With the Alliant Techsystems Outrider unmanned aerial vehicle facing another important top-level Pentagon program review next Monday, Rear Adm. Bart Strong, who oversees the program, said he's "quite optimistic" it will continue. Outrider yesterday flew for the fourth time, as Alliant Techsystems completed another flight before Monday's review involving acting Pentagon acquisition chief Noel Longuemare. The flight, at Hondo, Tex., lasted about six minutes. It was cut short when engineers didn't like the sound of the engine. Telemetry indicated no problem.
Aloysius Rauen, Daimler-Benz Aerospace's top Eurofighter executive, upped the ante on DASA's participation in the program by threatening yesterday to pull his group out of the project unless the Bonn government authorized long-awaited funding for production.
The National Reconnaissance Office said yesterday that David E. Kier has been named deputy director, and that the appointment was effective May 30. In addition to the NRO post, Kier will serve as the principal deputy assistant secretary of the Air Force (space). He succeeds Jimmie D. Hill, who was ousted last year along with Director Jeffrey Harris in the wake of congressional criticism of NRO budget management. Harris was succeeded by Keith R. Hall.
BTG Inc. has joined Trusted Computer Solutions Inc. to offer secure systems to U.S. military and intelligence clients, the two Virginia firms reported. TCS, Herndon, Va., specializes in a number of information systems security services, including system and network security and vulnerability assessments, system security engineering and the design and development of secure solutions to meet the security needs of DOD, the intelligence community and commercial customers.
France took delivery of the first of three re-engined KC-135R tanker aircraft in ceremonies Monday at Boeing Co. facilities in Wichita, Kans. Boeing, which turned the plane over to officials of the French Air Force, said the delivery marked the first time a re-engined KC-135 has been delivered to a Foreign Military Sales customer.
The National Defense Panel, set up to critique the Pentagon's Quadrennial Defense Review, appears to be escaping criticism of congressional Republicans even though it says the U.S. should cut the number of strategic weapons to START II levels without waiting for Russia's Duma to ratify the treaty.
Talley Industries CEO William H. Mallender resigned and the board of directors will appoint retired admiral Paul L. Foster, an outside director, as chairman and CEO on a transitional basis while conducting a search for a permanent replacement, the company announced.
Consolidation of the German Space Agency (DARA) and the German Aerospace Research Establishment (DLR) would form "a leaner and more efficient" approach to space programs, said Dietmar Wurzel, head of the DLR/DARA office in Washington. The move, advocated by German space leaders in government and industry, would strengthen German aerospace "by combining all resources, including planning and management of facilities and research centers," Wurzel said. While DARA and DLA worked cooperatively in the past, they have operated independently.
Using an upgraded NASA ER-2 aircraft, NASA researchers have begun a month-long study to measure radiation at high altitudes. Data from the study will be used to define the radiation environment for aircrews and passengers on a future high-speed civil transport. The HSCT would carry 300 passengers at 2.4 Mach, and at altitudes up to 68,000 feet.
Raytheon Co. expects its acquisition of Texas Instruments to be completed by the end of this month, although it might slip into early July. A DAILY story (June 4, p. 357) indicated the date could be November. The merger of Raytheon and Hughes is expected to be pushed back to November.
The first X-38 atmospheric test vehicle was shipped to Dryden Flight Research Center, Edwards AFB, Calif., from Johnson Space Center, Houston, where it will begin unpiloted flight tests in July, NASA said. Vehicle 131 is the first of three sub-scale vehicles planned for testing, which will begin with captive carry flights on the NASA B-52 in July and early August. The first drop test, from 25,000 feet, is scheduled for late August. Free-flight tests will continue through late 1999.
U.S. Air Force Vice Chief of Staff Gen. Thomas S. Moorman, Jr., predicts that the now separate space architectures of the classified intelligence community and unclassified military space community will merge in coming years. Explaining that steps are already being taken in this direction, he said the Dept. of Defense and the National Reconnaissance Office have signed a memorandum of agreement to develop an "integrated roadmap" for space.
Arianespace launched the Inmarsat-3F4 satellite for International Maritime Satellite Organization and the Insat-2D for the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) Tuesday on an Ariane 44L, Arianespace announced.
DRS Technologies Inc., Parsippany, N.J., said it acquired about 80% of the outstanding shares of a Bulgarian company, Magnetic Heads Co. Ltd. This is the first U.S. acquisition of a high technology Bulgarian company by a U.S. corporation, said DRS, a diversified high-tech company with customers in government and commercial niche markets. It said ownership changed hands during a May 15 ceremony in Razlog, about 60 miles south of Sofia.
HUGHES AIRCRAFT CO. said Rae Rottman has been named vice president for information technology and chief information officer. It said she will be responsible for establishing strategic direction for the usage and deployment of information technology within the company, and will also manage the outstanding partnership of Computer Sciences Corp. She had been VP of the Command and Control Systems unit of Hughes Information Technology Systems.
Belgium's largest aeronautics company, Societe Anonyme Belge de Constructions Aeronautiques (SABCA), more than doubled its net profit in 1996 despite a decline in turnover from 1995 and an additional writeoff of its business with Fokker N.V., the defunct Dutch aircraft manufacturer. SABCA's total sales fell slightly from 8.27 billion Belgian francs ($294.4 million) in 1995 to BEF 7.8 billion last year ($277.7 million). Consolidated pre-tax operating profit jumped, however, from BEF 457 million $16.27 million) to BEF 738 million ($26.3 million).
Boeing Co. and Lockheed Martin Corp. won $1 million contracts from NASA to study a possible fly-back booster upgrade to the Space Shuttle, NASA announced yesterday. Instead of falling into the ocean, the boosters would fly back to the launch site after detaching from the Shuttle (DAILY, May 23). The study is being led by NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center, Huntsville, Ala., and is part of a continuing program to upgrade the Shuttle fleet.
The U.S. Army may deploy a prototype of Northrop Grumman's airborne mine-detection system to Bosnia this summer. The system is one of four competing to move into the engineering and manufacturing development (EMD) phase. One of the systems would ultimately be chosen for production. Northrop Grumman has been competing in the Airborne Standoff Minefield Detection System (ASTAMIDS) program against a Raytheon system since 1993 (DAILY, Sept. 3, 1993).
NASA has begun tests to reduce the aerodynamic drag of commercial airliners, an experiment that it said could lead to savings of some $140 million a year in fuel costs. The tests, sponsored by agency's Langley Research Center, Hampton, Va., involve a modified Lockheed L-1011 TriStar operated by Orbital Sciences Corp. at Dryden Flight Research Center, Edwards, Calif. A computer is being used to precisely position the aircraft's ailerons to cut drag by at least one percent.
The U.S. Air Force is looking for technologies that promise to improve the accuracy of airdrops, citing among other reasons problems in delivering supplies in Bosnia. Precision air delivery (PAD) requires an ability to predict the trajectory of a package from its release point, but today only wind speed and direction of winds at altitude are known, the notice said.
NORTHROP GRUMMAN CORP., Rolling Meadows, Ill., was awarded a $10 million U.S. Air Force contract for 11 AN/ALQ-135 Band 1.5 jamming systems. The award is one of a series supporting testing of part of the F-15E dual role fighter's countermeasures suite. Four of the systems are production- representative, and the other seven are refurbished systems, the Pentagon said Friday.
Completion of Raytheon Co.'s planned mergers with Hughes Aircraft Co. and Texas Instruments may be pushed back to November, a top Hughes executive said yesterday. John Weaver, president and COO of Hughes Aircraft, told McGraw-Hill Aviation Week Group reporters in Washington yesterday that the government's second request for information from TI and Hughes could delay the mergers another 30-60 days. Weaver said the only sticking points of the merger are missiles and microwave integrated circuits, and that both "are quite resolvable."
The Italian Space Agency expects funding for space programs to increase to $800 million dollars in fiscal 1998, continuing a growth trend that began two years ago, according to Vincenzo Letico, the agency's Washington representative. Italy's budget for space programs increased from $515 million in FY '95 to $575 million in FY '96, and rose again this year to $670 million, Letico said yesterday at an American Astronautical Society Symposium in Washington. He added that he expects another $100 million dollar boost for FY '98.
Centre National d'Etudes Spatiales (CNES) is overhauling its strategic plan for space and is revisiting the structure and execution of all its space programs, Laurent said. While support for space endeavors remains high in France, CNES is taking a new look at cost cutting through cooperative endeavors and increased partnership with industry, he said.
