DELTA II LAUNCHES will resume about May 1, James F. Palmer, CFO of McDonnell Douglas, said in a telephone press conference yesterday. Launches had been suspended since the failure of a Delta II carrying a GPS satellite (DAILY, Jan. 21). First launch will be an Iridium satellite for Motorola, followed by a launch for an unnamed customer in mid-May. McDonnell Douglas now expects to conduct 14 launches in 1997, down from a planned 17 (DAILY, Jan. 22). Some planned launches have been effectively moved to 1998, according to Palmer.
Singapore Airlines is the first customer for Airbus Industrie's Future Navigation System datalink, called AIM FANS A. The carrier placed a multi-million dollar order to equip all its A340s airliners with the system, which will permit it to fly more direct routes and carry more passengers and cargo on ultra-long haul flights.
LucasVarity reported that pro forma sales climbed 4% to 4.6 billion pounds ($7.5 billion) in fiscal year 1996, the first full year since the merger of Lucas Industries and Varity. Operating profits increased 5% to 336 million pounds ($544.3 million), and earnings before taxes for the new entity were 282 million pounds ($456.8 million).
BFGOODRICH CO. and Unison Industries yesterday said they reached agreement for Unison to purchase the BFGoodrich Aerospace Engine Electrical Systems Div., Norwich, N.Y., and manufacturing operations in Fort Worth, Tex. Terms were not disclosed.
BOEING PRESIDENT and Chief Executive Officer Phil Condit met with Turkish Prime Minister Necmettin Erbakan in Ankara earlier this week to discuss an industrial cooperation program with Turkish aerospace companies, a Boeing spokesman said. He said talks were in the formative stages, and that it was too early to discuss the substance of the meetings.
Budget constraints have degraded the operations of aggressor units at air training centers like Nellis AFB, Nev., according to a military readiness report released this month by House National Security Committee Chairman Floyd Spence (R-S.C.). Senior officers interviewed by the HNSC members and staff over the past year reported that the U.S. Air Force Weapons School and Red Flag training programs at Nellis are having trouble fielding full complements of aggressor squadrons, according to "Military Readiness 1997: Rhetoric and Reality."
House National Security research and development subcommittee chairman Curt Weldon (R-Pa.) yesterday said the North Korean No Dong ballistic missile, which has a range of 1,000 kilometers, is "here now" and poses a threat to U.S. forces in South Korea and elsewhere in Asia. He thus all but confirmed published reports that North Korea is preparing to deploy the missile. Other sources said satellite imagery showed preparations for missile launch sites on the northeast coast of North Korea.
The House Appropriations national security subcommittee cut $48 million from the F/A-18E/F Super Hornet and $40 million from the Theater High Altitude Area Defense program in approving cuts of $1.85 billion to help pay for the Pentagon's fiscal 1997 supplemental request, subcommittee chairman Rep. C. W. (Bill) Young (R-Fla.) said yesterday.
Japanese defense spending has increased for the first time in six years, according to figures released last week by Japan's Defense Agency, but an agency official said the upturn will be temporary and spending will soon return to a downward trend. The $10.8 billion spent in fiscal year 1996 represented a 1.5% increase over previous year spending.
McDonnell Douglas and Alliant Techsystems' Ammunition Systems Business area have signed a teaming agreement to increase worldwide sales of 35/50mm armament systems using McDonnell Douglas' new Bushmaster III cannon, the companies announced yesterday. McDonnell Douglas Helicopter Systems, Mesa, Ariz., will develop the cannon and feed system, while Alliant, Hopkins, Minn., will provide ammunition expertise. Alliant recently announced a licensing agreement with Oerlikon-Contraves Pyrotech for its family of 35mm ammunition for U.S. applications.
Members of the House Science Committee voted unanimously yesterday to prohibit NASA from spending U.S. funds on portions of the International Space Station Russia has agreed to build with its own resources, and to order an independent safety review of the troubled Mir orbital station before another U.S. astronaut settles in there for a long stay.
Boeing Co. and the Seattle Professional Engineering Employees Association (SPEEA) have reached an agreement on Boeing's planned joint venture with FlightSafety International. The companies said last month that their linkup would create the "most comprehensive flight and ground crew training...available" (DAILY, March 12). The union objected to the joint venture, saying it would threaten the jobs of Boeing workers.
SMITHS INDUSTRIES benefited from the upturn in commercial aircraft, reporting that Aerospace Group sales climbed 7.5% to 184.1 million pounds ($298.2 million) in the first six months of its fiscal year. The group's operating profits increased to 22.9 million pounds ($37.1 million) from 17.2 million pounds (27.9 million) in the same period a year ago. Overall, Smiths earned 38.8 million pounds ($62.9 million) as revenues rose 6% to 488.6 million pounds ($791.5 million).
There is virtually nothing in the U.S. Air Force's F-22 cost avoidance plan that justifies changing an estimate by the Pentagon's Cost Analysis Improvement Group (CAIG) that the program will exceed the $48 billion budgeted for production of the 438 aircraft by about $16 billion, the director of the Pentagon's office of Program Analysis and Evaluation testified yesterday.
The Pentagon on April 24 plans to release a request for information on concepts that could separately meet tactical unmanned aerial vehicle requirements of the Army and Navy/Marine Corps. Noel Longuemare, the Pentagon's deputy acquisition chief, wrote in an April 14 memorandum that industry would have until May 23 to respond. The memorandum followed last week's review of the Outrider Advanced Concept Technology Demonstration.
A U.S. ARMY RC-12 GUARDRAIL sigint aircraft crashed yesterday off the Georgia coast. Both crew members are believed to have been killed, Army officials said. The plane was one of 11 of the Army's newest Guardrail Common Sensor System-1s, fielded with 224th Military Intelligence Battalion in 1995.
Japan will begin upgrading its F-15J fighters this year, a move that will keep Mitsubishi's line busy even after production of the planes ceases. The Air Self Defense Force, in conjunction with the Defense Agency's Technical Research and Development center, has programmed a total of about $317 million for the effort, which will overhaul the fighter's avionics system. Initial funding of $17.6 million is being provided this year.
Deploying a national missile defense (NMD) system by 2003 would be "very high risk" and "is not realistic," Ballistic Missile Defense Organization Director Lt. Gen. Lester Lyles told the House Appropriations Committee's panel on national security yesterday. "It could be deployed by 2003 if everything worked perfectly, but this is probably not realistic," he said.
Accelerating procurement of Joint Surveillance Target Attack Radar System (Joint STARS) aircraft to allow delivery of four of the planes earlier than planned could save $360.4 million, according to a U.S. Air Force report to the congressional defense and intelligence committees.
A Lockheed Martin Skunk Works proposal for an unmanned variant of the U-2 reconnaissance aircraft is getting only a lukewarm reception by the Pentagon's Defense Airborne Reconnaissance Office. "I have an unsolicited white paper for an uninhabited U-2" called the U-2U, Maj. Gen. Kenneth Israel, DARO director told reporters in Washington Tuesday. "It's very conceivable," but "it's not the first time it's been thought of."
Former Ballistic Missile Defense Organization director Lt. Gen. Malcolm R. O'Neill blamed BMDO's political problems in Congress on the program's close identification with former President Reagan and Republicans in Congress. The linkage triggered Democratic opposition to the program, which has resulted in volatile funding, said O'Neill, who was named Lockheed Martin's vice president, mission success and operations, Space and Strategic Missiles Sector, after his retirement from the U.S. Army.
Continental Airlines wants Boeing to show it how it can benefit from an exclusive contract with the Seattle company. Boeing has already signed such contracts with Delta Air Lines and American Airlines. "Negotiations are being actively pursued with two manufacturers," Continental said in a statement Monday. "As part of looking at all options available...," Continental said, it asked "Boeing [to] include in its package for consideration the benefits of an exclusive aircraft provider contract."
B-2 bombers resumed flying yesterday after a precautionary stand-down that began April 8, the U.S. Air Force said. The stand-down began after an Aircraft Mounted Accessory Drive (AMAD) unit failed in flight. B-2 prime contractor Northrop Grumman, working with Sundstrand, the manufacturer of the part, determined the failure was probably due to high cycle fatigue, the AF said. More frequent and detailed inspections will be conducted. A strengthened unit is being designed.
