The U.S. Air Force will hold off on developing technologies that could be used for Joint Air-to-Surface Standoff Missile (JASSM) variants until the program is further advanced.
Cessna Aircraft Co., Wichita, Kan., is being awarded a $20,754,035 modification to a firm-fixed-price contract for purchase of five aircraft, the UC-35A. Work will be performed in Wichita, Kan., and is expected to be completed by June 30, 1999. Contract funds will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. There were 24 bids solicited on Aug. 1, 1995, and three bids received. The contracting activity is the U.S. Army Aviation and Missile Command, St. Louis, Mo. (DAAJ09-96-D-0009).
Science Application International Corporation, Torrance, Calif., was awarded on March 16, 1998, a delivery order (appropriation number and dollar value will be issued with each order) with the cumulative total of $13,819,040 to a cost-plus-fee contract for technical support services for Strategic and Space Programs. Work will be performed in Washington, D.C., and is expected to be completed by Mar. 12, 2003. Contract funds will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. There were 25 bids solicited on Dec. 4, 1997, and 1 bid received.
The U.S. Navy's fix of the F/A-18E/F wing-drop and buffeting problems will affect the aircraft's "speed, maneuverability and stealthiness," Sen. Russell Feingold (D-Wis.), the Super Hornet's persistent Senate critic, charged yesterday. Feingold made the charge in a Senate speech in which he referred liberally to a revised draft of a General Accounting Office report the GAO prepared for him. The revised report presumably includes more input from the Defense Dept. and the Navy.
Raytheon Electronic Systems, Marlborough, Mass., is being awarded a $9,526,793 firm-fixed-price contract for the Navy Extremely High Frequency (EHF) Satellite Communications Program Model Phase. This model phase effort, if contract options are exercised, will lead to the production of general purpose communications terminals designed to accommodate a wide variety of applications (i.e., secure voice, teletype, data, and fleet broadcast). This contract includes options which, if exercised, will bring the cumulative value of this contract to $414,423,623.
Lockheed Martin has test flown the subsystems of its Joint Air-to- Surface Standoff Missile proposal. The subsystems were mounted on a helicopter. The Feb. 25 test, announced last week, included a missile control unit, inertial measurement unit, global positioning system receiver, operational flight program, and planning system, Lockheed Martin said. Several flight profiles were tested.
Lockheed Martin Corp., Lockheed Martin Information Systems, Orlando, Fla., is being awarded a $6,280,786 cost-plus-award-fee delivery order against an existing indefinite-quantity contract to conduct the AC-130U Aircrew Maintenance Training Device and Testbed Mini-Fas Proof of Principle effort for the U.S. Special Operations Command. Work will be performed in Orlando, Fla. (95%) and Hurlburt Field, Fla. (5%), and is expected to be completed by April 1999. Contract funds in the amount of $120,969 will expire at the end of the current fiscal year.
TASC, Inc., Reston, Va., is being awarded a modification to a delivery order amount of $1,622,659 as part of a $5,776,461 cumulative total (if all options are exercised base plus four years) contract for information operations support for all U.S. Army land information warfare activity sites world wide. Work will be performed in Reston, Va., and is expected to be completed by Sept. 30, 1998. Contract funds will expire at the end of the current fiscal year. There were 98 bids solicited on March 12, 1997, and four bids received. The contracting activity is the U.S.
MICHAEL BROWN was elected chief executive officer of Litton Industries effective immediately, the company announced. Brown, who will retain the title of president, succeeds John Leonis, who will remain as chairman of the board. The company said the election by the board of directors fulfills a previously announced management succession plan and recognizes the scheduled retirement of Leonis later this year. Brown joined Litton in 1968 and was elected president and chief operating officer in 1995.
Lockheed Martin Federal Systems, Inc., Fort Worth, Texas, was awarded on March 17, 1998, an $86,114,489 face value increase to a firm-fixed-price contract to provide for 32 Mid-Life Update Kits applicable to the F-16 aircraft. Contract funds will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. This effort supports foreign military sales to Belgium, the Netherlands, and Denmark. Aeronautical Systems Center, Wright-Patterson AFB, Ohio, is the contracting activity (F33657-83/C-2380, P00046).
Flight Safety International, Inc., is being awarded a $10,595,446 firm- fixed-price contract for fixed wing flight training services at Fort Rucker, Ala. (This contract is being awarded for $10,595,446 for period covering Oct. 10, 1999, through Sept. 30, 2000). Work will be performed in Daleville, Ala. (75%), and Dothan, Ala. (25%), and is expected to be completed by Sept. 30, 2000 (base period), and Sept. 30, 2004 (if all options exercised). Contract funds will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. This is a sole source contract initiated on Aug. 4, 1997.
The National Reconnaissance Office fears it will be unable to implement its Future Imagery Architecture as planned because of funding shortages, according to a Defense Science Board task force.
Boeing Co. is sticking with previously announced plans to double production of its next-generation 737 aircraft from seven to 14 next month despite the fact that it is already producing more aircraft than it can deliver.
Lockheed Martin Corp. held onto its top spot on the list of U.S. defense contractors receiving the largest dollar volume of prime contracts in fiscal year 1997, while Boeing Co. rode its acquisition of McDonnell Douglas to the No. 2 position. The new top-10 list, released yesterday by the Pentagon, ranks Lockheed Martin No. 1 with $11.6 billion in prime contracts awarded in FY '97, followed by Boeing at $9.6 billion. Boeing ranked eighth in FY '96, while McDonnell Douglas was No. 2 last year with $9.9 billion in new contracts.
U.S. government officials reacted with caution to yesterday's announcement by Russian President Boris Yeltsin had fired Prime Minister Viktor Chernomyrdin and all of the members of his government, adopting a wait-and-see attitude toward dismissal of the Russian official most closely associated with U.S./Russian cooperation in aerospace and other fields.
Litton's PRC subsidiary, Woodland Hills, Calif., won a contract valued at more than $30 million to support the U.S. Army Simulation, Training and Instrumentation Command (STRICOM), Orlando, Fla., Litton said yesterday.
The U.S. Dept. of Justice will go to court to block Lockheed Martin's proposed acquisition of Northrop Grumman, Attorney General Janet Reno said yesterday. DOJ says the merger "would substantially reduce competition in many areas of vital importance to America's national defense." It is the largest U.S. industry merger ever challenged, and comes after a string of almost unchallenged defense industry mergers and acquisitions.
Israel yesterday accepted the first of 15 S-70 Black Hawk helicopters from Sikorsky Aircraft Corp. in Stratford, Conn. The company said the helicopters are being built under a Foreign Military Sales agreement. The value of the contract to Sikorsky, according to the company, is $110 million.
TACA Group of Latin America announced orders Friday for 30 firm and 30 option Airbus A320 aircraft. The group - which includes TACA of El Salvador and Honduras, Aviateca of Guatemala, Lacsa of Costa Rica and Nica of Nicaragua - said the deal is part of a joint negotiation with TAM of Brazil and Lanchile of Chile for 175 Airbus singe-aisle aircraft that includes 88 firm orders and 87 options. Deliveries are to begin late next year. The TACA group already has 14 A320s.
Boeing Enterprises will invest $10 million in Israel's Rada Electronic Industries, a move that Boeing said will make it the largest single stockholder in the avionics test equipment and electronics company. The agreement is for passive equity investment only, but Boeing may provide Rada with avionics expertise on new systems as well as opportunities for collaboration. The transaction should be completed in the second quarter. Boeing has estimated the annual market for avionics test equipment and services to be about $1 billion.
Photos of a National Reconnaissance Office Lacrosse imaging radar spacecraft and an NRO geosynchronous relay satellite provide a rare inside view of how the U.S. acquires and handles space reconnaissance imagery.
COMMON CONFIGURATION: The F/A-18s that Thailand was going to buy but can no longer afford, and that are now making their way to the U.S. Marine Corps (DAILY, March 16), will all be delivered as F/A-18Ds in the Lot 19 configuration, the latest the Marines have bought. Still unresolved is who will pay for the planes, although a budget supplemental is considered the likely option. The Marines, for their part, say their long-term aviation plans aren't affected by the eight additional Hornets.
LE-5A UPGRADE: An upgrade planned for Japan's new H-2A space launch vehicle might fix the problem that caused its predecessor to fail on its last flight. Investigators believe a nozzle burnthrough in the second-stage LE- 5A engine damaged nearby cables and other equipment, leading to the premature shutdown that left the Comets engineering test satellite stranded in a low orbit (DAILY, Feb. 24).
