Germany, Sweden and the U.S. plan to jointly return the X-31 experimental aircraft to flying status to demonstrate technologies of vectored thrust, extremely short take-off and landing (ESTOL) and tailless flight. Potential payoffs include improved carrier suitability and enhanced flight safety, U.S. Navy Capt. Don R. Newman of the Naval Aviation Science and Technology Office told The DAILY yesterday. Data from the program could benefit new aircraft or lead to block upgrades and retrofits, he said.
Hughes Information Technology Systems was chosen by the FAA to provide a computerized monitoring and control system to help increase the reliability of its 30,000-plus facilities and pieces of equipment systemwide. Under the contract, valued at up to $100 million, the Landover, Md., unit of Hughes Aircraft Co. will provide technical integration of the National Airspace System Infrastructure Management System (NIMS). It is the centralized management system for FAA equipment and facilities, and will consolidate previously separate efforts.
The U.S. Army's newest medical evacuation helicopter, the Sikorsky UH-60Q, is slated to log its first flight in the next few days, Army H-60 Black Hawk program manager Col. Chester L. Rees says. The flight could take place as early as this month but otherwise is expected to take place in May, Rees said at the Quad-A show here. The aircraft will feature the full mission equipment package. Integration and qualification testing of the aircraft is slated to take place next January, with type classification slated for April.
The Justice Dept.'s Antitrust Division has requested additional information from General Electric, Greenwich Air Services and UNC in connection with its review of GE's proposed acquisition of Greenwich and UNC, announced March 10. The three companies said they will comply as promptly as possible, and that they anticipate the transaction will close within the next several months following completion of the regulatory review and the required shareholder approval.
Hughes Missile Systems Co., Tucson, Ariz., won contracts from the government of Sweden for Advanced Medium-Range Air-to-Air Missile (AMRAAM) launchers and from the Royal Netherlands Air Force for Infrared Maverick missiles, the company announced. The $5.4 million direct commercial contract with Sweden calls for 110 launchers for JAS 37 and JAS 39 fighters and includes an option for production of as many as 700 additional launchers. Work will be performed at Tucson and Farmington, N.M., with deliveries beginning in April 1998.
Pentagon acquisition chief Paul Kaminski has given the Marine Corps the green light to begin low-rate initial production of the Bell/Boeing V- 22 tiltrotor. In an April 25 acquisition decision memorandum, Kaminski authorized the Marines to buy 25 LRIP MV-22s and to spend long-lead funding for the second LRIP lot. The Marines plan to buy a total 425 Ospreys. As a result of Kaminski's action, the Pentagon yesterday awarded the Bell/Boeing team a $49.8 million contract for long-lead items for five MV- 22s to be bought in fiscal 1998.
The U.S. Army fired its Enhanced Fiber Optic-Guided Missile (EFOGM) for the first time last week to validate the system's design. It said the Raytheon system met its test objective, which included wing and fin deployment and proving that it could deploy its fiber optic cable. The test missile featured a simulated seeker, warhead, and sustainer rocket motor section, the Army said.
Bombardier Inc.'s Defense Systems Div. led a team to establish the NATO Flying Training in Canada (NFTC) program at Canadian Forces bases in Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan, and Cold Lake, Alberta, the company reported. The program "could result in more than $1.5 billion in direct benefits to Canadians over the next 25 years," Douglas Young, Canada's Minister of National Defense, said in a prepared statement.
The planned hiatus in the Boeing/Sikorsky RAH-66 Comanche helicopter flight test program has been extended to about four months after upgrades that initially were supposed to be undertaken separately were rescheduled to coincide with the down time, program officials said here last week.
Airbus Industrie confirmed in a statement from Toulouse that it was holding talks with Lockheed Martin on development of its next long-range passenger aircraft, the A3XX, but said it was "premature" to say that merger talks were being held, as reported Saturday by the London Times. Both companies are holding talks "to determine how far [our] cooperation will go," an Airbus spokesman said.
One of the main lessons Army aviators are learning from the recent advanced warfighting exercise (AWE) to demonstrate a digitized Army is the need to properly integrate the electronic systems, says Paul Bogosian, the Army program executive officer of aviation.
Boeing Co. first quarter earnings and profits were pushed up sharply by an increase in commercial aircraft deliveries combined with the first full quarter of operating earnings associated with the defense and space units acquired from Rockwell International Corp. The company yesterday reported earnings of $313 million for the quarter, nearly triple the $119 million earned in the first quarter of 1996. Overall sales grew 70.5% to $7.3 billion for the first three months of 1997, compared to $4.3 billion in the same period a year ago.
Budget cuts helped create a streamlined, more efficient NASA, according to Administrator Daniel S. Goldin, but the U.S. space agency has reached the limit of cuts it can sustain, especially if they are part of a continuing decline in long-term non-defense research and development.
Digitial imagery delivered by the U.S. Navy F-14 Tactical Airborne Reconnaissance Pods (TARPS) will do more than simple reconnaissance. The collected data is of targeting quality, says Capt. Chuck Nash of the Navy's air warfare directorate. The imagery can be used to guide a Standoff Land-Attack Missile-Expanded Response (SLAM-ER) with automatic target recognition or by a Joint Direct Attack Munition with terminal seeker to target (see story page 158).
NATO expansion into the territory of the former Warsaw Pack will cost new member states an estimated $800 million to $1 billion a year, while the U.S. will pay about $150 million to $200 million annually for its share of bringing the new members into the alliance, according to Defense Secretary William S. Cohen.
In what could be another sign that the Alliant Techsystems Outrider unmanned aerial vehicle is in a lot of trouble, Army acquisition chief Gilbert Decker tells the Army Aviation Association of America that the Hunter UAV recently participated at the Advanced Warfighting Experiment (AWE) at Ft. Irwin, Calif., as a surrogate "for the future Tactical UAV." The Army used to say more specifically that Hunter was a surrogate for Outrider.
NASA launched the latest Geostationary Operational Satellite (GOES-K) aboard the last Atlas I booster early Friday, and first indications showed the advanced weather platform performing nominally. Liftoff from Cape Canaveral Air Station, Fla., came at 1:49 a.m. EDT after a day-long weather delay (DAILY, April 24). The satellite separated from its Centaur upper stage 29 minutes later, and controllers were able to deploy the outer panel of the spacecraft's solar array at 3:10 a.m. EDT Friday.
Truly capable fighter or attack UAVs probably won't be fielded until well into production of the Joint Strike Fighter, some 25 or 30 years from now, Fogleman says. The Block 10-40 JSFs will be piloted, he says, but thepromise of integrated avionics is showing the way to uninhabited fighters after that.
Northrop Grumman has signed an agreement with ESG Elektroniksystem-und Logistik-GmbH, Munich, to make ESG a main European subcontractor for the NATO Joint STARS ground support system, the Los Angeles-based U.S. company reported. The contract is dependent on NATO selecting the program for its Alliance Ground Surveillance (AGS) program this fall, Northrop Grumman said Wednesday.
AWE results that highlighted the benefits of digitizing the Army should "get some recognition" in the Quadrennial Defense Review, Decker says. He notes, also, that there may be a "modest reprioritization of the budget." And, Decker adds, the Army hopes to get some help on that so it doesn't "need to take it out of hide."
The Force XXI digitized brigade managed to achieve a tie in the recent AWE exercise, Decker says. But, he adds, had the brigade been able to use the RAH-66 Comanche it would "tilted [the outcome] from a tie to an actual win." Decker points out that Force XXI "could and would have flown Comanche at will throughout the OpFors battlespace."
Even as private industry begins to absorb more cost for space development, Administrator Dan Goldin thinks NASA should cover the indemnification requirements for companies like Lockheed Martin while they working on the X-33. "This is really high-tech," he tells Congress. "To ask a commercial company to cover the indemnification, they will be spending too much money. We would rather have them spending their money on the development of the vehicle. So it's precedent-setting, and I think it's absolutely crucial to this agency that we get it.
Lockheed Martin's Joint Strike Fighter vice president, David J. Wheaton, hinted at some of the proprietary work his company is doing in the technology demonstration area as the JSF program moves into its sixth month. He declined to be specific during an interview here at the 50th anniversary celebration of the U.S. Air Force because the efforts are unique to Lockheed Martin's program and are intended to give it an edge over competitor Boeing Co.
