Rocketdyne Propulsion & Power Business has completed final testing of the gas generator component of the RS-68 rocket engine to be used in the Boeing Delta IV evolved expendable launch vehicle (EELV), Boeing officials told reporters yesterday. A coaxial design was chosen for the gas generator component and testing on that component wrapped up last Friday, putting the engine on track for a first hot fire test in January, the officials said.
Rep. Norman Dicks (Wash.), the ranking Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, wants the intelligence panel to hold hearings on the capabilities of U.S. anti-submarine warfare assets to protect American aircraft carriers, an aide to the congressman said yesterday. Dicks to be sure that Russian-made submarines, which may wind up being sold to U.S. adversaries, can be detected and potentially defeated. Dicks made the comments after establishing the veracity of a published report that a Russian sub recently pursued three U.S.
University of Texas, Applied Research Laboratory, Austin, Texas, was awarded on Nov. 17, 1997, a not-to-exceed $48,917,855 modification to previously awarded contract N00039-96-D-0051 to exercise an option to provide support for specific Navy and other government programs through research, development, engineering, test and evaluation. Areas contracted include the study of Naval Warfare and Department of Defense problems involving acoustics, electromagnetic, and other related essential capabilities.
ORBITAL IMAGING CORP., the Earth imaging subsidiary of Orbital Sciences Corp., has a new information service, offering daily fish-finding maps derived from satellite images of the world's oceans. SeaStar Fisheries Information Service uses imagery gathered from ORBIMAGES's OrbView-2 satellite to create the maps that display the ocean's changing surface color. It said the subtle color changes provide information on fish dwelling and feeding areas. The OrbView-2 satellite was launched aboard Orbital's Pegasus rocket on Aug. 1, 1997.
AEROSPATIALE AND HONEYWELL have agreed to expand their cooperation in test equipment. Honeywell will develop and maintain test program sets for its avionics for the Boeing 777 and new generation 737 series on Aerospatiale's ATEC Series 6 tester. Both parties will market jointly to airlines.
ORBITAL SCIENCES CORP. has received 10 more Orbcomm low Earth orbit messaging satellites at its Vandenberg AFB, Calif., launch vehicle preparation facility, bringing to 12 the total number of the stackable satellites completed. Two are already on orbit, and two more will be mounted on an Orbital Taurus ground-launched rocket. The remaining eight will be air-launched with a Pegasus XL vehicle dropped from the company's L-1011 carrier aircraft.
LOCKHEED MARTIN Michoud Space Systems has completed hydrostatic proof testing of the aluminum liquid oxygen tanks for the X-33 subscale reusable launch vehicle prototype. Technicians pumped about 19,400 gallons of water into the double-lobed tank, which will ride in the nose of the X-33 lifting body. Another 1,000 gallons of water in a standpipe boosted pressure in the assembly to 66 psi to simulate flight pressure. The tank is scheduled for delivery to the X-33 assembly facility in Palmdale, Calif., in January.
A spacewalk planned by Russian cosmonaut Anatoly Solovyov and NASA astronaut David Wolf scheduled for Dec. 5 could be put off for a month, Mir Mission Control officials reported yesterday. The Russians say there may be some other maintenance work they would like to accomplish before the spacewalk, but the delay is still on the table, a NASA spokesman told The DAILY. He said the call is entirely up to the Russians. Meanwhile, new computer units were installed in Mir over the weekend after the second failure in a week in the station's main computer.
The long-term effect of financial troubles in Southeast Asia on the U.S. aerospace industry "remains to be seen," according to Dept. of Commerce officials. While many commercial jet orders are coming from the region, most are from China, which won't be hit as hard by the problems as some neighboring countries, according to Sally Bath, director, office of Commerce's office of aerospace. "I expect a small downturn," she told reporters in Washington Friday upon release of the annual U.S. Industry and Trade Outlook '98.
Fields Aircraft Spares Inc., Simi Valley, Calif., attributed continued improvement in sales to the launch of its aftermarket, aircraft inventory management and supply program. The company earned $161,000 as sales more than doubled to $3.4 million in the 1997 third quarter. In the same period in 1996, Fields lost $81,000 on sales of $1.6 million. "This was our second quarter of year-to-year sales gains in excess of 100%," Alan Fields, president and chief executive officer, said in a statement detailing the company's financial results.
DONALD J. YOCKEY, 76, former president of Rockwell's Defense and Commercial Electronics businesses, died Nov. 16 in Rancho Mirage, Calif. He was interred yesterday at Riverside National Cemetery in Riverside, Calif. Yockey served in the Air Force for 22 years, retiring as a colonel, and was under secretary of defense for acquisition during the Bush Administration.
South Korea's air force selected the General Electric F404 augmented turbofan engine for the new KTX-2 advanced trainer/light combat aircraft. GE Aircraft Engines said yesterday that it won a $50 million full- scale development contract for the work, and that it will deliver six F404s for four KTX-2 flight-test aircraft. Flight testing is scheduled to begin in 2001.
SPACE IMAGING EOSAT has formed a joint venture with a group of investors in the United Arab Emirates to provide high-resolution satellite imagery in the Middle East. DSI-Dubai Space Imaging, as the new company will be known, will use a receiving station in the UAE to handle imagery from India's IRS- 1C and -1D imaging satellites for Space Imaging EOSAT, and will distribute imagery from those satellites as well as the U.S.
Boeing Co. said it expects about 75% of the value of its future jetliner orders to come from international customers. A worldwide market of 16,160 commercial jets worth $1.1 trillion over the next 20 years is being projected by the company, Ron Woodard, president of Boeing Commercial Airplane Group (BCAG), told the Seattle World Affairs Council last Thursday. "Our future depends on building strong relationships in the many countries around the world where we do business," Woodard said in a prepared statement.
AEROSPATIALE has received a fourth order for a Eutelsat W spacecraft from the European Telecommunications Satellite Organization. Based on the Spacebus 3000 platform, Eutelsat W4 will weigh 2,800 kilograms at launch and provide more than 6,000 watts of power for its 32 Ku-band channels. It will be placed at 36 degrees East longitude following a launch in the first quarter of 1999, and will provide service to Russia and other European customers.
Parker Hannifin Corp., Irvine, Calif., is being awarded a $7,991,640 requirements-type contract to provide for repair of 700 Horizontal Tail Flap Integrated Servo-Actuators (ISA), 150 Rudder ISA units, and 30 Electro Hydraulic Valves, all applicable to the hydraulics system on the F-16 aircraft. Funds will be obligated on individual delivery orders. Contract funds will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. There were 7 firms solicited; one proposal received. Solicitation began February 1997; negotiations were completed October 1997.
Lockheed Martin Federal Systems, Inc., Owego, N.Y., was awarded on November 19, a $14,741,719 firm-fixed-price contract to provide for definitization of the CC-2Er memory Upgrade for five E-3 Airborne Warning and Control System (AWACS) aircraft. Contract funds will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. This effort supports foreign military sales to Saudi Arabia. Electronic Systems Center, Hanscom AFB, Mass., is the contracting activity (F19628-97/C-0050, PZ0002).
ECHOSTAR COMMUNICATIONS CORP. reported an increase of more than 300% in revenue during the third quarter of calendar 1997, with record growth in its DISH Network subscriber base and increased revenues from its technology and satellite services businesses. The Englewood, Colo.-based company reported revenues of $124.8 million for the quarter ending Sept. 30, compared to $30.4 million a year earlier.
Duncan Aviation, Lincoln, Neb., is being awarded a $15,758,230 modification to a firm-fixed-price/cost-reimbursable contract for contractor operated and maintained base support for airplanes. Work will be performed at various sites in the continental United States, and is expected to be completed by Sept. 30, 1998. Contract funds will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. There were 61 bids solicited on March 18, 1994, and four bids were received. The contracting activity is the U.S. Army Aviation and Missile Command, Redstone Arsenal, Ala.
Lockheed Martin awarded F-22 fighter subcontracts to Alliant Techsystems, Minneapolis, and AeroGo, a subsidiary of SI Technologies Inc. based in Seattle, the receiving companies announced yesterday. Alliant won a contract from Lockheed Martin Tactical Aircraft Systems, Fort Worth, Tex., to make fiber-placed composite engine air inlet duct skins for the new jet. Alliant will perform the work at its new automated fiber placement manufacturing plant at the Allegany Ballistics Laboratory (ABL) in Rocket Center, W. Va.
PICO SYSTEMS INC. of Toledo, Ohio, was picked by NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center to provide programmable multichip modules for its experiments on the planed STRV-1d satellite to be launched early in 1999 by the United Kingdom on an Ariane 5. The company's quick-turn MCMs are prefabricated and stored for rapid application to future uses. Based on antifuse technology, the Pico substrate technology claims a verified mean time to failure of more than 360 years.
Northrop Grumman has test-fired a missile motor in the shipboard next- generation vertical launcher system to ensure safe operation should a missile fail to be released after its motor ignites. The test - late last month at San Jose, Calif. - used the motor of a Standard Missile Block III. "The safety test demonstrated that the rocket motor exhaust gases can be prevented from burning through the launcher or damaging adjacent missiles when deployed on U.S. Navy ships," Northrop Grumman said.
Boeing and CSA Czech Airlines filed paperwork in Czech Republic courts for the joint venture that will acquire a minority stake in Aero Vodochody. The courts must approve the joint venture before it can become an officially recognized entity. The limited-liability company, with Boeing owning 90% and CSA 10%, will acquire 34-50% of Aero Vodochody (DAILY, May 8). "This company is a significant step in establishing a complementary and mutually beneficial partnership between the best of U.S.
Raytheon Southeast Asia Systems Co., Tewksbury, Mass., is being awarded $43,327,625 as part of a $44,168,331 firm-fixed-price/cost-plus-fixed-fee contract for HAWK Phase III conversion and training for the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Work will be performed in Saudi Arabia (90%); and Andover, Mass. (10%), and is expected to be completed by Dec. 30, 2000. Contract funds will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. This is a sole source contract initiated on July 1, 1997. The contracting activity is the U.S.
KPMG PEAT MARWICK LLP has received a $186 million contract to develop an agency-wide financial management system for NASA. The consulting firm will standardize the agency's financial systems across its Washington headquarters and 10 field centers, covering core accounting, executive information systems, travel, time and attendance, procurement and budgeting.
