The U.S. Air Force is planning to equip its MC-130H Combat Talon IIs with an aerial refueling pod that would allow it to serve as a tanker for Special Operations Forces helicopters and V-22 tiltrotor aircraft, the AF said in a Feb. 23 Commerce Business Daily notice.
Standard Missile Company, McLean, Va., is being awarded a $50,950,888 cost plus-award-fee contract to provide research and development engineering services on a level of effort basis to support the Standard Missile Program as the Missile Round Design Agent. This contract includes options which, if exercised, would bring the cumulative value of this contract to $99,996,864. Work will be performed in Tucson, Ariz. (42.1%), McLean, Va. (32.1%), and Tewksbury, Mass. (25.8%), and is expected to be completed by December 1999.
The U.S. Army has refined its plan to develop and field the Aerial Common Sensor by around 2008 or '09, according to Lt. Col. Bruce Jette, the service's the ACS program manager. Late last year, the Army tentatively wanted to start some ACS research and development in fiscal 1999, which would lead to fielding around 2006. However, Jette said, plans have changed slightly. R&D is now slated to begin in FY '00 with a system to be fielded eight to nine years later.
Europe's Joint Aviation Authority (JAA) recommended type validation of the Next-Generation 737-700, Boeing said. Actual type certificates will be awarded by the individual countries. The aircraft received FAA certification on Nov. 7, 1997.
Exigent International Inc.'s Software Technology Inc. (STI) subsidiary has signed an agreement with Motorola to supply command and control systems for the future Celestri satellite constellation. Celestri is planned as a hybrid constellation of 63 low earth orbit (LEO) and up to nine geostationary earth orbit (GEO) satellites for real- time multi-media, data, video and voice services.
NASA's Wallops Flight Facility has selected the Physical Science Laboratory (PSL) at New Mexico State University, Las Cruces, N.M., to provide support services for its scientific balloon program. Under the five-year contract, valued at $66.7 million, PSL will provide technical and operational services for balloon flights that support NASA's scientific programs. This includes operational flight support for launching, tracking and recovery of scientific balloons and their payloads.
Raytheon TI Systems Inc., McKinney, Texas, is being awarded a time and materials contract (appropriation number and dollar value will be issued with each delivery order), with an estimated cumulative total of $20,825,000, for engineering and technical services to support the Second Generation Horizontal Technology Integration (HTI) Forward Looking Infrared (FLIR) Low Rate Initial Production (LRIP) Program. Work will be performed in McKinney, Texas, and is expected to be completed by Feb. 28, 2003. This is a sole source contract initiated on Nov. 20, 1997.
Boeing North American, Inc., Fort Walton Beach, Fla., is being awarded a $22,763,505 face value increase to a cost-plus-award-fee contract to provide for Interim Contractor Support from March 1998 through March 1999 for the AC-130U aircraft. The work will be performed at Hurlburt Field, Fla. (90%) and at various other locations. Contract is expected to be completed March 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 (F336547-94/D-0047).
NASA plans to follow the role pioneered by its predecessor National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA) as it pursues new space transportation technology in the coming century, according to the head of the agency's advanced space transportation effort.
The U.S. government's appeal of the Court of Federal Claims ruling on the A-12 aircraft case is likely to take about three years, officials said yesterday. Judge Robert H. Hodges issued his final ruling on the case Friday, saying the government owes General Dynamics and Boeing $3.9 billion for having canceled the stealthy Navy attack plane program in January 1991. The Defense Dept. filed an appeal with the U.S. Court of Appeals that came even before the ruling was entered.
Allied Signal Engines, Phoenix, Ariz., is being awarded an $842,000 increment as part of a $39,154,602 cost-share reimbursement contract for research and development of the Tri-Service Program to further develop the Joint Turbine Advanced Gas Generator (JTAGG-III). Work will be performed in Phoenix, Ariz., and is expected to be completed by Jan. 19, 2004. Contract funds will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. There were six bids solicited on April 2, 1997, and one bid was received. The contracting activity is the U.S. Army Aviation and Missile Command, Ft.
The U.S. National Reconnaissance Office may bring international partners into a program to develop the next-generation of imagery satellites, according NRO Director Keith Hall. The NRO has said that the constellation of new satellites, which would replace existing constellations with a mix of smaller, more capable, less expensive satellites, will help it meet its goal of "information superiority" with technology conceived and developed in the U.S.
Sen. Pete V. Domenici (R-N.M.) said the U.S. and Russia "should consider" taking their nuclear weapons off alert and eliminating the ground-based leg of the strategic triad. Domenici, chairman of the Senate Budget Committee and head of the Senate Appropriations subcommittee which has jurisdiction over the non- weapons portion of the nuclear budget, made the suggestion in recent Senate floor remarks and in a statement on nuclear issues. The Los Alamos and Sandia National Laboratories are based in New Mexico.
NASA's inspector general has warned that some members of two special "task forces" set up under the leadership of Apollo-era astronaut and retired U.S. Air Force Lt. Gen. Thomas P. Stafford to give advice on the Shuttle/Mir portion of the International Space Station program, and on the operational readiness of the Station itself, are so closely aligned with the Station program as to "negate the appearance" of impartiality.
PANEL LOOKS AT PROLIFERATION: Missile technology proliferation, particularly regarding Iran, will get a close look in coming weeks by the Senate Government Affairs subcommittee on international security and proliferation. It will also examine arms and export control, ballistic missile defense and nuclear deterrence, all of which are linked, a subcommittee aide said. For example, he said, it's impossible to address the issue of national missile defense and not consider proliferation.
CLOSE CONTESTS: Five Democrats and one Republican on the House National Security Committee are considered vulnerable in congressional elections this November, based on their narrow margins of victory last time. The five HNSC Democrats who won last time with 52% of the votes or less are Loretta Sanchez (Calif.), James H. Maloney (Conn.), Neil Abercrombie (Hawaii), Lane Evans (Ill.) and Adam Smith (Wash.). The lone Republican is Bill Redmond (N.M.), who won a three-way special election last year in a Democratic district with 43% of the vote.
The Russian government has ordered all national exporters to abstain from exporting even non-restricted commodities if they can be used by recipients to build weapons of mass destruction or delivery systems.
DOWN UNDER: Kistler Aerospace likely will conduct flight tests of its K-1 two-stage-to-orbit reusable launcher in Australia rather than at the Nevada Test Site in the U.S. where the vehicle will make most of its commercial flights. The company was the first to apply to the U.S. FAA for a commercial RLV operators license (DAILY, Sept. 17, 1996), and has since filed with the Australian government for permission to fly and recover its vehicles at Woomera.
Australia is the first international customer of the Advanced Short Range Air-to-Air Missile (ASRAAM), according to the U.K. Ministry of Defense. It said the missile, built by Matra BAe Dynamics, will be carried by the Royal Australian Air Force's F/A-18 strike fighters. Lord Gilbert, U.K. minister of state for defense procurement, said "This announcement comes after a hard fought competition between ASRAAM, the Israeli Python 4 and the U.S. AIM-9X, and after a highly rigorous and professional evaluation by the Australians."
NOT MY JOB: NASA Administrator Daniel S. Goldin is ducking a whistle- blower's charges he helped cook the books on government contracts when he worked at TRW. The U.S. Justice Dept. has joined a suit filed by Richard D. Bagley, who was chief financial officer of TRW's Space and Technology Group in Redondo Beach, Calif., when Goldin headed the unit. Bagley's 1994 suit, unsealed in Los Angeles only last week, says Goldin rejected Bagley's argument that certain research costs could not be charged to the government.
VTOL DEMO: The Bell Helicopter Textron Eagle Eye unmanned aerial vehicle is slated to begin flying this week under the U.S. Navy-led Vertical Take Off and Landing UAV demonstration. Flights at the Army's Yuma proving ground are slated to begin Feb. 24. The Eagle Eye is competing against VTOL UAVs from Bombardier and SAIC.
MARKUP PLANS: The House National Security Committee plans to mark up its FY '99 defense authorization bill in late April, and move the bill onto the House floor by Memorial Day. However, this depends on when the House Budget Committee completes work on the FY '99 Budget Resolution, which will set the topline spending level government spending, including defense. HNSC Chairman Floyd Spence (R-S.C.) can be expected to push for an increase to the $257.3 billion DOD request, but the Budget Committee is unlikely to sign off on a high topline.
European rocket engineers have decided to add a second attitude control system to the Ariane 5 launch vehicle to counter a mysterious torque that apparently triggered an early shutdown in the big rocket after its first successful launch last year. According to the European Space Agency, the new system will double the rocket's ability to counteract a roll torque, raising the level of torque that can be handled to 2,000 Newton-meter (Nm). The system will be installed on the lower portion of the vehicle equipment bay.
