The U.S. Air Force's Force Protection Battlelab - intended to identify concepts to protect AF personnel, facilities and weapon systems from terrorism and tactical threats - was officially established Monday at Lackland AFB, Tex. The AF is setting up a series of such labs to explore new concepts; all are to be operational by July 1. Establishment of the force protection battlelab comes a year after 18 AF personnel were killed by a truck bomb at Khobar Towers, Saudi Arabia.
Russia's Aeroflot will equip 10 new Boeing 737-400 airliners will Collins avionics. The aircraft, slated for delivery beginning next April, will be equipped with Collins comm/nav radios and sensors, forward-looking windshear radar, traffic alert and collision avoidance systems and data link. The carrier also had ordered 20 Il-96 M/T aircraft equipped with Collins avionics, including autopilots. The four-engine widebody made its first flight at the Voronezh plant May 16. First delivery is expected by the end of this year.
The Senate Armed Services Committee has written into its fiscal 1998 defense authorization an unusually specific prohibition against dismantling or deactivating major U.S. strategic systems below specific levels. The specified levels are: -- 71 B-52H bombers; -- 18 Trident ballistic missile submarines; -- 500 Minuteman III ICBMs and -- 50 Peacekeeper ICBMs.
Bosnia has chosen Northrop Grumman's Electronic Sensors and Systems Div. to provide an advanced air traffic control system. The company will supply a stand-alone monopulse secondary surveillance radar, an ATC center for en route operations and associated VHF and microwave communications. The surveillance radar, which can be upgraded to full Mode S capability, will be operated from a remote site. The VHF system will come from Park Air Electronics, Northrop Grumman's wholly owned British subsidiary.
NORTHROP GRUMMAN's terminal airport system at China's Long Dong Bao Airport has been declared fully operational. The company is the first U.S. supplier to complete system certification and acceptance by the Civil Aviation Agency of China.
The U.S. intelligence community (IC) lacks the analytic depth and expertise to monitor political, military and economic developments worldwide while maintaining in-depth understanding of critical countries and issues, according to the House Intelligence Committee.
NORTHROP GRUMMAN's Electronic Sensors and Systems Div., Baltimore, Md., won a $28 million contract from the Arab Republic of Egypt's Civil Aviation Authority for the first phase of a planned 10-year air traffic control infrastructure upgrade program. Northrop Grumman will provide a turnkey ATC system for Luxor, Hurghada and Sharm El Sheikh airports. Deliveries will begin in early 1998, and all three systems are scheduled to be operational before the end of the year.
Lockheed Martin Tactical Aircraft Systems, Fort Worth, Tex., and CKD Praha Holding a.s. of the Czech Republic have signed a preliminary agreement to develop a program of cooperation on potential F-16 sales to the government there. The effort, Lockheed Martin said yesterday, is designed to lead to an industrial development program, technology transfer, increased exports of Czech Republic products and a joint marketing activities board.
TRACOR AEROSPACE INC., Austin, Tex., and ADVANCED ELECTRONIC CO. LTD. (AEC), Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, an economic offset company, entered a 10-year collaborative agreement under which AEC will make chaff and flare countermeasures for regional customers. The agreement covers RR-170 and RR- 180 chaff and MJU-7, MJU-10 and M-206 flare expendables. Regional sales are expected to exceed $30 million over the next five years.
Computer Sciences Corp., Falls Church, Va., is working under a subcontract from Veda Inc. that is potentially worth up to $1.5 million for engineering and technical support at the Naval Air Warfare Center (NAWC), Patuxent River, Md. CSC will provide electromagnetic environmental effects (E3) engineering and technical services to the E3 division of NAWC.
Upset by overruns, schedule slips and test failures, the Senate Armed Services Committee has slapped cost ceilings on advanced concept technology demonstrations for the Pentagon's High Altitude Endurance Unmanned Aerial Vehicle program. SASC, in its fiscal 1998 defense authorization bill, said the limitations would be as follows: -- FY 1999, not more than $167.8 million; -- FY 2000 not more than $31.4 million; -- FY 2001 not more than $19.1 million and -- FY 2002 not more than $20.9 million.
The Senate Armed Services Committee includes an increase in its fiscal year 1998 defense authorization bill for U.S. Air Force and Ballistic Missile Defense Organization efforts to develop a space-based laser (SBL) flight demonstrator. An independent review team, tasked by BMDO to study SBL, recommended a low-risk program that could lead to launch of an ABM Treaty-compliant demonstrator in fiscal year 2005. It called for a funding level of $148 million for FY '98, which SASC increases by $118 million.
The House yesterday backed the White House on retaining China as a most favored nation trading partner, a status that the U.S. aerospace industry estimates could mean billions of dollars in commercial aircraft and satellitesales over the next decade. By a vote of 259 to 173, the House defeated an amendment that would have blocked the White House from renewing the trade status to China for another year.
GEC-Marconi has been selected to supply 60 navigation pods for Royal Netherlands Air Force F-16s. The DAILY mistakenly reported in the issue of June 20 (page 462) that Lockheed Martin would supply both navigation and targeting pods. The Netherlands has asked its parliament to approve the purchase of GEC-Marconi's Atlantic navigation pod and 13 targeting pods from Lockheed Martin. The targeting pods are part of the LANTIRN (Low Altitude Navigation and Targeting Infrared by Night) system that can include both targeting and navigation pods.
LOCKHEED MARTIN and ALENIA AEROSPAZIO finalized the basic configuration and launched the C-27J aircraft program. Joint venture Lockheed Martin Alenia Tactical Transport Systems (LMATTS) will begin deliveries in 2000.
The Senate Armed Services Committee has recommended a $20 million increase in the U.S. Navy's fiscal year 1998 budget for development of a naval variant of the Army Tactical Missile System (ATACMS). The Navy told the committee additional funding in fiscal year 1998 would be of great value in pursuing the Navy Tactical Missile System (NTACMS) work that evolved since preparation of the budget request, SASC says in the report accompanying its FY '98 defense authorization bill.
The Boeing candidate for an exoatmospheric kill vehicle that would be used in a national missile defense system was apparently successful in a Pacific Ocean flight test on Monday. The EKV, launched by a converted Minuteman II ICBM from Kawajalein Missile Range in the South Pacific, apparently detected a target launched by another Minuteman II from Vandenberg AFB, Calif. The AF's proposal for a national missile defense system features the modified Minuteman II.
Northrop Grumman has received a U.S. Air Force request for proposal for design, development, test and integration of NATO interoperability software modifications in a Joint Surveillance Target Attack Radar System (Joint STARS) aircraft.
The need for an unmanned aerial vehicle as a communications relay platform is increasing and could become greater than the need to use UAVs in their more traditional role of intelligence gathering, according to Lt. Gen. William J. Donahue, the U.S. Air Force's director for communications and information.
ISRAEL wants to buy 98,745 M107 high explosive 155mm projectiles from the U.S. for $30 million. The munitions would maintain Israel's sustainment rates and reserve levels, the Pentagon said in announcing the proposed foreign military sale. Primex Technologies, St. Petersburg, Fla., is the prime contractor for the deal, which includes no offset agreements.
U.S. NAVY IS CONSIDERING upgrading the cooling system on AIM-9M Sidewinder missiles to reduce operation and support costs. Naval Air Systems Command wants to replace the existing cooling system with a non-developmental, off- the-shelf cryoengine, according the a recent Commerce Business Daily notice. The new system would be backfitted into existing missiles, a NavAir spokeswoman said Monday. The Navy, which has program management responsibility for the multi-service Sidewinder program, aims to reduce the life-cycle cost of the missile, the spokeswoman said.
The White House Commission on Critical Infrastructure Protection does not foresee an electronic Pearl Harbor around the corner, but believes the country cannot afford to wait for such an attack to build protections, says Commission Chairman Robert T. (Tom) Marsh.
The Senate Armed Services Committee is limiting its support of the P-3 Anti-surface Warfare Improvement Program (AIP), citing frustration that the U.S. Navy hasn't fully backed it. In the fiscal 1997 budget, Congress increased the Navy program from one AIP kit to 12, and asked the service to boost funding in '98 or explain why not. Citing funding constraints, the Navy requested 4 kits for $74.7 million, but SASC gave it $17.3 million for only two.
