KLM ORDERED four 737-800 airliners from Boeing. They will join four the carrier ordered earlier as part of a plan to expand its European network. The aircraft will seat 150 in two classes featuring five-abreast business class. The first of the eight aircraft is to be delivered in February.
Raytheon Co. has completed assembly of the "Pathfinder" infrared target acquisition sensor to be used next year in the Space-Based Infrared System-Low flight demonstration system (FDS). Pathfinder is to be launched on a Delta II in the fall of 1999 as part of the TRW SBIRS-Low demonstration satellite, Raytheon said. The sensor is undergoing flight readiness testing, which began with radiometric testing in late February.
California Microwave-Airborne Systems Integration Division, Belcamp, Md., is being awarded a cost-plus-fixed-fee, cost-plus-award-fee and firm-fixed- fee contract for completion of the aircraft modification of two (2) ARL-M planes. Work will be performed in Belcamp, Md., and is expected to be completed by Sept. 30, 2001. Contracts funds will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. There were 10 bids solicited on Jan. 30, 1990, and three bids received. The contracting activity is the U.S. Army Communications and Electronics Command, Warrenton, Va.
Boeing Defense and Space Group, Seattle, Wash., is being awarded a $26,550,000 face value increase to a firm-fixed-price contract to provide for installation and check-out of the Electronic Support measures into four E-3F Airborne Warning and Control System (AWACS) aircraft. The work is expected to be completed December 2000. This effort supports foreign military sales to France. Contract funds will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. Electronic Systems Center, Hanscom AFB, Mass., is the contracting activity (F19628-97/C-0005, P00006).
Boeing delivered 108 commercial jet transports during the first quarter of 1998, the company reported yesterday. The deliveries consisted of 34 737-300/400/500s, 12 next-generation 737s, 12 747s, 11 757s, 10 767s, 20 777s, two MD-80s, four MD-90s and three MD-11s.
LOCKHEED MARTIN Information Systems, Orlando, Fla., and Relfectone Inc., Tampa, agreed to combine complementary capabilities and resources to pursue several simulation contracts that involve U.S. Army aviation training systems, the companies announced. They will pursue follow-on training opportunities related to the U.S. Army's Battlespace Integrated Concept Emulation Program (BICEP) test cell at Ft. Hood, Tex.; the Aviation Reconfigurable Manned Simulator (ARMS) training system program, and the Aviation Combined Arms Tactical Trainer (AVCATT) program.
Raytheon Co., Fullerton, Calif., is being awarded a $7,600,000 firm-fixed- price contract for the production of two Mk. 1 ship self defense systems in FY 98. Work will be performed in Fullerton (80%) and San Diego (20%), Calif., and is expected to be completed by March 1999. This contract was not competitively procured. Contract funds will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. The Naval Sea Systems Command, Arlington, Va., is the contracting activity (N00024-96-C-5453).
Lockheed Martin Corp., Denver, Colo., is being awarded a $12,461,780 face value increase to a cost-plus-award-fee contract to provide for a one month extension of research and development support, and acquisition and assembly of test equipment in support of the Titan II and IV launch vehicles. The work is expected to be completed April 1998. Contract funds will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. Space and Missile Systems Center, Los Angeles AFB, Calif., is the contracting activity (F04701-96/C-0035, P00021).
The government of Israel is expected to boost its order of Sikorsky UH-60L Black Hawk helicopters to equip a second squadron and possibly replace its UH-60As. The U.S. Army in May will begin delivering 15 UH-60Ls to Israel under a foreign military sales agreement, Col. Tom Harrison, the Army's program manager for utility helicopters, said here Saturday at the annual symposium of the Army Aviation Association of America.
Sikorsky Aircraft Corp., Stratford, Conn., is being awarded a $10,839,971 modification to a firm-fixed-price contract for definitization of modification P00014 which incorporated Israel "unique" configuration/specification changes to 15 "vanilla" aircraft. Also included in this modification is the addition of logistical and technical support for this effort. Work will be performed in Stratford, Conn., and is expected to be completed by Dec. 31, 1999. Contract funds will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. This is a sole source contract solicited on Feb.
Lockheed Martin Corp., Fort Worth, Texas, is being awarded a $122,350,000 firm-fixed-price contract to provide for eight F-16 aircraft, alternate mission equipment, and ferry preparation. The work is expected to be completed October 2000. Contract funds will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. There was one firm solicited and one proposal received. Solicitation began February 1998; negotiations were completed April 1998. This effort supports foreign military sales to Bahrain.
Lockheed Martin Command and Control Systems, Colorado Springs, Colo., is being awarded a $6,502,852 face value increase to a cost-plus-award-fee contract to provide for commercial off-the-shelf software, production support engineering, software development, and Tactical Forecast System infrastructure modifications in support of the Theater Battle Management Core Systems. The work is expected to be completed September 2001. Contract funds will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year.
Lockheed Martin Corp., Vought Systems Division, Grand Prairie, Texas, is being awarded a $14,000,000 increment of a $19,409,780 modification to a cost-plus-incentive-fee contract, to exercise the initial operational test and evaluation option and the initial operational test and evaluation technical data package option, for continued development of the Army Tactical Missile System Block II Guided Missile and Launching Assembly. Work will be performed in Grand Prairie, Texas, and is expected to be completed by May 30, 2000.
The Space Based Laser (SBL) concept that the U.S. Air Force and the Ballistic Missile Defense Organization (BMDO) want to test would require a hand-off of target information from an off-board source, according to Brig. Gen. James K. Beale, the AF's top acquisition official for space and nuclear deterrence. The demonstrator won't have its own target tracking capability because it has to be a treaty-compliant system, Beale said last week in Washington at a breakfast sponsored by the National Defense University Foundation.
NASA wants proposals by May 1 for a smallsat to be launched to the Lagrangian point as part of a $50 million mission proposed by Vice President Gore to provide a high-resolution image of the sunlit Earth for free distribution on the Internet. Dubbed "Triana" by Gore, the "Earth Observing Post" would consist of a satellite weighing 330 pounds or less, with a 2,048-pixel CCD camera able to produce 7-kilometer resolution of Earth's surface for educational outreach.
The Joint Air-to-Surface Standoff Missile downselect scheduled for today has been delayed. The U.S. Air Force now plans to announce the winner of the competition between Boeing and Lockheed Martin Thursday. The delay has been caused by red tape created by the Pentagon and Congress. The Pentagon had to certify to Congress that an analysis of alternatives showed JASSM is the best way to move forward on an air-launched standoff missile.
Orbcomm Global L.P. has won U.S. FCC approval to add 12 satellites to its planned 36-satellite "Little LEO" alphanumeric message relay constellation, an upgrade that will improve service in the higher latitudes and increase capacity closer to the Equator. Under the FCC approval, which came on March 31, Orbcomm also will be allowed to raise the orbital altitude of its temperate-zone satellites from 775 kilometers to 825 km. The changes and additional satellites will improve service in Alaska, Northern Canada, Northern Europe and Northern Russia.
Lockheed Martin Western Development Laboratories, San Jose, Calif., is being awarded a $28,302,209 face value increase to a cost-plus-award-fee contract to provide for hardware and software modifications to replace the Air Force Satellite Communications Network (AFSCN) Operational Traffic Switching System with the Operational Switch Replacement. This upgrade will allow the AFSCN to switch faster and connect more directly between satellites and tracking stations. The work is expected to be completed April 1998.
STEPHEN MUNRO, group publisher, newsletters at Hart Publications Inc., Rockville, Md., will become publisher of Aviation Week Newsletters on April 27, Kenneth Gazzola, executive VP of McGraw-Hill Aviation Week Group, announced yesterday. Munro, an editor at McGraw-Hill energy newsletters from 1981 to 1989, has been in editorial and publishing positions at Thompson Publishing Group Inc. and Hart Publications since then. He succeeds Edmund Pinto, who left McGraw-Hill in February to become a managing director at GKMG Consulting Services Inc.
Loral Space and Communications Ltd. yesterday launched its "CyberStar" broadband satellite service, which will use Ku-band links aboard one of the company's Telstar spacecraft initially before upgrading to Ka-band satellites.
A number of requirements and architectural decisions remain unresolved in the U.S. Air Force's Space Based Infrared System Low (SBIRS-Low) program, such as whether the satellites will provide a direct downlink to ground-based missile defense systems. Some of the issues will be addressed by the Pentagon's Joint Requirements Oversight Council and the Defense Acquisition Board in the May/June period, officials of the Lockheed Martin team competing for SBIRS- Low told The DAILY last week at the Navy League symposium in Washington.
Russia's Khrunichev Space Center wants to delay launch of the first International Space Station element by two months to accommodate expected delays in completion of the critical Russian Service Module, according to Russian press accounts. Both the Interfax and Itar-Tass news agencies reported last week that Khrunichev wants to delay launch of the FGB propulsion unit from June until at least August so the FGB won't be left orbiting in "proud loneliness," as Itar-Tass quoted the space tug's project manager at Khrunichev, Sergei Shayevich.
NASA IS TESTING a new sensor that it says shows promise in detecting clear air turbulence. Rod Bogue of Dryden Flight Research Center, Calif., said the sensor detected turbulent regions of air ahead of a test aircraft in time for passengers to be warned to return to their seats and buckle up. The sensor, called the Airborne Coherent LIDAR, was designed and built for NASA by Coherent Technologies, Lafayette, Colo. It relies on Light Detection and Ranging technology. Bogue said that as long as wind velocity remains uniform, the sensor detects no turbulence.
U.S. Special Operations Command's MH-47 helicopters are likely to get a structural upgrade building on the U.S. Army's 300-aircraft CH-47 Improved Cargo Helicopter (ICH) program. Although the MH-47s are newer than the Army Chinooks, one SOCOM official noted they are operated in a more demanding environment with greater weight, thereby placing greater stresses on the airframe. The MH- 47s will certainly need an overhaul by 2020, he said, although SOCOM may be interested in upgrading the airframes even before then.
