General Dynamics and Lockheed Martin will build advanced technology demonstrators of the Joint Reconnaissance Surveillance and Targeting Vehicle that is planned for deployment in the V-22 Osprey aircraft, the Pentagon said. General Dynamics Land Systems and Lockheed Martin Vought Systems each received a $3 million contract from the Pentagon's Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency and the Marine Corps for the initial 13-month design phase.
BRIDGESTONE CORP., the Tokyo-based tire manufacturer, acquired the principal business assets of Thompson Aerospace Inc., Miami, from London- based investor Rene Charvillat, the companies announced yesterday. Terms were not disclosed. Thompson, founded in San Francisco in 1933, was the first aircraft tire retreading company. Its customer base is the airline industry. Since 1979, it has been the exclusive distributor of new aircraft tires for Bridgestone in North and South America. Charvillat acquired control of Thompson in 1992.
Greece is considering procurement of seven Boeing CH-47D Chinook helicopters as part of a $376 million foreign military sales deal with the U.S. government, the Pentagon announced Monday. Included in the deal are 28 M60 and 8 M2 machine guns, radar warning receivers, three spare turbine engines, ammunition, and support equipment. The U.S. has proposed offset agreements for the deal. The helicopters would be used for military and humanitarian assistance purposes, the Defense Dept. said.
FORMER DEFENSE SECRETARY William Perry has been appointed to the Boeing board of directors, the company announced yesterday. Perry, who served as secretary of defense from February 1994 to January 1997, also serves on the board of directors at United Technologies Corp., Hambrecht & Quist and other technology companies. His term at Boeing will expire in 2000.
HUGHES TRAINING INC., Arlington, Tex., and Lufthansa Technical Training, Hamburg, Germany, signed a memorandum of agreement to pursue technical and customer service training opportunities with airlines, maintenance organizations, aviation original equipment makers and other aviation suppliers. Instruction will be given at either customer sites or at Lufthansa training centers at Fuhlsbuttel Airport, Hamburg, and Rhine-Main Airport, Frankfurt.
A new U.S. Air Force Space Operations Center will open Thursday at Vandenberg AFB, Calif., allowing the 14th Air Force to keep track of all its space assets and task them globally, the USAF said yesterday. The SOC will monitor space surveillance, satellite command and control, missile warning and space launch systems, the AF said. Establishment of the center represents a centralization of control of space assets by the service. Previously, space units got their tasking from Cheyenne Mountain, U.S. Space Command, AF Space Command and wing command posts.
Donovan B. Hicks has been elected chairman, chief executive officer and president by the board in Longmont, Colo. Former CEO, Richard N. Herring, will remain with the company as a consultant to Hicks and the board of directors.
The Senate on Sunday by unanimous consent accepted a House bill overriding President Clinton's line-item veto of 38 fiscal 1998 military construction appropriations projects. On Saturday, the House had voted 352-64 for the override, well over the necessary two-thirds margin. The last hurdle standing in the way of the projects becoming law is some form of pocket veto. A spokeswoman for Rep.
LOCKHEED MARTIN INFORMATION SYSTEMS, Orlando, Fla., won a $23 million foreign military sales contract from the U.S. Army Simulation, Training & Instrumentation Command (STRICOM) for 14 mobile Advanced Gunnery Training Systems (AGTS) for the Egyptian government. The contract includes spares, logistics support and training, with production scheduled over 28 months and initial delivery slated for July 1999. Information Systems also won an $11 million contract from India's Bharat Heavy Electrical Ltd. to supply laser-based weapon effect simulators for the Indian Army.
EVANS & SUTHERLAND, Salt Lake City, won a $2 million contract to supply the visual systems for the flight simulator at the U.K. Defense Helicopter Flying School (DHFS) at RAF Shawbury. FSB Ltd. and FlightSafety International will build the simulator and SEDS Ltd. will supply the panorama display.
Lockheed Martin Federal Services Corp., Marietta, Ga., is being awarded a $38,329,681 cost-plus-award-fee contract to provide for the Period 13 (April through September 1997) Earned Award Fee for performance of the Engineering and Manufacturing Development effort in support of the F-22 aircraft. Contract is expected to be completed September 2003. Contract funds will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. Aeronautical Systems Center, Wright-Patterson AFB, Ohio, is the contracting activity (F33657-91/C-0006, P00328).
BOEING's next-generation 737-700 won type certification from the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration on Nov. 7, clearing the way for the plane to enter service later this year with Southwest Airlines. European launch customers Maersk and Germania will also take delivery of their first -700s later this year. Southwest officially launched next generation 737 program in 1993 with an order for 63. In 1982, it also launched the effort to develop the CFM56-3 engine that powers the 737-300/-400/-500 family.
Lockheed Martin Vought Systems Corp., Grand Prairie, Texas, is being awarded a $14,700,000 increment as part of a modification to a $106,300,278 cost-plus-incentive-fee contract for partial FY98 funding of the continued development of the Army Tactical Missile System (ARMY TACMS) Block II Guided Missile and Launching Assembly. Work will be performed in Grand Prairie, Texas, and is expected to be completed by July 31, 1999. Contract funds will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. This is a sole source contract initiated on Oct. 28, 1994.
McDonnell Douglas Corp., St. Louis, Mo., is being awarded a $333,403,692 indefinite delivery/indefinite quantity contract to provide for the F-15C Multi-Stage Improvement Program (MSIP) and Aerial Combat Enhanced Simulation (ACES) program. These programs will provide simulation services providing a range of mission simulations in a networked environment. Funds will be obligated as individual delivery orders are issued. The work will be performed at McDonnell Douglas' facility in St. Louis, Mo.; at Eglin AFB, Fla., and at Langley AFB, Va.
The U.S. Air Force wants to buy about 1,500 Advanced Unitary Penetrator munitions, and has begun soliciting industry for engineering and manufacturing development (EMD). The AUP is a new variant of the BLU-109 warhead that is intended to be more effective against hardened targets even though it features a smaller diameter warhead in a lightweight aerodynamic shroud. The warhead, however, has thicker case walls, a tougher case material and an improved nose shape for increased penetration (DAILY, Sept. 25, 1996).
An airlock hatch on Russia's Mir orbital station appeared to be holding pressure yesterday after cosmonauts cleaned off a white residue that they found on the hatch's pressure seal, Mission Control Center-Moscow told Russian reporters. Cosmonauts Anatoly Solovyov and Pavel Vinogradov also used extra clamps to shut the airlock hatch after their six-hour spacewalk last Friday to install a new solar array. The airlock was isolated and pressurized after the spacewalk so controllers could monitor how well it held pressure (DAILY, Nov. 7).
A Boeing Delta II booster orbited five more Iridium "Big LEO" satellites Saturday, bringing the low-Earth orbit communications constellation to 39 spacecraft. Liftoff from Vandenberg AFB, Calif., came at 8:34 a.m. EST Saturday, and the satellites separated about 85 minutes later. Iridium said they will be maneuvered into their proper positions within the constellation before testing begins. With Saturday's launch, 39 of the satellites for the planned 66- satellite constellation have been orbited.
House National Security Committee Chairman Floyd Spence (R-S.C.) commended Defense Secretary William S. Cohen's effort on the Defense Reform Initiative, released yesterday and expected by the Pentagon to save billions, but took a shot at the Defense Dept. leadership for not cooperating with lawmakers who have tried to invoke reforms in the past.
