Litton Integrated Systems Corporation, Woodland Hills, Calif., is being awarded a $138,624,300 firm-fixed-price contract for design and manufacture of Engineering Control System Equipment and Integrated Bridge Systems (IBSs) for backfit on the CG 47 class of AEGIS cruisers. The contract includes a firm requirement for four systems, options for twenty-two additional systems, and pricing agreements for IBSs for the DDG 51 class of destroyers. Work will be performed in Northridge, Calif. (50%), San Diego, Calif. (20%), Norfolk, Va. (20%), and Pascagoula, Miss.
The Pentagon's Ballistic Missile Defense Organization is slated to receive an updated national intelligence estimate (NIE), a key factor in determining if and when to deploy a national missile defense (NMD) system. Brig. Gen. Joseph Cosumano said he expects the NIE to be provided by the intelligence agencies "shortly."
German regional carrier Augsburg Airways has placed a firm order for six Bombardier aircraft - four 50-seat Series 300 Dash 8Qs and two 37-seat Series 200 Dash 8Qs. It has also taken options on seven additional Dash 8Qs. The contract for the six aircraft is worth Cdn $112.2 million ($78 million.)
The U.S. Air Force used a B-2 bomber to complete the first operational test of the BLU-109 variant of the Joint Direct Attack Munition. Four of the weapons were dropped in the April 28 test at the White Sands Missile Range using a Block 30 B-2. Three targets were engaged and two bombs were dropped on one target. The AF said yesterday that two BLU-109s aimed at the same target hit the same spot less than one second apart. This improved the penetration capability of the bomb, an AF spokesman said.
Northrop Grumman Corporation, Bethpage, N.Y., is being awarded a $248,000,000 advanced acquisition contract for long lead items for one FY 98 E-2C aircraft and three FY 99 E-2C aircraft. Work will be performed in St. Augustine, Fla. (75%), Bethpage, N.Y. (24%), and Milledgeville, Ga. (1%), and is expected to be completed in May 2002. Contract funds will not expire at the end of the fiscal year. This contract was not competitively procured. The Naval Air Systems Command, Patuxent River, Md., is the contracting activity (N00019-97-C-0147).
The U.S. Defense Dept. and Intelligence Community (IC) need to improve their coordination of imagery collection and planning initiatives, according to the House Intelligence Committee. "Better planning of visible and multi-spectral imagery, synthetic aperture radar (SAR), moving target indicator (MTI) radar and video collection could improve support to military operations and save resources," the Intelligence Committee says in the report accompanying its fiscal year 1999 authorization bill.
Kellstrom Industries Inc., Sunrise, Fla., signed a definitive agreement to acquire Aerocar Aviation Corp. and Aerocar Parts Inc., Florida-based companies that sell and lease aircraft, engines and engine parts, Kellstrom announced yesterday. Kellstrom will pay about $44 million in cash, along with a warrant to buy 250,000 shares of Kellstrom common stock, exercisable at the closing price on the day the transaction is completed, plus an additional $5 million payable within a two-year period after closing.
The final five satellites in the Iridium constellation were launched by a Boeing Delta II rocket from Vandenberg AFB, Calif., on Sunday. The 15th launch in 12 months marks the quickest deployment of the largest number of satellites in history, according to Iridium LLC.
After five days of occasionally intense debate, delegates to an International Civil Aviation Organization conference here decided that further study is required for two controversial proposals, one to create a world aviation fund to pay for modernization of air traffic management systems and another to establish a convention to regulate global navigation satellite systems. The proposals were advanced by developing countries seeking easy
SMART TLAMS: Shipboard operators will be able to communicate with the Tactical Tomahawk cruise missile, but the Office of Naval Research is developing technology that will allow cruise missiles to talk to each other and coordinate target engagements. However, Rear Adm. Daniel Murphy, the Navy's director of surface warfare programs, says such a high level of autonomy "is a step too far for me right now."
LOSING TIME: Limited flight time on the Global Hawk and the fact that a DarkStar still hasn't flown since the No. 1 vehicle crashed in April 1996 is cutting short the time the systems have to prove their worth. Although the Defense Dept. so far has opted for compressing flight test time rather than extending the demonstration program, that may change. Nagy said "we're all waiting to see if we can get enough flying done" for proper evaluations. If not, he suggests, the user evaluation at the end of the ACTD may be extended.
UAV PLAN: The DarkStar and Global Hawk unmanned aerial vehicles left over at the end of the Advanced Concept Technology Demonstration won't go to waste. Although officials expect production variants to look different, the U.S. Air Force is already carving out a mission for UAVs. "My guess is that we use those to iterate on the concept of operations" for endurance UAVs, says Brig. Gen. David Nagy, the head of AF information dominance programs.
LUH ATTENTION: The U.S. Army should stick to its schedule of trying to complete the Light Utility Helicopter requirements document by the end of this year and provide funding for the program in future budgets, the House National Security Committee says. Buying a new LUH to replace the UH-1s being flown by the Army Reserve is a priority. Fielding of the new helicopters is supposed to begin in 2001.
ALLIEDSIGNAL INC., Olathe, Kans., acquired Skyforce Avionics Ltd., a privately held company that designs, makes and sells portable and panel- mounted moving map display systems for use in general aviation aircraft. Skyforce, with engineering and production facilities in West Sussex, U.K., had $2 million in sales in 1997. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.
COMPUTER PROGRESS: Although astronauts on the International Space Station will use Pentium-equipped laptops to interface Station systems, the systems themselves will be based on a 386 architecture because the industry has moved so much faster than the Station developers. Similarly, when NASA wanted to create a virtual reality training environment for Station spacewalkers, it bought the hardware it needed off the shelf. "The computer industry has blown past the space program," says David J. Homan, manager of the VR Lab at Johnson Space Center.
Rostelecom, Russia's long-distance telecommunications operator, has become the first customer for Lockheed Martin Intersputnik (LMI), agreeing to use 25 transponders on the LMI-1 satellite planned for launch in December 1998. LMI announced the deal, but didn't disclose its terms.
ORBITAL SCIENCES CORP., Dulles, Va., said the U.S. Navy exercised a $6 million contract option with the company's Fairchild Defense division to make a new version of its AN/ASQ-215 Digital Data Set (DDS) that will accept PCMCIA mass memory cards. The idea was presented as part of a Value Engineering Change Proposal (VECP). Orbital said the VECP will reduce the government's cost for the redesigned DDS by almost 20%.
INTERSTATE ELECTRONICS CORP., Anaheim, Calif., won a contract from Raytheon for the XM982 Extended Range Projectile Program. Interstate will deliver 393 engineering development model GPS receivers. Terms of the contract were not disclosed.
Parker Aerospace, an operating unit of Parker Hannifin Corp., said it formed a Servo Controls Div. in Dublin, Ga. The unit will design and make electrohydraulic servovalves, control actuation systems and electronic components for the aerospace and power- generation markets. Servo Controls will be housed in a 78,000-square-foot facility that was formerly part of Parker's Abex NWL Div. Joel Benkie, former plant manager, will be there division's general manager.
CACI INTERNATIONAL INC., Arlington, Va., won a $48 million, five-year contract from the U.S. Space and Naval Warfare Systems Center (SPAWAR), Chesapeake, Va., to provide software implementations, training and troubleshooting for the new Naval Tactical Command Support System (NTCSS) program. CACI takes over as prime contractor after seven years of support as a subcontractor.
GBI IS NO THAAD: National Missile Defense officials are anxious to distinguish between their program and the Theater High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) program, which has failed five times in a row to intercept a target. Both rely on hit-to-kill technology, which isn't in question. But, says NMD Joint Program Office Director Brig. Gen. Joseph Cosumano, "There are tremendous differences in the challenges THAAD faces and those I face." He notes that THAAD and NMD's Ground Based Interceptor operate at different ranges, with THAAD trying for very difficult short-range hits.
Huck International, a subsidiary of Cordant Technologies Inc., Ogden, Utah, agreed to buy all the outstanding shares of Jacobson Mfg. Co. Inc. for $270 million, Cordant announced Thursday. Jacobson makes custom-designed metal parts and fasteners and plastic products and has projected 1998 revenues of about $145 million. Cordant will finance the acquisition with existing bank lines of credit. Closing is expected before the end of the quarter.
POT OF GOLD: Human tissue factories in space apparently aren't going to attract the sort of private investment in low-Earth orbit NASA hopes will free it to explore the solar system and beyond. Although using the microgravity environment to grow cartilage and other tissues for implant into patients on Earth is frequently cited as a potential source of revenue in LEO, work by the Harvard-M.I.T. Division of Health Sciences has cast a cloud on those hopes.
Boeing on Friday rolled out the first AH-64D Apache multi-mission combat helicopter for the Royal Netherlands Air Force in a ceremony at the company's Mesa, Ariz., facility. The RNAF is the first international customer to take delivery of an AH-64D. Boeing said it will make 30 Apaches for the RNAF. The U.K. will become the second international customer later this year.
