AEROSPATIALE has delivered the Sino No. 1 commercial telecommunications satellite to the Xichang Satellite Launch Center in Southwest China for launch soon on a Long March 3B rocket. It will be the first European satellite launched on a Chinese launch vehicle, and will be operated by Sino Satellite Communications Co. Ltd., a state-owned shareholding enterprise. Failure of a Long March 3B in 1996 and the subsequent investigation of that failure by U.S.
ICO GLOBAL COMMUNICATIONS announced its first satellite is on track for a mid-December launch with completion of payload panel integration at Hughes Space&Communications in Los Angeles. Hughes is following a new assembly process for the ICO satellites, which allows the transmit and receive antenna modules to be built simultaneously with the forward and return transponder panels. ICO plans to launch 12 body stabilized satellites to medium Earth orbit for mobile communications relays.
U.S. NATIONAL RECONNAISSANCE OFFICE awarded a contract to Lockheed Martin for launch of a classified payload aboard an Atlas IIIA rocket from Cape Canaveral Air Station, Fla., after its first "head-to-head competition" for a commercial space launch. Under the fixed-price service contract, Lockheed Martin must be ready to launch within 120 days of notification.
Computer Sciences Corp. (CSC), El Segundo, Calif., has signed a $130 million, 10-year outsourcing contract with General Dynamics Information Systems to manage all the company's data processing systems. CSC originally signed a 10-year, $3 billion contract with GD in 1991, which was extended by three years in 1998. The agreement brought 2,600 former GD employees into CSC along with three data centers.
HONEYWELL SPACE SYSTEMS has delivered a commercially developed software development system, dubbed mini-MATE, to supplement the Multiplexer/Demultiplexer Application Test Equipment (MATE) system the company has delivered to help NASA contractors develop software for the International Space Station. The mini-MATE was designed to boost productivity by allowing software changes to be verified before they are mounted in the MATE systems, which in turn simulate Station flight systems in ground tests.
Russia's development of a future air-launched nuclear cruise missile is proceeding slower than initially expected, U.S. Air Force Gen. Eugene E. Habiger, commander of the U.S. Strategic Command, said yesterday. "There is not as much activity as I thought I would see," Habiger told reporters at the Pentagon yesterday. Habiger said one reason is that Russia's existing 3,000-kilometer range AS-15 air launched cruise missile, which can be fired from aircraft such as the Tu-160 Blackjack bomber, "is still good."
HARRIS CORP. was picked as prime contractor for the first GE*Star Satellite System, a Ka-band broadband spacecraft proposed as a supplement to existing C- and Ku-band satellites operated by GE Americom. The Melbourne, Fla.- based company will supply the communications payload for the spacecraft, and manage its integration with a French-built spacecraft bus at Aerospatiale's satellite manufacturing facility in Cannes, France. The GE*Star Satellite System is scheduled to go into operation in 2002, Harris said.
Litton Industries Inc. said improved results in the defense and commercial electronics units helped it post a 12% increase in earnings during its 1998 third quarter. The company earned $46.8 million in the quarter, up from $42 million in the same period a year ago. Sales remained flat at $1.1 billion over the period. Sales in the Electronic Components and Materials Group rose 21% to $155.9 million, while operating income grew 51% to $26.7 million due to strong volume from telecommunication and computer-related customers.
PRIMEX Technologies, Marion, Ill., is being awarded a $6,736,094 firm- fixed-price contract for demilitarization of 110,229 rounds of 152 mm cartridges. Work will be performed in Marion, Ill., and is expected to be completed by Oct. 31, 1999. Contract funds will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. There were 20 bids solicited on Jan. 28, 1998, and four bids were received. The contracting activity is the U.S. Army Armament, Munitions and Chemical Command, Rock Island, Ill. (DAAA09-98-C- 0027).
The U.S. Navy is considering an Unmanned Combat Air Vehicle demonstration that would focus on issues directly related to shipboard operation of UCAVs. The U.S. Air Force and the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency are conducting a separate effort stressing land-based vehicles (DAILY, April 17).
Raytheon Training Inc., Irving, Texas, is being awarded a $6,871,009 time- and-materials/requirements-contract to provide for FY1999 operation and maintenance of Air Force Research Laboratory and Aeronautical Systems Center flight simulation facilities. Aeronautical Systems Center, Wright- Patterson AFB, Ohio, is the contracting activity (F33601-99-D-J001).
Lear Astronics, Santa Monica, Calif., is being awarded an $8,952,393 face value increase to a firm-fixed-price-contract to provide for 115 Fuel Management Advisory Computers, 114 Integrated Fuel Management Panels, and 109 Adapter Cable Assemblies applicable to the Fuel Savings Management System on the KC-135 aircraft. Expected contract completion date is November 1999. Oklahoma City Air Logistics Center, Tinker AFB, Okla., is the contracting activity (F34601-92-C-0918-P00028).
Lockheed Martin Corporation Information Systems, Simulation and Automated System, Orlando, Fla., is being awarded a $9,777,779 modification to previously awarded contract N61339-94-C-0050 to exercise an option for seven advanced gunnery training systems for the M1A2 Abrams system enhancement program configuration with initial spares and one platoon after action review for the U.S. Army. Work will be performed in Orlando, Fla., and is expected to be completed in May 2000. Contract funds will not expire at the end of the fiscal year.
Pratt&Whitney yesterday kicked off ground testing of the first of two F119 engine derivatives that will be used to power the Joint Strike Fighter Concept Demonstrator aircraft. The F119-SE611, to be flown on Lockheed Martin's two X-35s, and the F119-SE614, set to power Boeing's two X-32 Concept Demonstrators, were put through their first tests at P&W's West Palm Beach, Fla., facility, Pratt&Whitney and the Pentagon said yesterday.
U.S. Air Force pilots operating the Predator unmanned aerial vehicle are realizing that it is difficult to handle, which is one reason the AF has opted to retain rated pilots to fly the vehicle. "It's an extremely fragile aircraft," Capt. Greg Harbin, a UAV operator from the 11th Reconnaissance Squadron at Indian Springs, Calif., said Thursday at the annual meeting here of the Association of Unmanned Vehicle Systems International. Predator, he said, "is extremely pilot- unfriendly."
NATIONAL RECONNAISSANCE OFFICE will unveil a newly renovated satellite processing facility today at Vandenberg AFB, Calif. The $10 million renovation is intended to streamline the processing of payloads to allow increased launch capability and lower cost launches, the U.S. Air Force said yesterday.
SPACE IMAGING has pushed back the planned late-June launch of its Ikonos 1 commercial Earth remote sensing satellite until later in the year to allow more time for testing, the Thornton, Colo.-based company reported.
Tracor Aerospace Inc., Austin, Texas, is being awarded a $5,167,752 ceiling priced delivery order under a basic ordering agreement for 844,680 RR 180 dual chaff cartridges. These cartridges are air launched electronically reflective material used to confuse enemy radar. Work will be performed in Lillington, N.C., and is expected to be completed in January 2000. Contract funds will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. This contract was competitively procured with four proposals solicited and one offer received.
TSM Corp., Bartlett, Tenn., is being awarded an $8,135,527 cost-plus-fixed- fee, indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract to provide services in support of TRIDENT combat systems at Kings Bay, Ga. and Bangor, Wash. naval bases. Services will include maintenance, problem analysis and correction, and logistics support. Work will be performed in Kings Bay, Ga. (50%), and Bangor, Wash. (50%), and is expected to be completed in June 2003. Contract funds will expire at the end of the current fiscal year.
Intelsat's Board of Governors has picked Conny Kullman, a 15-year veteran of the international communications satellite consortium's staff, to be the organization's next director general.
Metric Systems Corp., Fort Walton Beach, Fla., is being awarded an $8,061,665 indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity, time and materials contract to procure diagnosis, repair, and engineering services; technology insertion; software services; training; configuration management; and equipment/parts for the Global Positioning System (GPS) range application program test and evaluation ranges, training ranges, and authorized foreign military test and evaluation and training ranges. This contract combines purchases for the U.S. Navy (40%), U.S. Air Force (35%), U.S.
Bechtel National Inc., San Francisco, Calif., is being awarded a $2,000,000 increment as part of a $27,351,765 cost-plus-fixed-fee contract for dismantling of the SS-24 Intercontinental Ballistic Missile (ICBM) silo in Ukraine. Work will be performed in the Ukraine, and is expected to be completed by Dec. 12, 2002. Contract funds will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. There were 35 bids solicited on Nov. 10, 1997, and three bids were received. The contracting activity is the Defense Special Weapons Agency, Alexandria, Va. (DSWA01-98-C-0112).
Raytheon Missile Systems Company, Tucson, Ariz., is being awarded a $7,345,575 modification to previously awarded contract N00024-94-C-5435 for the upgrade of the rolling airframe guided missile weapon system, Block I variant, with an engineering change to provide targeting of helicopters and other surface aircraft. The rolling airframe missile Mk. 31 guided missile weapon system is a NATO cooperative development and production program between the United States and German Government. Work will be performed Tucson, Ariz.
International Enterprises, Inc., Talladega, Ala., is being awarded a $6,037,390 firm-fixed-price-requirements-type-contract to provide for repair of 32 line items of shop replaceable units applicable to the AN/APG- 68 radar in support of the F-16 aircraft. There were four firms solicited and two proposals received. Solicitation issue date was March 27, 1998. Negotiation completion date was April 28, 1998. Ogden Air Logistics Center, Hill AFB, Utah, is the contracting activity (No contract number available).
