Although the FAA expresses confidence that the computers controlling the U.S. air traffic control system can be modified to work in the year 2000, IBM, which built the computers, is warning that they should be replaced before the turn of the century. An IBM official told Lockheed Martin, FAA's ATC systems integrator, that he had expressed concern to FAA about the 1970s vintage 3083 systems. The agency is preparing plans for a public briefing sometime in February, a spokesman said.
DAVID J. WHEATON, Lockheed Martin's Joint Strike Fighter (JSF) program manager, will retire at the end of January, the company said. A new JSF program manager will be named before Feb. 1. Wheaton joined General Dynamics in San Diego in 1967. Transferring to Fort Worth in 1975, he was named VP - marketing in 1980, with oversight of all U.S. and international F-16 sales efforts.
The U.S. Air Force has made its first payment toward purchase of a Boeing 747-400F for the Airborne Laser (ABL) program. The service said it is buying the 747-400F, which costs about $150 million, from Boeing Commercial Airplane Group in Seattle. The plane will be used to carry the ABL, which is designed to destroy enemy theater ballistic missiles in shortly after they are launched. The Air Force said it is making payments for the plane electronically, in line with the Pentagon's new acquisition reform practices.
Preliminary conclusions of a British review of defense procurement procedures include a more flexible approach to different types of purchases and a greater emphasis on teamwork with industry, a U.K. official said Tuesday. Some of the conclusions of the Acquisition Organization Review (AOR), which is studying the Ministry of Defense's procurement methods, were presented by Parliamentary Under Secretary of State John Spellar at a seminar in Didot, England.
Bombardier Aerospace, Montreal, said it will supply up to three Challenger 604 widebody business jets to the Royal Danish Air Force, marking its first sale to the government of Denmark. The agreement includes one firm order for an aircraft to be delivered by mid-1999 and entering service by the end of the year. Options for two more can by exercised through the year 2000. A Challenger 604 also will be provided under an operating lease for use as interim transportation.
A report in Wednesday's DAILY, based on information supplied by Boeing, incorrectly stated the F-15I is the first U.S.-made fighter to include Israeli contractors in its production. General Dynamics F-16s made for the Israeli air force in the mid 1980s also included Israeli production contracts.
NASA managers have assigned Valeriy Ryumin, a veteran cosmonaut who has been acting as Russia's program manager for the Shuttle/Mir portion of the International Space Station program, as a mission specialist on the final Space Shuttle mission to Mir. Ryumin has spent a total of 362 days in space on three flights, winding up his last mission with 185 days on the old Salyut 6 orbital station in 1980. As a member of the STS-91 crew, set to launch on the Shuttle Discovery in May, he will be making his first visit to Russia's 13- year-old Mir station.
Tonight's scheduled flight of the Space Shuttle Endeavour will mark the first use of redesigned main engines expected to increase reliability and safety, NASA reported. All three Space Shuttle Main Engines on Endeavour carry enhancements known as the Block IIA configuration.
NASA's Lunar Prospector achieved an "almost perfectly circular" polar orbit around the moon last week after a final engine burn, mission controllers at Ames Research Center reported. Following the Jan. 15 burn the $20 million probe was orbiting the moon in a 90 degree orbit, with an apogee of 100 kilometers, a perigee of 99 kilometers and a period of 118 minutes.
A possible engine competition for the U.S. Navy's Tactical Tomahawk program wouldn't begin until the missile's production phase, but a final decision on whether to compete hasn't been made, a Defense Dept. official said. An engine competition would be designed to overcome congressional resistance to the restructured Tomahawk program (DAILY, Jan. 15). As part of the Tactical Tomahawk program the Navy was looking to replace the Williams International F107-WR-402 turbofan with a Teledyne CAE J402 turbojet engine.
Malfunctioning parts have been found in the Army's Theater High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) missile, again delaying a critical test for the interceptor that has failed in four previous tries to hit a target. Following a detailed review of the missile Jan. 12-13 at White Sands Missile Range, N.M., the Pentagon's Ballistic Missile Defense Organization and the Army learned it has a malfunctioning communications transponder and a possible malfunction with its thrust vector control hardware, BMDO informed The DAILY yesterday.
Air Methods Corp., Denver, received $772,000 in follow-on contracts for U.S. Air Force helicopter projects. One contract, according to the company, is a follow-on from Sikorsky Aircraft Corp. for the manufacture of additional electrical system components in support of the U.S. Air Force HH-60G Pave Hawk helicopter program. Air Methods also received new contracts from Papillon Grand Canyon Helicopters and Police Aviation Services Ltd. for Muti-Functional Interior Systems in support of the Boeing Explorer Helicopter.
Boeing Chairman Phil Condit said yesterday the company will take a special fourth quarter charge of $1.4 billion pretax on the commercial jetliner products of the former McDonnell Douglas Corp. The higher-than-expected special charge will result in a net loss for both the quarter and for 1997, Condit said. He said the charge to fourth quarter earnings is based on post-merger assessments of market conditions.
FlightSafety International's Simulation Systems Div. has received a contract for the design and construction of a full flight simulator for the Bell Boeing V-22 Osprey tilt-rotor aircraft. The flight simulator will include a VITAL Chroma View visual system and a Multi View panoramic display providing a 220-by-60 degree field of view. Following delivery of the simulator to the V-22 training installation at MCAS New River, N.C., FlightSafety Services Corp., will provide logistics support for its operation.
With the difficulty of keeping track of dual-use export items growing steadily in the 1990s, the U.S. Dept. of Commerce has redefined its strategy and increased its enforcement arm, according to a department official.
The U.K. army has awarded a $32.5 million contract to Aerosystems International (AeI) to develop a computerized equipment support system for the WAH-64 attack helicopter. The AirCraft Computerized Equipment Support System (ACCESS) will be designed to provide the Army with a means for managing the aircraft's maintenance and logistics information. Development of ACCESS is slated to be completed by January 1999, and introduction to service is planned for 2000, according to AeI, which is jointly owned by GKN Westland and BAeSEMA.
Boeing, Hexcel and Aviation Industries of China (AVIC) will build composite parts for commercial aircraft in China under a joint venture announced yesterday. The facility will be built in Tianjin and will manufacture parts for secondary structures and interiors. Parts will be supplied to Hexcel's facility in Kent, Wash., for final assembly and shipment to Boeing and other customers. Financial terms were not disclosed. Boeing and Hexcel said they also are exploring another joint venture in the Pacific Rim.
NASA has ordered a second X-34 rocket-powered flying testbed from Orbital Sciences Corp. for $20 million to reduce risk in the program, the agency announced yesterday. With the second vehicle a wider array of flight tests will be possible, while the program won't be out of business if one of the vehicles is destroyed or damaged, NASA said.
The most likely battlefields of the future will be cities and slums, according to U.S. Marine Corp Commandant Gen. Charles C. Krulak. "By 2010, 70% of the world's population will live in cities and urban slums within 300 miles of a coastline," he said at a conference here. "The national security challenges facing the United States in the next century will not be like those of yesterday or even today. Few sandlot strongmen are going to jerk Uncle Sam's beard and invite us to a rematch of Desert Storm."
Raytheon E-Systems Inc., Waco, Texas, is being awarded a $27,912,033 firm- fixed-price contract for the integration, installation, and test of the Airborne Command Post aircraft modifications for three E-6B production aircraft; to design and fabricate a Mission Avionics System Trainer and a Trainer Facility Kit; and to procure one additional production kits, spares, support equipment and data. Work will be performed in Waco, Texas, and is expected to be completed by August 1999. Contract funds will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year.
Lockheed Martin's 1997 earnings dropped 3% from the previous year due to the effects of non-recurring and unusual items, the company said yesterday. The slight dip occurred despite a 4% increase in sales. The company earned $1.3 billion in 1997, which included a tax-free gain of $311 million following a transaction with General Electric and after-tax charges of $303 million in the fourth quarter, compared to 1996 earnings of $1.35 billion. Excluding the one-time items, earnings climbed 7% to $1.29 billion, compared to 1996 earnings of $1.2 billion.
The U.S. Air Force is looking to equip its B-2 stealth bombers in the next few weeks with a 4,400-pound precision bomb that could destroy hardened targets. The bomb will be built around the BLU-113 warhead, also known as the "Desert Storm Special." It is used on the laser-guided GBU-28A/B, a 4,600- pound bomb that was rapidly fielded on the F-111 in the closing days of Desert Storm in 1991 to destroy hardened Iraqi targets.
Fairchild Dornier's 328JET flew for the first time yesterday, making a one hour and 55 minute flight from Oberpfaffenhofen, near Munich. Pilots Meinhardt Feuersenger and Peter Weger conducted initial assessments of handling qualities and ran system checkouts, including landing gear retraction. While the aircraft, powered by a pair of Pratt&Whitney 306B turbofans, is designed to fly at more than 440 knots, the test was limited to 220 knots.
Elbit Systems and Lockheed Martin signed an agreement to set up a joint steering community to seek business opportunities for the two companies worldwide. "Elbit Systems has a longstanding relationship with Lockheed Martin and is a well established supplier of advanced equipment to the Aeronautical sector of the corporation," Joseph Ackerman, president and chief executive officer of the Israeli company, said in a prepared statement. "The new agreement is a further natural step in strengthening and expanding the relations between the two companies."
