Cutting U.S. strategic forces from the present START I ceiling of 6,000 nuclear warheads to as few as 1,000 could save as much as $2.5 billion a year in the long run, according to the Congressional Budget Office. CBO, in a letter to Senate Minority Leader Thomas A. Daschle (D-S.D.), a copy of which was obtained by The DAILY, estimated the budgetary impact of different levels of strategic forces as follows:
The U.S. Navy yesterday took delivery of the first of 700 Standoff Land Attack Missile - Expanded Response built under a contract awarded in 1996. Boeing will deliver 75 missiles this year. Those missiles were initially to be standard SLAMs, but the Navy decided it would be cheaper to buy SLAM-ER immediately, rather than buying SLAMs and then converting them (DAILY, April 1, 1997).
Litton's claim that Honeywell deliberately infringed on a patent associated with Litton's navigation technology has been sent back to district court by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit for further proceedings, the companies said yesterday. Honeywell said it was "very pleased," and Litton said it was "disappointed." The case began in 1990. The first verdict, a $1.2 billion damage award for Litton, came down in 1993, and the case has been battled in the courts ever since.
Raytheon System Co., Lexington, Mass., won several contracts for defense hardware. Separate contracts were won from the U.S. Navy's Naval Surface Warfare Center, Crane, Ind., for AN/SSQ-53E and AN/SSQ-62E sonobuoys worth a total of $41.5 million. Raytheon will make 57 SSQ-53Es, with deliveries beginning in June 1999 and continuing through February 2000. It will make 22 SSQ-62Es, with deliveries beginning in September 1999 and running through March 2000. The production work follows the engineering development contracts received a year ago.
Pentagon testers found the U.S. Navy's fix to the F/A-18E/F strike fighter's wing drop and buffeting problems "acceptable," even though some buffeting remains. The Navy and Boeing will install a variable porous wing fairing near the snag of the jet's wing. It alters the airflow over the wing to eliminate the wing drop phenomenon, and also mitigates buffeting. The buffeting problem arose mainly from an earlier porous wing fairing design.
Industry may believe it has been promised a satellite-based sole-means system of navigation, but no such promise has been made, according to a top FAA official. Dennis deGaetano, acting associate administrator for research and acquisitions, told The DAILY that the agency expects an answer "within six months" on whether the GPS-based Wide Area Augmentation System (WAAS) should offer sole or primary means for approach and landing.
Following the recent loss of its first communication satellite, the Central Bank of the Russian Federation (CBRF) has given up the idea of developing the "Bankir" communications system on its own and has invited governmental bodies to join in. Sergei Alexashenko, deputy chairman of CBRF, told reporters here Tuesday that an interagency meeting devoted to development of the Bankir satellite communication system decided last Friday to advise the government to assign the Bankir project the status of a state program.
Russian and Japanese space officials have tentatively agreed on three areas of possible future cooperation, with specific projects to be established in follow-up meetings beginning this summer, according to Russian press accounts.
Selected Acquisition Report (SAR) programs for the three-month period ending Dec. 31, 997, are detailed in the following table, released this week by the Dept. of Defense (DAILY, April 7). Dollar figures are in millions. For SAR data of the third quarter Current Estimate Cost Base Base Then Weapon System Year Year $ Year $ Quantity ARMY:
The U.S. Navy has given Boeing Co. the green light to begin the second lot of low rate production for the Standoff Land Attack Missile - Expanded Response, Boeing and the Navy said yesterday. The move follows completion of the development test program last month, Boeing will build 20 missiles under the contract and has an option to build 20 more if the Navy finds additional funds in fiscal 1998. A full- rate production decision is expected later this year following completion of operational testing.
Executives of British Aerospace and Germany's DASA repeated their refrain in a Paris symposium last week that France's Aerospatiale should be privatized to help clear the way for new European aerospace industry. BAe Chief Executive Officer Mike Turner said state ownership of Aerospatiale could be kept up for "a short and clearly defined period" to facilitate the constitution of Airbus' corporate structure, which is due to take over from the current loose economic interest grouping on Jan. 1, 1999.
The U.S. Army National Guard and Sikorsky Aircraft are modifying one UH-60L Black Hawk helicopter for use in fire fighting. The Guard is interested in the capability because commercial fire fighting helicopters are sometimes in short supply. Congress provided $3 million for the single kit. The converted Black Hawk, known as "Firehawk," is supposed to be ready for operational testing with the Los Angeles fire department this summer, a Sikorsky official said. It will remain in use with the Guard.
Boeing Co. is in the early stages of a four-year program to design a new rotor hub for the CH-47 Chinook helicopter that will slash operations and support costs of the existing hardware by 75%. The initiative is being supported by the U.S. Army and the U.K. Ministry of Defense, both of which operate the Chinook. The new rotor hub would be applicable to all CH-47s. The first phase of the program leading to a notional design was recently completed.
Canada will lease four Royal Navy Upholder class submarines for a period of eight years, U.K. Defense Secretary George Robertson said. The agreement includes a support and training package from the British defense industry and an option for the Canadians to buy the submarines outright. Robertson told Parliament that the arrangement would be worth about $C610 million ($429.9 million), with work being created for U.K. companies in reactivating the subs and for GEC Marine, which will provide the technical and logistical support.
A Russian Proton rocket flying from Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan lifted seven more Iridium communications satellites to low Earth orbit yesterday, bringing Iridium's total spacecraft count to 63 and filling 90% of the "Big LEO" constellation. Two more launches scheduled later this month will complete the initial Iridium launch phase if they go as planned. Commercial service of the global mobile system is scheduled to begin in September.
Russian President Boris Yeltsin has signed the ratification bills for Russian-Kazakh treaties under which Russia will pay with weapons for the use of four aircraft and missile test ranges in Kazakhstan.
Honeywell Inc. has challenged the European Commission's decision to allow France to aid two European companies in development of avionics for Airbus aircraft. The American company said the decision, made public last December, would distort competition. The EC authorized the French government to provide 140 million French francs ($23.6 million) to Airbus Industrie to back development of a new flight management system by France's Sextant Avionique and Smiths Industries of the U.K. (DAILY, Dec. 8, 1997).
The Coast Guard has concluded a series of test transmissions of the "Eurofix" system, which sends Differential Global Positioning System corrections on Loran-C radionavigation signals. Eurofix, according to the company that provided support services for the tests, Megapulse Inc. of Bedford, Mass., is being implemented in Europe and is considered to be important in European radionavigation planning "because it provides economical combined DGPS and backup radionavigation services."
The U.S. Air Force last week wrapped up a 10-day test deployment of two B-2 bombers to Guam. The service said that during the deployment to Andersen AFB on the Pacific island, it evaluated every aspect of operating and maintaining the Block 30 aircraft away from their home base at Whiteman AFB, Mo.
Hampered by a limited number of prototypes in its RAH-66 Comanche flight test program, the U.S. Army is considering using some AH-64 Apaches to flight test Comanche electronics and sensors. The testing of sensors on Apaches would parallel the flight envelope expansion underway with the first of two Comanche prototypes, Brig. Gen. Joseph Bergantz, the Army's Comanche program manager told The DAILY here last week. The second prototype won't be available until next year.
The U.S. Air Force will have to increase its investment in space science and technology by about $1 billion to $1.5 billion per year - a factor of five or six - to achieve the goals in space the service is setting for itself. The need was identified in a quick look at space goals and requirements by Air Force Chief Scientist Daniel Hastings. "It is very clear that the current investment profile wouldn't get you" where the AF wants to go, he said in an interview at the Pentagon.
The Pentagon is asking Congress to provide more management flexibility in weapons programs while they are in low rate initial production (LRIP) and as they transition from development to full production. The Pentagon sent the proposals as part of a package for lawmakers to consider as they prepare to mark up the fiscal year 1999 defense authorization and appropriations bills. Each year DOD sends Congress the package to make its positions known prior to mark up of the bills.
Boeing Co. named Richard James president-Boeing Europe, a new position in which James will represent the company's three principal aerospace activities - commercial, military and space. James, who was VP-commercial business development, will be based in Brussels for Boeing, which has more than 400 major suppliers in 19 European countries. Boeing also has offices in London, Paris, Frankfurt, Prague, Rome, Amsterdam, Madrid and other cities.
BVR TECHNOLOGIES LTD., Tel Aviv, Israel, won contracts to supply its EHUD rangeless ACMI systems to a NATO air force and to a South American air force, which it didn't identify. BVR's portion of the European contract, signed between BVR and a European electronics company, is about $5 million. The European company will act as main contractor while BVR will act as main sub-contractor.
