NASA is studying the use of private companies that would act as commercial "real estate agents" to find industry users for the International Space Station as part of its effort to turn low Earth orbit over to the private sector and concentrate on "opening up the solar system," according to Administrator Daniel S. Goldin.
The Air Force isn't planning to extend the F-111 beyond its June retirement date unless asked to do so by Gen. Robert Zinni, commander of CENTCOM. The Air Force has a small number of EF-111s in Southwest Asia to support the current deployment. They could stay longer if there aren't enough EA-6Bs available to do the mission alone, peters says.
An international "working group" of commercial space launch services providers is mulling whether an industry association would be useful in promoting its causes. To date Arianespace, Boeing, China Great Wall Industries Corp., Orbital Sciences Corp., Rocket System Corp.
Acting U.S. Air Force Secretary Whit Peters on Friday laid out a "doable" plan for space programs that calls for more focused technology investments and cooperative developments. The concept "is an effort to look out to the future to identify key technologies and capabilities that will form the first steps for 21st century space," Peters said at the Air Force Association's annual Air Warfare Symposium here. The backdrop for the new concept is increasing Air Force investment in space, he said.
Science Applications International Corp.'s Vigilante 496 vertical take-off and landing unmanned aerial vehicle, participating in an upcoming U.S. Navy-led VTOL UAV demonstration, is being readied for first flight but technical difficulties and weather have caused delays. The UAV, displayed here recently, is based on the two-seat Advanced Technology Inc. UltraSport Model 496 helicopter.
Boeing Co. lifted the curtain a bit on some of its product development studies at the Asian Aerospace '98 show in Singapore last week. Boeing Commercial Marketing Director Joe Ozimek said new proposals for the Next Generation 737 family include an airline version of the Boeing Business Jet. The BBJ features a -700 fuselage and the larger wing and undercarriage of the -800.
The CV-22 for the U.S. Air Force's Special Operations Command may be fitted with a gun for self-protection. The Marine Corps already has a requirement for a gun, but hasn't been able to fund it. Funding is part of the fiscal 2000 budget planning process. AFSOC and the Marines are likely to buy the same gun, although neither has picked a system, a Marine Corps official said. The V-22 is designed to accommodate a .50 cal. gun.
Two rival concepts - The U.S. Air Force's Air Expeditionary Force and the U.S. Navy carrier battlegroup - will be exercised together next year, says Gen. Richard B. Myers, commander Air Forces Pacific. The details have yet to be worked out.
There is enough of a price difference between the U.K. Astor system and the U.S. Joint STARS to make the U.S. Air Force and Dept. of Defense consider rounding out its Joint STARS fleet with a few Astors. Peters acknowledges that some in the Air Force are concerned that Astor doesn't provide all the capabilities of the Joint STARS but still requires much the same logistics tail. However, he says, the price difference is still large enough to keep Astor in the running.
Denel of South Africa is honing and refining its Asian strategy in Malaysia. Despite the business setbacks caused by the currency devaluations that have shaken Thailand, Malaysia, South Korea and Indonesia, Denel is determined to develop markets out of the close relationships it has fostered in the region since South Africa's transition to democracy in 1994. Denel's basic plan is to use technology transfer to solidify fledgling commercial relationships.
The Israeli Ministry of Defense has requested a third battery of Arrow missile systems, Pentagon and industry sources told The DAILY Friday. High-level talks between the U.S. and Israeli officials are ongoing, but no decision has been made, a DOD source said.
The Pentagon's five-year defense budget plan contains no procurement funds to buy long-lead items that would support deployment of a national missile defense (NMD) system by 2003, Deputy Defense Secretary John Hamre confirmed at a Senate Appropriations national security subcommittee hearing on Thursday. Sen. Thad Cochran (R-Miss.) asked how DOD can expect to make a decision in 2000 on whether to deploy a system three years later with no long-lead funding in the five-year budget plan.
The U.S. Air Force is considering consolidating its aircraft at fewer bases even if Congress does not approve more base closings. Acting Air Force Secretary Whitten Peters says the service has the authority to do that and without BRAC will be forced to take such action. It would leave some bases basically empty and the surrounding communities in much worse shape than they would be under a BRAC closing, he adds. Peters acknowledges at the Air Force Association's annual Air Warfare Symposium in Orlando, Fla., that such a move would be politically unpoplular.
The Senate Appropriations Committee will hold a hearing to review the emergency supplemental request the Pentagon is slated to send to Capitol Hill by the end of this week, says Committee Chairman Ted Stevens (R-Alaska). The supplemental, which DOD hopes Congress will approve by April 1, is expected to request $600 million for operations in Bosnia and at least another $600 million for the buildup of U.S. forces in Iraq.
The Marines aren't likely to jump at a Bell Boeing proposal to use the 609 commercial tiltrotor for V-22 training. Col. Nolan Schmidt, the V-22 program manager, says it would be too expensive. The Marines will continue to run their crews through separate helicopter and fixed wing training programs.
Watch for a big push from Russia to ease space launch quotas when Prime Minister Viktor Chernomyrdin arrives in Washington next week for the latest in his series of meetings with Vice President Gore. Vladimir Bulgak, one of Chernomyrdin's deputies, pushed the issue in a meeting last week with James Collins, U.S. Ambassador to Russia. Russian negotiators are likely to point to their government's newly tightened arms export restrictions (DAILY, Feb. 23) as they press their case, which also has the support of many U.S. space launch customers.
The first production trailing edge flaps for the F/A-18E/F Super Hornet were delivered Thursday to U.S. Navy and Boeing officials in a ceremony at the Melbourne, Australia, plant of Aerospace Technologies of Australia (ASTA), a subsidiary of Boeing Australia Ltd. Boeing, which announced the event, said ASTA is the first company outside of North America to be a supplier for the Super Hornet. The completed flaps are headed to the Super Hornet assembly line in St. Louis.
Rep. Curt Weldon (R-Pa.), chairman of the House National Security research and development subcommittee, says "I don't think it's Congress' function to cut this or that program." He says that when the procurement subcommittee made major cuts in the F/A-18E/F program in the fiscal 1998 defense authorization markup, it was subjected to a heavy lobbying campaign by the Navy. He says the Administration should perform major surgery on a program.
MERCURY COMPUTER SYSTEMS, Chelmsford, Mass., received an order for four RACE development systems from the Israeli Ministry of Defense worth $1.2 million. Some of the buys may be with Foreign Military Funds under Defense Security Assistance Agency (DSAA) regulations.
BOMBARDIER AEROSPACE, Toronto, received a firm order from Air Littoral, Montpellier, France, for five more Canadair Regional Jet Series 100 aircraft. The order is worth about $100 million, with deliveries scheduled to begin in 1998 and end in 1999. Air Littoral plans to lease three of the aircraft in 1998 before operating them directly in 1999. Bombardier also signed an agreement with Adria Airways, Ljubljana, Slovenia, for a third regional jet, the conversion of an option from an order placed in March 1997. Delivery is scheduled for November of this year.
Boeing Co. has completed separation tests with its Joint Air to Surface Standoff Missile design using both an F-16 and a B-52, the two threshold aircraft for the missile. Boeing and Lockheed Martin are competing for the JASSM program, with downselect scheduled for April.
The British competition for a Future Amphibious Support Helicopter is one of the first opportunities for Bell Boeing to try to sell its V-22 Osprey tiltrotor abroad. Company officials say they have responded to a U.K. government request for information on FASH, which could wind up as a program of almost 50 aircraft. One of the V-22's main competitors will be the EH-101.
A Pentagon report on the cost of NATO enlargement puts the total cost of integrating the Czech Republic, Hungary and Poland into the alliance at $1.5 billion and says that about $560 million will be needed to upgrade air defense capabilities, with another $51 million required for command and control. A five-month NATO study said that incorporation of the three countries into NATO's integrated air defense system is mandatory.
