DCX-Chol Enterprises Inc. has acquired the aerospace/defense businesses of DCX Inc., Franktown, Colo., for $1.1 million. DCX-Chol, based in Colorado, said it acquired equipment, raw material inventories, finished goods and contracts related to the making of assemblies, systems, wire harnesses and cable assemblies. The transaction, which closed Oct. 8, included the leasing of the current facility with an option to buy the facility and property.
COMSAT CORP. has set up a new satellite networking service that will allow users to take advantage of the worldwide connectivity provided by Very Small Aperture Terminals (VSAT) through four existing networking technologies. Dubbed "Link One," the new service will offer Asynchronous Transfer Mode (ATM); Frame Relay; Integrated Service Digital Network (ISDN), and Signaling System 7 (SS7) interfaces through VSAT at 2 mpbs or through 11-meter antennas at 32 mbps. The service is scheduled to be available by the middle of next year.
GROWING PAINS: The National Imagery and Mapping Agency and the Intelligence Community are working out some glitches as the new agency meets its mission to serve the imagery and geospatial information needs of customers outside of the Defense Dept., says Air Force Lt. Gen. John A. Gordon, nominated to be deputy director of Central Intelligence. "Recent customer surveys suggest that the national customer may be happier now with overhead imagery product than before the reorganization," he says.
UAV CONSEQUENCES: The unmanned aerial vehicle community is trying to figure out exactly how to structure its programs following last week's defense authorization conference report, which gives the military services responsibility for UAV programs. One approach under consideration is maintaining the UAV Joint Program Office to oversee procurement, but giving management responsibility to individual services.
A joint venture between Loral Space&Communications Ltd. and Telefonica Autrey won an auction conducted by Mexico's Communications and Transport Ministry to privatize the country's satellite operations, Loral announced Friday. The joint venture will acquire 75% of Satelites Mexicanos, S.A. de C.V. (SatMex) for $688 million. The transaction is expected to close before the end of the year.
Gulfstream Aerospace Corp., Savannah, Ga., said it delivered its 1,000th aircraft during the 1997 third quarter as sales climbed 63% and earnings more than tripled. Gulfstream earned $54.3 million during the third quarter on sales of $464 million, up from earnings of $17.2 million on sales of $284 million in the same period in 1996. It delivered 14 aircraft, six GIV-SPs and eight GVs, in 1997, compared to nine aircraft, all GIV-SPs, in 1996.
Sales for Japan's aerospace manufacturers hit $7.3 billion in 1996, up 7.4% over the previous year, according to the Society of Japanese Aerospace Companies (SJAC). The $7.3 billion was made up of $5.9 billion for new production and $1.4 billion for repair and overhaul. During 1996, Japanese companies produced 82 new aircraft and 177 new engines for the Defense Agency, and seven helicopters for domestic civil operators. Breakdown of 1996 new production sales (dollars in millions)
The U.S. Navy has been forced to delay the fielding of the first squadron of E-2C Hawkeye 2000 aircraft largely because of funding difficulties associated with the airborne Cooperative Engagement Capability terminal. The delay slips by six months to a year the first operational availability of the Hawkeye 2000, which will feature the CEC terminal and a new mission computer and cooling system, W.E. "Casey" Bahr, the Navy's E-2C program manager said in an interview at Naval Air Systems Command headquarters here.
THE NAVY'S ARSENAL SHIP PROGRAM, also known as the Maritime Fire Support Demonstrator, has been terminated because of insufficient funds, the service said Friday. Navy Secretary John Dalton decided to stop the program after Congress provided only $35 million for FY '98 even though the Navy and the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency asked for more than $150 million.
PAINTLESS TECHNOLOGY was evaluated by the U.S. Air Force and Lockheed Martin in a series of F-16 flight tests at Edwards AFB, Calif. The company said the tests demonstrated the potential benefits of using appliques instead of paint on military aircraft. The F-16 was partially coated with an adhesive, paint replacement film.
NASA should shift its focus away from human Mars exploration to efforts like space solar power research that could have more direct benefits on Earth, the chairman of the NASA oversight panel in the House said Friday. Rep. Dana Rohrabacher (R-Calif.), chairman of the House Science space and aeronautics subcommittee, chided NASA managers for failing to follow up on a 1995-96 study that suggested advances in technology warrant another look at space solar power.
ORBITAL LINEMEN: Cosmonauts Anatoly Solovyov and Pavel Vinogradov plan two more spacewalks on Mir to boost power levels inside the orbital station. On Nov. 3, or perhaps earlier if they are ready, the pair will venture outside Mir to collect an old solar array that has aged past the point of usefulness. With that panel safely lashed out of the way, the crew will spacewalk again to attach a replacement array delivered earlier by the Space Shuttle Atlantis in its place.
Engineers at GE Aircraft Engines may change the honeycomb shroud behind the stator vane in its F414 fighter engine following discovery last week of a crack in the engine's fifth compressor stage which halted flight testing of the U.S. Navy's F/A-18E/F Super Hornet. The crack occurred in a stator vane in the compressor, and changing the honeycomb shroud is one of the potential fixes for the high-cycle fatigue problem, a GE executive said, because the shroud may be increasing stress on the stator.
The first end-to-end free flight test of the Expanded Response variant of the Standoff Land Attack Missile, conducted Oct. 16 at the Naval Air Weapons Center, Point Mugu, Calif., demonstrated man-in-the-loop control, according to Capt. Robert Freedman, the Navy's SLAM-ER program manager.
A LITTLE HELP: General Aviation Corp., a new company formed to manufacturer and market four types of general aviation aircraft in conjunction with the Myasishchev Design Bureau of Russia, will make its efforts public today with an announcement in Newport News, Va. Myasishchev, whose experience ranges from such large aircraft as the M-4 "Bison" bomber to the SL two- seat light aircraft, will design and engineer the prototypes. The aircraft will be assembled in the U.S. and GAC will conform them to meet FAA certification requirements.
Rep. Curt Weldon (R-Pa.), chairman of the House National Security Committee's subcommittee on research and development, this week will introduce fast track legislation to infuse funding into key theater missile defense (TMD) programs to accelerate development of systems to protect Israel and U.S. forces in the Middle East from an Iranian ballistic missile threat that is projected to materialize within a year. Several programs would get an almost immediate budget boost for added interceptors and enhancements.
Compressor seal inspections on British Airways' high-time GE90 turbofans will continue for two weeks, following discovery of a crack in a BA engine seal last week, GE Aircraft Engines reported.
House and Senate defense authorization conferees have imposed cost caps on the U.S. Air Force's F-22 fighter program - $18.7 billion on engineering and manufacturing development (EMD) and $43.4 billion on production. The House receded to the Senate's position calling for the caps. The House added an amendment that allows for adjustments for inflation.
While production problems with commercial airliners hurt Boeing's third quarter, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Phil Condit said the recovery plan is on track and Boeing's Information, Space and Defense Systems (ISDS) segment remains strong.
ROUND THREE: House National Security Committee member John Hostettler (R- Ind.), after two tight House races, is just about assured of another close race next year. Gail Riecken, a member of the Evansville City Council, has already announced that she will be running for the Democratic nomination to oppose him. Riecken is bound to have a fund-raising advantage since she will accept Political Action Committee (PAC) money while Hostettler will not. Last year, President Clinton won the district by 2% while Republican Hostettler won re-election by 2%.
Despite plans for final congressional approval of the compromise $268.2 billion fiscal 1998 defense authorization, the ranking Democrats on the Senate Armed Services and House National Security committees were uncertain Friday whether the Administration would go along with the conference report's final language on the contentious military depot issue. Waiting in the wings in the Senate was a threatened veto by Texas and California Senators unhappy with the final version on depots.
STAYING SEATED: The U.S. Navy would likely have to improve the seats in its E-2C Hawkeye aircraft if it decided to give the plane a refueling capability, says Casey Bahr, the service's E-2C program manager. Recent studies have shown that adding the capability is both technically and financially feasible. It would extend the E-2C's on-station time from about four hours to seven hours but, Bahr says, crews probably would want more comfortable seating for the extended missions.
RANGE SAVINGS: U.S. Air Force planners trying to cut the cost of operating the nation's missile ranges want to shift from radar to Global Positioning System tracking of missiles and launch vehicles by 2003. The service believes it can eliminate 12 range radars, which cost about $1.2 million a year each to operate, with a switch to GPS. That would go a long way to meeting the 20% cost-cutting target of the Air Force's Range Standardization and Automation program. The proposal is awaiting action by Keith Hall, assistant Air Force secretary for space.
