Here's how to find out more on the Integrated High-Payoff Rocket Propulsion Technology, or IHPRPT, effort: If you have a contracting or procedural question, you can contact Barbara Barcelona, contract negotiator at Phillips, at (805) 277-3900, extension 2214, or barcelob%[email protected]; or the contracting officer, Penny J. Barnhill, at extension 2235. Barcelona and Barnhill are also handling requests for the Supplemental Package needed to make proposals on specific projects within technology areas.
Northrop Grumman Corp. will test its AN/AAR-54(V) missile approach warning system for application to F-16 fighters of the Royal Norwegian Air Force. The company said its Electronic Sensors and Systems Div., Baltimore, has received a contract from the RNAF for the work, and that all data from the effort will also go to the air forces of Denmark and the Netherlands, which are also interested in using the system on their own F-16 mid-life update jets.
The U.S. government outlined revised plans for its rocket propulsion leapfrog program this week, giving potential contractors the opportunity to bid on ten initial projects worth about $36 million ranging from new fuels and materials to information technology.
U.S. Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. Ronald Fogleman wants to revive the idea of having some bombers on strategic alert, but with conventional rather than nuclear weapons. "We may in the not-to-distant future see bomber forces going back on alert," Fogleman told an Air Force Association symposium here yesterday. The status would be similar to the alert bomber force during the Cold War, but now the aircraft would be equipped with precision guided munitions.
An industry-wide dearth of spare Pratt&Whitney JT8D-219 engines and parts stung fifth-year startup carrier Reno Air in the second quarter, which confirms that the shortage forced the carrier to ground as many as three aircraft.
Launch of a National Reconnaissance Office satellite from Vandenberg AFB, Calif., was indefinitely delayed by a leak of nitrogen tetroxide from its Titan IV rocket. The launch, which was initially planned for a window between 10 p.m. PDT July 15 and 2 a.m. PDT July 16, was first delayed 24 hours by a Titan inertial measurement unit problem, according to an NRO spokeswoman.
FAA issued an emergency airworthiness directive last week reducing the time allowed for operators to replace Boeing 747 engine strut fuse pins, following another incident in which a fuse pin fractured. At least one fatal accident has been blamed on fractured fuse pins. Aircraft powered by General Electric and Pratt&Whitney engines are involved.
Tracor Inc.'s GDE Systems Inc., San Diego, and Leica AG, St. Gallen, Switzerland, formed a joint venture with their commercial photogrammetry and aerial camera systems. Tracor, based in Austin, Tex., said the new venture, LH Systems LLC, replaces a business arrangement operating since 1992 under the agreement Leica had with Helava Associations Inc., a subsidiary of GDE. LH Systems, LLC, based in San Diego, will be headed by Bruce Wald.
McDonnell Douglas Corp. earned $195 million in its 1997 second quarter, up from $188 million in the same period a year ago, as costs related to activities leading to the planned merger with Boeing Co. were offset by favorable resolution of state tax issues. MDC said yesterday that sales improved to $3.6 billion from the $3.3 billion of the 1996 second quarter, while operating earnings fell from $328 million a year ago to $320 million, with both categories led by the performance of the military aircraft segment.
Coors Ceramics Co., agreed to buy privately held aerospace and high- tech sealing systems specialist Tetrafluor in an all-cash deal. The price wasn't disclosed, but El Segundo, Calif.-based Tetrafluor posted 1996 revenues of about $14 million. The company hopes to close on the transaction sometime in the third quarter, following due diligence reviews and regulatory approvals.
Continental handed General Electric its second win on Boeing's new 767-400 stretch program this week, ordering CF6-80C2 turbofans to power 30 -400ERs and buying more GE90 turbofans to accommodate an accelerated order for Boeing 777 widebody twins. The order, which GE valued at $600 million, means GE Aircraft Engines has won both 767-400 engine contracts so far, after Delta launched the program earlier this year with an order for 21 aircraft.
Negotiations between the European Commission and Boeing Co. about Boeing's acquisition of McDonnell Douglas have ended without a compromise acceptable to Europe. Following talks that began last Friday and ended Tuesday, Boeing's representatives "have gone back to the United States," a commission official said here yesterday.
NASA'S SPACE SHUTTLE Columbia is scheduled to land today after a 15-day science mission that was largely overshadowed by the Pathfinder landing on Mars and problems aboard the Mir orbital station. Columbia's crew has two opportunities to return to Kennedy Space Center, Fla., with better weather expected for a landing at 8:23 a.m. EDT than for an opportunity at 6:47 a.m. EDT.
Northrop Grumman Corp. is working under a U.S. Air Force contract to demonstrate a relatively low cost system that would give commanders a real- time view from bombs as they fall on their targets.
Lockheed Martin Corp. signed an agreement with Samsung Aerospace of South Korea to develop and produce the KTX-2 Advanced Trainer/Fighter lead- in aircraft, Lockheed Martin announced yesterday. The Republic of Korea, which gave the program go ahead on July 3, will fund 70% of the $2 billion development cost, with the two companies providing the remaining 30%. Lockheed Martin will develop the KTX-2 avionics system, flight control system and wings at Fort Worth, Tex., and provide technical expertise to Samsung.
House members yesterday rejected an attempt to delete $100 million in the fiscal year 1998 NASA appropriations bill earmarked for early work on substitute hardware in case Russia doesn't deliver its promised International Space Station components. An amendment offered by Rep. F. James Sensenbrenner Jr. (R-Wis.), chairman of the House Science Committee, failed by a vote of 200-227.
Northrop Grumman Corp.'s second quarter earnings climbed 16% to $100 million despite a 3% drop in sales, the company reported yesterday. Northrop Grumman, which Lockheed Martin plans to acquire, reported sales of $2.09 billion, down slightly from sales of $2.14 billion in the same period a year ago. Earnings in the 1996 second quarter were $86 million, which included a $12 million pretax gain from the sale of stock owned in ETEC Systems Inc.
Russian space officials have decided Cosmonaut Vasiliy Tsibliyev isn't fit for an internal spacewalk to restore power to the crippled Mir orbital station, but NASA hadn't decided yesterday if Astronaut Michael Foale would step in for him on the risky repair.
The U.S. Air Force's Air Staff is asking Air Mobility Command to amend a draft mission needs statement for heavy lift aircraft to ensure that it's broad enough to allow the service to look at several alternatives in addition upgrading the fleet of 126 Lockheed Martin C-5A/Bs.
The U.S. Defense Special Weapons Agency is developing a "package' for warfighters that will give them the planning tools, tactics and weapons to destroy deeply buried targets with non-nuclear weapons, the agency's director said yesterday. Maj. Gen. Gary Curtin told reporters at a breakfast in Washington that "the planning tools allow you to understand [a] facility and know where to put the weapons to precisely close it down."
FAA has proposed to establish fees for certification services it provides outside the U.S. in order to recover costs and help ensure that it provides services in a "responsive and timely manner."
RADA ELECTRONIC INDUSTRIES LTD., Herzliya Pituach, Israel, won a $1.5 million contract from Israel's Air Force for airborne and ground systems, including automatic test equipment and inflight computers. The systems are for the IAF's fleet of F-15 fighters. Work on most of the programs is scheduled to be completed within 18 months.
ARMY GEN. HENRY H. (HUGH) SHELTON reportedly will be nominated to be the next chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff today, replacing Gen. John Shalikashvili, another Army general. The move, which must be approved by the Senate, would make the 55-year-old Green Beret the first special operations expert to be the top U.S. military officer. Shelton is head of the U.S. Special Operations Command in Tampa, and commanded the U.S.
PARKER AEROSPACE, Irvine, Calif., said it has acquired the aircraft components product line of XAR Industries for an undisclosed amount of cash. XAR, based in City of Industry, Calif., makes fuel components for the Cessna Citation business jet as well as fuel transfer valves, level control valves, solenoid valves and aerial refueling equipment for the F-16, F-117 and F-22 fighters. Parker said the acquisition will add about $3 million to annual sales of its Air&Fuel Div.
