Air Mobility Command, tells the Senate Armed Services Committee in a hearing on his nomination that replacing the C-5's aging TF39 engine with a commercial-off-the shelf engine "will substantially increase C-5 reliability." He notes that C-5 reliability, maintainability and availability of the aircraft has continued to decline since fiscal 1991 despite significant management attention and modification initiatives to reverse the trend.
United Space Alliance has taken over three more Space Shuttle operations contracts, as NASA's effort to consolidate all of the day-to-day Shuttle operations under the Boeing/Lockheed Martin joint venture moves into its second phase. Effective today, Lockheed Martin employees in Houston who develop the Primary Avionics Software System that is used to fly the Shuttle and Boeing employees there who process flight equipment for Shuttle astronauts will be rebadged as USA employees, according to a USA spokesman.
