The Pentagon wants lawmakers to change language in the fiscal year 1998 defense authorization bill that would force it to execute the Kinetic Energy Anti-Satellite Technology (KE-ASAT) program. The Senate version of the bill prohibits the Defense Dept. from spending other funds for studies, support and analysis by the Office of the Secretary of Defense until after FY '98 funds appropriated for the KE-ASAT program have been released to the program manager.
Toronto and INDUSTRY CANADA agreed to settle a disagreement over an $845,000 royalty payment through arbitration instead of through the courts. The payment falls under the Defense Industry Productivity Program agreement.
Acting Pentagon Acquisition Chief R. Noel Longuemare has approved the Ballistic Missile Defense Organization's acquisition strategy for development of an initial national missile defense (NMD) system capable of protecting the U.S. against limited ballistic missile attack. Following an Aug. 6 Defense Acquisition Board readiness meeting, Longuemare approved the proposed strategy and gave BMDO the green light to move forward with selection of a lead system integrator (LSI).
Received a copy of a document filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission by Parsow Partnership Ltd. and an affiliated partnership that the pair's combined owernship of Orbit has increased to 370,000 shares or 6% of the outstanding shares. The filing stated that the buy was for investment purposes.
U.S. Military Sealift Command plans to competitively award a contract next fiscal year for commercial replenishment of its ships by helicopter. The specifics of a future program, including the request for proposal, are still being worked on, a Military Sealift Command spokeswoman said yesterday. She noted, however, that a fiscal 1998 start is planned. Military Sealift Command is running its third vertical replenishment, or vertrep, demonstration to prove the concept of supplying ships with commercially manned and operated helicopters.
Hughes Aircraft Co., Naval and Maritime Systems, Fullerton, Calif., is being awarded a $10,660,546 cost-plus-award-fee contract to provide technical and production engineering services in support of the Program Executive Office, Theater Air Defense (PEO TAD) in Arlington, Va. Work will be performed in San Diego, Calif. (91%), and Fullerton, Calif. (9%), and is expected to be completed by April 1999. Contract funds will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. This contract was not competitively procured.
CMS Defense Systems Inc., Tampa, Fla., is being awarded $6,375,000 as part of a not-to-exceed $12,750,000 firm-fixed-price letter contract for a Super Dragon (next generation Dragon anti-tank missile) performance demonstration. Work will be performed in Camden, Ark. (90%); and Titusville, Fla. (10%), and is expected to be completed by Dec. 31, 1998. Contract funds will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. This is a sole source contract initiated on July 23, 1997. The contracting activity is the U.S. Army Aviation and Missile Command, Redstone Arsenal, Ala.
Orbital Sciences Corp. has signed a four-year, $100 million financing arrangement to pay down existing short-term debt and for general corporate purposes. The Dulles, Va., company said yesterday that the arrangement replaces an existing line of credit secured in 1994, more than doubles actual borrowing capacity and reduces the overall cost of borrowing. It said the new facility includes a $35 million, four-year amortizing term loan and a $65 million revolving line of credit collateralized with certain company receivables.
A processor fault in the Lockheed Martin Launch Vehicle carrying NASA's Lewis advanced Earth remote sensing satellite forced a delay in the satellite's scheduled launch Saturday night, NASA and Lockheed Martin Astronautics reported.
Northrop Grumman Corp., Bethpage, N.Y., is being awarded a $13,026,292 modification to previously awarded contract N00019-96-C-0049 to definitize the advance acquisition contract for the FY 1997 Production Program of four E-2C aircraft. Work will be performed in St. Augustine, Fla. (75%); Bethpage, N.Y. (24%); and Milledgeville, Ga. (1%), and is expected to be completed by November 1999. Contract funds would not have expired at the end of the current fiscal year. The Naval Air Systems Command, Arlington, Va., is the contracting activity.
Rockwell Collins, Communications Systems Division, Richardson, Texas, is being awarded a $5,804,197 modification to a firm-fixed-price/time and materials contract for Single Channel Anti-jam Manportable (SCAMP) Block I Spares Sets: 17 for the U.S. Army, and 25 for the U.S. Air Force; 17 SCAMP Block I Spares Set warranties for the U.S. Army; and 25 SCAMP Block I Spares Sets-repairs under time and materials. Work will be performed in Richardson, Texas, and is expected to be completed by Feb. 23, 2002. Contract funds will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year.
Greenwich Air Services Inc. said yesterday that the U.S. Dept. of Justice has approved its acquisition of UNC Inc. It said it received notification from the Federal Trade Commission. GASI stockholders approved the transaction in a special vote yesterday, a spokeswoman said. The Justice Dept. is still reviewing the proposed acquisition of Greenwich by General Electric (DAILY, March 11). The spokeswoman said it would be impossible to speculate how much longer that decision would take.
A Predator UAV crashed on Monday at Mostar, Bosnia, after loss of engine power. Flight operators attempted a dead-stick landing, but the Predator crashed a few hundred feet from the runway after operators lost their satellite communications link with the air vehicle. The cause of the apparent engine failure and loss of satellite communications hasn't been determined.
Aerojet Electronic Systems Division, Azusa, Calif., is being awarded a $5,500,000 face value increase to a fixed-price-incentive contract to settle a claim associated with extended design and development of five Special Sensor Microwave Imager/Sounders for the Defense Meteorological Satellite Program. Contract funds will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. Space and Missile Systems Center, Los Angeles AFB, Calif., is the contracting activity (F04701-89/C-0036, P00062).
Science Applications International Corp., McLean, Va., is being awarded a $1,095,000 increment of a $3,958,492 modification to a cost-plus-fixed-fee contract for Counterproliferation Advanced Concept Technology Demonstration (ACTD) System engineering and integration. Work will be performed in McLean, Va., and is expected to be completed by April 30, 1999. Contract funds will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. This is a sole source contract initiated on April 21, 1997. The contracting activity is the Defense Nuclear Agency, Alexandria, Va.
Thiokol Corp. said gains posted by its Huck fastening operation because of the commercial aircraft market, as well as strong performance of Howmet Corp., helped it post record earnings in its 1997 fiscal year. Thiokol, Ogden, Utah, earned $82.4 million in 1997, up 41% from 1996 earnings of $58.3 million. The gain came from improvements in operating performance, as sales climbed only $500,000 to $890.1 million.
LOCKHEED MARTIN SANDERS, Nashua, N.H., said a series of tests of its ATD- 111 airborne laser system was completed in June. The tests aboard an SH-60B helicopter at the Atlantic Undersea Test and Evaluation Center wrapped up the ASW test phase and included mine countermeasures data collection. The ATD-111 will compete in a flyoff in November with the Kaman Magic Lantern.
RAYTHEON AEROSPACE is working under a one-year $6.3 million contract to provide trainer and equipment maintenance for the Technical Training Center, Sheppard AFB, Tex., and its satellite sites. The company said that if all options are exercised, the total value of the contract would be about $37.7 million.
ECC International Corp., Wayne, Pa., said it will no longer seek a buyer for its vending division and/or the entire company, including its simulation business. Following a shareholder vote at the annual meeting on Dec. 3, 1996, the company's board of directors retained the investment banking firm of Oppenheimer&Co. to help find a buyer (DAILY, Jan. 8). The process was completed without finding a suitable buyer or favorable terms for the sale, a spokesman told The DAILY yesterday.
The Pentagon's Ballistic Missile Defense Organization (BMDO) this month intends to release a report touting the latest and most promising new military technologies that also have commercial applications. BMDO's Technology Applications Office, in cooperation with the National Technology Transfer Center, continually scrutinizes cutting-edge military technologies for potential spinoff opportunities, Guy Hammer, director of BMDO's Technology Applications Office, told The DAILY in an interview.
Boeing Co., McDonnell Aircraft and Missile Systems, St. Louis, Mo., is being awarded a $7,137,038 face value increase to a firm-fixed-price contract to provide for 14 Avionics Part Task Trainers applicable to the T- 1A aircraft. The work will be performed at Lockheed Martin Quintron, Chantilly, Va. Contract is expected to be completed July 1999. Contract funds will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. Aeronautical Systems Center, Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio, is the contracting activity (F33657-89/C-0002, P00229).
MARK J. ALBRECHT, executive secretary of the White House National Space Council during the Bush Administration, has been named vice president, business development, by Lockheed Martin Space&Strategic Missiles. Presently senior vice president of Science Applications International Corp. (SAIC), Albrecht will report to sector President and Chief Operating Officer Mel Brashears when he comes aboard Sept. 2.
Tracor Applied Sciences, Inc., California, Md., is being awarded a $13,443,631 cost-plus-fixed-fee contract to provide engineering and technical services to support the Navy's tactical and air traffic control systems, subsystems and equipment, including systems design, development, integration, test and evaluation, installation, certification, maintenance, and logistics support. This contract combines purchases for the U.S. Navy (98%), and the government of Japan (2%) under the Foreign Military Sales (FMS) Program. Work will be performed in St. Inigoes, Md.
