TRW, Inc., Redondo Beach, Calif., is being awarded an $8,416,065 face value increase to a cost-plus-award-fee contract to provide for hardware and software modifications to the Space Based Infrared System Low Program Test Support Center and the Flight Demonstration System space vehicles required to establish a direct command and telemetry interface between the support center and spacecraft. Currently communications are directed through the Center for Research Support. Contract is expected to be completed October 2001.
The Pentagon's operational test and evaluation community may be concerned about development of countermeasures that could degrade performance of the U.S. Air Force's Airborne Laser, but Air Force officials and officials of the program itself don't see a major problem.
The Global Hawk unmanned aerial vehicle flew for the first time Saturday at Edwards AFB, Calif., demonstrating several aspects of its autonomous capability. The U-2-size vehicle, developed by Teledyne Ryan Aeronautical and the Pentagon's Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, took off at 7:45 a.m. PST and flew for 56 minutes. It reached an altitude of 32,000 feet, about half the altitude at which it will fly when operational. Airspeed was about 150 knots indicated.
COMPUTER SCIENCES CORP., El Segundo, Calif., said its board of directors unanimously recommended that stockholders not tender any shares to Computer Associates International Inc. The board rejected the offer last month (DAILY, Feb. 20).
Boeing Co. completed the first major overhaul of Test System-3 (TS-3), an Airborne Warning and Control System (AWACS) test aircraft, which has been flying since 1970. Boeing maintains and operates the aircraft, a militarized 707, for the U.S. Air Force. Programmed depot maintenance of TS-3 was done at facilities in Seattle, Wichita, Kan., and Long Beach, Calif., between October 1997 and March 1998.
GE American Communications, of Princeton, N.J., is being awarded a $33,916,361 firm- fixed-price contract to provide leased connectivity for the Army's TROJAN/Intelligence Electronic Warfare (IEW) System which provides for transmission of encrypted data from Ft. Belvoir, Va., to multiple fixed sites worldwide. Contract No. DCA200-98-C-0010 is for five program years with five one-year options. The contract value for the first program is $3,372,821.00. Fifty-eight prospective offers were solicited and four were received.
INTERMETRICS INC., Burlington, Mass., and Pacer Infotec, Billerica, Mass., completed the merger of their operations and formed a new company named AverStar Inc. Both companies will continue as wholly-owned subsidiaries of AverStar. The company expects to generate more than $120 million in sales in 1998 and will be headquartered in Burlington, Mass.
The flexibility of Lockheed Martin's Joint Strike Fighter design will allow it to accommodate alternative missions that are beginning to emerge for the aircraft, company officials told reporters at the Air Force Association's annual Air Warfare Symposium here. Harry Blot, deputy program manager for the company's JSF team, said the plane's horizontal stabilizers could easily moved, or the wings slightly enlarged, to facilitate other missions. "Our wing/tail design lends itself to growth," he said.
The U.S. Air Force is looking to deploy B-2 bombers to Guam this spring, but will first have to repair facilities on the Pacific island which were damaged by a hurricane last year. The AF doesn't have the money readily available to make the repairs, but wants to do so, AF officials said here last week at the Air Force Association's annual Air Warfare Symposium. Gen. Richard Hawley, head of Air Combat Command, said the AF soon will demonstrate a B-2 deployment at wartime utilization rates. A pair of the bombers would be involved.
Hamilton Standard, Windsor Locks, Conn., acquired full ownership of France's Ratier-Figeac from the French industrial company Bertrand Faure. Hamilton Standard, announcing the deal yesterday, said it had held a minority interest in the French company for more than a decade. Ratier-Figeac makes aviation equipment and components for commercial, military and regional markets, including propellers, mechanical flight controls, cockpit controls, hydraulic actuators and ballscrews and helicopter components.
Analysis and Technology, Inc., North Stonington, Conn., is being awarded a $16,853,328 indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity, cost-plus-fixed-fee contract for support of operating guidelines and training for both advanced and operational anti-submarine warfare systems. The total estimated level of effort is 359,000 manhours. Work will be performed in North Stonington, Conn., and is expected to be completed by February 2003. Contract funds in the amount of $25,000 will expire at the end of the current fiscal year.
Arianespace and Lockheed Martin put two heavy communications satellites into geostationary transfer orbits in back-to-back Ariane and Atlas launches Friday from the Guiana Space Center in Kourou and Cape Canaveral, Fla. Less than two hours separated launch of Eutelsat's Hot Bird 4 direct broadcast satellite and the Intelsat 806 platform, which will beam television to more than 2,000 cable television providers in Latin America.
Boeing Co., which has emphasized low cost for its Joint Strike Fighter design through a high commonality of variants for the U.S. Air Force, Navy and Marines, is now checking to see whether a little less commonality might be more cost effective, according to Frank Statkus, the company's JSF program manager.
Mission planners at Japan's National Space Development Agency (NASDA) believe they can perform about 20% of the experiments originally planned for the COMETS experimental broadcasting satellite left stranded when its H-2 launcher failed to place it in the proper orbit, but only if they can avoid a collision between the H-2's second stage and the satellite.
Technical glitches that caused the most recent slip in the Theater High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) program have been fixed and the missile is in the final stages of preparation for a May intercept test, according to John H. Little, Lockheed Martin vice president and program manager for THAAD.
On February 23, 1998, the Air Force entered into "Other Transactions" with Lockheed Martin Astronautics, Denver, Colo., ($10,000,000) and TRW, Redondo Beach, Calif., ($10,000,000). These two Other Transactions are being awarded in accordance with 10 USC 2371 as amended by the 1994 and 1997 National Defense Authorization Acts, which authorizes military departments to carry out technology demonstration projects directly relevant to weapons or weapons systems proposed to be acquired or developed by the Department of Defense.
Raytheon Systems Co., Los Angeles, Calif., is being awarded a $44,139,518 modification to a fixed-price with economic price adjustments contract for Sentinel's third full-rate production option for 27 Sentinal Systems and support, consisting of life cycle software support, material fielding support, warranty administration, on-call technical support, and interim contractor support. Work will be performed in Forest, Miss. (70%) and El Segundo, Calif. (30%), and is expected to be completed by April 15, 2000.
Lockheed Martin Federal Systems, Manassas, Va., is being awarded a $31,503,766 modification to previously awarded contract N00024-96-C-6226 to exercise options for the lead shipset of the NSSN class submarine Command, Control, Communications, and Intelligence (C31) system hardware. Work will be performed in Manassas, Va., and is expected to be completed in November 2000. Contract funds will not expire at the end of the fiscal year. The Naval Sea Systems Command, Arlington, Va, is the contracting activity.
Lockheed Martin is developing a third-generation forward looking infrared (FLIR) for its Nite Hawk targeting system to keep the production line going as deliveries for the U.S. Navy draw to a close. The Navy bought its last Nite Hawks in fiscal 1996, but Terry Schultz, Lockheed Martin's program manager, said spares and depot work for the Navy have softened the effect.
The Ages Group, Boca Raton, Fla., is being awarded a $23,439,365 modification to a firm-fixed-price contract for FY98 life cycle contractor support for the Army C-12 aircraft. Work will be performed in Boca Raton, Fla. (92%) and Greer, S.C. (8%), and is expected to be completed by Sept. 30, 1998. Of the total contract funds, $23,439,365 will expire at the end of the current fiscal year. There were two bids solicited on June 30, 1995, and two bids were received. The contracting activity is the U.S. Army Aviation&Missile Command, St. Louis, Mo. (DAAJ09-96-C-0388).
Rep. Norman Sisisky (Va.), the new ranking Democrat on the House National Security procurement subcommittee, will lead a delegation of three subcommittee members visiting NAS Patuxent River, Md., today for a first- hand look at the F/A-18E/F wing-drop problem. Their visit reflects uncertainty about the program among senior members of the HNSC. Rep. Curt Weldon (R-Pa.), chairman of the HNSC research and development subcommittee, said at a hearing last Thursday, "I'm not convinced that we have solved" the problem.
The Securities and Exchange Commission is investigating possible wrong doing by Daryl L. Jones, the White House's nominee to become secretary of the Air Force. The SEC is looking into possible influence peddling by Jones when he was a Florida state representative.The investigation could derail the nomination. Jones, a member of the Air Force Reserve, was nominated late year to replace Sheila Widnall, who retired.
CHANDLER EVANS CONTROL SYSTEMS CHANDLER EVANS CONTROL SYSTEMS, Charlotte, N.C., will supply its Full Authority Digital Electronic Control (FADEC) system for a helicopter engine made by Turbomeca Engine Corp., Pau, France. The FADEC will regulate the fuel flow in the Arrius 2K1 turboshaft engine.
