U.S. Naval Air Systems Command expects to announce in July the winner of a competition for a Targeting Sensor System for the Marine Corps' improved AH-1W helicopter, Navy Program Manager Capt. Tom Curtis told the American Helicopter Society in Washington. The system is expected to fuse an imaging infrared system with a thermal imaging third generation forward looking infrared system, he said Wednesday. The Targeting Sensor System is one of the issues to be settled for the AH-1 upgrade.
The House yesterday approved by voice vote an amendment that would require the Secretary of Defense to select an alternative contractor to Lockheed Martin as a potential source to develop the Theater High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) system. The House amendment also requires the secretary to establish an appropriate cost sharing arrangement with Lockheed Martin for future flight test failures.
RAYTHEON CO., Lexington, Mass., completed the sale of its European-based Raytheon Electronic Controls business to EGO Group of Germany for $38 million. The sale was the last resulting from Raytheon's strategic assessment of its appliance business. Raytheon realized a total of about $1.2 billion from the sale of all units of the former appliance business.
The Royal Netherlands Air Force took delivery of a new CH-47D Chinook helicopter at Boeing's Philadelphia facility. Boeing said the helicopter is the first of six "new-build" CH-47Ds to enter service in the Netherlands. They follow seven modernized Chinooks received by the RNLAF in 1995 and 1996. The remaining new helicopters are slated to be delivered later this year, Boeing said.
A former top KGB official who defected from the former Soviet Union said in Washington this week that the U.S. is in danger as terrorists step up their ability to launch attacks with electronic pulse weapons. Victor I. Sheymov, former chief of the KGB 8th Directorate who defected to the U.S. in 1980 and who has worked with the National Security Agency as a consultant on systems to protect against radio frequency (RF) weapons, told Congress there is an "urgent" need to develop technology to protect U.S. computers against RF interference.
United Defense L.P. (UDLP), York, Pa., and Swiss Ordnance Enterprise agreed to market internationally the Swiss upgrade to UDLP's M109 self- propelled howitzer, the companies announced. The upgrade, developed for the Swiss army, features an extended range 47 caliber cannon, semi-automatic loader, navigation and positioning system and improved electronics.
Bavaria International Aircraft Leasing Co. and Air Berlin announced orders for next generation 737s which, along with an order from Delta Airlines for a 737-800 earlier this month, brought Boeing 737 sales past the 4,000 mark. Bavaria ordered two 737-700s for delivery in the third quarter of 2001. The company now has ordered six 737-700s. Bavaria last month became the first European customer for the 717-200 with an order for five.
Consolidation of the Russian missile and space industry under the Russian Space Agency, ordered by President Yeltsin in January, is now complete. In accordance with Decree No. 440, signed by Prime Minister Sergey Kirienko on May 12 and released on May 20, RSA will assume control of three dozen more state companies, and will be responsible for implementing state policy in 21 stock-holding companies.
Motorola Inc. will become a partner on Teledesic's global broadband "Internet-in-the-sky" satellite communications system, joining Teledesic LLC, Boeing and Matra Marconi Space, the companies announced yesterday.
Greece and Turkey are expected to buy Harpoon and Hellfire missiles under separately anticipated foreign military sales agreements, the Pentagon said. The Turkey deal would the larger of the two, totalling $43 million for 30 Harpoon missiles and related equipment. Turkey already has some of the Boeing missiles in its inventory. The Greek deal is for a total of 274 Hellfire II missiles and related equipment. The sale is estimated to be worth $24 million. Greece already has some of the missiles.
AERO-DIENST of Nuremberg, Germany, has bought its first 609 Civil Tiltrotor aircraft from Textron, bringing to 67 the number of orders for the aircraft. Aero-Dienst plans to use the tiltrotor for charter services and medical transport, Bell Helicopter Textron said yesterday. The announcement was made at the Berlin Air Show. The 67 civil tiltrotors sold so far are going to 40 customers in 16 countries, Bell said. It said 15 civil tiltrotors have been ordered by European companies.
Launching U.S. commercial satellites on overseas boosters makes it easier for a foreign nation to get sensitive technology that can be used to bolster its missile programs, a panel of witnesses told the Senate Government Affairs Committee yesterday.
JAPANESE AVIATION OFFICIALS granted type certification to the Boeing 777- 200, marking a new procedure for certifying jetliners in Japan. For the 19 777s delivered to Japanese operators to date, each airplane has been required by Japanese regulations to undergo Japanese Civil Aviation Bureau inspections. With the new type certification, officials will follow a process that more closely resembles the procedures used by the U.S. FAA and Europe's Joint Aviation Authority.
LITTON, Woodland Hills, Calif., changed the name of its FiberCom division to Litton Network Access Systems. The division, located in Roanoke, Va., provides fiber optical local area network (LAN) and internetworking equipment for aircraft, shipboard and tactical ground-based military applications.
NASA set June 2 as the official date for the launch of the Space Shuttle Discovery, even though officials will continue to evaluate a minor water leak discovered in the fuel cell No. 3 relief valve. The leak was discovered during a test Monday of the super lightweight tank when the fuel cell was brought on line. The flight, STS-91, is set to make the ninth docking with Mir, delivering supplies and bringing home astronaut Andrew Thomas, who has been on Mir since late January.
The U.S. National Reconnaissance Office has slowed the Future Imagery Architecture program and may delay first launch of FIA satellites by about a year to resolve differences between the government and industry in estimating the cost of the effort, which would be about $1 billion.
Marine Corps Commandant Gen. Charles Krulak said yesterday that the need for short-takeoff-vertical-landing versions of the Joint Strike Fighter will increase as the U.S. military becomes more expeditionary. "I think the STOVL version of JSF will not decrease - it will increase in numbers," Krulak told reporters at a breakfast in Washington. "I think it will be a bigger seller than what is currently projected."
- Airbus Industrie yesterday formally rejected an offer to pull the Russian-designed Antonov-70 transport aircraft into a project to develop the Future Large Aircraft (FLA). Airbus' seven-nation Future Large Aircraft policy group of government representatives announced that "it could not act as a prime contractor on an An-70 based program under the current conditions laid down by the nations."
The National Reconnaissance Office is gradually increasing its research and development investment, NRO Director Keith Hall said yesterday. The investment, he said, is supposed to reach 10% of the agency's total, classified, budget by 2000. Hall described the move, taking place over a four - year period, as a "significant expansion in R&D accounts." Last year the NRO spent about 6% of its funds on R&D, and this year the amount has grown to 8%. Hall said he wants to maintain the investment once it has reached 10%.
WORLDSPACE, Washington, D.C., signed a $67.3 million contract with Alcatel for a fourth satellite. The satellite, which will serve as a ground spare, will be delivered in 2000 and is identical to the first three WorldSpace satellites now being built. They are intended to provide programming to underserved markets around the world. WorldSpace plans to launch its three satellites - AfriStar, AsiaStar and AmeriStar - beginning later this year.
A backup for the Wide Area Augmentation System "will be needed for the foreseeable future" because of uncertainties related to signal interference, according to the U.S. Dept. of Trans-portation's inspector general. The IG, Kenneth Mead, told FAA Administrator Jane Garvey this week that interference could come from intentional or unintentional jamming, communications satellites, or ionospheric variations.
Representatives of the German and French governments signed a memorandum of understanding for production of the German/French Tiger attack and support helicopter at ILA '98 in Berlin, DASA announced yesterday. The initial production goal is 80 Tigers each for Germany and France, it said. Germany needs 212 Tigers and France needs 215. Production and final assembly will be split equally between Eurocopter facilities in Donauworth, Germany, and Marignane, France.
DASA Chief Executive Manfred Bischoff said he has talked with British Aerospace and the U.K.'s General Electric Co. Plc about combining to buy pieces of Northrop Grumman if U.S. authorities block Northrop Grumman's planned merger with Lockheed Martin, according to press reports from Europe. Bischoff told the Wall Street Journal Europe that he had discussed the idea of "joining European forces" to buy parts of the U.S. company.
