Boeing Co. signed a memorandum of understanding for future business cooperation with Skoda a.s. of Prague, in which Skoda's subsidiaries will be introduced to Boeing's F/A-18 industry team. Boeing, competing with the F/A-18 for Czech Republic fighter business, said yesterday that it will also back Skoda efforts to export to foreign markets and share selected technologies, subject to U.S. government approval.
Although it wasn't in either the House or the Senate defense appropriations bill, the fiscal 1998 Pentagon appropriations conference report includes a provision creating a "21st Century National Security Study Group" that was inserted at the request of House Speaker Newt Gingrich (R-Ga.), congressional sources said yesterday.
Boeing Defense and Space Group, Seattle, Wash., was awarded on September 22, a $7,700,000 face value increase to a firm-fixed-price contract to provide for 7 Improvement Kits, 8 Circuit Card Assemblies, and update of associated documentation, in support of the Block 20/25 Identification Friend or Foe System on the E-3 Airborne Warning and Control System (AWACS) aircraft. This effort supports foreign military sales to the United Kingdom. Contract funds will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year.
Hughes Aircraft Co., FAA's contractor for the Wide Area Augmentation System, said it has achieved "early success" in fielding a prototype signal-in-space (SIS) using the National Satellite Test Bed, a ground-based facility that simulates a satellite.
F-117 NIGHTHAWK stealth aircraft remained grounded following the crash of one of the planes Sept. 14 at the Chesapeake Air Show in Maryland. The Air Force said Friday the F-117s won't fly again until the cause of the crash has been determined. It's the first time F-117 flight operations have been suspended for "logistics or maintenance reasons," the AF said.
After a quick look at whether the U.S. Air Force-led Joint Air-to- Surface Standoff Missile should be canceled in favor of an enhanced version of the Navy's Standoff Land Attack Missile-Expanded Response, the General Accounting Office sided with JASSM, a source told The DAILY. The GAO saw "no compelling reason at this time to terminate JASSM given the promise of SLAM-ER Plus," the source said. SLAM-ER Plus would probably provide some near-term savings, the GAO determined.
Pentagon operational testers have validated the performance of the E- 3 Airborne Warning and Control System (AWACS) Radar System Improvement Program (RSIP) that was designed to improve the plane's ability to track low-signature targets and upgrade its electronic counter-countermeasures. The initial operational test and evaluation (IOT&E) data showed "RSIP is capable of meeting both requirements," the Director of Operational Test and Evaluation said in executive summary of the report signed Sept. 25.
Ranking House National Security Democrat Rep. Ronald Dellums (Calif.) declared Friday that the fiscal 1998 defense appropriations conference report, which provides unrequested funding of $157 million for the B-2 bomber but gives the Administration a free hand in deciding what to use it for "sounds the death knell for new B-2 procurement." Backers of more B-2s sought an unrequested $331 million to maintain the contractor base as the opening step in a long term program for nine more B-2s.
FINNAIR, Finland's flag carrier, chose CFM International's CFM56-5B engines to power 12 A319/A320/A321 aircraft ordered from Airbus Industrie. The carrier valued the engine order at $150 million. It will begin to take delivery of the aircraft in 1999, with the last to arrive in 2001. The CFM56-5B will be rated for 23,500 pounds thrust for the A319, 27,000 for the A320 and 33,000 for the A321.
To help determine the severity of its Year 2000 computer problem, the Pentagon is looking at all its exercises to see what effect the bug will have on various systems. At the conclusion of any DOD exercise, Valletta says, the internal clock in every system is moved up to the year 2000 to see what happens.
THE SENATE, but a vote of 93-5, late Thursday gave final congressional approval to the $247.7 billion fiscal 1998 defense appropriations conference report. The compromise bill now goes to the White House for President Clinton's expected signature. Earlier Thursday, the House approved the conference report by a vote of 356-65.
The U.K. government vetoed two arms deals with Indonesia Friday under its new criteria for exporting military equipment. The deals, reportedly for sniper rifles and armored personnel carriers, were worth an estimated $1.6 million. The change in arms sales conditions, promised by Foreign Secretary Robin Cook during his recent tour of the Far East, is claimed to inject human rights criteria into British foreign policies and fulfill a Labor election pledge not to sell British weapons to countries where they would be used for external aggression or internal oppression.
Boeing Co. has begun flight testing a new, light-weight, color flat- panel multipurpose display that is slated for installation in AH-64D Apache Longbow helicopters to be flown by the U.S., the Netherlands, and the U.K. First flight of the device took place at Boeing's Mesa, Ariz., facility on Sept. 12, Boeing said.
NASA's preferred launch site for the 14-month flight test program X- 33 prototype reusable space launch vehicle is near Haystack Butte on the eastern portion of Edwards AFB, Calif. The agency said Friday that the preferred landings sites are Silurian Lake, a dry lake bed near Baker, Calif.; Michael Army Air Field, Dugway Proving Ground, Utah, and Malmstrom AFB near Great Falls, Mont.
The outcome of the debate on whether space should be an area of operations would have limited impact on Air Force plans, says Maj. Gen. Donald Peterson, the AF's assistant deputy chief of staff for air and space operations. "I don't think we'll have significant change," he says.
The USAF won't move the airborne early warning and synthetic aperture radar/moving target indicator missions to space for at least another ten years, DeKok predicts. The SAR/MTI mission would be easier, he says, but global coverage would be expensive. The AF, therefore, is likely to keep some airborne platforms - manned and/or unmanned - so it can limit the size of the satellite constellation.
Mindful of the recent rash of military aviation accidents, the fiscal 1998 defense appropriations conference report has directed the Secretary of Defense to submit to Congress by Nov. 15 a plan outlining an appropriate level of navigation safety upgrades for Defense Dept. aircraft and the associated funding profile to install them "in an expedited manner."
With the MV-22 procurement program taking off, the U.S. Marine Corps now wants to take a close look at a tanker variant of the tiltrotor plane, according to Brig. Gen. Bruce Byrum, the Marines' assistant deputy chief of staff for aviation. The aerial refueling mission is one of several that V22 prime contractor Bell Boeing has been promoting. In addition to an MV-22 tanker, the Marines would continue buying the Lockheed Martin KC-130J tanker, Byrum says.
Congressional defense appropriations conferees dropped the House's restrictions on funds for the Institute for Defense Analyses after the Pentagon indicated its willingness to provide IDA's classified tactical aircraft studies to the appropriations committees.
The Office of the Secretary of Defense is still trying to determine the precise mission of the Air Force's new Air and Space Command and Control Agency. Tony Valletta, the Pentagon's acting chief information officer, says he's still not sure how the ASC2A will differ from the long- established Electronic Systems Center. "I would like to find out what the different mission and roles are going to be," he tells an information management symposium in Washington.
House National Security Committee Chairman Floyd Spence (R-S.C.) and ranking Democrat Ronald Dellums (Calif.) made a bipartisan appeal to HNSC conferees to drop their resistance to shifting any work from government- owned military depots, but a majority of the conferees rejected their appeal, congressional sources said. One source said the House conferees "voted strongly" to maintain the House position. The House would prohibit the Defense Dept.
Innotech Aviation, Montreal, will acquire Pacific Avionics and Instruments Ltd., Vancouver, and operate it as a division of its western base, also in Vancouver, the company said last week at the National Business Aviation Association convention in Dallas. Pacific provides avionics installation, integration and support services to corporate, regional aviation and military operators, and Innotech believes the acquisition will broaden its own avionics design and installation capabilities and complement its alliance with Airpro Interior Products of Abbotsford.
The Eagle Eye unmanned aerial vehicle will complete a series of flight tests before participating in a U.S. Navy-sponsored vertical take- off and landing demonstration set for next year. Bell Helicopter Textron plans to fly the UAV six times in November at its Fort Worth, Tex., facility to prepare for the event. Its last flight was in 1994. The Eagle Eye will be controlled from a specially designed ground station rather than one designed for the Hunter UAV, as on the previous flight.
