Northrop Grumman will upgrade its BQM-74E aerial target for the U.S. Navy with a modern integrated avionics unit (IAU) to improve capability and reduce life-cycle cost, the company announced yesterday. The upgrade is part of an ongoing product improvement program. The Navy approved the change following completion of flight testing last month at the Pacific Missile Test Center, Point Mugu, Calif., and environmental qualification testing conducted by IAU subcontractor Lear Astronics, Santa Monica, Calif.
AlliedSignal said the FAA has granted its XK516 radio the "first type certification for a commercial production high-frequency airborne communication system capable of handling both voice and data messages." The certification was performed on a Lufthansa MD-11. Vaughan Evans, director of navigation and communication products for AlliedSignal, said the radio features digital signal processing to "provide voice quality superior to existing systems and it now enables pilots to shift from voice to data as the primary means of long-range communication."
The question of documents retained by the U.S. government outlining Raytheon's view of the proposed merger of Lockheed Martin and Northrop Grumman has never come before the court of Judge Emmet Sullivan. The DAILY incorrectly reported in the issue of June 30 that the judge gave Lockheed Martin and Northrop Grumman access to such documents.
Engineers at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center are investigating why a new type of insulating foam on the huge external tank that carries cryogenic propellant for the Space Shuttle is breaking away and dinging the fragile thermal protection tiles on the orbiter wings.
General Electric Aircraft Engines, Cincinnati, Ohio, is being awarded a $5,755,000 modification to previously awarded contract N00019-96-C-0176 to provide for firm requirements for the Joint Strike Fighter alternative engine program, including core spares; high pressure turbine blade development; high pressure turbine nozzle design and fabrication; core reliability, maintainability, and safety analyses; weapon system contractor integration; and engine low pressure spool design assessment/trades/system integration efforts.
RETIRED MAJ. GEN. MARION CARL, the Marine Corps' first fighter ace in World War II who went on to serve as a record-breaking test pilot and Vietnam wing commander, was killed by an intruder who shot him during a robbery at his Oregon home Sunday night. He was 83. Carl became an ace in combat over Guadalcanal. As a test pilot he set a speed record of 651 mph in August 1947, and an altitude record of 83,235 feet in 1953. He flew U-2 reconnaissance missions over China and commanded the 2nd Marine Air Wing in Vietnam before retiring in 1973.
OCEAN SURFACE measurements by the TOPEX/Poseidon satellite show the El Nino area of warm water subsiding and cooler water moving into the equatorial Pacific. The satellite, which measures surface height, is expected to be able to track the sea level lowering associated with a "La Nina" event that would change global weather patterns from the heavy El Nino precipitation, NASA said.
The second DarkStar unmanned aerial vehicle completed its first flight yesterday, Lockheed Martin announced. The stealthy, high altitude endurance UAV took off from the Air Force Flight Test Center at Edwards AFB at 6:13 a.m. for a 46-minute flight, achieving its planned altitude of about 5,000 feet and completing all preplanned basic flight maneuvers, the company said. It executed a fully automated flight from takeoff to landing using the differential Global Positioning System.
Boeing Co., Derkeley, Mo., is being awarded a $42,271,276 face value increase to a firm-fixed-price contract to provide for low rate initial production of 2202 Joint Direct Attack Munition (JDAM) kits. JDAM is a strap-on kit with Inertial Navigation System/Global Positioning System capability that will provide an improved aerial delivery capability for existing 1000 and 2000 pound bombs. Solicitation issue date was September 1, 1995. Aeronautical Systems Center, Eglin AFB, Fla., is the contracting activity (F08626-94-C-0003/P00110).
A conference on building a united European aerospace industry is planned for July 2-3 in Toulouse. The meeting, sponsored by the European Center for the Aerospace and Aviation Industries, will precede a ministerial meeting on the issue July 9 in Paris. John Battle, U.K. minister for science, industry and technology, said the Paris meeting will help set the necessary framework of national policies.
Following a telephone press conference Friday afternoon, the judge in the Lockheed Martin-Northrop Grumman merger case gave the companies access to some Raytheon documents that outline the company's views on the merger of its two rivals. Judge Emmet Sullivan did not give attorneys for Lockheed Martin access to all the Raytheon documents, saying he would rule on other documents later, a Lockheed Martin spokesman said, adding that no other hearings were scheduled at this time.
CHINA AIR DYNAMICS RESEARCH CENTER has developed a low-temperature air transonic wind tunnel located in southwest China's Sichuan Province, the Xinhua news agency reported. A recent test produced an airflow temperature of -141 degrees centigrade, using compressed air for refrigeration for the first time.
The Senate Appropriations defense subcommittee expects the Clinton Administration to "move swiftly" to begin obligating the fiscal 1998 funds that were line item vetoed out of the fiscal 1998 defense appropriations act, a committee spokesman said yesterday. The line item veto, enacted by Congress in 1996, was struck down by the Supreme Court on June 25 in a 6-3 ruling. Last October, President Clinton eliminated 13 defense projects amounting to $144 million from the $247.7 billion '98 defense appropriations act.
Lockheed Martin Corp., Denver, Co., is being awarded a $9,979,797 face value increase to a fixed-price-incentive-firm; award-fee-contract to provide for production support for one Titan II mission. This effort includes booster vehicle assembly, payload fairing pre-flight processing, and liquid rocket engine pre-flight processing. Expected contract completion date is November 1998. Negotiation completion date was June 2, 1998. Space Systems Division, Los Angeles, Calif., is the contracting activity (F04701-96-C-0001, Modification P00112).
Johnson Control World Services, Inc., Cape Canaveral, Fla., is being awa rded a $133,652,652 indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity-contract to pro vide for visual information products/files/services through July 2006 in support of the Kennedy Space Center and the 45th Space Wing, Cape Canaveral Air Station, both in Florida. This effort includes still and video photographic support for space launch and landing events. There were 82 firms solicited and five proposals received. Expected contract completion date is July 2006. Solicitation issue date was May 20, 1997.
NASA has started paying more attention to the mental well-being of its astronauts as it prepares to move into the International Space Station era, when multi-national crews must get along for months at a time as they carry out difficult assembly and operations tasks in the dangerous orbital environment.
Indonesia's state-run plane maker IPTN pulled out of a competition to replace the Royal Australian Air Force's fleet of Caribou aircraft, an IPTN spokesman said yesterday. IPTN said it has stopped working on a special military version of its CN235-330 Phoenix that would help the aircraft meet RAAF requirements. The spokesman said due to recent economic troubles in Indonesia, the company was "not in a position right now to afford the development costs."
Boeing Information, Space and Defense Systems, Seattle, Wash., is being awarded a $5,259,143 face value increase to a firm-fixed-price-contract to provide for 32 communication kits and 8 processor kits to provide a broadcast intelligence capability to the E-3 Airborne Warning and Control System (AWACS) aircraft. The combination of the communication and processor kits allows aircraft to access near real time intelligence data provided by the Tactical Intelligence Broadcast Service and other intelligence networks. Expected contract completion date is January 19, 2000.
DRS TECHNOLOGIES INC., Parsippany, N.J., won two contracts with a combined value of $1.6 million for work for foreign navies. The first, from the Canadian Dept. of National Defense, is to develop and make subsystems to connect users of Shipboard Integrated Communications (SHINCOM) system aboard ships to facilities and public service telephone networks on shore. The second is for production of EAS-3000 Emergency Avionics Systems for the SH-2G Super Seasprite helicopters of the Royal Australian Navy.
Lockheed Martin Corp., Denver, Co., is being awarded a $6,357,942 face value increase to a cost-plus-award-fee-contract to provide for launch services for one Titan II mission. This effort includes spacecraft integration, pre-flight planning, and spacecraft launch. Expected contract completion date is November 1998. Negotiation completion date was June 2, 1998. Space Systems Division, Los Angeles, Calif., is the contracting activity (F04701-95-C-0012, Modification P00092).
ELBIT SYSTEMS, Haifa, Israel, signed a contract with Ingalls Shipbuilding, Pascagoula, Miss., to supply naval command and control systems and for the integration of the weapon systems as part of an upgrade program of Venezuelan Navy frigates. Elbit will be responsible for the overall integration of the ship combat system, consisting of various weapon systems, sensors and electronic warfare systems, and will supply the hardware and software of the command and control system. The contract, valued at $21.6 million, is expected to be executed over 20 months.
Rockwell International Corp. will spin off its Semiconductor Systems business and eliminate 3,800 jobs, the company said yesterday. Rockwell will take a pre-tax special charge of about $625 million in the third quarter for cost associated with the restructuring, but it said savings from the restructuring combined with ongoing cost reduction programs will generate about $100 million in pre-tax savings in the 1999 fiscal year and about $200 million annually by 2001.
The second Lockheed Martin F-22 Raptor, designated No. 4002, completed its first flight yesterday, 11 days ahead of schedule, Lockheed Martin announced. Chief Test Pilot Paul Metz flew the aircraft from Dobbins Air Reserve Base, Marietta, Ga. The F-22 reached an altitude of 20,000 feet at speeds as high as 250 knots (280 mph). Metz performed maneuvers that included bank-to-bank rolls, flight at varied engine settings and landing gear extraction and retention. The flight lasted 66 minutes.
DERCO AEROSPACE INC., Milwaukee, won a two-year, $2.8 million contract from Hellanic Aerospace Industries (HAI) to help carry out the Service Life Extension Program for the Greek Air Force fleet of F-4E aircraft. Derco will supply more than 30 Time Compliance Technical Order upgrade kits. The first kits are scheduled to be delivered in 4-1/2 months, and the upgrades are expected to keep the F-4Es operational until 2015.
