NASA's U.S. Laboratory Module for the International Space Station stands essentially completed in a clean room at Marshall Space Flight Center here, but getting the lab's software to work with the finished hardware remains a daunting task. Engineers and technicians started integrated hardware/software testing of the lab last week. Plans call for the testers to painstakingly run through all of the procedures Station astronauts will perform on orbit, with a bank of computers and cable trays standing in for the other Station modules and components.
Pete Vicari General Contractors, Inc., Harvey, La., is being awarded a $6,011,823 firm-fixed-price contract for construction of a civil engineering and communications complex at Naval Air Station New Orleans. The work will be performed in New Orleans, La., and is expected to be completed in October 2000. Contract funds will not expire at the end of the fiscal year. This contract was competitively procured with 26 proposals solicited and three offers received.
Wesley T. Huntress Jr., NASA associate administrator for space science, has been named head of the Carnegie Institution's Geophysical Laboratory. A chemical physicist trained at Brown and Stanford, Huntress joined NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in 1964. He headed NASA's Solar System Exploration Div. from 1990 until 1993, when he was named associate administrator. He announced his departure from NASA in February (DAILY, Feb. 19).
Russell D. Turner was named president and chief executive officer of United Space Alliance yesterday, replacing Paul B. Smith, who resigns effective June 15. Turner is an 11-year veteran of Boeing, which shares ownership of the USA consortium with Lockheed Martin.
Future U.S. Navy surface combatants will operate both vertical takeoff and landing unmanned aerial vehicles and helicopters, with each assigned to different missions, according to Rear Adm. Daniel Murphy, the Navy's director of surface warfare. "I would see an emerging partnership between helicopter aviation and VTOL," Murphy said in a recent interview. He said the requirement for the future Navy combatant known as DD21 calls for VTOL UAVs and helicopters.
ITT Corp., Aerospace/Communications Division, Fort Wayne, Ind., is being awarded a $4,000,000 increment of a $14,818,180 modification to a cost- plus-fixed-fee contract for Single Channel Ground and Airborne Radio System (SINCGARS) engineering/field support services, Option 1. Work will be performed in Fort Wayne, Ind., and is expected to be completed by July 31, 2000. Contract funds will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. This is a sole source contract initiated on July 1, 1997. The contracting activity is the U.S.
Steve Fushelberger joined Allison Engine Company in Indianapolis, Ind., as director of public relations, advertising and communications. He had most recently been involved in Part 135/FBO management and operations and before that had been director of marketing services for Agusta Helicopter. Fushelberger has both fixed- and rotary-wing experience.
A Feb. 12, 1998, decision memorandum prepared for President Clinton included "plenty of red flags" about the risk of waiving legal prohibitions on a launch by China of a second Loral-built satellite, the chairman of a special House committee to be created next month charged Friday.
Boeing Co. announced new appointments at its rotorcraft program management center in Philadelphia, and its helicopter assembly, integration and flight test center in Mesa, Ariz. It said Friday that: -- Martin H. Stieglitz, formerly VP, Comanche program, will be VP, program manager for the Apache program in Mesa. He succeeds Dean Borgman, senior VP, who will retire next month.
Engineers at GE Aircraft Engines are looking at a fighter engine concept that mates the new fan and afterburner technology developed for its Enhanced Fighter Engine to the commercial CFM56-7 core, top GE military engines executives tell AP.
BOEING CO. signed a contract with the Dept. of Defense to begin upgrading the U.S. Army's CH-47D helicopter fleet. Under the Improved Cargo Helicopter (ICH) program, Boeing will modernize at least 300 Chinooks, improving performance and containing costs until development and fielding of the Joint Transport Rotorcraft (JTR), slated to replace Army and Marine helicopters around 2020.
HERCULES INC. settled a whistle blower's suit out of court for $55 million, the largest award in history in a case in which the government itself declined to prosecute, according to plaintiff attorneys. The suit contended that the company falsified manufacturing and inspection records over 11 years in its production of nine rocket systems. The case was to be tried in U.s. District Court in Salt Lake City, which will now decide whether to give final approval.
A House amendment directing the U.S. defense secretary to select an alternative to Lockheed Martin as a potential source for the development and production of an interceptor missile for the Theater High-Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) system (DAILY, May 22) would make $30 million available to bring the second source up to speed.
Fort Worth, Texas-based RTS Services, Inc., launched "a major new and used parts-buying and turbine engine-purchasing program," President Roger Sickler reports, saying his company is "aggressively seeking firms who want to sell their new and used (repairable or not) parts for turboprop and turboshaft engines." RTS also is buying several new and used operating turbine powerplants and engine cores.
The Senate on Friday passed, bya vote of 90-4, a bill that would impose proliferation sanctions on any countries supporting Iran's missile development. Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott (R-Miss.) and Sen. Joseph Lieberman (D-Conn.) introduced the Iran Missile Protection Sanctions Act (H.R. 2709) in October, but it didn't go far. Despite the fact that the bill has 84 cosponsors and the House passed it, the Clinton Administration has threatened a veto of the bill, Lott noted.
SINGLE FOCUS: Keith Hall, director of the National Reconnaissance Office, and Gen. Howell Estes, commander of U.S. Space Command, are in the final stages of reviewing the Pentagon's proposed space architecture. Hall says the document establishes a single space architect who will work across all national security organizations.
SEES HELPER: Sen. Pete V. Domenici (R-N.M.), who chairs the Senate Appropriations subcommittee on nuclear energy, suggests in a Senate speech that India may have had help from other states in its recent nuclear tests. "Until they are disproved, and by that I mean something more than reassurances from the Indian government which has already demonstrated a willingness to be misleading about these issues," he says, "we need to consider the possibility that India cooperated with other countries in conducting tests."
With the number-crunching done for the first quarter of 1998, Airbus Industrie is well ahead of Boeing in booking new orders, outpacing the Seattle airframer by 69 orders after going into March 32 orders behind Boeing. Analyzing the airframers' reported order totals shows that Airbus booked gross orders of 193 aircraft during the first quarter - including 154 in March - while Boeing took in orders for 120 jetliners during the same period, including 49 in March.
U.S. AIR FORCE awarded $497 million in contracts Friday to four companies for production of 1,257 Traffic Alert Collision Avoidance System (TCAS) and 1,331 Terrain Awareness and Warning System (TAWS) for multiple aircraft. Initial contracts went to AlliedSignal ($213,100); Honeywell, Albuquerque, N.M. ($79,583); Honeywell, Clearwater, Fla. ($29,500); Rockwell Collins, $151,049; and Teledyne Controls, $74,241.
FIELDS AIRCRAFT SPARES INC., Simi Valley, Calif., completed the acquisition of Skylock Industries Inc., Monrovia, Calif., for $750,000 in cash and 60,000 shares of stock. Fields also retired about $100,000 in Skylock debt. Skylock designs and makes hardware and retaining devices for aircraft cabin interiors.
LOCKHEED MARTIN SANDERS, Nashua, N.H., will provide its next-generation mission planning system (MPS III) to support Japan Air Self Defense Force F-2 fighters. Under a contract with NASAM of San Francisco, Sanders' AMFSS distributor for Japan, three mission planning systems and training will be provided to F-2 prime contractor Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (MHI). Sanders also will support the conversion of the user interface to accept display characters in the Japanese language and will assist MHI with the development of Aircraft/Weapons/Electronics (A/E/W) modules.
NASA has recommended delaying the target launch dates for the first two components of the International Space Station to accommodate a revised schedule due to delays in Russian-built Service Module, NASA officials said Friday. The agency has proposed slipping launch of the Control Module from June 30 to Nov. 20, and launch of Unity Node I to Dec. 3.
Spare parts supplier and aircraft and engine leasing operation International Airline Support Group agreed to advise Mesa Air Group on what to do with 41 turboprop-powered aircraft in the wake of United Airlines' decision to end its West Coast code-sharing deal with Mesa's WestAir unit. WestAir is leasing a fleet of 20 Embraer EMB-120 Brasilias and 21 British Aerospace Jetstream 31s. The United Express agreement expires at the end of this month.
