The Senate Appropriations Committee yesterday endorsed the Defense Dept.'s evaluation of alternatives to meet the Joint Air-to-Surface Standoff Missile requirement, and called for "a thorough and fair evaluation of all possible options." In its fiscal 1998 report, released yesterday with approval of a $246.9 billion defense appropriations bill, the committee said it has completed a careful review of the JASSM concepts of Lockheed Martin and McDonnell Douglas, as well as MDC's Standoff Land Attack Missile-Expanded Response, or SLAM-ER.
The House approved the fiscal 1998 intelligence authorization after rejecting amendments to disclose the aggregate amount of intelligence expenditures and to trim the level of spending. Approved Wednesday night in a voice vote was an amendment requiring compliance with the "Buy America Act" and another requiring an annual report on intelligence activities of the People's Republic of China directed against or affecting the interests of the U.S.
Launch of NASA's Advanced X-ray Astrophysics Facility (AXAF) is targeted for Aug. 28, 1998, not Aug. 8, 1998, as reported in The DAILY July 9 because of a typographical error.
The Senate, in debate on the fiscal year 1998 defense authorization bill, voted to hold off on closing additional military bases until a government study is conducted on the economic effect of past shutdowns. The Senate voted 66-33 Wednesday night in support of the move, which prevents the Pentagon from conducting two more base closing rounds, slated for 1999 and 2001. The House version of the FY '98 defense authorization contains a similar provision.
ERICSSON Microwave Systems and Ericsson Saab Avionics, Molndal, Sweden, will upgrade the radar, computer and display systems for the third batch of Gripen fighters ordered by the Swedish Defense Material Administration. Deliveries are slated to begin in 2003 and be completed by 2007.
The Senate has confirmed Gen. Anthony Zinni to head U.S. Central Command and Gen. Wesley K. Clark as new head of U.S. European Command. Zinni, of the Marine Corps, replaces retiring Army Gen. Binford Peay III, and Clark, of the Army, replaces Army Gen. George Joulwan, who also headed the U.S. peacekeeping mission in Bosnia. Clark formerly headed U.S. Southern Command, and Zinni was second in command at CentCom.
AERO INTERNATIONAL REGIONAL and THOMSON TRAINING&SIMULATION opened a new ATR Training Center for the Asia/Pacific region at Thai Airways in Bangkok. The center is equipped with a certified Joint Airworthiness Authorities (JAA) level C&D full-flight, six-axis ATR simulator from Thomson.
Hughes Space and Communications has adapted a sensor it developed for the Pentagon's Defense Meteorological Satellite Program (DMSP) for civilian platforms as the company goes after more weather satellite business. When Japan launches the Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM) on an H2 booster next November, the environmental satellite will carry a microwave imager based on the Special Sensor Microwave Imager (SSMI) it has built for the DMSP program.
The U.S. Dept. of Defense last week awarded two sets of contracts for separate, unrelated communications projects to 15 companies worth over $2 billion. One company, Litton Industries' PRC unit, got a contract for work on each project. In the first set, six companies got a total of $1.2 billion for technical support services for Command, Control, Communications and Intelligence (C3I) for Strategic Business Process Re-engineering (SBPR).
SSE TELECOM INC., Vienna, Va. won a $13.8 million contract extension from the U.S. Army for Downsized Deployable Terminals (DDTs) and related equipment. SSE expects to obtain releases and complete shipments for an initial $5.1 million contract and the extension over the next 15 months.
Although the U.S. Air Force is disappointed that congressional appropriators want to slash funding for the Joint Air-to-Surface Standoff Missile, they say they will fight for the program and expect to regain some of the cuts. The House Appropriations national security subcommittee on Wednesday zeroed the $213 million fiscal 1998 request for JASSM. The Senate Appropriations defense subcommittee earlier cut the request by $96.3 million "to evaluate alternative systems" (DAILY, July 10).
KAMAN AEROSPACE CORP., Bloomfield, Conn., received orders from McDonnell Douglas for $14.9 million in parts for the C-17. In a $13 million follow-on order, Kaman will supply 12 more shipsets of aircraft wing ribs and bulkheads. Each shipset includes 94 rib and bulkhead units. In a separate $1.9 million order, Kaman will make detail parts for electrical boxes and ship them as kits to McDonnell Douglas' plant in Macon, Ga.
The Pentagon wants to make the Joint STARS aircraft more attractive to NATO by initially footing the bill to get it into service, and even spending some money before the alliance decides whether to buy the Northrop Grumman plane or another candidate. Judith A. Miller, the Pentagon's general counsel said in a recent letter to the Senate Armed Services Committee that up-front spending is necessary to deliver the program the U.S. has pitched to NATO. The U.S. is offering a two-phase program for six Joint STARS and 24 ground station modules.
The European Commission said it did not request the sale of Douglas Aircraft after a Boeing Co. acquisition of McDonnell Douglas, as suggested Wednesday by William Baer, director of the U.S. Federal Trade Commission's Bureau of Competition, in a published interview. "It is not the European Commission's role to identify potential remedies," said a spokesman for Karel Van Miert, the EC's competition commissioner. "It is up to the companies ...."
HUGHES AIRCRAFT CO.'S Naval and Maritime Systems unit, Mukilteo, Wash., won a $6.4 million contract from the U.S. Naval Air Systems Command to design, build, test and install a fixed underwater test and training range. The one-year Hawaiian Islands Shallow Water Training Range contract calls for delivery by May 1998. Hughes subcontractor Cable and Wireless Marine, Southampton, U.K., will install the system.
Odyssey, the joint venture between TRW and Canada's Teleglobe to orbit a worldwide constellation of satellites for mobile and fixed communications, is counting on simplicity and an unusually high orbit to gain a competitive edge early in the coming century, company officials said here last week.
Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Tokyo, has won type certification of the MH2000 helicopter from Japan's Ministry of Transportation. The helicopter, Japan's first indigenous rotary wing aircraft, carries 7-12 passengers and is powered by two MG5-100 turboshaft engines with maximum takeoff power of 800 shp each. Maximum cruise speed is 280 kilometers per hour, and maximum range is 780 kilometers at a cruise speed of 250 kph. The Ministry of Transportation awarded the certification on June 26.
The Pentagon's Joint Requirements Oversight Council has approved the Operational Requirements Document (ORD) for the Predator unmanned aerial vehicle, removing the last obstacle before a decision to begin production. A Defense Acquisition Board readiness meeting (DRM), which could lead to production go-ahead, is scheduled for Aug. 8. The full DAB hasn't been scheduled yet and may not be convened, depending on the outcome of the DRM.
PRATT&WHITNEY CANADA yesterday delivered the first of more than 700 PT6A- 68 turboprop engines to Raytheon Co. to support the U.S. Air Force/Navy Joint Primary Aircraft Training System production program. Production is slated to run until 2016, reaching a peak rate of 60 a year beginning in 2005, Raytheon said. The engines will be installed on the Beech Mk. II aircraft. Gilles P.
The House Appropriations national security subcommittee yesterday added an unrequested $331 million to take the initial step toward production of nine more B-2 bombers despite subcommittee chairman C.W. (Bill) Young's warning that other programs would have to be cut to pay for the effort in future defense budgets.
Researchers at NASA's Dryden Flight Research Center have completed the first series of eight test flights with the subscale X-36 tailless fighter, using advanced software and a "pilot-in-the-loop" approach to log the final four test flights of the McDonnell Douglas-built vehicle in as many days. The 28% scale vehicle made its final Phase I flight June 30, McDonnell Douglas reported. Phase I testing validated flight control software, ground station, data system and air data calibrations, pushing the angle-of-attach envelope up to 20 degrees.
Northrop Grumman is suing the U.S. Air Force over a 1992 contract to build the third of a series of E-8 Joint STARS aircraft. After building two developmental E-8A surveillance planes, the AF and Northrop Grumman signed a follow-on full-scale development, cost-plus contract to build the first E-8C. Northrop Grumman says in a June 12 filing with the U.S. Court of Federal Claims in Washington that it is entitled to $4.9 million and interest on top of the amount it received to develop the plane.
