WORLDSPACE has completed critical design review for the digital radio broadcast satellite it plans to launch next year to provide direct broadcast capability in Africa, Asia and the Caribbean, as well as end-to- end validation of the broadcast system the three-satellite network will use.
Northrop Grumman Corp., Great River, N.Y., is being awarded a $14,857,867 face value increase to a firm fixed price contract to provide for 41 Electronic Systems Test Set Test Program Sets applicable to the F-15 aircraft. Contract is expected to be completed April 2000. Contract funds will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. Aeronautical Systems Center, Wright-Patterson AFB, Ohio, is the contracting activity (F41608- 93/D-0064, 0016).
ARIANESPACE will launch the first Intelsat 801 satellite on Feb. 27, a delay of two days from the original launch plan to give technicians time to replace the connecting plate of the liquid hydrogen umbilical arm. Liftoff from Kourou, French Guiana, on an Ariane 44P vehicle is schedule for a window opening at 7:16 p.m. EST and closing at 8:10 p.m. EST.
SPACE SYSTEMS/LORAL has entered a deal for five launches on McDonnell Douglas' planned new Delta III booster, raising to 18 the Delta III backlog and continuing SS/L's policy of procuring launches for its satellites on a wide range of vehicles. Launches in the new deal will take place between 1999 and 2001. The first launch of a Delta III, which will double the lift capability of the workhorse Delta II, is planned for next year.
DIRECTV AND MICROSOFT have launched an interactive satellite broadcast architecture for home computers that will allow PC users to receive DIRECTV programming and new data and multimedia services through the same 18-inch satellite antenna currently used by television subscribers. The two pioneering companies held a two-day "developer's conference" in Los Angeles last week where they demonstrated the Microsoft broadcast architecture to such potential content providers as American Online, Bloomberg, Paramount Digital and various professional sports leagues.
Northrop Grumman Corp., Bethpage, N.Y., is being awarded a $59,300,000 firm-fixed-price contract to upgrade 20 FY 1982 configuration EA-6B aircraft to the FY 1989 configuration. Work will be performed in St. Augustine, Fla. (45%); Bethpage, N.Y. (36%); and Rolling Meadows, Ill. (19%), and is expected to be completed by February 2000. 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-C-0123).
Loral Space&Communications Ltd. has negotiated a $374 million deal to buy out its four European partners in Space Systems/Loral, making SS/L a wholly owned subsidiary of Loral, the New York-based company reported yesterday. SS/L will continue its present working relationships in marketing and manufacturing with Aerospatiale, Alcatel Espace, Alenia Spazzio S.p.A. and Daimler-Benz Aerospace AG (DASA), and, with the exception of DASA, all will retain roles on the SS/L board of directors.
McDonnell Douglas Corporation, Long Beach, Calif., was awarded on February 18, a $13,511,000 face value increase to a fixed price incentive firm contract to provide for the following work on thirty-two C-17 aircraft: upgrade of the Air Mobility Precision Approach Capability and Software, upgrade of the Block VIII software, deletion of the Transponder Test Unit, and elimination of the Ground Proximity Warning System Panel. Contract is expected to be completed October 1997. Contract funds will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year.
The Pentagon plans to evaluate a number of advanced technologies for use in a strategy to defend against cruise missiles, according to a report to Congress by Paul Kaminski, under secretary of defense for acquisition and technology.
NASA won't have a formal reduction in force (RIF) at agency headquarters this year, and probably not in 1998 either, and will instead try to meet its ceiling of 951 employees by a variety of methods accepted yesterday by Administrator Daniel S. Goldin.
THE FIRST TITAN IVB launched a Defense Support Program early warning satellite from Cape Canaveral Air Station, Fla., on Saturday, marking the conclusion of a nine-year effort to develop upgraded solid rocket motors for the Air Force's heavy-lift launcher. Liftoff of the rocket and its two Alliant Techsystems Solid Rocket Motor Upgrade (SRMU) boosters came at 3 :20 p.m. EST, with a Boeing Inertial Upper Stage placing the TRW/Aerojet satellite in its final orbit.
Northrop Grumman Corp. is considering a major overhaul of its E-2C early warning and surveillance plane that would include a new radar and other enhancements that could also be applied to a follow-on system. The follow-on, called Hawkeye 2005, would reach initial operational capability around 2006 or '07 and build on the Hawkeye 2000 program that Northrop Grumman is working on now for the U.S. Navy.
Standard Missile Co., McLean, Va., is being awarded a $35,000,000 modification to previously awarded contract N00024-96- C-5341 to procure Long Lead Material required for the Engineering and Manufacturing Development (EMD) phase to support the Standard Missile Block IVA Development Program. Work will be performed in McLean, Va., and is expected to be completed by April 1997. Contract funds will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. The Naval Sea Systems Command, Arlington, Va., is the contracting activity.
Lockheed Martin Corp., Ft. Worth, Texas, is being awarded a $32,918,790 face value increase to a cost plus incentive fee contract to provide for development of the Block 50 Tape 5 software upgrade for the Modular Mission Computer on the F-16 C/D aircraft. Contract is expected to be completed July 2000. Contract funds will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. Aeronautical Systems Center, Wright-Patterson AFB, Ohio, is the contracting activity (F33657-94/C-2259, P00021).
RAYTHEON CO. said it will sell its Appliance Group, a move that observers said would help reduce debt from planned acquisitions the defense businesses of Hughes Electronics and Texas Instruments. Raytheon said Sunday that the decision was "made in the context of Raytheon's financial priorities and the belief that the Appliance Group may have greater value to another company with more focus on the markets served by the Group."
Textron Systems Corporation, Wilmington, Mass., was awarded on February 18, a $142,489,860 fixed price incentive contract to provide for 542 CBU-97A/B Sensor Fused Weapons, 90 BLU-108A/B Joint Stand Off Weapons, associated warranty and data. Contract is expected to be completed March 1999. Contract funds will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. There was one firm solicited and one proposal received. Solicitation began August 1996; negotiations were completed February 1997.
TRW'S ODYSSEY medium-Earth orbit satellite cellular phone system design has been awarded a patent by the European Patent Office, effective in the U.K., France, Germany and Italy through 2012. The company also has patent or intellectual property protection in the U.S., Germany and Taiwan (DAILY, Nov. 28, 1995), but has drawn opposition with its attempts to claim patent protection from other proposed MEO systems like the Inmarsat-P (DAILY, May 25, 1995). The company and partner Teleglobe Inc. of Canada plan to begin service with its 12-satellite system in 2001.
BRITISH REGIONAL AIRLINES ordered five EMB-145s valued at $75 million with delivery scheduled for June, July and August 1997 for the first three aircraft, Embraer said yesterday. European type certification is expected next February. Four have been delivered to U.S. launch customer Continental Express. Regional Airlines of France gets it first this month. Embraer said the order book stands at 72 firm, 219 options.
The U.S. Navy is planning a series of experiments that would allow it to test new operational concepts, according to officials of the service. The program, still being defined, is similar to efforts being undertaken by the Army, Marine Corps and Air Force to find out how they need to reinvent themselves for future warfare. Navy officials told reporters in a background at the Pentagon Friday that the experiments are intended to "encourage operational concept innovations" using new technology and doctrine.
TRW, Inc., Avionics Systems Division, Space&Electronics Group, San Diego, Calif., is being awarded a $7,500,000 cost-plus- fixed-fee contract for third and fourth quarter increments of fiscal year 1997 contractor logistics support for the Joint Tactical Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (JT-UAV) Hunter system. Work will be performed in Sierra Vista, Ariz. (95%), and San Diego, Calif. (5%), and is expected to be completed by September 1997. Contract funds will expire at the end of the current fiscal year. This contract was not competitively procured.
Cambridge Research Associates, McLean, Va., is being awarded a $5,862,175 indefinite delivery, indefinite-quantity contract for the Joint Strike Fighter requirements analytic support program. This contract includes two options which, if exercised, would bring the cumulative value of the entire contract to $18,091,317. Work will be performed in McLean, Va., and is expected to be completed by December 1997. Contract funds would not have expired at the end of the current fiscal year.
SHANGHAI AIRLINES has leased three Boeing 737-700s from International Lease Finance with delivery in September 1998, January 1999 and May 1999 on eight-year terms.
APPLIED ASTRONAUTICS CORP. has completed static tests of a 1/10 scale rocket engine designed and built at a cost of only $4,000 for its proposed Buzzard reusable sounding rocket, setting the stage for longer duration tests in March. Based on "mission adequate" technology like the 1940s- vintage Aerobee rocket, the Buzzard will provide research flights for less than $40,000 each beginning in the first quarter of 1998 according to the Huntsville, Ala.-based company.
