With eight of the top ten airlines worldwide considering fleet refurbishments over the next five years, BE Aerospace could benefit to the tune of $1.6 billion in future contracts, according to Peter J. Arment, an analyst at JSA Research. BE, of Wellington, Fla., holds 50% of the market in aircraft seating, 90% in beverage makers, 50% in galley ovens and appliances, and a strong position in galley structures.
A RAND Corp. study examining innovation in the U.S. military aircraft industry concludes that every major post-1945 innovation has come from "second-tier" firms. Callan believes this will add fuel to the debate over the extent of industry consolidation - and benefit most aerospace/defense firms. Because the U.S. military relies so heavily on technology to define its advantage, Callan thinks more weight will given to policies and procurement practices concerning innovation.
The U.S. and Canada are putting the final touches on an agreement to be signed this summer that will make Canada a participant in the Joint Strike Fighter program, says Rear Adm. Craig Steidle, the JSF program director. Canada would join the Netherlands and Norway as an official observer.
Although participants in the Joint Strike Fighter program aren't in total agreement yet about whether to give it an advanced gun, all service officials are at least interested in such a system. Brig. Gen. Bruce Carlson, head of U.S. Air Force fighter acquisition, told the American Helicopter Society here last week that "we think it is important we look at an advanced gun." Unlike the 20mm guns now in use, he said, he is looking for a gun that would fire 25mm caseless rounds.
Having acquired a taste for data from one U.S. Air Force asset, the Army wants to get information from several AF platforms. Decker says the Army needs to "tie in other sensors out of the Air Force besides just Joint STARS." Joint STARS participated in the Army's recent wargame at the National Training Center in California, and provided ground commanders with moving target information.
LOCKHEED MARTIN, Lehman Brothers Capital Partners III L.P. and a management team led by former company executives completed a $525 million transaction establishing L-3 Communications as an independent company, Lockheed Martin announced. L-3 is composed of ten former Lockheed Martin companies which primarily specialize in electronic component manufacturing.
Only the U.S. Navy is buying CH-60s as part of the multi-year, multi-service Black Hawk program. The DAILY reported that the helicopters in the buy were all CH-60s (DAILY, April 29). The Army is buying UH-60Ls and the Air Force UH-60Ls that are then modified into MH-60Gs. The Navy CH- 60s are modified UH-60Ls. First delivery of the UH-60Ls will take place this year.
KLAUS NITTINGER was appointed chairman of BMW Rolls-Royce effective July 31 on retirement of Albert Schneider at standard BMW retirement age 60. Nittinger, 53, has been with Lufthansa for 23 years, most recently as chief executive-operations.
The Dept. of Defense may have committed to full-rate production of the Joint Surveillance Target Attack Radar System (Joint STARS) too soon, and one way to reign in rising costs might be to change aircraft, according to the General Accounting Office.
Aeroflot Russian International Airlines ordered 10 Boeing 737-400 twinjets valued at about $440 million, Boeing Commercial Airplane Group announced. The contract calls for delivery of the first aircraft in April 1998 and for the order to be completed by February 1999. "Buying Boeing aircraft is an integral part of Aeroflot's long-term program of upgrading our fleet to increase the quality of passenger service and cost effectiveness," Valery Okulov, acting general director of Aeroflot, said in a prepared statement.
The U.S. Army's experiment to digitize its military force may eliminate the need for as many as 2,500 people per heavy division and result in changes in its modernization accounts, Army acquisition chief Gilbert Decker says. "One of the things that is clearly going to come out of the digitization work is, I think, you are going to see...about a 2,000 person reduction, maybe 2,500 in the heavy divisions," Decker told reporters as he prepares to return to the private sector later this month.
The Dept. of Defense will release its Year 2000 Management Plan this month, Congress was told yesterday. Emmett Paige Jr., assistant secretary of defense for command, control, communications and intelligence, told the Senate Governmental Affairs Committee that the plan defines the goals and objectives of the Y2K program and specifies an overall strategy for inventorying, prioritizing and retiring systems.
PanAmSat Corp. has delayed its planned May 14 launch of the PAS-6 Atlantic Region satellite until August to give Space Systems/Loral more time to investigate a power anomaly on a similar satellite launched in March, the Greenwich, Conn.-based company reported yesterday. PAS-6 has already been delivered to the European launch site in French Guiana for its Ariane launch, according to a PanAmSat spokesman. The company said the Arianespace launch consortium had indicated it would be able to accommodate the schedule shift.
DEPUTY U.S. DEFENSE SECRETARY John White has told Defense Secretary William Cohen he will resign this summer, the Pentagon said yesterday. White stayed on after Cohen took over from former Defense Secretary William Perry to smooth the transition process. White notified Cohen about his decision Wednesday.
Lockheed Martin will have at least one more chance to make the Theater High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) program work since the Pentagon has decided not to make any major programmatic changes until after the next intercept attempt, a top U.S. Army official said yesterday. "I don't anticipate there will be any dramatic changes in teams or anything until after the next test," said Gilbert Decker, the Army's acquisition chief. He acknowledged, however, that "if they can't pull together, if our entire team can't put it together, we'll have to do something."
U.S. Army and Air Force officials are seeking permission from the Pentagon leadership to test a high intensity laser against a satellite before the end of the year, Army officials told reporters at the service's Space and Strategic Defense Command here on Monday.
ALLIANT TECHSYSTEMS' OUTRIDER UAV logged its second flight Tuesday, but was forced to land after an engine anomaly. Erratic RPMs and temperature problems terminated the flight after several minutes, the UAV Joint Program Office said. Flights will resume next week with another engine. Tuesday's flight was the first with a 13-foot wing. On its initial flight in March, the UAV used an 11-foot wing. Successful flight with the 13-foot version was a precondition to continuing the program.
GEC-Marconi Avionics won a contract from the Royal Air Force Logistics Command for Helmet-Mounted Sighting Systems (HMSS) for Jaguar strike fighters, and a $46 million contract from British Aerospace Military Aircraft for similar systems for the Eurofighter. Both contracts involve joint programs. GEC Mission Avionics Div. will work with Honeywell Military Avionics of the U.S. and the U.K. Defense Evaluation and Research Agency (DERA) on the Jaguar program. Finmeccanica Group of Italy will assist on the Eurofighter contract.
Three different NASA panels have certified that Russia's Mir orbital station is safe enough for continued visits by U.S. astronauts, clearing the way for launch of the Space Shuttle Atlantis May 15 to replace Astronaut Jerry Linenger aboard Mir with Astronaut C. Michael Foale. Shuttle managers set the May 15 date at the conclusion of a Flight Readiness Review yesterday after considering reports on the rash of potentially serious problems that have troubled the 11-year-old Russian station over the past two months, as well as the status of Atlantis.
The National Reconnaissance Office's mission in the coming decades will be to give the U.S. information superiority in peace and war, according to a report by Adm. David Jeremiah (USN-ret.), former vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. Jeremiah's report, completed last August but just now being released, was described in part to reporters Tuesday by Keith R. Hall, director of the NRO.
The European Commission will order Spain to recover Ptas1.2 billion ($8.3 million) from state-owned CASA, which received a loan of Ptas7.2 billion ($49.5 million) between 1991 and 1993 to finance the development of the CASA-3000 aircraft. Development of the CASA-3000, which was intended to be a 70-80 passenger turboprop aircraft, was stopped in 1994, and Spanish authorities never demanded reimbursement.
An automated airport passenger clearance system developed by IBM will debut this month at the Bermuda International Airport, relying on biometric information - digitally stored fingerprints, hand geometry or voice print - to identify travelers at border crossings and clear them for entry.
Alliant Techsystems' Conventional Munitions Group won a $17.3 million subcontract from Hughes Missiles Systems Co. for rocket motors and heavy warheads for the AGM-65 Maverick air-to-ground missile, Alliant announced. Work will be conducted at the Allegany Ballistics Laboratory, Rocket Center, W.Va. Deliveries are expected to begin in April 1998. Additional sales of the missile to the U.S. government and allied nations could increase the total value of the contract to more than $25 million over the next five years.
U.S. ARMY SECRETARY Togo West will temporarily act as acquisition chief after Gilbert Decker leaves his post as acquisition executive and assistant secretary of the Army for procurement, Decker told reporters yesterday. Kenneth Oscar, Decker's deputy, will be acting assistant secretary of the Army for procurement until a successor to Decker is named and confirmed.
