While construction work on the X-33 suborbital reusable launch vehicle (RLV) prototype is underway in the United States, Russia is also trying to define an RLV concept of its own. Since 1993 the Russian Space Agency has sponsored an RLV research program called "Orel" (Eagle), according to the Kommersant Daily newspaper. Under this program nine basic concepts of reusable space transportation systems are being studied by various aviation and rocket companies.
Lockheed Martin's Aeronautics Sector has produced significant savings with its new Aeronautics Material Management Center (AMMC), a consolidation of procurement organizations throughout the sector, according to a company executive. Through fourth quarter 1997 the savings totaled $365 million, according to Monty Dickinson, the vice president of AMMC. Total savings in excess of $400 million are expected through are 1999 as a result of the move, and annual recurring savings beyond 1999 estimated to be around $100 million, Dickinson told The DAILY.
The Texas congressional delegation, gearing up for its annual campaign to add funds to the upcoming defense authorization bill for F-16 fighters the Defense Dept. no longer wants, is soliciting signatures among its members for an add-on of $180 million for six Block 50/52 Fighting Falcons. The request is in a March 10 letter, identical copies of which would go to House National Security Chairman Rep. Floyd Spence (R-S.C.) and the ranking committee Democrat, Rep. Ike Skelton (Mo.).
A LOCKHEED MARTIN ATLAS II launched a Hughes-built Navy communications. satellite from Cape Canaveral Air Station, Fla., yesterday, marking the third Atlas launch from the Cape this year. The Hughes-built Ultra High Frequency follow-On (UFO F/O) F8 carries a Global Broadcast Service payload.
The U.S. Air Force will deploy the B-2 stealth bomber for sustained training operations from a forward location for the first time when its sends two B-2s to Anderson AFB in Guam later this month. The March 23 to April 3 deployment is designed to showcase the B-2's ability to operate from bases worldwide. Aircrews will conduct weapons drops at a bombing range in the Northern Marianas and fly several low-level missions. The AF is sending two of its newest B-2s that are in the Block 30 configuration.
TI/Martin Javelin Joint Venture, Orlando, Fla., is being awarded a $18,983,793 cost-plus-award-fee contract for engineering services Javelin Missile System. Work will be performed in Orlando, Fla., (45%) and Lewisville, Texas (55%), and is expected to be completed by Nov. 30, 2000. Contract funds will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. This is a sole source contract initiated on July 31, 1997. The contracting activity is the U.S. Army Aviation and Missile Command, Redstone Arsenal, Ala. (DAAH01-98-C-0126).
A U.S. Air Force review of munitions programs that could lead to the cancellation of either the Sensor Fuzed Weapon or AGM-154B Joint Standoff Weapon (JSOW) may not bring about projected cost savings and might leave the AF worse off than it is now, AF officials said. "We think we need the mix" of AGM-154Bs and SFWs, one AF official told The DAILY recently. Both munitions use the BLU-108 smart, anti-armor submunition. The JSOW delivers the weapon in a standoff, glide missile while SFW uses a Tactical Munitions Dispenser.
BOEING announced the 737-800 earned type certification from the FAA Friday. Validation from Europe's Joint Aviation Authorities (JAA) is expected by the end of March, the company said.
The Inmarsat Council has agreed to restructure the international mobile satellite communications consortium from an intergovernmental organization into a privatized company by Jan. 1, 1999, Inmarsat announced yesterday. Inmarsat's signatories, parties and management have worked for more than three years to design and develop the framework for the change. Inmarsat will become a public limited company that will seek an initial public offering (IPO) within about two years of formation.
General Dynamics Defense Systems, Pittsfield, Mass., is being awarded a $9,519,013 firm-fixed-price option exercise for the procurement of Guided Missile Director Mark 82 Mod 0 with Director Control Mark 200, Mod 0, Maintenance Assist Modules, and Production Test Center Site Support. The Guided Missile Director Mark 82 Mod 0 with Director Control Mark 200, Mod 0 is a vital part of the AEGIS Weapon System to be installed in DDG 89, DDG 90, DDG 91, and DDG 92. Work will be performed in Burlington, Vt., and is expected to be completed by June 2000.
NOT SO FAST: The Air Force shouldn't move too fast to commit to buying a number of short take-off and vertical landing Joint Strike Fighters, says Gen. Richard Hawley, the head of Air Combat Command. Some in the Air Force, including former Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. Ronald R. Fogleman, said the AF may buy a couple of wings of STOVL JSFs in additional to the conventional (CTOL) JSF variant. But Hawley points out that would mean supporting two propulsion systems.
DENNIS R. BOXX, communications director for the U.S. National Reconnaissance Office, has been named vice president of corporate communications for Lockheed Martin. He will replace Susan M. Pearce, who is retiring. Boxx, 49, was director of public affairs for the CIA before taking the NRO job in December 1996, and from 1993 to 1995 was deputy assistant to the secretary of defense for public affairs. He assumes his new job March 23.
The Lockheed Martin C-130J team is leading the field of three competitors for the Royal Australian Air Force's Project Air 5077 Wedgetail airborne early warning and control (AEW&C) requirement, team executives claim.
TAWS TEST: U.S. Space Command Chief Gen. Howell M. Estes III reports a $5.6 million congressional increase to the fiscal year 1998 budget request will be used for an upcoming live fire test of Theater Airborne Warning System (TAWS) technology. The TAWS demonstration will fuse overhead and air- breather infrared data to improve the ability to locate and react to missile launchers. The $5.6 million Congress added for the program will permit completion of software development and demonstration of TAWS against live fire missile launchers, Estes said.
NON-CONFORMING: Conformal weapons aren't in the Air Force's near-term future. Hawley said investments were made as part of the JSF program to see if bombs could be carried conformally in a stealthy pod. But the results were disappointing. The technology isn't there, Hawley says. Instead, all munitions will have to be carried internally to maintain the fighters' stealth characteristics. The AF plans to continue to monitor the conformal weapons issue to see if advances in stealth technology will some day allow external carriage.
EOS AM-1 SLIP: NASA is getting ready to announce a slip of 30 to 60 days in the planned launch of its first Earth Observing System satellite - EOS AM-1
Boeing in St. Louis has become the single largest industrial site in the world to receive ISO 9000 certification, a designation that while not required could become important in the global marketplace, a company executive said yesterday.
'NOT PROMISING': Army Chief of Staff Gen. Dennis J. Reimer defends the Army's plans for only 1,170 upgrades of the more than 7,000 M1A1 tanks to the M1A2 configuration (DAILY, March 12), but he acknowledges that the technology for a replacement tank "is not promising." He tells a House National Security hearing that at some point the Army will have to invest in a replacement for the M1A2, since he doesn't see the 70-ton M1 being the focus in the Army After Next, which is what the service is planning for the 2020 period.
OPEN ARCHITECTURE: The Joint Strike Fighter (JSF) avionics architecture won't be locked in place for some time, reports Lt. Gen. George K. Muellner, the Air Force's principal deputy assistant secretary for acquisition. "The intent is to open the system even more and keep more vendors in the game," he says. Muellner notes that on the JSF avionics it may make sense to do something like the block upgrade approach taken on the F-16 to insert new technologies as they come online.
The possibility that an approaching asteroid could strike Earth in 30 years means President Clinton should lift his line-item veto of the Pentagon's Clementine 2 space testbed, which would flight test space hardware with a scientific mission to three asteroids, Rep. Dana Rohrabacher (R-Calif.), chairman of the House Science space subcommittee, argued yesterday.
ACTD LIMITATIONS: Although users like the benefits and reduced timelines associated with ACTDs, their drain on resources is causing some problems. Larry Lynn, who heads the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, tells Congress he's limited the number of ACTDs DARPA will participate in to ease the burden on his already small staff. Gen. Wesley Clark, commander in chief of U.S. European Command, also complained recently that ACTDs, although beneficial, are too resource-intensive.
A fourth-quarter $79.6 million pre-tax gain from the sale of equity in K&F Industries helped Loral Space and Communications post a $40 million profit in 1997, the company reported this week. There are no comparable results from the previous year. Revenues totaled $1.5 billion before charges for inter-company eliminations of $200.1 million, while Loral posted an operating loss of $14.7 million. CyberStar and Globalstar development costs totaled $65.5 million.
NEW DARPA CHIEF: Larry Lynn is expected to finish his tenure at DARPA next month. He is expected to be replaced by Frank Fernandez who works for a company called AETC in Calif. The Pentagon is expected to make announce the appointment soon.
Congress still must approve a White House initiative announced Friday to buy eight F/A-18C/D fighters Thailand has ordered but can no longer afford. Stuart Eizenstadt, under secretary of state for economic affairs, said during a White House briefing that "the Defense Dept. will procure these eight F/A-18s for use by the Marine Corps to meet anticipated aircraft replacement needs." The deal will save Thailand $250 million.
TU-144 TESTS: NASA and Boeing are planning to work together on a follow-on series of test flights using Russia's Tu-144 supersonic transport as a testbed. The Tu-144 already has completed 18 test flights to evaluate such SST issues as sonic boom footprint, but the original 32-flight test series was reduced because of the need for engine work and other modifications to the aging Russian aircraft (DAILY, Sept. 26, 1997).
