Tracor Systems Div., Austin, Tex., has won a $13.3 million contract option from the U.S. Air Force to convert 24 F-4 fighters into QF-4 aerial targets. The company said yesterday that this is the third consecutive production option to be awarded under a previously announced contract, with a total value of $90.8 million. Thirty-six aircraft are being converted under the second option.
The Swedish government approved the sale of Hagglunds Vehicle, a subsidiary of Incentive AB, to Alvis plc, a U.K. industrial group, for $127.6 million, Incentive AB said yesterday. Alvis' shareholders also approved the sale, and the divestment is expected to be completed Thursday. Incentive expects to see a capital gain of about $72 million from the sale. Hagglunds makes light and medium-heavy tracked special military vehicles and camouflage, and has annual sales of about $183.3 million.
SIGNAL TECHNOLOGY CORP., Sunnyvale, Calif., received an $8.1 million development and production contract from Racal Radar Defense Systems Ltd., Crawley, England, for the Sea King Mk. 7 radar transmitter. Work will take place over the next three years at Signal's Keltec Operation in Fort Walton Beach, Fla.
Hughes Electronics Corp. Vice Chairman Michael Smith has been elected chairman and chief executive officer, Hughes and parent company General Motors Corp. announced yesterday. Smith, the brother of GM chairman John Smith Jr., replaces C. Michael Armstrong, who resigned to become chairman of AT&T Corp. after five years as Hughes CEO.
DRS LAUREL TECHNOLOGIES, Johnstown, Pa., won a $2 million contract from United Defense LP Ground Systems Div., York, Pa., to make cable and wire harnesses for the U.S. Army's new Bradley M2A3 Fighting Vehicle. EASTWIND AIRLINES, Greensboro, N.C., ordered two Boeing 737-300s to be delivered in April and June 1998. The airline currently operates two 737s on its east coast routes.
An Army Tactical Missile System (ATACMS) successfully dispensed all 13 Brilliant Anti-Tank (BAT) submunitions in a test last week at White Sands Missile Range, N.M., the U.S. Army said. The Oct. 16 test was the first for ATACMS using the BAT, which is designed to acquire and destroy moving armored vehicles. The test was intended to verify separation of the missile and its payload. The ATACMS flew about 120 kilometers and dispensed the BATs at supersonic speeds.
Raytheon TI System, Inc., McKinney, Tex., is being awarded, a $7,109,277 firm-fixed-price contract to provide for the following applicable to the GBU-28 A/B Paveway III Laser Guided Weapon: 161 WGU-36 A/B Weapons Guidance Units, 161 BSU-92 A/B Air Foil Groups, and one lot of related data. The work will be performed at Raytheon TI Systems, Inc., Sherman, Texas. Contract is expected to be completed May 1998. There were 3 firms solicited and one proposal received. Solicitation began February 1997; negotiations were completed September 1997.
Top executives of Boeing, Boeing Business Jets and Executive Jet Inc. plan to announce today in New York a program to give customers fractional ownership of the Boeing Business Jet, a variant of the 737-700 airliner. Executive Jet, Montvale, N.J., invented the concept in 1986 - it is described as a cost effective alternative to acquiring an airplane - and its NetJets program serves more than 700 customers who own fractional interests in the 100-plus airplanes the company manages.
LABARGE INC., St. Louis, won a $4.7 million contract from Lockheed Martin Government Systems, Moorestown, N.J., to make electronic assemblies for the Aegis shipboard weapon system for the Spanish government. LaBarge will make printed circuit card assemblies at its Huntsville, Ark., facility.
SAMSUNG AEROSPACE INDUSTRIES LTD., Seoul, South Korea, signed a letter of intent with China's Hainan International Aviation Tourist Estate Co. for three Samsung-Bell 427 helicopters. SSA and Bell Helicopter Textron are jointly developing the SB247. The Chinese order brings the backlog to 18 firm orders. The first delivery is expected in 1999.
TRACOR SYSTEMS ENGINEERING group, Rockville, Md., won a five year contract with a potential value of $34.5 million to provide engineering services in support of various technical programs at the U.S. Naval Surface Warfare Center, Dahlgren Div., Dahlgren, Va. The major areas of support are program management, systems engineering, configuration/data management, technical documentation, specialty engineering, integrated logistics support and quality assurance.
Northrop Grumman Corp. wants to leverage its investment in the Apache Longbow fire control radar, as well as work on a similar but more advanced system for the Comanche helicopter, to develop a radar for ground vehicles, company officials said.
A U.S. AIR FORCE TEAM investigating the Sept. 13 crash of a C-141 airlifter off the coast of Africa has returned to McGuire AFB, N.J., from Namibia. U.S. Air Mobility Command said the team returned Oct. 15. Search and recovery operations will continue, it said, but elements of the team's report must be completed at McGuire AFB. The C-141 had delivered Army personnel and mine-clearing equipment to Windhoek Field, Namibia, before departing for Ascension Island. When it failed to arrive, search efforts were begun.
Argentina's National Commission on Space Activities (CONAE) and NASA have entered two agreements for joint space activities, one a Space Shuttle hitchhiker payload on the first International Space Station assembly mission and the other an environmental satellite to be launched in May 1999. Administrator Daniel S. Goldin and Conrado Franco Varotto, CONAE executive director, signed the agreements in Buenos Aires during President Clinton's visit there last week.
The U.S. Air Force sees several growth options for the new electronic warfare suite going aboard B-1B bombers but so far doesn't see the need to go ahead with them, according to Lt. Col. Terry Gribben, the service's B-1 program element monitor. Gribben briefed a meeting of the Association of Old Crows in Arlington Va., last week on the AF's roadmap for B-1B EW improvements and presented a list of potential upgrades that might be pursued. But he told The DAILY later that none are funded at this point or show up in plans before 2005.
NEXT LAUNCH of Europe's Ariane 5 heavy lift rocket has been slipped "a few days to a week" from the Oct. 28 target date so technicians can check hardware that proved faulty in follow-on vehicles. Problems with the Vulcain engine supply lines on vehicles 503 and 504 prompted the checkout on vehicle 502.
Lockheed Martin Corp., Philadelphia, Pa., was awarded on October 15, a $62,446,948 face value increase to a fixed-price-incentive contract to provide for the Service Life Enhancement Program for the Defense Satellite Communications System (DSCS) satellites B11, B6 and A3. This program involves integration of upgraded components into the satellites and sustainment, launch, and orbit support for DSCS Missions 7 and 8. The work will be performed at Lockheed Martin's facilities in Newtown, Pa. (30%) and in Sunnyvale, Calif. (70%).
LOCKHEED MARTIN signed preliminary cooperation agreements with several Hungarian companies earlier this month, making them likely to be among the first to receive work from Lockheed Martin if Hungary buys the F-16 fighter. Agreements were signed with Danubian Aircraft, an aerospace manufacturer; MAEK, a construction and development firm; 77 Elektronika, an electronics manufacturer, and Dunaferr, a steel supplier.
UPSET ABOUT ASAT: Capitol Hill supporters of the Kinetic Energy-Anti- Satellite (KE-ASAT) program are strategizing to get the funding restored, sources said. The Pentagon is within two years of having a deployable prototype KE-ASAT system and the White House is "recklessly moving to kill it," says Sen. Bob Smith (R-N.H.).
INTEL BILL UPDATE: The fiscal year 1998 Intelligence Authorization Bill will be filed and moved to the floor the House this week for final passage, intelligence committee sources say. The intelligence committees actually wrapped up work before the week-long recess that ends today, but are waiting for defense authorizers to put the finishing touches on their bill, which includes funding for intelligence projects, sources said. The schedule for Senate action is less certain.
The Defense Dept. on Oct. 24 is slated to be briefed the first time on the U.S. Air Force's revised plan for the Evolved Expendable Launch Vehicle (EELV) program that would significantly increase the program's scope by keeping both Boeing and Lockheed Martin working on the program instead of downselecting to one design.
FLIPPING OUT: Mars Global Surveyor controllers aren't having much better luck with their spacecraft. They're scheduled to meet next Monday to discuss whether they will resume aerobraking with one of the solar arrays flapping excessively (DAILY, Oct. 15), and what the impact on the science mission will be if they don't. They have already missed their targeted orbit, and must decide how best to use limited on-board fuel to achieve an orbit that will allow the mapping camera and other instruments to collect as much data as possible.
The long-term price agreement the Air Force and Raytheon and Hughes have negotiated on the Advanced Medium-Range Air-to-Air Missile will save future customers about $180 million, the Air Force and Justice Dept. said last week. The agreement was finalized Wednesday to support Raytheon's acquisition of Hughes' defense business. The Justice Dept. approved the deal Oct. 2 pending the negotiation of the long-term price agreement
CHRISTMAS PRESENT: The U.S. Army plans to award its contract for the Aerostat cruise missile defense program by Dec. 23, industry officials say. The program, now succinctly called the Joint Land-Attack Cruise Missile Defense Elevated Netted Sensor System (JLENS), will run for between four and five years.
