TECSTAR INC., City of Industry, Calif., has completed delivery of 17 solar panels for the Interim Control Module (ICM) the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory is building for NASA as a backup to the Russian Service Module. TECSTAR used six different solar cell sizes to build the panels under a tight deadline necessitated by the unexpected decision to use the previously classified upper stage as a Station component.
RAYTHEON SYSTEMS CO. will carry out initial production of the U.S. Navy's Extremely High Frequency Follow-On Terminals (EHF FOT) under a $9.5 million contract that could ultimately reach $400 million. The program provides low- and medium-data-rate satellite communications to Navy ships as part of the Navy's Information Technology of the 21st Century program, which provides secure, multimedia command and control information, tactical Internet access and long-range targeting.
Boeing and Bell Helicopter Textron, responding to concerns of the U.S. Federal Trade Commission, have suspended the sale of Boeing's MD 500 and MD 600 commercial helicopter lines to Bell, the companies said yesterday. Terry Stinson, president and chief executive officer of Bell Helicopter Textron, said the businesses are being "shopped around" to other potential buyers.
Hans Mark, former secretary of the U.S. Air Force in the 1970s and now director-designate of the Pentagon's Defense Research and Engineering operation, has told the Senate Armed Services Committee that he wants to "persuade and guide" the military services to undertake a small number of long-range weapons development programs based on "new technology that might lead to decisive military advantages." Mark, in SASC testimony last week, said it is "critical to maintain and enhance the capability to sustain the long-term development of weapons systems."
Standard&Poor's, citing production problems and cash flow, said it has lowered its ratings on Boeing Co., Boeing Capital Corp. and McDonnell Douglas Corp., but that all ratings are removed from CreditWatch where they were placed with negative implications on April 9. Ratings on Boeing Co. were lowered to AA from AA+, of Boeing Capital to AA- from AA and of McDonnell Douglas from AA+ to AA.
NASA has picked the Space Telescope Science Institute in Baltimore, a unique facility built to conduct the science program of the Hubble Space Telescope, to manage the proposed Next-Generation Space Telescope tentatively set for launch in 2007. The institute, on the Homewood campus of Johns Hopkins University, sets scientific priorities and allocates observer time with the Hubble, and receives data from the orbiting telescope via nearby Goddard Space Flight Center.
The Senate Appropriations VA, HUD and independent agencies subcommittee, marking up its annual spending bill yesterday, provided $13.6 billion for NASA, an increase of $150 million above the Administration's request. The subcommittee, which sends its mark to the full Appropriations Committee tomorrow, created a new account for the International Space Station (ISS) to allow for better monitoring of spending and cost overruns on the program.
Aydin Corp., Horsham, Pa., said yesterday that it plans to sell some of its divisions so it can pay an arbitration award to Lockheed Martin Corp. and fully focus on its core telemetry and communications business, which represents about 80% of total sales. Aydin is negotiating the sales of its San Jose, Calif.-based Microwave Components, Displays and Molded Devices Divisions and closing down its Raytor Div., also based in San Jose. The company said it expects to complete the actions by the third quarter of 1998.
U.S. aerospace and satellite industry associations joined forces yesterday to argue against Senate passage of a House measure that would prohibit the launch of U.S.-built commercial communications satellites on Chinese launch vehicles, warning that to do so could cripple U.S. participation in a marketplace worth $1.7 billion last year and growing.
A foliage penetrating synthetic aperture radar being developed by the U.S. Air Force for the Global Hawk unmanned aerial vehicle will be flight tested first on an Army RC-12 Guardrail aircraft. The Guardrail, a military version of the Beechcraft Super King Air, was picked as a platform for the FOPEN advanced technology demonstration because the Global Hawk itself is still in development, an industry official said. Test flights are expected to begin next year.
Hawker Pacific Aerospace, Sun Valley, Calif., signed a five-year, $5 million service agreement for United Parcel Services Co.'s entire 747 fleet. Hawker said it will perform landing gear repair and maintenance services on 16 UPS airplanes at Hawker's facility in the U.K. The company also will perform flap track and flap carriage services, a new product line that came with the acquisition of British Airways' landing gear facility.
U.S. NAVY SECRETARY JOHN DALTON has submitted his resignation effective later this year. He has served in the post since 1993. No replacement has been named. Dalton's resignation means the White House now has to pick its third new service secretary in a short period of time. Still waiting for Senate confirmation hearings are Louis Caldera, nominated to the Secretary of the Army, and Daryl L. Jones, nominated to be Secretary of the Air Force.
POWERED LOCAAS industry day has been scheduled by the U.S. Air Force for June 24 at Eglin AFB, Fla. The event is intended to bring industry up to speed on the AF Research Lab's advanced technology development plans for the powered Low Cost Autonomous Attack System.
SPACE-BASED LASER Readiness Demonstration request for proposal is scheduled for release around July 22, the U.S. Air Force said in a June 8 Commerce Business Daily notice. In addition to determining the feasibility of the SBL concept, the study will look at mission utility beyond ballistic missile defense. The SBLRD acquisition is a two-phase effort. The first began in February with award of concept definition study contracts of $10 million each to Lockheed Martin and TRW.
Lockheed Martin Federal Systems, Manassas, Va., is being awarded a $6,535,569 firm-fixed-price contract to manufacture 11 Phase II acoustic rapid commercial-off-the-shelf insertion kits. These kits are used on submarines, and provide significant improvement in towed array data processing and display. Work will be performed in Manassas, Va., and is expected to be completed in July 1999. Contract funds will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. This contract was not competitively procured.
JAYCOR, San Diego, Calif., is being awarded a $1,063,866 increment as part of a $5,151,400 cost-plus-fixed-fee contract for research and demonstration of forward-looking sensors package technology, for a vehicular mounted mine detector (VMMD). Work will be performed in San Diego, Calif. (80%), and Nashua, N.H. (20%), and is expected to be completed by May 31, 2001. Contract funds will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. There were 24 bids solicited on May 6, 1997, and 24 bids were received. The contracting activity is the U.S.
DeCrane Aircraft Holdings, El Segundo, Calif., signed an agreement to acquire Avtech Corp., an electronic systems company based in Seattle, for about $83 million in cash.
Lockheed Martin Corp., Santa Maria, Calif., was awarded on May 29, 1998, a $17,872,379 face value increase to a cost-plus-award-fee-contract to provide for hardware and software modifications to upgrade the real-time tracking capability of the Eastern Range. This effort supports the Range Standardization and Automation program for the Eastern Range. Expected contract completion date is April, 2000. Solicitation issue date was April 8, 1998. Negotiation completion date was May 20, 1998.
Kent Kresa of Northrop Grumman yesterday characterized his company as clearly independent and focusing on growth. Kresa, chairman, president and chief executive officer, said at the Aviation Week Aerospace Finance '98 Executive Symposium in Arlington, Va., that he wasn't there to talk about Northrop Grumman's stalled merger with Lockheed Martin, but about Northrop Grumman. "The legal teams are off dealing with the issue in court and are having minimal impact on the day- to-day operations," he said.
The financial status of Energia Ltd., the former Soviet space giant responsible for many major firsts in the Cold War space race, was detailed publicly for the first time in the West yesterday, a move that Managing Director Jeffrey Manber said was made necessary by its increasing reliance on commercial space.
Senate appropriators are funding two new C-37A aircraft - militarized Gulfstream Vs - to help replace aging C-137 and C-135 aircraft that support the warfighting commanders-in-chief, and to move toward consolidation of all CINC support aircraft. The U.S. Air Force this fiscal year wanted to begin a program to equip seven KC-135Rs with special communications to allow them to be used for CINC support (DAILY, Dec. 1, 1997), but Congress urged cancellation of the effort (DAILY, Dec. 23, 1997).
GENERAL ATOMICS on Thursday completed the first flight of its Prowler 2 unmanned aerial vehicle. The flight, at GA's El Mirage, Calif., test facility, lasted about 30 minutes, reaching 7,500 feet and 80 knots. The UAV has been developed only with company funding.
A U.S. Air Force study has found that more attention should be paid to surface-to-air missile upgrades carried out by smaller countries, according to the commander of the service's Air Combat Command. The Electronic Warfare Operational Shortfall Study, chartered by U.S. Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. Michael E. Ryan, has shown that modifications to older SAMs by a variety of countries are "the hardest to keep up with," Gen. Richard Hawley, commander of Air Combat Command told reporters last week in Washington.
