The U.S. Army is going to start taking a serious look at funding for a UH-60 Black Hawk System Life Extension Program and for additional Airborne Reconnaissance Low aircraft as part of the next major budget build, according to Maj. Gen. John M. Riggs, the Army's deputy chief of staff for operations and plans. Army plans call for funding the UH-60 SLEP in 2004, but development funding for 2002/03 so far hasn't been set aside and the funding in 2004 and beyond remains notional because it is outside the FY '98 to '03 program objective memorandum (POM).
House National Security procurement subcommittee chairman Rep. Duncan Hunter (R-Calif.) is expected to include a $350 million add-on to preserve the B-2 contractor base in his chairman's mark next month, congressional sources said last week. This would be the first step in a long-term funding campaign to buy nine more of the stealth bombers. Rep. Norman Dicks (D-Wash.), probably the most active congressional backer of renewed B-2 production, told The DAILY: "We're going to try. We're going to work with Duncan Hunter on that."
The Ballistic Missile Defense Organization on Friday awarded two $8 million contracts for the concept definition phase of the national missile defense (NMD) lead systems integrator (LSI) program to the new United Missile Defense Company, Arlington, Va., and Boeing North America, Downey, Calif. UMDC is a newly formed joint venture between Lockheed Martin, TRW and Raytheon (DAILY, April 1, April 23).
The House Appropriations Committee has rejected supplemental funding for two Mk-48 advanced capability torpedo research and development programs and criticized the Navy for initiating the two programs without prior congressional approval. The committee says it is "dismayed that the Navy would ignore these procedures and expose taxpayers to large expenses without public or congressional review." National security appropriations subcommittee chair Rep. C.W.
The U.S. Navy is considering further digitizing its F-14 Tactical Airborne Reconnaissance Pods (TARPS) to pave the way for the future tactical reconnaissance F/A-18F aircraft. The system being referred to as TARPS-CD would be a growth version of the TARPS-DI that includes one digital sensor, Navy Capt. Chuck Nash, of the Navy's air warfare directorate, told The DAILY Wednesday. The TARPS-CD would be "completely digital," he said during a demonstration of the TARPS- DI system at the Pentagon.
U.S. Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. Ronald Fogleman says he has told the service's new battlelab for unmanned aerial vehicles that researchers should "push the envelope" by trying a relatively easy first step toward a fighter or attack UAV - taking a couple of old fighters out of storage at Davis-Monthan AFB, Ariz., and fixing a TV camera to their ejection seats. "I'm looking for that kind of motivation," he says, noting that a from-the-ground-up approach isn't required.
North Korea probably has enough plutonium for a number of nuclear devices, but former Director of Central Intelligence R. James Woolsey says it is unclear whether the nuclear material has been weaponized. Woolsey tells a Capitol Hill missile defense seminar that in 1993 the U.S. thought North Korea had enough plutonium for one or two weapons. The South Korean government reported last week that Hwang Jang Yop, the most senior North Korean official to defect, has reported that North Korea has nuclear weapons and would not hesitate to use them.
NASA planners have adjusted the Space Shuttle flight manifest for the rest of the year to accommodate the planned reflight of the STS-83 microgravity laboratory mission curtailed last month with a fuel cell failure, and the 11-month delay of the International Space Station.
Goldin says recent Mir troubles show that the Russians are probably are more safety conscious than NASA. The Russians have better fire detection and better fire prevention techniques than planned for the International Space Station, he says. "In our modern day life we like things nice and neat...The Russians have one heck of a system to handle all those problems and still keep it going. There's something for America to learn. The space frontier is difficult; it's dangerous, and if we have queasy stomachs we may be doing a disservice to ourselves."
The best approach for the ground based interceptor (GBI) portion of a national missile defense (NMD) system may be to use a mix of interceptor configurations, says Bill Loomis, president of the new United Missile Defense Company, which is pursuing a contract to become the lead systems integrator for NMD. As part of an NMD LSI concept/definition contract to be awarded this week, contractors will provide proposed options for the GBI portion of the overall NMD system.
HOUSE MEMBERS VOTED to authorize NASA funding of $13.8 billion in fiscal 1998 and FY '99, after rejecting an amendment that would have killed U.S. participation in the International Space Station. Rep. Tim Roemer (D-Ind.) failed 112-305 in his annual effort to terminate the orbiting laboratory. Roemer also withdrew an amendment kicking Russia out of the Station program, which he said was necessary to keep funding delays in Moscow from diverting U.S. Station monies.
Strong results from aerospace businesses helped United Technologies Corp. (UTX), Hartford, Conn., post an 18% increase in earnings in the first quarter of 1997. UTC earned $224 million on sales of $5.9 billion, up from profits of $164 million on revenues of $5.4 billion in the same quarter a year ago.
U.S. airworthiness regulators yesterday issued an emergency airworthiness directive covering inspection and replacement of ball bearings on General Electric GE90 turbofans powering Boeing 777s, even though GE and the airlines recognized - and addressed - the problem months ago (AP, March 14, April 11).
Johns Hopkins University's Chemical Propulsion Information Agency (CPIA) is trying to decide whether it's a good idea to resurrect a National Bureau of Standards database on cryogenics technology that lapsed 14 years ago, and has so far surveyed more than 200 professionals and experts on the question. The Columbia, Md., CPIA will start tallying results next month, and if the demand is there, CPIA plans to help manage the revival, with both a CD-ROM-based cyrogenics data retrieval system and later a World Wide Web site. -at CPIA, Michele Blackburn, 410-992-7303
Gary DeLuca will be general manager of JT8D engine programs for Greenwich Air Services, overseeing JT8D assembly and disassembly, the JT8D repair line, the rotor shop and the narrowbody test cell at the Miami, Fla.-based overhaul specialist. DeLuca joins Greenwich from Miami Air International, where he managed programs in engines, auxiliary power units and landing gear.
Administrator Dan Goldin, appearing before Congress for the first time since NASA announced an 11-month schedule delay in the International Space Station, yesterday set three milestones for Russia's continued participation in the project. Testifying before Sen. Bill Frist (R-Tenn.), chairman of the Senate Commerce science, technology and space Subcommittee, Goldin set a May 14th meeting with the ISS partners as the first deadline for Russia to clear up funding problems that have delayed its critical Service Module.
Higher sales and improved margins in the Fastening Systems segment helped Thiokol Corp., Ogden, Utah, improve third-quarter earnings 66% over the same period last year, excluding 1996 third-quarter inventory charges. Thiokol earned $20.8 million on sales of $226.6 million in the third quarter of 1997. Sales fell slightly from last year's $229 million, but fastener sales offset a 29% drop in defense revenues.
The Senate Armed Services Committee yesterday approved by a 10-8 party-line vote a Republican bill directing deployment of a national missile defense system that would achieve initial operational capability by the end of 2003, a committee spokeswoman said.
Materials supplier Textron Systems of Wilmington, Mass., is cutting prices by as much as 31% on silicon carbide fibers used in aircraft engine components as part of a plan to encourage wider use of advanced composites. SCS-6 silicon carbide fiber prices are being cut from 10% to 31% on quantities up to 1,000 pounds, while SCS-ULTRA silicon carbide fiber prices are being cut 15% on up to 100 pounds. The company also offers steeper discounts on larger buys.
The House Appropriations Committee yesterday approved $2.033 billion in emergency defense appropriations for peacekeeping operations by a voice vote while endorsing language scolding the Clinton Administration for its reliance on supplementals and reprogrammings. What lawmakers described as costly and frequent supplementals and reprogrammings have "disrupted defense planning and detracted from other critical needs."
Concern that the government's enthusiasm for large-scale defense and aerospace mergers might cool was among the factors playing into Hughes Aircraft Co.'s decision to pursue a merger with Raytheon Co., which is itself acquiring Texas Instruments, Hughes Aircraft President John C. Weaver said yesterday. "There is a potential danger if you allow consolidation, and then stop it before the rest of the entities can get in a consolidated position to compete," he said. This "was one of the motivating forces...in doing what was done with Hughes."
Indianapolis, Ind.-based Allison Engine Co. named James F. Leach VP for Large Military Engines, replacing John R. Arvin, who takes over the newly created position of VP-Small Engine Development for Allison. Leach has headed Allison Customer Support as VP since Dec. 1, 1993.
Sundstrand Aerospace is close to being selected to provide the auxiliary power unit for the next production lot of Sweden's Gripen fighter, according to industry executives here. With plants in San Diego, Calif., and Rockford, Ill., Sundstrand is one of a number of U.S. subcontractors to Saab on the Gripen and is competing against France's Microturbo for the work with a modified T46C/APS1000 unit.
Canada's Orenda Aerospace Corp. will develop and build its 600 hp OE- 600 aviation V-8 engine at a new facility in Nova Scotia opening in September under a $32 million plan to take over part of a former Canadian Forces base at Debert Airport, Orenda reports. The company already has orders in hand for 140 engines and installation kits from Greenville, S.C.-based Stevens Aviation, which will retrofit Beechcraft King Air 90 business aircraft with the OE-600 - the mid-range engine in Orenda's Orenda Series of V-8 aviation powerplants.
AlliedSignal Engines delivered 1,500-shp TPE331-14GR turboprop engines to Russia's Novosibirsk Aircraft Production Association (NAPA) to power the Antonov An-38 twin-engine utility transport, the first Western engines to power a Russian regional aircraft. Vostok Airlines in Khabarovsk, Russia, bought the first three An-38s, and AlliedSignal says it anticipates shipping 10 engines and associated equipment for the program this year, reaching 50 engines a year by 2000.
