CHRYSLER TECHNOLOGY, Waco, Texas, is being awarded an $18,946,138 face value increase to a fixed-price incentive contract to provide for 21 Class IVB modification kits to incorporate the following subsystems into the C- 141 aircraft: a digital Automatic Flight Control System (AFCS), a Control Display System (CDS), and a Ground Collision Avoidance System (GCAS). The work will be performed at Chrysler Technologies Airborne Systems, Inc., Waco, Texas (37%), and Allied Signal, Inc., Teterboro, N.J. (46%). Contract is expected to be completed September 1998.
Japanese Astronaut Koichi Wakata will fly on STS-92, the third Space Shuttle mission to assemble the International Space Station set for Jan. 1, 1999, on Atlantis, NASA Administrator Daniel S. Goldin and Japanese Science and Technology Agency Minister Riichiro Chikaoka announced in Japan yesterday.
Litton's Guidance&Control Systems Div., Woodland Hills, Calif., won a contract modification from the U.S. Army Missile Command for Phase 2B of the Global Positioning System Guidance Package (GGP) contract, Litton said yesterday. Litton and its team member, Rockwell Collins, will complete development, integration and delivery of the GGP units. Phase 2B is scheduled to be completed by the summer of 1999, and eight production systems with full environmental capability will be delivered for independent test and demonstration.
Continued procurement by the U.S. of high-priced, sophisticated weaponry could backfire if NATO members cannot afford to keep pace, according to a former British admiral. Adm. Sir James Eberle (Royal Navy, ret.) said "there is a danger America's allies won't be able to afford interoperability." During the Gulf War, the British were the only allies able to operate jointly with the U.S. in every way, Eberle told reporters Friday in Washington at the Center for Defense Information and the British American Security Information Council.
Hughes Training Inc., Arlington, Tex., said it won a contract to provide research and support to the U.S. Air Force's Armstrong Laboratory at the Aircrew Training Research Div., Mesa, Ariz. The initial $12.2 million contract is from the Human Systems Center, Brooks AFB, San Antonio, and runs nine months. It includes additional performance periods of up to seven years; the ceiling for the life of the contract is about $200 million.
RAYTHEON ELECTRONIC SYSTEMS, Marlborough, Mass., is being awarded a $7,343,430 firm fixed price with time and materials contract for the Multiplexer Integration and Digital Communication Satellite Subsystem Automation System (MIDAS), to provide multiplexing and switching functions while occupying substantially less floor-space than the current equipment it replaces. MIDAS will replace several types of existing discrete multiplexers and transmission security devices by emulating the functions of those units.
MCDONNELL DOUGLAS CORP., St. Louis, Mo., is being awarded a $ 19,565,000 firm fixed price contract to provide for conversion of 172 Inboard Pylons configured for the F-15A/D aircraft to support the F-15E aircraft. The work will be performed at McDonnell Douglas, St. Louis, Mo. (25%) and at its Helicopter Division in Mesa, Arizona (75%). Contract is expected to be completed December 2000. Contract funds will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. There was one firm solicited and one proposal received.
Northrop Grumman test pilots today are slated to make the first flight of the newest version of the U.S. Navy/Marine Corps EA-6B Prowler jamming platform, kicking off a test program of roughly one year. The flight will depend on the weather at Northrop Grumman's Augustine, Fla., facility where the Block 89A upgrade is being assembled, a Navy official said yesterday.
The Pentagon's Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency plans to execute the full buy of High Altitude Endurance unmanned aerial vehicles - DarkStar and Global Hawk - despite a near-term adjustment that would cut five UAVs and one Common Ground Station from the program. Delays in both programs have increased cost, leading DARPA and the Defense Dept. leadership to limit the buy of the UAVs during this phase of the program while problems are resolved, DARPA program director Chuck Heber told The DAILY in an interview.
Cost could become the controlling issue if the Senate takes up a Senate Armed Services Committee-approved bill calling for development and deployment of a National Missile Defense system by 2003. On a straight party-line vote of 10-8, the majority approved the bill earlier this year over the opposition of all committee Democrats. The bill says the system would "optimize defensive coverage" of the continental U.S., Alaska and Hawaii. It would consist of 100 interceptors at a single site, and the Space and Missile Tracking System.
LOCKHEED MARTIN VOUGHT SYSTEMS, Grand Prairie, Tex., is being awarded a not-to-exceed $29,500,000 cost-plus-incentive-fee letter contract for Patriot Advanced Capability-3 (PAC) Command Launch Systems. Work will be performed in Lufkin, Texas (70%), and Dallas, Texas (30%), and is expected to be completed by June 30, 1999. Contract funds will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. This is a sole source contract initiated on May 20, 1997. The contracting activity is the U.S. Army Missile Command, Redstone Arsenal, Ala. (DAAH01-97-C-0238).
The Royal Malaysian Air Force received has received four McDonnell Douglas F/A-18 strike fighters at its base in Butterworth, Malaysia, the company announced. The D-model Hornets comprise half of the RMAF's order. The remaining four jets are scheduled for delivery in August. Malaysia is the first Southeast Asian nation to fly the F/A-18. The eight Hornets will initially be used for pilot training but eventually will handle strike and interdiction missions as part of a RMAF modernization program.
ALLIANT TECHSYSTEMS INC., Hopkins, Minn., is being awarded a $12,748,012 firm fixed price contract for 448,400 each 25mm PGU-38/U cartridges in support of the GAU-12 automatic gun. Work will be performed in Hopkins, Minn. (75%); and Wilmington, Ill. (25%), and is expected to be completed by Oct. 30, 1998. Contract funds will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. This is a sole source contract initiated on July 8, 1996. The contracting activity is the U.S. Army Armament, Munitions and Chemical Command, Rock Island, Ill. (DAAA09-97-C-0034).
President Clinton has sent a memorandum to Secretary of State Madeleine Albright clearing the way for U.S. helicopter makers to compete for an attack helicopter competition in Turkey, and to deliver hardware in event of a win. Industry officials have been urging the White House to send a signal that they would not only be allowed to compete, but also deliver. Last year, Turkey canceled a $135 million order for 10 Cobra helicopters after the State Dept. held up delivery for more than two years (DAILY, Dec. 2, 1996).
The U.S. Navy is adding ARC-164 Have Quick frequency hopping radios to its EA-6B Prowlers, says program manager Capt. Steven Enewald. To quickly provide the system to EA-6Bs operating over Bosnia, the Navy is using Air Force ARC-164s. Enewald notes that the program likely won't stop there because other regional commanders-in-chief have expressed an interest. The speed at which the remaining aircraft can be equipped is driven by how quickly the Navy can get its hands on the radios.
Comair announced an order for up to 75 Canadair Regional Jets. The Cincinnati-based Delta Connection carrier said Friday that the deal includes firm orders for 18 of the 50-seat jets valued at $330 million, conditional orders for 12 and options for 45. Some of the options could be converted to Canadair's 70-seat jet which was introduced earlier this year.
The Pentagon's Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency is proposing in the next few years to demonstrate a constellation of small radar satellites for tactical users. The program, known as "Starlite," would provide "very high revisit rate for low cost," David Whelan, DARPA's director of the tactical technology office, told The DAILY in an interview. He said keeping cost down is critical. "You can't be speaking of satellites that cost $500 million a copy. You really need to get them down to $50 million to $100 million on orbit."
The new thermal protection system material that will protect the leading edges of NASA's X-34 small reusable launch vehicle prototype won't be completely untested when the winged rocket is air- launched for the first time late next year. First use of silicon- impregnated reusable ceramic ablator (SIRCA) TPS will come on July 4, when NASA's Mars Pathfinder plummets into the Martian atmosphere protected by a heat shield of the stuff.
Sen. Joseph I. Lieberman (D-Conn.) says the Quadrennial Defense Review underplays the importance of space. "It is hard to imagine, as we see the world depend more and more on space-based satellites, that our future enemies will not rely on a wide range of space-based capabilities to fight us," he says. This suggests the need to consider some controversial issues, he says, like "whether we should proceed with what might be called the weaponization of space, and what we should do to develop the capacity to defend against attacks on us from space."
Researchers at NASA's Langley Research Center are preparing to flight test a passive millimeter wave camera developed by TRW Space&Electronics Group and others that may allow aircraft to take off, land and taxi at socked-in airports using only on-board equipment.
McDonnell Douglas Corp. has submitted an unsolicited proposal to the U.S. Army to provide prime vendor support of AH-64 Apache helicopters, Army official tell The DAILY. Service officials said in April at the Army Aviation Association of America's annual symposium in Louisville, Ky., that the Aviation and Troop Command has been considering outsourcing support for a major weapon system for some time. The objective is to reduce total support cost.
Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), former chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee's readiness subcommittee, questions the level of readiness of U.S. armed forces despite testimony of military and civilian leaders who say it's high. He notes that the Navy has a maintenance backlog of 172 airframes and 200 engines, the Army has set a goal of funding just 58% of depot maintenance, and the Air Force is cutting back on the number of simulator and flight hours for aircrews.
Work on the launch facility for NASA's other RLV prototype, the much larger X-33 under development by Lockheed Martin, will begin in September at Edwards AFB, Calif., pending final approval of the environmental impact statement for the reusable aerospike-powered lifting body. NASA's final X-33 EIS should be ready for publication and public comment this month, while the vehicle itself faces its critical design review in July.
The package of legislative changes the Pentagon is requesting from Congress as part of the Quadrennial Defense Review asks to change existing rules for depot level maintenance to allow slightly more outsourcing. The Pentagon was expected to ask for a change in the so-called "60/40" rule that limits to 40% of the total the amount of work it can give to industry. But instead of asking for sweeping changes, as some had expected, the Defense Dept. is asking only to be allowed to outsource 10% more of its depot work.
