The Senate has passed an $8 billion supplemental package that includes $2 billion for the Pentagon, but it's expected to die once it reaches the White House. President Clinton has threatened to veto the package, passed Thursday night by a vote of 78-22, because it contains a provision that would put in place an automatic continuing resolution (CR) that would keep the government in operation if Congress and the White House can't reach a budget agreement at the end of the fiscal year.
WYMAN-GORDON COMPANY David P. Gruber currently president and chief executive officer, is expected to be named to replace John M. Nelson, who plans to retire from the board of directors at the shareholders meeting in Oct. 1997.
The Pentagon's Aerostat Joint Program Office is working out a plan to evaluate the command and control connections between an aerostat and a Patriot missile system using the Joint Tactical Information Distribution System. "The sooner I go out and test with Patriot the better," says Col. Herb Carr, program manager at the JPO. Such a test won't require new systems, Carr says, adding that it could be run now with off-the-shelf equipment. Eventually, he says, an aerostat would be able to cue directly to Patriot, Standard Missile-2 and MEADS.
EASTMAN KODAK CO. COMMERCIAL&GOV'T SYSTEMS Donald L. Light has been appointed manager, business development for commercial remote sensing systems. James C. Metsala has been named program development director
A previously classified U.S. Navy upper stage that NASA is buying to take Russia out of the "critical path" to International Space Station completion will need some Russian hardware to make it work. The Navy's Titan Upper Stage is being reworked into an Interim Control Module that will reboost the Station if Russia can't deliver its critical Service Module on time (DAILY, Jan. 21, April 14). But it must be docked to the Russian-built FGB tug, and the U.S. space agency is already talking to Russian suppliers about docking gear to handle the link-up.
The 100-seat airliner market is viable and could lead to another competitor for Airbus and Boeing in the commercial market, possibly Bombardier or an Asian manufacturer, says Aaron Hollander, managing director, First Equity Development Inc. He notes at the AIAA conference that Boeing says it doesn't like the market because there's no money in it - but, he adds, that's what American companies said about small cars and small TVs.
The U.S. Army and the Ballistic Missile Defense Organization are awaiting the outcome of two independent studies on the use of cheaper targets for missile defense testing. They should be completed by the end of July. The Army's Missile Defense and Space Technology Center is looking at a number of ways to cut costs and find innovative ways of contracting for such targets, says Col. Dennis Patrick, a program official at MDSTC's targets, test and evaluation division.
Look for NASA and the other Space Station partners to keep the Service Module baselined as the No. 3 Station element in orbit when they meet in Florida this week, but don't rule out another funding crisis this time next year. NASA seems satisfied with the flow of funds to Russian Station contractors, and the Russians believe they can keep to a December 1998 Service Module launch date.
UNITED STATES AIR FORCE Col. Michael W. Booen has replaced Col. Richard D. Tebay who retired after four years as the system program director of the Airborne Laser System Program Office of the Space and Missile Systems Center.
RUSSIA'S PROTON launch vehicle will launch another television broadcast satellite for Europe's Societe Europeenne des Satelites (SES) late this year, adding another payload to the multi-launch contract between SES and International Launch Services, the joint venture that markets launches on Proton and the Lockheed Martin Atlas. The SES Astra 2A, a Hughes 601HP platform, will be placed at 28.2 degrees East longitude to broaden the Luxembourg-based satellite broadcasting concern's coverage of Europe.
ST Aerospace Engines won a protest it lodged with the U.S. General Accounting Office against Standard Aero's new contract for overhauling and repairing gearboxes in T56 engines powering U.S. Coast Guard C-130s. GAO agreed that STA's protest was improperly downgraded based on negative past performance of one of the company's affiliates, performance that was never discussed with STA before its proposal was downgraded.
Defense industries around the world must sharpen their appeals for military budgets as the 21st century approaches, and also use existing resources more efficiently, panelists said yesterday at a conference in Arlington, Va. In the U.S., "We need to do a much better job explaining to the American people what the defense technology edge is all about," said Renso Caporali of Raytheon Electronics.
Engine executives assessing the need to power ever-larger regional aircraft say they expect to see regional carriers regularly operating 90- to 100-passenger aircraft by the middle of the next decade - but specialized regional aircraft that have grown up to that size, rather than jetliners that have been shrunk down.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is codifying common voluntary practice into real law, adopting the International Civil Aviation Organization's existing two-stage standard for emissions of nitrogen oxides (NOx) and carbon monoxides for all engines rated at 6,000 lbst. or more. The rules apply not only to traditional turbofans and turbojets, but to new concepts - like propfans - designed to replace them. U.S. enginemakers, like their overseas counterparts, have already been using the ICAO standards, so the practical effects of EPA's rulemaking are minimal.
PATS INC., Columbia, Md., has been chosen by Boeing Co. to provide several systems for the 757 aircraft slated for operation by the U.S. Air Force's Special Air Mission Wing. PATS President Jack Frost said yesterday that it will build auxiliary fuel tank systems, retracting passenger AirStairs, retracting crew ladders and high capacity potable water systems for the VIP transports. Frost said the systems will be delivered to Boeing's Wichita, Kans., plant as complete kits.
The Dow-United Technologies Composites Products joint venture that grew out of the Pentagon's Advanced Composites for Propulsion program won two new contracts which could be worth nearly $20 million.
Sundstrand Aerospace is pressing for smaller operations and greater efficiency on two fronts - at its plants and in its products, said Ronald F. McKenna, corporate executive vice president and chief executive officer aerospace. McKenna told McGraw-Hill Aviation Week Group reporters in Washington on Wednesday that as the commercial aerospace market surges, the companies that profit the most will be those that find the best ways to become smaller and more efficient.
Lockheed Martin said that Northrop Grumman will join its Joint Strike Fighter team. It said the companies reached a general agreement, with specific details concerning work content and work share to be defined in a future pact. Lockheed Martin touted Northrop Grumman's abilities in tactical aircraft systems integration, supportability of low-observable aircraft, avionics systems integration, sensors, advanced commercial manufacturing processes and aircraft carrier capability.
General Electric's 22,000-lbst. F414 fighter turbofan won the go-ahead this week for limited production, with deliveries slated to start in July 1998. That's on time (AP, June 8, 1995), six years after the U.S. Navy launched development of the engine for the F/A-18E/F Super Hornet with a $741 million engineering/manufacturing development contract.
The Pentagon's Defense Airborne Reconnaissance Office, with the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, yesterday selected three contractor teams for Phase I of the Tactical Common Data Link (TCDL) program, intended to develop a family of interoperable data links for manned and unmanned aerial reconnaissance platforms. Selected to receive $1 million Phase I contracts were: -- Harris Corp., Melbourne, Fla., teamed with GEC Marconi Hazeltine Corp., Wayne, N.J., and TSI TelSys Inc., Columbia, Md.
U.S. Defense Secretary William S. Cohen is considering a 25% reduction in the Joint Strike Fighter program, congressional sources said yesterday. Cutting the program so sharply at this stage, nine years before the start of low rate initial production in 2005, would cripple projected economies of scale and drive the unit cost up, sources said. If the cut is carried out, the number of JSFs would drop from 2,978 to about 2,230.
A mix of acquisitions and internal growth helped Greenwich Air Services post 235% better net sales for its second fiscal quarter, with profits 141% ahead of year-ago levels. In financial results reported yesterday, GASI earned $5.6 million on $201.1 million in the quarter ended March 31, marking the company's fourteenth consecutive quarter of record results. GASI noted one negative during the quarter - it lost a competition for long-term work on Southwest Airlines' CFM56 and JT8D engines.
