The European Commission gave its approval to the Boeing-McDonnell Douglas merger yesterday after some last-minute concessions from the two companies. "By agreeing to the European Commission's conditions, we took the action that was in the best long-term interests of our shareholders, customers, our suppliers and the more than 200,000 employees of Boeing and McDonnell Douglas, Boeing chairman and CEO Phil Condit said in a prepared statement.
Tracor Aerospace Inc., Austin, Texas, won a $23 million contract modification from the U.S. Army Communications-Electronics Command (CECOM) to upgrade the AN/AVS-7 Head-Up Display System (ANVIS/HUD) for Army, Navy and Marine helicopters, the company reported. The contract includes the design, development and qualification of an advanced HUD Signal Data Converter (SDC), production and retrofit of 1,200 SDCs and 10 Day HUD Display Units for training, maintenance and daylight flying with the system.
Divestitures dropped Lockheed Martin's sales during the second quarter of 1997, but earnings rose 3% to $308 million during the period, the company reported. Sales of $6.9 billion marked a 3% drop from sales of $7.1 billion in the 1996 second quarter, but if revenues from divested businesses are included, sales climbed 6%.
The House Appropriations Committee, passing its fiscal year 1998 defense spending bill on Tuesday, provided $3.28 billion for the Ballistic Missile Defense Organization's research and development programs - an increase of $707 million. The Senate appropriators' version of the bill contains a $644 million increase. The two chambers will have to resolve the funding differences in their bills when they go to conference.
The Senate Tuesday passed a fiscal year 1998 VA, HUD and independent agencies appropriations bill providing $13.5 billion for NASA, but without a space flight funding increase proposed in the House version of the bill. The bill passed the Senate 99-1, with Sen. Jon Kyl (R-Ariz.) voting against it. An annual attempt to kill the International Space Station failed before the final vote.
With NATO slated to make a decision this November on how to proceed in buying an airborne ground surveillance system, questions remain over whether the European alliance members will find the money to fund what is expected to be a multi-million dollar program.
The Alliant Techsystems Outrider unmanned aerial vehicle on Sunday completed the fifth and so far longest test flight in the program, the UAV Joint Program Office announced. Flight test managers described the 20-minute flight as "fully successful," according to the government's statement. The air vehicle reached a top speed of around 110 knots. Flight testing is taking place in Hondo, Tex.
Continuing cost overruns and schedule slippage by International Space Station prime contractor Boeing, coupled with uncertainty over just how much Russia is going to contribute to the effort, warrant dropping the $2.1 billion annual Station spending cap NASA accepted in 1993 as a condition for congressional support, according to a draft General Accounting Office report.
The U.S. Air Force's Air National Guard and Reserve may purchase more than the 144 targeting pods for older F-16s it initially said it would buy and could increase the total procurement to as many as 272 systems, the AF told contractors during a recent review of the acquisition program. The Precision Attack Targeting System program would allow the F-16s to designate targets for precision guided munitions and be more able to deliver weapons around the clock and in all kinds of weather (DAILY, July 8).
John H. Gibbons, president Clinton's science adviser and chief of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, sees recent experience with NASA's Mars Pathfinder probe and Russia's Mir orbital station as demonstrating the value of robots over humans in space exploration.
THE FIRST GLOBAL Positioning System satellite built to the class IIR configuration was launched late Tuesday from Cape Canaveral Air Station, Fla., on a McDonnell Douglas Delta II rocket. Liftoff came at 11:43 p.m. EDT, putting the satellite into its proper orbit. Lockheed Martin is under contract to build 20 of the satellites for the U.S. Air Force Space and Missile Systems Center, Los Angeles AFB, Calif., over a five-year period. Nominal on-station service life of the spacecraft is seven and a half years.
Christopher C. Cambria has been appointed vice president, secretary, and general counsel. Lawrence W. O'Brien has been appointed vice president and treasurer. Kenneth W. Manne has been appointed vice president of human resources. L-3 Communications Corp. is an independent merchant supplier of communications systems, products and services, avionics and microwave components that was spun off from Lockheed Martin in April 1997.
Richard L. Kline, formerly manager of institutions in the office of chief engineers at NASA, has joined the public service research institute as vice president of international activities and director of the Center for International Aerospace Cooperation.
Jean-Marie Luton, the new chairman and chief executive of Europe's Arianespace launch services consortium, plans to keep the management cadre assembled by his predecessor as he plots a new strategy for the coming century. In Washington yesterday as part of a round of get-acquainted visits with Arianespace customers in the U.S., Luton told reporters at a press breakfast that he plans to produce a "strategic report" early next year that will address his plans for the consortium until about 2010.
Senate appropriators, displeased with DOD's progress on unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), has placed a one-year moratorium on the initiation of any advanced concept technology development (ACTD) or new starts for UAVs. "The committee does not disagree with the potential value of UAVs; however it is discouraged with the results of the remaining three UAV ACTD programs and believes it is time to review DOD's entire UAV strategy," the Senate appropriators say in the report accompanying their fiscal year 1998 bill.
Boeing sent last-minute proposals to the European Commission in an attempt to win approval for its merger with McDonnell Douglas, several European Union sources said here yesterday. The U.S. aircraft manufacturer indicated it was willing to give up its long-term contracts with U.S. airlines, the sources said. EU competition commissioner Karel Van Miert and his cabinet met yesterday to study Boeing's proposals, but the final decision lies with the body of 20 European commissioners scheduled to meet here today.
The three countries recently invited to join NATO should act quickly on military modernization to increase their value to the alliance, says Brig. Gen. Robert Osterthaler, the Defense Dept.'s deputy assistant secretary for European and NATO affairs. Earlier this month NATO invited the Czech Republic, Hungary and Poland to become part of NATO. They would become full NATO members in 1999.
Growth in the space industry will probably lead to several replacement options for the Space Shuttle, and demand will probably support several kinds of launch vehicles from both government and private sources, a panel of industry executives and NASA officials said.
The White House Office of Management and Budget yesterday warned the chairmen and ranking Democrats of the full House Appropriations Committee and its national security subcommittee that the defense appropriations bill in its present form would trigger a veto recommendation from President Clinton's senior advisers.
John J. Fearnsides, James W. Hardy and James L. Pierce have been elected to the board of directors. Richard Bradenburg and David S. Watrous have been re-elected to the board.
Blair K. Blacker, retired U.S. Army colonel, has been promoted to the position of president and chief operating officer of SkyHook Technologies Inc., a subsidiary of Magellan that specializes in helicopter aerial delivery systems.
Industry is expected to team for upcoming phases of the Future Aircraft Technology Enhancement (FATE) program that is looking to reduce the cost and explore technologies for future fighter/attack aircraft. "There'll be a prime [contractor], possibly through teaming arrangement," Thomas M. Weeks, chief of the integration division for the Wright Laboratories Flight Dynamics Directorate, said Friday. FATE study contracts valued at around $300,000 were recently awarded to Boeing, Lockheed Martin, McDonnell Douglas, and Northrop Grumman.
