BDM International Inc., McLean, Va., was awarded on Dec. 24, 1997, a fixed- price, indefinite delivery/indefinite quantity contract (appropriation number and dollar value will be issued with each delivery order) with a cumulative total of $75,242,919, for technical support services to furnish integrated test and evaluation of major designated acquisition programs and non-major weapons systems for the Operational Test and Evaluation Command, the U.S. Army Operational Evaluation Command, and the Evaluation Analysis Center.
PRC Inc., McLean, Va., was awarded on Dec. 24, 1997, a fixed-price, indefinite delivery/indefinite quantity contract (appropriation number and dollar value will be issued with each delivery order) with a cumulative total of $89,488,749, for technical support services to furnish integrated test and evaluation of major designated acquisition programs and non-major weapons systems for the Operational Test and Evaluation Command, the U.S. Army Operational Evaluation Command, and the Evaluation Analysis Center.
VRC Corp., Alexandria, Va., was awarded on Dec. 24, 1997, a fixed-price, indefinite delivery/indefinite quantity contract (appropriation number and dollar value will be issued with each delivery order) with a cumulative total of $102,600,371, for technical support services to furnish integrated test and evaluation of major designated acquisition programs and non-major weapons systems for the Operational Test and Evaluation Command, the U.S. Army Operational Evaluation Command, and the Evaluation Analysis Center.
The U.S. Air Force wants to advance fly-by-light technology to bring about weight and cost savings that haven't been realized in existing fly- by-light (FBL) architectures. FBL systems to date "have shown little or no capability for weight or cost savings over existing Fly-By-Wire (FBW) [flight control system] designs, particularly for tactical fighter sized aircraft," the AF said in a Jan. 5 Commerce Business Daily notice. The new program is aimed at demonstration by the year 2003 a system/subsystem model or prototype.
Raytheon Co., Marlborough, Mass., is being awarded a $5,918,435 face value increase to a time-and-materials contract to provide for technical services in calendar year 1998 for the MILSATCOM (Military Satellite Communication) Air Force Terminals. These are both airborne and in-ground stations.
Loss of communications with EarthWatch Inc.'s EarlyBird 1 commercial Earth imaging satellite could push NASA a step closer to terminating the troubled Clark remote sensing satellite, already on thin ice at the agency for cost growth and schedule delays at prime contractor Orbital Sciences Corp.
The U.S. Air Force says it plans to release a draft request for proposal for its revised Evolved Expendable Launch Vehicle (EELV) program later this month, with the final solicitation due out in March.
Boeing Co. flight crew delivered the 36th C-17 to the U.S. Air Force on Dec. 22. The last delivery of 1997 was the 24th consecutive ahead-of- schedule delivery, Boeing reported. Twenty-eight C-17s are now based at Charleston AFB, S.C. Eight others were transferred to the 97th Air Mobility Wing at Altus AFB, Okla.
Taiwan's Aerospace Industrial Development Corp. is joining with French aircraft parts company Latecoere S.A. to produce parts for Airbus jets. The French company came to Taiwan seeking a partnership after retreating from talks with South Korean aerospace companies, which have been hit hard by the financial crisis in Southeast Asia.
The U.S. Air Force has begun looking for new areas in which to train B-1B and B-52H bomber crews, Air Combat Command said. The service's goal under the Realistic Bomber Training Initiative (RBTI) is to "provide realistic, integrated training" mainly for B-1B crews at Dyess AFB, Tex., and B-52H crews at Barksdale, La., ACC said. "This training develops the skills aircrews need now and in the future, and provides the capability to train replacement crews," the command said.
The E.H. Industries consortium was chosen yesterday by the Canadian government to supply 15 AW520 Cormorant search-and-rescue helicopters for $790 million. Canada said E.H. Industries will get $593 million to supply the EH-101 helicopters, and that another $200 million will go for project management, training, spare parts, integrated logistics support, and a small contingency allowance. The helicopters will replace 15 aging Labrador helicopters.
Israel Aircraft Industries won a $75 million contract from Turkey to upgrade the country's 48 F-5 fighters, an IAI spokesman confirmed Monday. France was thought to have the inside track on the contract because of its support of Turkey's bid for membership in the European Union (DAILY, Dec. 3, 1997), but Turkish generals were said to favor IAI.
L-3 Communications, New York, agreed to buy Satellite Transmission Systems (STS) from California Microwave Inc. for $27 million in cash. STS, headquartered in Hauppauge, N.Y., designs, integrates and installs satellite communications systems. "STS brings us expanded capability in applying our products and significant networking capability for our wireless communications products business," Frank Lanza, chairman and chief executive officer of L-3, said in a prepared statement.
The U.S. Army Space and Missile Defense Command is moving ahead with plans to boost the number of tests of exoatmospheric kill vehicles (EKVs) in support of the National Missile Defense (NMD) program. In October 1990, Boeing and Hughes Missiles Systems, now Raytheon, were awarded contracts to develop EKV systems. Last year, Boeing won a contract to build three more vehicles and Hughes won a contract to build two more (DAILY, July 31).
Teledyne Brown Engineering, Huntsville, Ala., was awarded on Dec. 24, 1997, a fixed-price, indefinite delivery/indefinite quantity contract (appropriation number and dollar value will be issued with each delivery order) with a cumulative total of $80,622,204, for technical support services to furnish integrated test and evaluation of major designated acquisition programs and non-major weapons systems for the Operational Test and Evaluation Command, the U.S. Army Operational Evaluation Command, and the Evaluation Analysis Center.
Thailand is looking for a way out of a $392.1 million deal to buy eight U.S. F/A-18C/D fighters because the currency crisis there has made the planes unafforable. The commander-in-chief of the Royal Thai Air Force, Air Chief Marshal Thananit Niamthan, said last week that the country would like to resell the jets, or at least delay the purchase, according to news accounts from Bangkok.
Russia's Mir orbital station suffered another of its perennial computer failures last week, but the three-man crew was able to recover from the outage in time to begin preparations for two upcoming spacewalks. Mir lost attitude control when the main computer failed Friday, but by Saturday the two Russians and one American aboard had replaced a failed component, restarted the computer and respun the attitude-control gyrodynes that shut down when the computer failed.
The U.S. Air Force, with help from SAIC, has identified 10 modifications to its Slingsby T-3A trainer aircraft to resolve an engine shut-off problem that has kept the fleet of 112 airplane grounded since July, Gen. Lloyd W. "Fig" Newton, commander of the Air Education and Training Command said yesterday. The AF believes a fuel vaporization problem has caused the 260-hp Textron Lycoming engine AEIO-540-D4A5 to falter, Newton said during a Pentagon press conference.
The Pentagon has offered Israel 45 AGM-142D standoff missiles at a cost of $41 million. Israel would also receive "Z-seekers" for 37 of the missiles. The "Z- seeker" is a new system that provides infrared variants of the TV-guided missile a wider field of view and, therefore, allows for steeper impact angles (DAILY, July 1, 1997). Israel employs the AGM-142 on its F-4 and F-16 fighters.
Launch of the Asiasat-3 satellite ended in failure last month when the kick stage of its Proton rocket failed in its second burn, leaving the Hughes-built geostationary satellite in a highly eccentric and inclined orbit. The first attempt Dec. 23 to launch the Proton carrying Asiasat-3 had to be called off due to unusually strong upper winds, the first time in the 30-year history of Proton operations when a launch was delayed due to weather conditions.
The Pentagon's Ballistic Missile Defense Organization, facing a jam- packed test schedule for practically all of its major programs this year, is under pressure to score some hits on Scud-like targets, keep contractors on track, and satisfy Congress that the overall program is headed in the right direction.
A Start-1 rocket made from a retired Topol ICBM (SS-25) has launched a U.S. commercial imaging satellite from a decommissioned missile base at Svobodny. The Start-1 lifted off its mobile launcher at the Svobodny Cosmodrome at 16:32 Moscow Time Dec. 23 (8:32 a.m. EST) and inserted the EarlyBird satellite into a sun-synchronous orbit with an altitude of about 500 kilometers.
Aerospace horizons of the early 21st century came more clearly into view during 1997, posing some tough questions as 1998 begins: -- How will Asia's financial crisis affect the global aerospace industry? -- Can Europe's aerospace companies bridge the gap from the Cold War to the new era? -- Could the newly consolidated U.S. industry meet a big production challenge? -- Will U.S. technological superiority make it harder for Washington to work with its allies in future wars?
The anticipated closing in 1998 of the Lockheed Martin-Northrop Grumman deal should bring down the curtain on the era of mega-mergers in the U.S. aerospace industry, and clear the way for additional mergers in the second tier and service companies, analysts say. "Companies further down the food chain are finally getting into the merger and acquisition business," Jon Kutler of Quarterdeck Investment Partners said in an interview. "They pretty much have been left out in the past few years and it's time for them to get busy."
