The first E-6B TACAMO aircraft was presented to the U.S. Navy and U.S. Strategic Command Monday in a ceremony at Raytheon E-Systems' Waco, Tex., facility. The aircraft, an extensively modified Boeing 707, combines operational capabilities of STRATCOM's EC-135C Airborne Command Post (ABNCP) and the Navy's E-6A TACAMO (Take Charge and Move Out) mission. The plane's dual mission will allow STRATCOM to perform the jobs of both aircraft.
Ballistic Missile Defense Organization Director Lt. Gen. Lester Lyles says it may be necessary to redo the Theater High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) critical design review (CDR) to get a better understanding of the system's design margins. In setting up an aggressive test schedule for THAAD, Lockheed Martin "did not plan - and we bought into this, so don't let me say it's just the contractor - to do a lot of robust testing of all the components," Lyles told reporters here last week.
AlliedSignal Aerospace, Torrance, Calif., said the FAA has certificated its Enhanced Ground Proximity Warning System (EGPWS) for use on four business jets and a business turboprop. It said approvals cover the Gulfstream 5, Dassault Falcon 900, Bombardier Challenger 601-3R and 601-3A jets and the Beechcraft King Air C- 90 turboprop. The system has already been certified for the Airbus A320 and Boeing 757, 767 and 737-400 airliners. AlliedSignal said additional business jet certifications are expected soon.
The Dept. of Defense's inability to address problems in programs on a General Accounting Office "high-risk" list had led to billions of dollars in waste and endangers future DOD spending, according to the GAO.
AlliedSignal said its aerospace segment boosted first quarter results, helping the Morris Township, N.J., company earn $259 million, a 15% increase over earnings of $225 million in the first three months of 1996. Sales remained nearly flat at $3.3 billion. The aerospace segment posted a 39% increase in profits and 8% in sales, earning $99 million on revenues of $1.4 billion.
Rolls-Royce said it is well along in the modifications that will permit resumption of extended-range twin-engine operations (ETOPS) by Boeing 777s powered by its Trent 800 engine. The flights were halted after reports of oil loss, and can't be resumed until parts are replaced (DAILY, May 1). The modifications involve the original Trent engines that developed "teething problems" identified last year, a Rolls-Royce spokesman said. "When this program is complete," he said, "then ETOPS flights will become effective with no further need of inspections."
Japan's government plans to delay payment on portions of defense contracts under the recently approved fiscal year 1997 budget in order to reduce the FY '98 budget. In the past, payments to industry for most of the costliest defense contracts have been made in installments of two to five years. When the air force recently purchased $100 million worth of combat aircraft, for instance, $5 million was paid in the first year and $50 million in the second. The remaining payments were $15 million each for three years.
Senate Appropriations Committee Chairman Ted Stevens (R-Alaska) said yesterday that language in the $8 billion supplemental appropriations bill directing the Joint Requirements Oversight Council to review the award for the lead system integrator for the National Missile Defense system is intended to make sure that resources aren't diverted from the NMD goal. The bill, which includes $2 billion in defense reprogramming to pay for Bosnia and other deployments, is now before the Senate.
The testing schedule now planned for a National Missile Defense (NMD) system is too aggressive, doesn't include enough flight tests, and could end up leaving the program in worse shape than the troubled Theater High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) system, Pentagon officials warn. "We have some strong concerns that our programs, particularly in the area of national missile defense, are very, very high risk from the standpoint of schedule," Ballistic Missile Defense Organization Director Lt. Gen. Lester Lyles told reporters here last week.
Surrey Satellite Technology Limited, Guildford, Surrey, England, is being awarded a $5,154,584 firm fixed price contract to provide for one spaceflight package including spacecraft hardware, mission planning and payload integration services, launch, and on-orbit operation. This effort will provide spaceflight for small experiment packages prioritized by the Department of Defense Space Experiments Review Board. This acquisition is being accomplished under the Foreign Comparative Test Program. Launch performance will be subcontracted to a contractor in the United States.
CORRECTION: The observations on the potential acquisition interests of Rockwell International and the accompanying financial data came from Merrill Lynch analysts Jeanne G. Terrile and Carol Sabbagha, not Byron Callan (DAILY, May 5).
The U.S. Air Force announced the following shifts in force structure last Friday (DAILY, May 5). It said the moves "are the result of changes in the mission, adjustments for efficiency and to meet congressional directives." ARIZONA
Tracor Aerospace, Inc., Austin, Texas, is being awarded a $26,080,831 firm fixed price contract to provide for 525 shipsets of the AN/ALE-47 (V) Countermeasures Dispenser System applicable to the following aircraft: C-5, C-17, C-130, C-141, E-8C, F-16, F/A-18, HH-60G/H, MH-47D, MH-53J, MH-60L/K, P-3, UH-3D, and the UH-60N. Funds will be obligated as individual delivery orders are issued. Contract is expected to be completed September 2002. Contract funds will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year.
The decision of budget negotiators to increase the Clinton Administration's fiscal 1998 national security budget authority request by $2.9 billion could open the door to the service wish lists at the $1 billion level. Congressional sources said that Administration and Republican negotiators reached agreement on a budget that would increase the Administration's national security budget authority to $268.2 billion, an increase of $2.9 billion, and boost outlays to $263 billion, a hike of $3.6 billion in the request.
The General Accounting Office has denied a Hughes Aircraft protest of a modification by the Defense Information Systems Agency to a Commercial Satellite Communication Initiative (CSCI) contract awarded to Comsat in July 1995. Hughes argued that the modification, to provide satellite transponder services for the Armed Forces Radio and Television Service, exceeded the scope of the CSCI contract and was an improper sole-source award.
Lockheed Martin Tactical Defense Systems, Archbald, Pa., is being awarded a $6,570,099 firm-fixed-price contract for the procurement of 1800 Laser Guided Training Rounds. Work will be performed in Archbald, Pa., and is expected to be completed by October 1998. Contract funds would not have expired at the end of the current fiscal year. This contract was not competitively procured. The Naval Air Systems Command, Arlington, Va., is the contracting activity (N00019-96-C-0235).
Hughes Missile Systems Co., Tucson, Ariz., is being awarded a $5,970,000 modification to previously awarded contract N00024-94-C-5435 for 30 Low Rate Initial Production (LRIP) missiles for the Block 1 Guided Missile Round Pack (GMRP) Production Program. This effort is in support of the Rolling Airframe Missile. Work will be performed in Tucson, Ariz. (50%), and Riemerling, Germany (50%), and is expected to be completed by September 1998. Contract funds will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year.
Chromalloy Gas Turbine Corp., Carson City, Nev., is being awarded a $7,828,565 firm fixed price contract to provide for repair and overhaul of (best estimated quantities) 15,288 First Stage Blades and 16,242 Second Stage Blades applicable to the TF39 engine on the C-5 aircraft. Contract is expected to be completed January 1998. Contract funds will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. There were ten firms solicited and two proposals received. Solicitation began June 1996; negotiations were completed April 1997.
McDonnell Douglas' Delta II booster returned to flight yesterday with an apparently flawless launch of the first five Iridium low Earth orbit communications satellites, the first of the so-called "Big LEO" platforms to reach space.
Shoring up its information technology portfolio, Northrop Grumman yesterday moved to buy Logicon in a stock-swap deal worth more than $700 million at current prices. Assuming the deal passes anti-trust reviews and wins shareholder approvals, Northrop Grumman plans to combine "substantial elements" of its Herndon, Va.-based Data Systems and Services Div. (DSSD) with Logicon to create a new Logicon Information Technology Div. with annual revenues approaching $1 billion.
California Microwave/Airborne Systems Integration Division, Belcamp, Md., was awarded on April 30, 1997, a $5,161,946 increment as part of a $22,721,911 modification to a $219,436,630 cost-plus-award-fee/firm-fixed price contract for implementation of aircraft baseline modifications into two recently acquired Airborne Reconnaissance Low - Multifunction (ARL-M) aircraft. Work will be performed in Hagerstown, Md. (90%) and Belcamp, Md., (10%), and is expected to be completed by Sept. 30, 2001. Contracts funds will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year.
McDonnell Douglas Aerospace-East, Berkeley, Mo., is being awarded a $19,836,896 face value increase to a firm fixed price contract to provide for low rate initial production of 937 Joint direct Attack Munition (JDAM) kits. JDAM is a strap-on kit with Inertial Navigation System/Global Positioning System capability that will provide an improved aerial delivery capability for existing 1000 and 2000-pound bombs. The work will be performed at McDonnell Douglas-East, Berkeley, Mo. (75%) and Honeywell, Inc., Minneapolis, Minn. (25%).
Raytheon Company, Raytheon Electronics Systems, Marlborough, Mass., is being awarded a $5,427,502 increment of a $10,422,212 modification of a $93,421,06 firm-fixed-price/time and material contract to develop , test and install a training system for the Secure, Mobile , Anti-jam, Reliable Tactical Terminal (SMART-T). Work will be performed in Marlborough, Mass., and is expected to be completed by May 30, 1999. Contract funds will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. This is a sole source contract initiated on Feb. 20, 1997.
