THE TACTICAL TOMAHAWK reprogramming requested by the Navy received its final congressional endorsement last week. The Navy was requesting that $23.1 million in fiscal 1998 funds be reprogrammed from the Tomahawk Baseline Improvement Program to jump-start Tactical Tomahawk development. On Thursday, the House National Security Committee followed the lead of House appropriators, and Senate authorizers and appropriators in agreeing to the program change.
The compromise fiscal 1998 supplemental that cleared Congress late Thursday provided a total of $45 million for the Israeli Arrow theater missile defense program, a substantial improvement over the Senate's $10 million and the House's zero funding for the program.
CAUCUS CONQUEST: Rep. Walter B. Jones Jr. (R-N.C.), a member of the potent Depot Caucus, succeeds in winning the unanimous support of the House National Security readiness subcommittee for his amendment making it clear that critical weapons systems such as the V-22 tiltrotor aircraft should be defined as "core," and therefore maintained by a public depot. Last week's action, if upheld, would effectively roll back the Navy's decision to change the designation of the T-406-AD-400 engine and sign a contract with Rolls Royce Allison Engine Co. for heavy maintenance.
Boeing Company is considering moving flight test activities from facilities here to Long Beach, Calif., to even out the workloads at the two areas, according to company officials. They said this is one of a number of options being eyed as workers here strive to meet high production rates, and as rates at the former Douglas Aircraft facilities in Long Beach decline. They stressed that no decision has been reached.
Lockheed Martin is consolidating its aircraft aftermarket spare parts and logistics services units into a new company called Lockheed Martin Logistic Services.
FOREIGN SALES: Despite the Joint Air-to-Surface Standoff Missile's stealth component, U.S. Air Force program director Terry Little says he expects the missile to be exportable. It would need a few changes, but they would be in the inner workings of JASSM and not in the stealthy airframe. The low price the AF is paying for JASSM is expected to give the missile a leg up in international competitions. The AF will pay $275,000 for the first 195 JASSMs.
NO ACCELERATION: Earlier U.S. Air Force hopes to begin engineering and manufacturing development of the JASSM a month early haven't panned out. The Lockheed Martin missile still has to be characterized for catapult launches and arrested landing. Program officials were hoping to have that done already, but last year's uncertainty about the Navy's program participation caused that certification to be delayed. Also to be completed before EMD begins is one guided launch later this summer.
Hughes Electronics Corp. has reached agreements to acquire the PanAmSat Corp. interests held by Grupo Televisa S.A., as well as a portion of the shares owned by a group of founding shareholders of the original PanAmSat company, Hughes announced Friday. The total cost to Hughes will be about $850 million. The transactions will increase Hughes' ownership from 71.5% to 81% of PanAmSat, allowing Hughes to consolidate the results of operations for income tax purposes. Hughes said in has no intention of further increasing its ownership stake.
NORTHROP GRUMMAN rolled out the first E-2C Hawkeye built for France last Wednesday. France will become the seventh country to operate the aircraft, acquiring two Group II aircraft in the same configuration being made for the U.S. Navy. Northrop Grumman will provide a tactics trainer, logistics, spares and other support elements.
AFTER H-2A: Japan's aerospace industry is already looking beyond the planned H-2A commercial variant of the all-Japanese H-2 launch vehicle to an all-new vehicle for the 21st century. The Society of Japanese Aerospace Companies has asked the Ministry of International Trade and Industry (MITI) and the Science and Technology Agency (STA) to begin work on an a launch vehicle that will be better able to compete in the world marketplace. To date MITI and STA have limited their activities to studying possible future launch vehicles.
The French ministry of defense and the Pentagon will explore how they can increase cooperation in space, Defense Secretary William Cohen and French defense minister Alain Richard said last week. "France has proposed that we work together to clarify ways that our militaries can cooperate in space," Cohen said at a Pentagon press conference Thursday. Richard added that "we must have a consistent procedure of finding practical cooperation on science and technology in space."
NTACMS FUTURE: The marinized version of the Army Tactical Missile System, known as NTACMS, will have one more shot at making it onto Navy ships after losing out against the Land-Attack Standard Missile for a near-term deployment. NTACMS and LASM will square off again to fill the next- generation land attack missile requirement for the Navy's newest destroyer class, the DD 21.
NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center, Huntsville, Ala., exercised an option to continue an existing contract with Computer Sciences Corp. (CSC), Falls Church, Va., for the provision of information services to Marshall and across the agency, NASA announced Friday.
Aeroflot Russian Airlines and Aviakor joint stock company of Samara have announced a preliminary agreement that Aeroflot will buy as many as 50 An-140 aircraft thorough 2004. Aviakor, which is known primarily as a serial production plant for Tupolev airliners, intends to renew its product line using the An-140 short-range passenger planes and the An-70 cargo aircraft. Both aircraft are developed by Antonov Experimental Design Bureau of Kiev, Ukraine.
A key challenge for Boeing as the lead system integrator (LSI) of the Pentagon's national missile defense (NMD) system will be striking a good balance between keeping pace with an aggressive test schedule and acknowledging when it may be moving too fast.
CINC CHANGES: This summer will see some top-level moves among AF officials as Gen. Howell Estes, commander in chief for U.S. Space Command, retires. The two front runners for the post are Gen. Richard B. Myers, AF Pacific Command, and Lt. Gen. Lester Lyles, Ballistic Missile Defense Organization director.
HIGH ENERGY TESTS: This summer and fall Army Space and Missile Defense Command will test the Tactical Higher Energy Laser (THEL) against a number of launched Katusha missiles at the service's High Energy Laser Systems Test Facility, White Sands Missile Range, N.M., according to SMDC Chief Lt. Gen. Edward Anderson. The Army has enough fiscal year 1998 funding to conduct the tests, but may need some additional support dollars, he notes. The plan is to wrap up the THEL tests by December.
Latin America has a requirement for 700 new aircraft during the next 10 years, valued at $37 billion, a company executive predicts. John Hayhurst, Boeing's VP-Sales, Americas, told the International Airline CEO conference this week that 85% of those new aircraft will be narrowbody jets. "Latin American economic growth and financial stability will continue to improve," he said. Boeing expected the region to grow 8.5% annually from now through 2007. The Boeing global market forecast is due out in June.
Russia's Strategic Rocket Forces orbited a classified military satellite last week with a Proton rocket from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan, apparently an early warning platform bound for a geosynchronous orbit.
The U.S. Navy has decided to remanufacture some of its air-defense Standard Missiles for land attack, foregoing for the time being using a marinized variant of the Army Tactical Missile System on its destroyers and cruisers.
Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. Michael Ryan has tasked his staff to review the service's electronic warfare program so he can determine what short-term and long-term investment plans should be made. The "Electronic Warfare Operational Shortfall Study" has mainly a near-term focus and is scheduled to report back to Ryan this summer. The question at the heart of EWOSS is "where are our holes right now," Ryan said in an interview yesterday.
The General Accounting Office has called on the Pentagon to stop pursuing two infrared countermeasures system and pursue only the Army's Advanced Threat Infrared Countermeasures (ATIRCM) or the Directed IR Countermeasures (DIRCM) system under development by the U.K. and the U.S. Special Operations Command.
The Pentagon yesterday selected Boeing over United Missile Defense Company (UMDC) to be the lead system integrator (LSI) for the national missile defense (NMD) program. Under the terms of the three-year, $1.6 billion contract with the Ballistic Missile Defense Organization, Boeing will be responsible for development, integration, testing and planning deployment of an NMD system capable of defending all 50 states against a limited ballistic missile attack.
Loral Space&Communications Ltd. filed a registration statement with the Securities and Exchange Commission for a public offering of 16 million shares of its common stock, the company announced Tuesday. Loral plans to use the proceeds in connection with its offer to buy up to 4.2 million outstanding partnership interests in Globalstar L.P. held by Globalstar's founding service provider partners (DAILY, April 27).
