Contrary to claims by the General Accounting Office that the first low-rate initial production contract in the F-22 program will be awarded prematurely, the heart of the new fighter's flight envelope will have been proven by December when the contract is to be let, Brig. Gen. Bruce Carlson, director for AF Global Power programs, said yesterday. He said in an interview that the F-22 will have logged 200 flight test hours by LRIP which, and that data will have been gathered on such critical points on aerodynamic performance, supercruise and refueling.
Iridium LLC is only 10 satellites short of its planned 66-satellite constellation of low Earth orbit communications platforms following the launch early yesterday of five more satellites aboard a Boeing Delta II rocket from Vandenberg AFB, Calif. Liftoff came at 1:02 a.m. EST after the flight was delayed from Friday by upper-level winds over the launch area. The five satellites aboard joined 51 already launched, including two launch just last week aboard a Chinese Long March vehicle (DAILY, March 26).
Gulfstream Aerospace Corp., Savannah, Ga., is being awarded a $32,772,610 face value increase to a firm-fixed-price contract to provide for one C-37A aircraft and associated training and data. The work is expected to be completed December 1999. Contract funds will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. Aeronautical Systems Center, Wright-Patterson AFB, Ohio, is the contracting activity (F33657-96/C-0037, P00007).
The FAA has decided to exercise options for phases two and three of the Wide Area Augmentation System (WAAS) despite opposition from U.S. airlines and recommendations of the NAS Modernization Task Force and Mitre Corp. John Britigan, program manager for Raytheon Co., the WAAS contractor, convinced the agency that the follow-on phases would add little to contract costs.
Sikorsky Aircraft Corp., Stratford, Conn., is being awarded a $55,101,606 modification to a firm-fixed-price contract, to exercise the option for 10 (FY98) UH-60L Black Hawk helicopters, and one UH-60L MEDEVAC Mission Kit. Work will be performed in Stratford, Conn., and is expected to be completed by June 30, 2000. Contract funds will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. This is a sole source contract initiated on Oct. 17, 1995. The contracting activity is the U.S. Army Aviation and Missile Command, Redstone Arsenal, Ala. (DAAJ09-97-C-0005).
Japan's National Space Development Agency (NASDA) is conducting a feasibility study on a class of microsatellites that would conduct Earth orbit and deep space missions in the coming century. Basic requirements of the new class of spacecraft, dubbed Hyper-sat, would be very high autonomy; very high performance; smaller size and weight than today's spacecraft, and the durability required for missions into deep space.
Northrop Grumman, Bethpage, N.Y., is being awarded a $144,200,131 cost- plus-incentive-fee/award-fee contract for the engineering and manufacturing development of the EA-6B Improved Capabilities III (ICAP III) Warfighter Upgrade System. Work will be performed in College Park, Md. (29%), Bethpage, N.Y. (28%), St. Augustine, Fla. (18%), Hollywood, Md. (13.5%), and Nashua, N.H. (11.5%), and is expected to be completed by January 2004. Contract funds in the amount of $19,500,000 will expire at the end of the current fiscal year.
THE PENTAGON announced planned sales of missiles and artillery systems to Egypt, Kuwait and Korea. All the deals must be approved by Congress. Egypt, for $304 million, would get 1,058 Stinger RMP Type III missiles, 50 complete Avenger systems and related gear. Kuwait, under a $496 million sale, would get two fully equipped Paladin artillery battalions. A $40 million sale to Korea would include 112 Multiple Launch Rocket System Extended Range (MLRS-ER) rocket pods and related equipment.
Raytheon Co., Electronic Systems Division, Bedford, Mass., is being awarded a $13,148,069 modification to a firm-fixed-price contract for PATRIOT SWEEP V Mod Kits and concurrent spares for the United States, The Netherlands, Kuwait, and Israel. Work will be performed in Tewksbury, Mass., and is expected to be completed by Dec. 31, 2004. Contract funds will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. This is a sole source letter contract initiated on May 16, 1997. The contracting activity is the U.S. Army Aviation and Missile Command, Redstone Arsenal, Ala.
As the Pentagon's Ballistic Missile Defense Organization reevaluates all schedules and test plans, it will decide if there is any way to move first unit equipped (FUE) Theater High Altitude Area Defense systems into the field sooner, BMDO Director Lt. Gen. Lester Lyles tells lawmakers. "I hesitate to say we can accelerate," Lyles says. "We may find a way to move the program to the left a little." Lyles stresses that he is talking months, not years. Some Republicans have been pushing for THAAD FUE sooner than the planned date of 2006.
The Pentagon's Ballistic Missile Defense Organization has delayed an upcoming intercept test of the Boeing exoatmospheric kill vehicle (EKV) competing for employment in the national missile defense (NMD) program, Pentagon and industry sources report. Program officials have decided to slip the intercept test at least one month to allow for more ground testing and modeling and simulation of the EKV's components, a Pentagon source said. The Boeing EKV successfully demonstrated in a launch last June that it could identify a missile target.
THE SENATE on Thursday approved an amendment to the defense-disaster fiscal 1998 supplemental that would appropriate $272.5 million only for procurement of eight F/A-18C/D aircraft for the Marine Corps with the funds designated as an emergency request, meaning that they do not have to be offset by cuts elsewhere in FY '98 appropriations. Senate Appropriations sources said the funds were to buy the eight F/A-18C/D fighters that Thailand ordered but could no longer afford because of the Asian economic crisis (DAILY, March 16).
NASA's Stratospheric Observatory For Infrared Astronomy (SOFIA) is about two months behind schedule because of interface problems between the German-built eight-foot telescope and the U.S.-provided flying observatory, but program managers believe the delay can be made up later.
The U.S. Air Force wants to conduct two more major B-2 bomber deployments before an Operational Readiness Inspection next year to clear the plane for non-nuclear missions. A nuclear ORI is planned this year (DAILY, March 27). Like the on-going "Island Spirit" deployment here, the future exercises are intended to allow the Air Force to improve the way it uses the B-2. Brig. Gen. Tom Goslin, commander of the 509th Bomb Wing, said the deployments will be more extensive than the current exercise, which involves two B-2s.
The U.S. Air Force wants to involve the B-2 stealth bomber in overseas exercises with allies. That's a priority for Air Combat Command, says Brig. Gen. Tom Goslin, commander of the 509th Bomb Wing, which operates the B-2. The AF must sort out how the still highly classified program can interact with the armed forces of other countries.
Statements by the leader of a team conducting an independent assessment of International Space Station costs draw fire from key congressional Republicans, who strenuously note it wasn't Congress that capped annual Station spending at $2.1 billion. Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) and Rep. F. James Sensenbrenner Jr. (R-Wis.) term remarks by former TRW executive Jay Chabrow blaming Congress for raising the final Station cost by imposing the cap "unconscionable," and vow to take a sharp pencil to Chabrow's Station-cost estimates when they are finalized.
Rep. F. James Sensenbrenner Jr. (R-Wis.), chairman of the House Science Committee and a longtime skeptic when it comes to Russia's role in the International Space Station, is off to Moscow late this week to see for himself just what's going on with the critical Service Module and other Station components. Sensenbrenner is scheduled to be in the Russian capital April 5-7, but thanks to the surprise government shakeup there (DAILY, March 24), as of late last week he wasn't sure who, if anyone, he would be meeting.
Sen. Thad Cochran (R-Miss.), who has introduced with Sen. Daniel Inouye (D-Hawaii) legislation on missile defense policy, plans to reintroduce it with more sponsors, especially Democrats, to give it a bipartisan cast. The bill says the threat is increasing; the ability of the U.S. to defend against future threats "is questionable"; the failure "to prepare adequately" could have severe national security and foreign policy consequences; the U.S. must be prepared for rogue nations acquiring long- range missiles; the U.S.
V-22 OSPREY PILOTS used night vision goggles for the first time in the Bell Boeing tiltrotor with a two-hour flight from NAS Patuxent River, Md., March 3, Bell Boeing reported. Marine Corps pilots used fourth-generation NVGs for the night flight, which reached speeds as high as 250 knots and covered the aircraft's entire operating envelope.
General Atomics Aeronautical Systems Inc., San Diego, Calif., has won a $71.5 million contract from U.S. Naval Systems Command for Predator unmanned aerial vehicles. Under the contract, General Atomics will provide 18 Predators, two ground control stations, two lots of spares and two lots of ground support equipment. The company said the deal brings the total number of Predators purchased by the U.S. government to 53.
The U.S. Army has taken steps delay procurement of additional Intelligence and Electronic Warfare Common Sensor (IEWCS) systems following a report from the General Accounting Office that discussed "serious hardware and software problems" in developmental testing. According to the Dept. of Defense, the Army procured two systems during fiscal 1997, but has revised plans for low rate initial production of five more in FY98 and adjusted the schedule to ensure that no further procurement will be made without supporting operational test results.
U.S. Navy testing of the F/A-18E/F fighter has "dramatically narrowed the problem" of buffeting caused by the porous wing fairing solution for the plane's wing-drop phenomenon, Congress has been told.
The four partners of Airbus Industrie presented their long- awaited report on the restructuring of the European aerospace and defense industries to their respective governments Friday, following calls earlier last week from senior French and German officials for Europe to take a leading technological role to compete with the U.S. aerospace giants.
U.S. Defense Secretary William Cohen said Friday that the Pentagon will help Israel obtain a third battery of Arrow missiles to defend against a ballistic missile threat from Iran that is expected to materialize within the year. "The U.S. will stand by Israel and [recognizes] the need for Israel to acquire a third Arrow battery ... we will cooperate with Israel to see that that occurs," Cohen said at a joint Pentagon press conference with Israeli Minister of Defense Yitzhak Mordechai.
