Hughes is not on the Boeing team that is competing to become Lead Systems Integrator (LSI) for the Ballistic Missile Defense Organization's National Missile Defense program, as reported in the Aug. 18 issue of The DAILY (page 259). A Pentagon memo misidentified the team members. Hughes is on the United Missile Defense Corp. team.
The database used by the U.S. Air Force to maintain and manage its inventory of aircraft and missiles contains numerous inaccuracies, according to a General Accounting Office (GAO) report. The Reliability and Maintainability Information System (REMIS) is a worldwide database network that contains maintenance and logistical information on all the service's equipment. GAO said over 1,700 users have access to the system for a variety of purposes, including strategic planning, accounting and budgeting.
NASA expects to save about $200 million over the life of the Earth Observing System (EOS) program by switching from large dedicated satellites to smaller platforms bought off-the-shelf from a satellite catalogue being developed at Goddard Space Flight Center.
Ukraine's Kharkov State Aviation Manufacturing Co. is promoting its An-74TK-200 to Taiwan's domestic airlines. Feng Chi-ming, who heads the company's Taipei office, said that the multi-purpose An-74, which can carry up to 52 passengers in addition to a large cargo load and which requires only 600 meters for takeoffs and 450 meters for landings, is ideal for the short runways found at most of Taiwan's smaller domestic airports.
Raytheon Aircraft Co. has produced its 5,000th AQM-37 series target missile to the U.S. Navy. The AQM-37C delivered to Naval Air Systems Command - one of the latest versions of the target whose first launch was in 1961 - is capable of speeds over Mach 4 and altitudes above 110,000 feet, the company said. It is a target for such missiles as the AIM-7, AIM-9, Patriot and Standard.
The U.S. Coast Guard hopes to issue requests for proposals by Nov. 11 for a $10 billion, 20-year program to replace or upgrade its aircraft and ships. The effort, called the Deepwater Capability Replacement Project, is the largest Coast Guard acquisition project ever and applies to platforms that normally operate 50 miles or more from the coast. USCG Commandant Adm. Robert Kramek told The Coast Guard Reservist magazine this month that it would take two decades to complete and cost $10 billion.
The GE90 engine, powering 20 Boeing 777s for British Airways and China Southern Airlines, has logged more than 100,000 flight hours with no in- flight shutdowns and a 99.97% dispatch reliability rate, according to GE. The engine entered revenue service in November 1995 and has been selected for 123 firm and option 777 aircraft valued at more than $3 billion.
A Delta II rocket placed five more Iridium communications satellites in low-Earth orbit Wednesday night, bringing to 22 the total number of the so-called "Big LEO" platforms orbited to date. Liftoff from Vandenberg AFB, Calif., came at 8:38 p.m. EDT, and Iridum later declared the launch a success. The launch was the first on a Delta II since Boeing and McDonnell Douglas, which developed the Delta, merged Aug. 1.
Eight F-16 fighters from the U.S. Air Force Reserve and 200 personnel participated in NATO exercises in Denmark earlier this summer, Lockheed Martin said this week. The 301st Fighter Wing from NAS Fort Worth Joint Reserve Base deployed to Denmark's Karup Air Station. In addition to the exercises, the F-16s flew air-to-air engagements with MiG-29s from Germany.
C. RUSSELL&CO., Wichita, Kan., a new public relations consulting firm, targets technology, telecommunications, aerospace and defense industries. CRC principal Carolyn Russell has more than 20 years experience in the field, including management positions with Boeing Co. and Brite Voice Systems, and employee communications at Beech (now Raytheon) Aircraft.
Boeing Co. workers in Wichita, Kans., this month joined the major assemblies that make up the fuselage of the first 737-600 airliner. After integration of the fuselage is complete, the company said, protective finishes will be applied and the unit will be shipped by rail to Renton, Wash., for final assembly. Rollout at Renton is set for December 1997; first flight will be in January 1998, and delivery will take place in August '98.
U.S. aerospace industry representatives say they have taken a softer stance in pushing Congress to do away with longstanding depot maintenance laws because tough lobbying tactics of the past backfired. The current law requires that 60% of all Defense Dept. depot maintenance must be performed by the government, allowing 40% of the work to be farmed out to the private sector.
LOCKHEED MARTIN hopes to resume taxi tests of the F-22 fighter at Dobbins Air Reserve Base, Ga., this weekend following a new software load today, a company spokesman said. The software load was required to solve a brake problem that occurred during the first taxi test last Saturday (DAILY, Aug. 19). If all goes as planned, the F-22 will make its first flight by the end of next week, the spokesman said.
Gentex Corp., Carbondale, Pa., has been picked by the U.S. Air Force to supply the helmets for F-22 pilots. The new HGU-55P is an updated version of the helmet being used by the Air Force now, the company said. The new model has improvements in the shell and edgeroll construction and an integrated chin/nape strap, making it four ounces lighter than the current model. The helmet comes equipped with an H-154A/AIC headset and will be offered with an ultra-lightweight 600-knot single visor system later this year.
Has rescheduled the next attempt to launch the new Lockheed Martin Launch Vehicle (LMLV-1) for 2:51 a.m. EDT Saturday. Originally set for Aug. 9, the flight was delayed because of an anomaly with the flight processor, located in the equipment section of the vehicle's Orbit Adjust Module (DAILY, Aug. 12). The problem has been corrected, and preparations for the launch from Space Launch Complex 6 at Vandenberg AFB, Calif., are on track, the company said.
U.S. and Russian space officials gave the go-ahead yesterday for a spacewalk inside the Mir space station Friday morning to reconnect cables carrying electricity from the solar arrays on the depressurized Spektr module.
ViaSat Inc., Carlsbad, Calif., won a $2.2 million subcontract from Logicon for overall system engineering support, hardware and software development and system integration for a NATO communications project. The company said the NATO Improved Link Eleven (NILE) contract was awarded to Logicon, a Northrop Grumman subsidiary, by the U.S. Space and Naval Warfare Systems Command (SPAWAR) in June. The companies will jointly develop a test system called the NILE Reference System.
Russian air defense forces have completed testing of a new target for the S-300 surface-to-air missile system, the Itar-Tass news agency reported. The relatively low cost target, based on obsolete guided shells fired by the S-75 mid-range anti-aircraft system and called "Sinitsa," is needed because air defense troops "have not received a single new target since 1995," according to Col.-Gen. Yevgeny Timokhin. Because of this, he said, "it has become increasingly difficult to provide tactical training ...."
The U.S. be responsible for 45% of the development and 50% of production in the Evolved Sea Sparrow Missile (ESSM) program, Peter R. Brauning, ESSM deputy project manager, told The DAILY. The U.S. earlier this month became the first of 13 nations to sign a memorandum of understanding governing production of 4,199 of the ship self- defense missiles (DAILY, Aug. 8).
The Rolls Royce-powered Tupolev 204-120 jetliner has won its first order from the Russian airline KrasAir, Sirocco Aerospace International said yesterday in London. Sirocco, created in 1995 by Egyptian industrialist Ibrahim A. Kamel to launch new aerospace products combining Western and Russian technology, said the ten 210-seat aircraft ordered by KrasAir will be assembled by Aviastar in Ulyanovsk and fitted with Honeywell and Allied Signal avionics, as well as RB211-535E4B engines.
An Arrow 2 anti-tactical ballistic missile was destroyed by ground controllers during a test in Israel yesterday after a malfunction forced it off course, U.S. Army and Israeli officials reported. In the test, the fifth in a series to perfect the weapon, an Arrow 1 was used as a target, representing an incoming Scud missile. It was launched from sea-based platform about four and a half minutes before the Arrow 2 was launched from an Israeli test range.
Litton Systems Inc., College Park, Md., won an $18 million research and development contract to support the U.S. Air Force's Next Generation Broadband Digital Receiver program. The Pentagon, announcing the award yesterday, said the Air Force wants to develop a new receiver for a number of mission applications like electronic intelligence, suppression of enemy air defenses and electronic support measures.
Has hired Europe's Arianespace to launch its Koreasat 3 telecommunications platform. Lockheed Martin Telecommunications will build the 6,138-pound satellite, which is scheduled to be launched from the space launch center at Kourou, French Guiana, in August 1999. With the deal signed yesterday in Paris, Korea Telecom becomes Arianespace's 50th customer, and the Telecom 3 platform its 180th launch contract. The consortium's backlog stands at 46 satellites.
UNITED SPACE ALLIANCE and SPACEHAB INC. have agreed to work together on developing commercial markets for both the U.S. Space Shuttle and the International Space Station. Under an agreement signed June 16, the two companies will start by focusing on life and materials science experiments proposed by non-government researchers, with the initial space access provided by Spacehab's Shuttle middeck augmentation modules.
