The Pentagon's latest quarterly filing with Congress on the cost of major acquisition programs includes for the first time the total cost of the B-2 bomber program, an estimate of the cost to develop the Joint Strike Fighter, and an indication that money is being saved in the F/A-18E/F program.
China has "a large, well-established infrastructure for the development and production of ballistic missiles," and will have the industrial capacity to "produce as many as a thousand new [ballistic] missiles within the next decade, according to an unclassified version of a Defense Dept. report released yesterday. The report said that China is developing additional land-attack cruise missiles as a "high priority" for "theater warfighting and strategic attack."
Messier-Bugatti reported the sale of its new Sepcarb III carbon brakes to seven airlines in Europe and Asia to equip 58 A319 and A320 Airbus aircraft, for which they are standard equipment. The French company estimated the total value of the orders at $140 million over the operating life of the aircraft, and it said they were received during a one-month period.
The Space Shuttle Columbia landed safely at Kennedy Space Center, Fla., yesterday, cutting a planned 16-day microgravity mission to only four days after a fuel cell electric power generator malfunctioned. Astronaut James Halsell Jr. piloted Columbia to a touchdown at 2:33 p.m. EDT, the first opportunity to recover the spacecraft in Florida. High winds almost forced a slightly earlier landing at Edwards AFB, Calif., for Columbia, which at 235,500 pounds was one of the heaviest Shuttles to land anywhere.
First Aviation Services, a new group of aviation aftermarket firms, completed its initial public offering April 4 and is listed on New York's Nasdaq market under the symbol FAVS. The Stamford, Conn., company, which estimates its annual revenue at $150 million, will provide services to operators of some of the most widely used military and general aviation engines.
NASA is expected to announce today that the International Space Station will be delayed to give Russia time to complete its Service Module, but Canada gave a boost to the troubled international project yesterday by confirming that it will build the Special Purpose Dexterous Manipulator (SPDM) for Station maintenance.
ROBERT ROPELEWSKI, 54, veteran aviation journalist and most recently a public affairs officer at FAA, died of a heart attack Saturday at Fairfax (Va.) Hospital. During an 18-year career at McGraw-Hill's Aviation Week&Space Technology magazine, Ropelewski held the positions of managing editor, engineering editor, senior military editor and chief of the Washington, Paris and Los Angeles bureaus. He also wrote for Interavia, Jane's and Armed Forces Journal.
Coltec Industries, Charlotte, N.C., signed an agreement in principle to acquire AMI Industries Inc., Colorado Springs, Colo. AMI, which makes flight attendant and cockpit seats for commercial aircraft, expects to have 1997 revenues of about $30 million, said Coltec. It said Monday that the transaction is scheduled to close during the second quarter of 1997.
Boeing Co. delivered 68 commercial jets during the quarter that ended March 31, the company announced Monday. The deliveries included 25 737s, 10 747s, 12 757s, 11 767s and 10 777s. One non-commercial 767 was delivered to Japan, the fourth of four that will be modified for AWACS use by the government. Boeing continues to project 1997 deliveries of about 340.
The House Intelligence Committee intends to mark up its fiscal year 1998 budget the week of April 24, a committee aide said. The markup is slated to start soon after a final budget wrapup hearing with Acting Director of Central Intelligence George Tenet. It "could slip a few days, but we're in pretty good shape to meet that," the aide said. Meanwhile, the Senate Intelligence Committee is slated to hold hearings this week on the nomination of Tenet to become Director of Central Intelligence.
The U.S. Army is buying 1,800 laser-guided Hellfire II missiles in its fifth production lot for $83.4 million. The Lockheed Martin/Boeing Hellfire Systems Limited Liability Co. joint venture said yesterday that the order will extend production until September 1999. Lockheed Martin Electronics&Missiles, Orlando, Fla., will perform 80% of the work. The rest will be done at Boeing North American's Duluth, Ga., Autonetics&Missile Systems Div. Some 7,300 Hellfire IIs have been built since production began in 1990.
The U.S. Navy yesterday approved low rate production of the Standoff Land Attack Missile-Expanded Response, a move that had been expected after successful first flight of the missile last month. Rear Adm. Bart Strong, the program executive officer for cruise missiles and unmanned aerial vehicles, gave the approval, allowing prime contractor McDonnell Douglas to convert 60 SLAMs into SLAM-ERs, the PEO's office said. A decision on the second lot of low-rate production will be made early next year; a decision on full-rate production is slated for 1999.
Pentagon officials said yesterday they are moving forward with initiatives to reform acquisition processes and reduce the associated workforce, but a General Accounting Office official said the system isn't getting any better. Louis Rodrigues, director of acquisition issues for GAO, said that while "DOD's acquisition process has provided the United States with military weapons that no other country is in a position to challenge...the acquisition of weapons has been and, in many cases continues to be, fraught with significant problems."
British Aerospace and Lockheed Martin will form a team to compete for the Tactical Reconnaissance Armored Combat Equipment Requirement/Future Scout Calvary System (TRACER/FSCS) for the U.S. and British armies, the companies announced. Other members of the team include Vickers and General Dynamics Land Systems, with still other companies expected to join.
Lockheed Martin and PZL-Mielec signed an agreement that could lead to production or assembly of F-16 fighters in Poland, if the Polish government orders new F-16s to meet its future fighter aircraft needs, Lockheed Martin announced. Norman Augustine, Lockheed Martin chairman and CEO, recently completed a week-long visit to Poland, the Czech Republic and Hungary, during which he met with government officials. Those countries are looking at modernizing their air forces in hopes of meeting NATO standards.
The U.S. Air Force yesterday stood down its fleet of B-2 bombers because a shaft assembly in one of four engines in one of the planes broke during a training mission on April 2. On April 1, the B-2 was declared operational for nuclear and conventional missions. The AF, which has received 13 of 21 planned B-2s, said the planes are being inspected and will return to flight soon.
The Pentagon should oppose a White House proposal to increase the level of compensation for executives that can be billed to the government by defense contractors, according to Sen. Tom Harkin (D-Iowa).
Sikorsky Aircraft Corp., Stratford, Conn., is being awarded a $5,748,700 firm-fixed-price order for the CH-60 helicopter vertical replenishment demonstration. Work will be performed in Stratford, Conn., and is expected to be completed by December 1997. 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-G-0022).
FAA said it has approved an infrared de-icing technology that "mitigates the potentially harmful effects conventional chemical de-icing can have on the environment." The technology, developed by Process Technologies Inc., Orchard Park, N.Y., and tested in cooperation with FAA, operates like a car wash but infrared heat cleans the aircraft of contamination. Anti-icing fluids are then applied as weather conditions dictate.
Boeing North American, Inc., Canoga Park, Calif., is being awarded a $49,700,000 cost plus fixed fee contract to provide research and development support for the Development of Integrated Component Experiments (DICE) program. DICE will develop technologies to demonstrate advanced experimental vehicles to prove space control objectives in ground and space flight testing. Contract is expected to be completed June 2001. Contract funds will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. There was one firm solicited and one proposal received.
LOCKHEED MARTIN will close its Phoenix, Ariz., manufacturing facility this June after delivery of its last guidance control section for the AIM-9 Sidewinder air-to-air missile, Lockheed Martin said. The closing will end 36 years of Sidewinder work done by divisions acquired by Lockheed Martin in past years. Only 17 Lockheed Martin personnel and five subcontractor personnel remain at the facility.
The Outrider unmanned aerial vehicle program cleared an interim hurdle yesterday when Pentagon acquisition chief Paul Kaminski allowed the advanced concept technology demonstration to continue. Kaminski earlier this year ordered the program to be closely scrutinized and said it must show improvements during a 60-day period (DAILY, Feb. 20). He took another look yesterday and decided to continue the show-cause period, Defense Dept. officials told The DAILY.
The U.S. Air Force and Navy are likely to collide this month over plans for the Joint Air-to-Surface Standoff Missile (JASSM) when the Navy tells the Joint Requirements Oversight Council that it wants to use the Standoff Land-Attack Missile-Expanded Response (SLAM-ER) to meet its JASSM requirement.
General Electric Co., GE Aircraft Engines, Lynn, Mass., is being awarded a $118,120,093 modification to previously awarded contract N00019-95-C-0132 to exercise an option for 36 F404-GE-402 engines and various modules for the Government of Finland, and 18 F404-GE-402 engines and various modules for the Government of Thailand under the Foreign Military Sales (FMS) Program. Work will be performed in Linnavuori, Finland (66%), and Lynn, Mass. (34%), and is expected to be completed by August 1999. Contract funds would not have expired at the end of the current fiscal year.
