The $16.3 billion merger of Boeing and McDonnell Douglas became effective Friday at 12:01 a.m. EDT following the submission of appropriate merger filings, Boeing reported. McDonnell Douglas stock ceased to be traded on the New York Stock Exchange at the close of business Friday. Boeing said each shareholder of McDonnell Douglas will receive 1.3 shares of Boeing common stock for each share of McDonnell Douglas common stock. It said cash will be paid in lieu of fractional shares of Boeing stock.
COMMERCIAL SPACE: Cosmonauts Anatoly Solovyev and Pavel Vinogradov could be in for a big payoff if their upcoming sojourn on Mir goes well. According to Russia's Itar-Tass news agency, the pair signed a contract with RSC Energia head Yuri P. Semyonov for the upcoming Mir 24 mission that could be worth as much as $40,000 each to them.
Northrop Grumman Corp. said Friday that its merger with Logicon Inc. has been completed. It said Logicon stockholders will receive 0.6161 if a Northrop Grumman share for each share of Logicon common stock. Logicon will operate as a wholly owned subsidiary of Northrop Grumman.
The Defense Dept. has told fiscal 1998 defense authorization conferees that buying any B-2 bombers in addition to the present 21 would neither provide the full range of warfighting capabilities of the forces they would replace nor the weapons delivery capacity of the forces that would have to be retired, and that capability would be lost during the decade between retiring forces and delivering new B-2s.
ORBITAL SCIENCES CORP. launched its Orbview-2 commercial remote sensing satellite on a Pegasus XL air-launched booster Friday, according to Hughes Aircraft's Santa Barbara Remote Sensing unit, which built the primary instrument aboard the small satellite. The Sea-viewing Wide-Field-of-View Sensor (SeaWiFS) will provide NASA ocean color data under a 1991 data- purchase arrangement, and according to OSC will also provide data on vegetation and other landform features (DAILY, July 31).
BUDGET STABILITY: The Pentagon "tends to underestimate future operating and support costs and overestimate the funding available for future modernization," according to John Hamre, the new deputy secretary of defense.
NEXT GENERATION SATELLITES: While it may be useful to begin design and planning for a fourth communications satellite generation sooner than later, not all signatories or parties to the International Mobile Satellite Organization Convention and Operating Agreement (ICO) share a sense of urgency to either plan for the next satellite system or aggressively pursue restructuring today, says Jack Gleason, acting associate administrator for the Commerce Dept.'s national telecommunications and information administration.
McDonnell Douglas and Hughes Aircraft have completed the first flight of the APG-63(V)1 fire control radar for the U.S. Air Force's F-15 fighter. The radar, which features increased performance and reliability and is intended to be supportable in two-level maintenance, flew for the first time July 18 at Edwards AFB, Calif., a few days ahead of schedule, according to McDonnell Douglas. The flight was part of a $200 million engineering and manufacturing development phase.
The U.S. Army and Northrop Grumman Corp. are preparing the company's Airborne Standoff Minefield Detection System (ATAMIDS) prototype for deployment to Bosnia.
TACAIR TACTICS: Look for a replay of the F-15-for-F-16 tradeoff of past years in the House-Senate conference on the defense authorization when serious business gets underway after the August congressional recess. The House National Security Committee put in $66 million for three unrequested F-16s when about 40 House members sought to get the planes in the FY '98 authorization, but the HNSC staff, which wasn't planning on adding F-16s, low-balled the amount.
Lockheed Martin's Sanders has delivered the first pre-production set of cockpit displays to United Technologies' Sikorsky Aircraft Corp. for the S-92 Helibus helicopter program. The basic shipset - four multifunctional six-inch by eight-inch active matrix liquid crystal displays - is one of five pre-production sets to be installed on prototype aircraft being assembled by Sikorsky in Stratford, Conn., Sanders said. A sixth set will be shipped to Sikorsky's facility in West Palm Beach, Fla., for testing.
A quick look by the Office of Secretary of Defense supports U.S. Air Force's projections that the Joint Air-to-Surface Standoff Missile would be cheaper in the long haul than an AF variant of the Navy Standoff Land- Attack Missile Expanded Response Plus (SLAM-ER Plus), according to AF officials.
GO SLOW: Intelsat is concerned that the "goal of prompt and total privatization of [the organization] espoused by some in the U.S. Congress is neither internationally acceptable nor necessarily wise," says Irving Goldstein, director general and chief executive officer of Intelsat. Many of the 140 members of Intelsat support its continuation as a service- providing international organization, Goldstein says. Resolving international issues requires a certain amount of flexibility from all parties, including the U.S., he adds.
Boeing engineers have identified options for enhancing a key component of the Airborne Laser program. After a month of tests in a University of Washington water tunnel, the engineers have come up with ways to enhance the 104-inch nose turret that aims the laser at theater ballistic missiles to destroy them in flight. The ABL weapon system will be designed to use a high-energy, chemical oxygen iodine laser (COIL) mounted on a modified 747-400F aircraft to shoot down theater ballistic missiles in their boost phase.
WAITING FOR ORDERS: Saudi Arabia and Malaysia could be the next buyers for Northrop Grumman's APN-241 radar, says James Pitts, vice president for avionics at Northrop Grumman's Electronic Sensors and Systems Div. The radar, which has predictive windshear capability, is used by C-130Hs and C- 130Js and is being flown in the U.S., Portugal, Australia, and Japan.
B-2 VOTE: Rep. John P. Murtha (Pa.), ranking Democrat on the House Appropriations national security subcommittee and a supporter of the $331 million add-on for more B-2 bombers, says he advised fellow Democrats who are B-2 foes against pursuing a roll call vote on the subject in the fiscal 1998 defense appropriations bill. They did anyway and lost, 200-222. Without the vote, Murtha says, it would have been easier to drop the add-on in conference. However, he expects the authorization conference to drop the funding, which faces a veto threat.
DIFFERENT BALLGAME: Northrop Grumman has given up on its commercial variant of the APN-241, which was known as the MR-3000. Pitts says "it's just not a market where we can make money," adding that "it's a different ballgame" than the military market. He also says Northrop Grumman would still consider licensing the technology.
BOEING'S 737-800 flew for the first time July 31, taking off from Renton Municipal Airport in Renton, Wash. Three hours and five minutes later, it landed at Boeing Field in Seattle.
The White House announced Friday it has lifted the de facto ban on U.S. arms sales to Latin America, clearing the way for Lockheed Martin Corp. and Boeing Co. to compete in fighter competitions with F-16s and F/A- 18s.
A CFM International CFM56-3 engine flown by Braathens SAFE set a new time-on-wing record, logging 19,855 cycles without a single shop visit, CFM reports. That engine - a -3C1 powering a Boeing 737-500 - was finally removed from its aircraft in May after nearly six years of service, and then only because certain parts in the engine's core have a 20,000-cycle life limit. "Whenever we review the CFM56-3 fleet status, Braathens engines consistently rank at or near the top of the list," says CFM CEO Gerard Laviec.
While many analysts have said that cost-cutting opportunities are drying up for U.S. airlines, Southwest thinks it can cut anywhere from $10 million to $20 million from its annual engine maintenance budget. It anticipates the savings as a result of its pending 10-year agreement with GE Engine Services. It's also looking at purchasing operations as another source of multi-million dollar savings.
Asia has replaced the European Union as the top market for U.S. aerospace exports, the U.S. Aerospace Industries Association reports in a new analysis that finds that 41% of U.S. aero-exports go to Asia, accounting for 13% of total U.S. aerospace sales. "Before 1993, the EU had been the U.S. industry's largest regional customer, and as recently as 1991, U.S. aerospace exports to the EU exceeded U.S. sales to Asia by $7 billion," AIA says.
U.S. airworthiness authorities certified GE Aircraft Engines' 70,000 lbst. CF6-80E1A4 turbofan for the Airbus A330-200 twin, capping a 17-month certification program. A growth version of the -80E1A2, the new engine will power the first flight of the increased-range 253-seat A330-200 this month. Aircraft certification is slated for next March, with delivery to launch customer International Lease Finance Corp. in April. The aircraft will enter revenue service in the same month, with Canada 3000 Airlines.
President Clinton yesterday nominated Gen. Michael E. Ryan, commander of U.S. Air Forces in Europe, to be the next Chief of Staff of the U.S. Air Force, replacing Gen. Ronald Fogleman who resigned over assessment of blame for last year's terrorist bombing that killed 19 U.S. servicemen at the Khobar Towers complex in Saudi Arabia. Defense Secretary William Cohen recommended that Brig. Gen. Terryl J. Schwalier, in charge of the complex at the time of the bombing, be denied further promotion. Schwalier submitted his request for retirement.
