VULCAIN FIX: Europe's big Vulcain rocket engine will be slightly modified to prevent a roll that caused the Ariane 5 launch vehicle to shut down prematurely after its first successful launch last year. Hot-fire analysis with a special roll torque measurement device attached to the test stand has pinpointed the cause of the roll as roughness on the inner surface of the engine nozzle, which imparted a slight spiral to the hot gas flow. According to the European Space Agency, the turbine exhausts will be repositioned to counter the phenomenon.
DIRECCION GENERAL DE AERONAUTICA CIVIL, Chile's air navigation service provider, the U.S. FAA and Raytheon Systems Co. will install a satellite navigation test bed reference station in Santiago and one in Balmaceda, Chile. The test bed will support evaluation of the wide area augmentation concept in Chilean airspace.
The Pentagon, acknowledging concern by the General Accounting Office, told the U.S. Air Force last week to convert the first two production F-22 fighters to be bought later this year to pre-production vehicles (PPVs). The GAO was worried that the production decision would be made before sufficient testing.
TRIPROPELLANT: Russia's Design Bureau of Chemical Automation (DBCA) will begin testing a tripropellant rocket engine this week that might hold promise for a single-stage-to-orbit reusable launcher. Vladimir S. Rachuk, DBCA general designer, says the engine is rated at a sea-level thrust of 120 tons, burning kerosene first and then liquid hydrogen, with liquid oxygen as the oxidizer. Based on the company's RD-0120 oxygen/hydrogen rocket, the new engine has been mounted in the test stand at Sergiev Posad, near Moscow, for its hot-fire test series.
The proposed acquisition of Northrop Grumman by Lockheed Martin will "benefit competition in military aircraft and defense electronics," not hamper it as the U.S. government has charged, the two companies argued in a joint response to the government's anti-trust complaint against the merger. In a document filed Friday in U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, the two companies also argue their merger would "create annual savings of hundreds of millions of dollars by reducing overcapacity and increasing efficiencies of scale."
Launch of the first Earth Observing System satellite has been delayed until the end of the year because of bugs in the custom software written for the ground systems that will control, monitor and schedule science on the Earth science platforms, NASA reported Friday.
Raytheon Systems Co. has won a $17.9 million follow-on production contract from Delco Defense Systems Operations for thermal imaging and fire control systems for Canadian Army Armored Personnel Carriers. The contract brings the total number of Raytheon HIRE systems ordered for the program to 486 since the contract was awarded in October 1996.
SHORTFALL SEEN: The $20 billion in the fiscal '98 Pentagon budget for strategic nuclear forces should actually be about $22 billion, according to the Congressional Budget Office. It says the budget provides $2 billion for nuclear force modernization instead of the $4 billion the Pentagon has said it needs. The $20 billion, according to CBO, includes $8 billion for strategic offensive forces, $4 billion for Dept. of Energy programs, $6 billion for C3 and surveillance, and $2 billion for treaty verification and related items.
The first of 18 Block 52 F-16C aircraft for Singapore was delivered Thursday at ceremonies at Lockheed Martin Tactical Aircraft Systems in Fort Worth, Tex. "Today continues the long-standing relationship between our company and the Republic of Singapore Air Force," Robert T. Elrod, vice president of F-16 programs, said in a statement. "By continuing to inject modern technologies into the F-16, we have ensured that the aircraft being delivered today is the most advanced multirole fighter currently in operation."
Lockheed Martin worked closely with its Joint Air-to-Surface Standoff Missile subcontractors to reduce the cost of its winning bid, in one case cutting the price of a component used in its design and that of the losing Boeing design.
RAYTHEON SYSTEMS CO., Lexington, Mass., signed a contract with a potential value of $20 million with the Dept. of Civil Aviation, Jamaica, to provide modern radar approach control capabilities at Montego Bay and Kingston international airports. RSC also won air traffic control system contracts from the Dept. of Civil Aviation, Curacao, Netherlands Antilles and the Princess Juliana International Airport, St. Maarten, Netherlands Antilles.
KODIAK TESTS: The U.S. Air Force is said to be getting ready to present a proposal to the National Missile Defense Joint Program Office for NMD risk reduction missile tests from Alaska's Kodiak Island. NMD JPO Director Brig. Gen. Joseph Cosumano appeared disgruntled last month when Air Force Brig. Gen. James K. Beale, director of space and nuclear deterrence for the service's acquisition office, said the AF wanted to conduct tests out of Kodiak to support NMD. Cosumano said at the time that there had been no coordination with the NMD JPO.
ADVANCED TECHNICAL PRODUCTS, INC., reported that its Intellitec Div., Deland, Fla., has won a $3.6 million contract from Army Communications- Electronics Command to produce various configurations of radar-scattering camouflage systems and components. The initial production and testing is slated to start in the middle of this year, with production and deliveries to complete in 1999.
SRI LANKA placed a $150 million order with Rolls-Royce for Trent 700 engines to power six Airbus A330-200s scheduled for delivery beginning in October 1999. Air Lanka's new business partner, Emirates, also has ordered the engines for 16 of the aircraft, also due for delivery beginning in 1999, Rolls said.
The critical Russian Service Module for the International Space Station, which has already pushed back the schedule for start of on-orbit assembly of the Station, will be another three to four months late, Russian space officials told a U.S. congressional delegation this week.
The Republic of China Air Force on April 7 accepted four search and rescue helicopters at Sikorsky Aircraft's facilities in Stratford, Conn. The new helicopters will join the ROCAF's fleet of 13 S-70C helicopters currently performing SAR missions in Taiwan. The four S-70C-6 Super Blue Hawks, as they are called by the ROCAF, are configured with sophisticated avionics and enhanced mission equipment that give them an all-weather and night SAR capability.
Spectrum Astro will enter the competition for development and production of the almost-$4 billion Space Based Infrared System Low (SBIRS- Low) constellation. During the past several weeks rumors have circulated that the field of SBIRS-Low competitors would widen from the TRW/Raytheon and Boeing/Lockheed Martin teams already in the competition. On Wednesday, Spectrum Astro chief Dave Thomson told the U.S. Space Foundation in Colorado Springs that his company would take on the two established teams.
The Pentagon is asking Congress to revise its position on the export of high performance computers when drafting the fiscal year 1999 defense authorization bill.
Engines and components distributor Avatar Alliance opened a new center for engine purchasing and engine sales operations in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., and Engine Programs Director Dane McBroom will move his office from the Atlanta Operations Center to Fort Lauderdale to run the new operation.
Alliant Techsystems said its Conventional Munitions Group maintained a leadership position in the medium caliber ammunition market during the company's fiscal year 1998. During that period, which ended March 31, the group won contracts worth $64 million for production of tactical and target practice rounds. It won two awards for 1.6 million rounds of 25mm Bushmaster target practice ammunition used by the U.S. Army's Bradley Fighting Vehicle.
Engine Lease Finance Corp. and the AGES Group, along with their respective parent companies, have formed a new joint venture to acquire a portfolio of spare aircraft engines for short- to long-term lease with an initial capitalization of $210 million.
Short Brothers delivered its first nacelle nose cowl for the GE CF34- 8C1 turbofan to GE Aircraft Engines, where it will undergo fan blade-off tests and other studies, Shorts reports. The unique -8C1 nacelle design can be used on either the port or starboard engine, and a novel thrust reverser arrangement cuts down on mechanisms and moving parts. The Belfast, Northern Ireland unit of Bombadier Aerospace will hand over six ground test articles in coming months, with the first production nacelles slated for delivery early next year.
The Russian Space Agency and United Technologies Corp. have agreed to set up production of Pratt&Whitney's RL-10 cryogenic rocket engines in Russia, agency and company officials announced here yesterday. The engines, upgraded using Russian technologies, would first be offered to boost payload capability of the Russian Proton rocket. But in the future they may be sold internationally, officials said.
Boeing Chairman Phil Condit said yesterday that estimated production costs of the next-generation 737s will exceed estimated revenue for the first 400 units. Condit said that Boeing will take a pretax charge of $350 million on first quarter earnings on top of previously recognized forward losses of $700 million related to production problems on the next-generation 737s, and that further charges could be necessary.
DOW-UNITED TECHNOLOGIES COMPOSITE PRODUCTS has received an option for seven more satellite buses for the Iridium "Big LEO" communications constellation. The composite buses, produced on a production line in Tallassee, Ala., were ordered by Lockheed Martin Missiles and Space, which is building the Iridium satellites. Overall, Lockheed Martin retains options for 37 more satellite buses, running through 2003. To date 87 of the units have been delivered, and the seven new orders are scheduled to be delivered this year.
