O'GARA-HESS&EISNHARDT ARMORING CO., Fairfield, Ohio, won a $716,000 contract from Lockheed Martin's Loral-Vought Systems (LVS) Division to provide components for the LVS Army Tactical Missile System. The contract includes two options for additional components, valued at approximately $1.3 million, which can be exercised in June and September of this year.
The first two Russian Su-30 fighters were delivered to the Indian Air Force last week under a deal that will ultimately see 40 of the advanced warplanes operated by the Indians. The first two fighters were transported to India March 19 by an An-124 Ruslan cargo aircraft of the CargoTrans Russian company.
U.S. government officials yesterday defended the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty demarcation agreement between Russian President Boris Yeltsin and President Clinton, saying it doesn't limit U.S. theater- ballistic missile defense (TMD) programs and that, with the exception of the U.S. Navy Upper-Tier program, there isn't even a question about their ABM compliance. White House and Pentagon officials spoke out against a host of criticism after the agreement was announced Friday (DAILY, March 24).
The U.K. Ministry of Defense has picked teams led by Lockheed Martin and Raytheon E-Systems to compete for the SR(Land/Air) 925 requirement for the Airborne Stand-Off Radar (ASTOR) battlefield surveillance system. The two companies will submit best and final offers for development, production and in-service support of the program. A contract award worth about $1.2 billion is expected in 1998. The Lockheed Martin U-2 and Northrop Grumman E-8 Joint STARS were eliminated.
Most members of the House Science Committee have endorsed a panel position paper that supports completion of the International Space Station even if Russia drops out as a Station partner, although a perennial Station foe on the committee has signaled his intention to use Russia's Station problems as an argument against the project this year.
Cubic Defense Systems Inc., San Diego, signed teaming agreements with British Aerospace Australia and Georgia Tech Research Institute (GTRI) to pursue a contract for an Australian air combat training system, Cubic announced Thursday. The contract would be worth about $60 million-$70 million. The Royal Australian Air Force is expected to issue a request for tender by the end of the month. A winner should be selected by early 1998, with installation and activation of the system in the 2000.
March 17, 1997 General Electric Co., Lynn, Mass., is being awarded a $10,349,144 undefinitized contractual action contract for 20 engine series T700 spare part requirements for the UH 60 Black Hawk helicopter. Work will be performed in Lynn, Mass., and is expected to be completed by March 31, 1999. Contract funds will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. This is a sole source contract initiated on Feb. 22, 1997. The contracting activity is the U.S. Army Aviation and Troop Command, St. Louis, Mo. (F34601-97-G-0002).
Anxiety created by the impending Boeing-McDonnell Douglas merger isn't confined to European antitrust regulators and Airbus, with worries over the future of McDonnell Douglas commercial airliner programs leading Rohr Inc., to stop counting profits on the MD-90 program in its 1997 second quarter.
Pemco World Air Services, Denver, won a contract from KLM Royal Dutch Airlines for maintenance and modification of seven Boeing 737-400s. All seven will undergo cockpit modification to standardize them with the remaining KLM fleet. Work will begin in July 1997 and be completed in June 1998.
The U.S. Air Force last week successfully completed a series of tests of its small, smart bomb with the drop of a live weapon. The bomb, weighing 250 pounds and intended for use against 85% of the targets now assigned to 2,000-pound bombs, destroyed its target in the test, which took last Thursday at Eglin AFB, Fla.
NASA has picked MicroCraft Inc. of Tullahoma, Tenn., for a $33.4 million contract to build its "Hyper-X" hydrogen-fueled ramjet/scramjet vehicles for flight tests beginning early in fiscal 1999.
McDonnell Douglas delivered the first of eight F/A-18 Hornet strike fighters to the Malaysian Royal Air Force on March 19 in a ceremony at St. Louis, the company announced. The eight two-seat D models will be used initially as trainers, but will then assume strike and interdiction roles as part of a modernized air force. First flight of a Malaysian F/A-18D took place on Feb. 1 at St. Louis. McDonnell Douglas is also providing a logistical package to support operations at the Royal Malaysian air base at Butterworth.
Raytheon E-Systems, Greenville, Tex., won a $6.7 million contract from the U.S. Air Force to deliver various spares to support Taiwan's ALQ-184 electronic countermeasures pod. In 1995, the Air Force ordered 82 ALQ-184 pods and support equipment for Taiwan's F-16s. Total orders have amounted to more than $1.2 billion.
March 20, 1997 Lockheed Martin Federal Systems, Inc., Owego, N.Y., is being awarded a $5,543,332 face value increase to a firm fixed price contract to provide for upgrade of the radar on 24 MC-130H aircraft. Contract is expected to be completed July 1998. Contract funds will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. Aeronautical Systems Center, Wright-Patterson AFB, Ohio, is the contracting activity (F33657-83/C-0264, P00295).
March 19, 1997 McDonnell Douglas Corp., St. Louis, Mo., is being awarded a $47,243,943 face value increase to a firm fixed priced contract to provide for two F- 15E aircraft. Contract is expected to be completed January 2001. Contract funds will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. Aeronautical Systems Center, Wright-Patterson AFB, Ohio, is the contracting activity (F33657-96/C-0003, P00008).
The U.S. intelligence community (IC) has implemented a number of reforms to consolidate activities and reduce costs, Richard J. Wilhelm, executive director for IC affairs, informed the Senate and House Intelligence Committees. The fiscal year 1997 Intelligence Authorization Bill told the Director of Central Intelligence to consolidate, wherever possible, personnel, administrative and security programs to reduce the overall cost of these activities.
THE PIONEER UNMANNED AERIAL VEHICLE flew for the first time last Friday with a new UAV Engines Ltd. AR-741 rotary engine. The engine is being considered as a potential replacement for all Pioneers, according to the joint venture of AAI and IAI. Several Pioneer crashes have been linked to the current engine. The new engine would provide about 30% more power, but less fuel.
The chairman of the House Appropriations national security subcommittee Friday said the U.S. Navy's F/A-18E/F Super Hornet is the "most vulnerable" element of the Clinton Administration's $350 billion tactical air modernization package. Also in the package are the U.S. Air Force's F-22 air superiority fighter and the Joint Strike Fighter.
The proposed Boeing Enterprises-FlightSafety International joint venture has 36 simulators in 12 sites around the world, but Clarkson says 50 simulators in 20 sites are anticipated within in a year; some of the simulators would be acquired from airlines. Clarkson hopes to incorporate military training in the future.
Also in Moscow are former Apollo/Soyuz Astronaut Tom Stafford and Mal Peterson, the NASA comptroller, to take a look at how well the Russians are doing getting government money into the cash-starved Service Module project for the International Station (DAILY, March 5). The books will be open to Stafford and Peterson, but so far the only money in the assets column comes from the U.S. and the Russian aerospace contractors, not the Russian government. Congress is waiting as NASA works out a Service Module alternate with the Naval Research Laboratory (DAILY, Jan.
Adria Airways, Ljubliana, Slovenia, signed an agreement with Bombardier Regional Aircraft Div. to buy two Canadair Regional Jet (X) Series 200LR aircraft plus two options. The value of the two firm aircraft is about $43 million, and deliveries are scheduled for January and February 1998. The option aircraft would be delivered later in 1998 and 1999.
