CHC HELICOPTER CORP., St. John's, Newfoundland, won two contracts totaling Cdn. $31 million to support offshore oil exploration and production in Southeast Asia and the Caspian Sea Region through its Canadian Helicopters International Division (CHI). The Southeast Asia contract, estimated at Cdn. $24 million, is for three medium sized helicopters with two operating from Yangon, Myanmar, for five years and the third operating from a remote site for one year. The Caspian Sea contract, estimated at Cdn.
Russia's Space Forces will cease to exist as a separate service this year, while Air Defense Forces will be merged with Air Forces in 1998. Reorganization plans announced July 4 by Gen. Igor D. Sergeyev, the new Russian Minister of Defense, seem to put an end to debate over how to reorganize the shrinking Russian military.
The Senate Appropriations defense subcommittee yesterday approved a $246.9 billion fiscal 1998 Pentagon money bill that largely tracked the Senate Armed Services Committee authorization, but added $440 million for two more C-17 airlifters and cut $66 million and two Trident D-5 missiles while slapping restrictions on the remainder of the FY '98 D-5 buy.
TRW spacecraft engineers here are on track to integrate the huge x-ray telescope at the business end of NASA's Advanced X-ray Astrophysics Facility (AXAF) with the all-graphite satellite bus that will move it around.
The Quadrennial Defense Review's plan to cut F-22 procurement from 438 aircraft to 339 would increase the cost of each fighter to $128 million, $18 million more than the unit cost in the 438-aircraft production program.
The longstanding dispute between Germany's defense and finance ministers over allocation of production funding for the country's share of the four-nation Eurofighter project is expected to be resolved Friday. Sources in Bonn said that Finance Minister Theo Waigel agreed to include the necessary funding in the 1998 budget proposal that to be presented Friday.
The U.S. Air Force wants to take a closer look at a Swedish foliage penetration radar, and is proposing to evaluate it as a fiscal 1998 new start under the Foreign Comparative Test (FCT) program. The Pentagon this summer will decide which Army, Navy, Air Force and Special Operations Command FCT programs to pursue. The AF, according to a list provided to The DAILY, has 17 candidates, eight of which would be new starts.
The Ballistic Missile Defense Organization's plan to resume testing of the Theater High Altitude Area Defense system in an interim configuration concerns the commander of the U.S. Army's Space and Strategic Defense Command, Lt. Gen. Edward Anderson. Anderson told an Association of the United States Army meeting in Arlington, Va., last week that "I have concerns" about the strategy. He said his main worry is that issues raised by an independent review panel following THAAD's most recent test failure aren't being "adequately addressed."
Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott (R-Miss.) yesterday said he expects the U.S. Senate to be among the first NATO parliaments to act on revisions to the 1949 Washington Treaty to provide for the NATO expansion. "I am confident the U.S. Senate will act promptly to ratify the membership of Poland, Hungary and the Czech Republic in NATO - just as it did for Greece and Turkey in 1951, the Federal Republic of Germany in 1954 and Spain in 1981," Lott said.
Hughes Aircraft, Santa Barbara Research Center, Goleta, Calif., is being awarded a firm-fixed-price, indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract (appropriation number and dollar value will be issued with each delivery order) with an estimated not-to-exceed cumulative total of $30,389,300, for thermal imaging systems used on tanks, Bradley Fighting Vehicles and Apache attack helicopters. Forward looking infrared technology is used to provide night-vision target acquisition and fire guidance capability. This acquisition is for five critical components.
Orbital Sciences Corp., Dulles, Va., is being awarded a $14,949,246 face value increase to a firm-fixed-price contract to provide for launch services using a Taurus launch vehicle to place a multi-spectral thermal imaging satellite in orbit. Contract is expected to be completed October 1999. Contract funds will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. Space and Missile Systems Center, Los Angeles, Calif., is the contracting activity (FMDA972-89/C-0089, P00056).
The U.S. Army plans to change its research and development program in the near future to help bring about a lean, agile "Army After Next" by the year 2025. Maj. Gen. Robert Scales, the Army's deputy chief of staff for doctrine, said most of the near-term activity will focus on realigning about 30% of the investment in basic research, and 15% of applied research. The changes will be made "over the next couple of years," Scales told reporters at the Pentagon yesterday during an AAN progress report.
Three days after competition authorities from European Union nations said no to Boeing Co.'s planned acquisition of McDonnell Douglas Corp., Boeing was optimistic the deal would go through. European Union Competition Commissioner Karel Van Miert, strengthened by unanimous opposition of the EU authorities Friday, reiterated through a spokesman yesterday that it's up to Boeing to make the merger palatable. Boeing said it "remains optimistic" about gaining approval of the EU for the deal, which has already been cleared in the U.S.
Lockheed Martin Corporation, Philadelphia, Pa., is being awarded a $32,000,000 contract to complete phase two, production and integration, of the Nuclear Detonation Detection System Augmentation Payload program. Contract is expected to be completed in February 2001. Contract funds will not expire at the end of current fiscal year. The solicitation was issued in November 1996 and negotiations were completed in June 1997. Space and Missile Center, El Segundo Calif. is the contracting activity (F04701-89-C- 0073 P00121).
The $330 million add-on in the House national security authorization for the initial step toward new production of the B-2 bomber isn't in the mark of House Appropriations national security subcommittee chairman Rep. C.W. (Bill) Young, but is expected to be included in the fiscal 1998 defense money bill tomorrow when the subcommittee finishes work on the bill, congressional sources said yesterday.
The Senate Armed Services Committee wants the U.S. Army to submit "a comprehensive plan" for the modernization of its helicopter fleet, and would embargo 75% of the funds for helicopters in the regular Army, National Guard and Reserve until 30 days after the report is submitted to Congress.
General Electric Aircraft Engines, Lynn, Mass., is being awarded a $50,000,000 advance acquisition contract for Low-Rate Initial Production (LRIP) II of F414-GE-400 Engines for the F/A-18E/F aircraft, including related modules, devices, and engineering services. The exact quantity of engines to be procured in FY-98 will be in accordance with the final resolution of the National Defense Authorization Act and the Department of Defense Appropriation Act for FY 1998. Work will be performed in Lynn, Mass. (58%); Evendale, Ohio (25%); Rutland, Vt. (4%); Albuquerque, N.M.
The Progress M-35 cargo vehicle docked safely with the crippled Mir orbital station yesterday, raising hopes the 11-year-old spacecraft can be rescued after its June 25 collision with Progress M-34.
The July Fourth success of NASA's Mars Pathfinder probe has given spectacular vindication to the faster-better-cheaper approach forced on the agency over the past five years by Administrator Daniel S. Goldin, encouraging a new generation of engineers and scientists on a course that will send swarms of small inexpensive spacecraft across the solar system.
The U.S. Air Force's Air National Guard and Reserve want to buy 144 targeting pods for older F-16s, a move that would allow the jets to designate targets for precision guided munitions and be more able to deliver weapons around the clock and in all kinds of weather. The USAF plans a session for industry August 20-21 at Wright-Patterson AFB, Ohio, to discuss the program with potential offerors, according the a July 7 Commerce Business Daily notice.
Lockheed Martin Aeronautical Systems Co., Marietta, Ga., is being awarded a $6,913,026 research and development completion contract with cost-plus- fixed-fee pricing for the development of the littoral warfare Advanced Concept Technology Demonstration program. The contractor will develop Command and Control prototypes for technology evaluation. These component prototypes will be used to determine the full range of technical data such as equipment footprint, weight, power and performance, data rates, radar and communication ranges.
ORDERS worth more than $2.5 billion were announced by the U.K. aerospace industry at the 1997 Paris air show, according to assessments by the Society of British Aerospace Companies. The announcement since the show by Airbus Industrie of a memorandum of understanding for 50 firm and 100 option A319 airliners from Northwest airlines represents a further potential $400 million to the U.K.
AUSTRALIA has included the Lockheed Martin Alenia Tactical Transport Systems C-27J Spartan aircraft on a short list of transports under consideration for the Project Air 5190 tactical airlift program. LMATTS said yesterday that if the C-27J is chosen, it will fill a gap between the Royal Australian Air Force's C-130 and Caribou aircraft.
Fed Corporation, Hopewell Junction, N.Y., is being awarded a $15,327,997 cost-plus-fixed-fee contract for Small Business Innovation Research Phase III, High Brightness Helmet-Mounted Visual Displays and Miniature Cathode Ray Tubes. Contract is expected to be completed in 38 months. Contract funds will not expire at the end of current fiscal year. Human Systems Center/Research and Development Contracting Division, Brooks Air Force Base, Texas, is the contracting activity (F41624-97-C-6026).
