LOCKHEED MARTIN WIDEBAND SYSTEMS, Salt Lake City, Utah, won a $27.9 million contract modification from the Space and Naval Warfare Systems Command for three data link systems in support of reconnaissance/surveillance data collection aboard aircraft carriers. The Common High Bandwidth Data Link- Shipboard Terminal was first evaluated aboard the USS Kennedy last April.
The U.S. Ballistic Missile Defense Organization (BMDO) has shifted procurement funding for its top Theater Missile Defense (TMD) projects to the military services, which must now prove that the technology works, and then field it. The Army, for example, must cover procurement of the Theater High Altitude Area Defense System (THAAD); the Navy must pay procurement costs of Navy Area Theater and Navy Theater Wide programs, and the Air Force must foot the bill for procurement the Boost Phase Intercept (BPI) program.
Russia's state arms trading company plans to reach parity with the U.S. in the global armaments market by 1998, according to Mikhail Timkin, the state company's first Deputy General Director. Timkin said the primary thrust of the company, Rosvooruzhenie, will come in the Middle East, where the company plans to sell about $18 billion worth of weapons by 2000 out of a total estimated demand of $20 billion.
LITTON'S GUIDANCE AND CONTROL SYSTEMS DIV., Woodland Hills, Calif., won a contract from Sikorsky Aircraft to retrofit Tennessee National Guard UH-60 helicopters with cockpit Smart Multi-Function Displays (SMFDs). Potentially, 87 aircraft could be fitted with two SMFDs each.
AEROJET, Sacramento, Calif., signed a contract with prime contractor Kistler Aerospace to aid in the development and operation of the world's first fully reusable launch vehicles. Aerojet will provide the propulsion system, all feed lines, tubing and valves, the reaction control system and high pressure tankage and thrusters. Aerojet will also be the prime subcontractor for launch support and building a new launch site. First delivery is scheduled by March 1998.
European representatives will visit Washington in early March to discuss potential U.S. cooperation on the future European military satellite communications program, says Pentagon acquisition chief Paul Kaminski. The Europeans are reciprocating a recent trip by Kaminski to Europe, during which the issue was raised (DAILY, Feb. 5). France, Germany and the U.K. are looking for a follow-on MILSATCOM system to be in place around 2003.
Defense Secretary William S. Cohen said yesterday that the Quadrennial Defense Review now underway could change the need for "some" systems in the Pentagon's Future years Defense Program (FYDP). Cohen, opening defense of the Clinton Administration's $250.7 billion fiscal 1998 Pentagon request, agreed with ranking Democrat Ronald Delllums' conclusion that since the QDR is looking at everything with the emphasis on strategy first, some of the guidelines the budget establishes for the future "may be totally inappropriate."
Boeing Co. has won a $179 million contract from the U.S. Air Force as part of the B-1B/Conventional Mission Upgrade Program Block E. The company said yesterday it will upgrade offensive avionics computers and software and install additional weapons delivery capability on B-1B bombers. Work will be performed in Seal Beach, Palmdale and Edwards AFB, Calif.; Seattle, Wash., and Oklahoma City, Okla., under the direction of the USAF's Aeronautical Systems Center, Wright-Patterson Ohio.
Canada may join the U.S. in the National Missile Defense program as a result of discussions between governments of the two countries, the head of U.S. Space Command said yesterday. Gen. Howell M. Estes said he met recently with Canadian Defense Minister Douglas Young to talk about the prospect of joining forces on NMD. The Canadians will be "making their own decision here in the not too distant future," Estes said at a space conference in Arlington, Va., sponsored by the National Security Industrial Association.
JAPAN'S M-5 SOLID-FUEL ROCKET made its first flight yesterday with the MUSES-B radio telescope aboard. Liftoff came from the Uchinoura Space Center at Kagoshima, and the satellite was reported functioning normally. The M-5 was developed by the Institute of Space and Astronautical Science (ISAS) for a range of scientific missions, including flights to the moon and Mars (DAILY, Jan. 29).
A RUSSIAN NUCLEAR SUBMARINE of the Northern Fleet fired two SLBMs from the Barents Sea to Kamchatka in an exercise on Feb. 5. According to the press service of the Russian Navy, the two RSM-50 missiles were fired in quick succession from a single submarine of the Kalmar type, known as the Delta-3 in the West.
American Eurocopter Corp., a Texas affiliate of Eurocopter, agreed Tuesday to pay an $11.7 million fine for violations of contracting regulations and restitution of $12.7 million to settle a dispute with the U.S. government. The agreement required AEC to plead guilty to two counts related to certifications to the government regarding commissions to a foreign national, an Israeli business executive.
The incoming chairman of the House Science subcommittee on space and aeronautics yesterday termed the approach NASA took to bring Russia aboard the International Space Station "fatally flawed," but Administrator Daniel S. Goldin said he remained "cautiously optimistic" Russia will start delivering on critical hardware and other promises.
The National Space Development Agency of Japan (NASDA) has picked Mitsubishi Electric Corp. (MELCO) to prepare a preliminary design for the eighth engineering test satellite (ETS-8), bypassing Toshiba Corp. Toshiba has been the builder of past ETS-series platforms, including ETS-7 now in development. NASDA officials didn't say why they turned Toshiba down, but space industry leaders believe the failure of ETS-6 might be a reason.
A $6.8 billion boost by the Clinton Administration over its year-ago projection for fiscal 1998 national security budget authority could make it harder for the Republican-controlled Congress to duplicate the substantial defense additions it has made in the past two years, congressional sources agreed yesterday. "It does indeed leave very little latitude between the floor - the Clinton request - and the ceiling - the '97 budget resolution," said one congressional source.
The U.S. Navy is developing and wants to demonstrate technology that would allow cruise missiles to automatically retarget themselves, thereby reducing the number required to destroy a target. Technologies being developed under the Real-Time Retargeting demonstration program are intended to cut the missile-per-target ratio from 2 or more to between 1.5 and 1.2, according to David S. Siegel, who manages the program for the Office of Naval Research.
NASA's Space Shuttle Discovery lifted off early yesterday on a 10-day mission to service the Hubble Space Telescope with two new instruments designed to refine the already sharp vision of the orbiting observatory.
BFGOODRICH AEROSPACE'S MOTION CONTROLS DIV., Cedar Knolls, N.J., won a contract from prime contractor Lockheed Martin to design and manufacture the Control Actuator Assembly for the U.S. Air Force's Wind Corrected Munitions Dispenser (WCMD).
PEMCO WORLD AIR SERVICES A/S, Copenhagen, a subsidiary of Precision Standard Inc., Denver, received a maintenance contract from Icelandair of Reykjavik, Precision Standard announced. The contract involves non-routine services on the carrier's fleet of Boeing 757-200 aircraft. All work will be performed at Pemco's Copenhagen facility.
The technology director of the National Reconnaissance Office says most newer satellites can be at least half the size of satellites in use today. David Kier said the agency "has committed to downsizing satellites significantly. Based on our initial discussions with industry, we expect satellites...to go down to about half their current size." He said that with the exception of satellites which must be larger for reasons of physics, a 50% reduction would be the minimum.
LITTON INDUSTRIES named Robert Stangarone director of corporate communications, and Brandon Belote director of media relations-Washington. Stangarone served in senior communications positions at Rolls-Royce and the Sikorsky and Pratt&Whitney units of United Technologies. He is based at Litton's headquarters in Woodland Hills, Calif. Belote was president of Atlas Communications International Inc., and director of marketing communications and media relations for ITT Defense&Electronics.
ROHR INC., Chula Vista, Calif., said the U.K.'s Civil Aviation Authority granted its overhaul and repair facility in Prestwick, Scotland, JAR Part 145 certification, which allows it to overhaul and repair airliners operating under European Joint Aviation Authorities jurisdiction.
Northrop Grumman Corp. said its 1996 sales climbed 18% to a record $8.1 billion, but that profits fell 7% from the previous year primarily because of a charge related to plant closures. Net income fell from $252 million in 1995 to $234 million in 1996, as the company incurred a pretax charge of $90 million related to plant closures. Northrop Grumman also recorded a pretax gain of $28 million from the sale of shares the company owned in ETEC Systems Inc.
China is one of the few powers with the political, economic and military potential to emerge as "a large scale regional threat" to U.S. interests in Asia within the next 10 to 20 years, the director of the Defense Intelligence Agency has told the Senate Armed Services Committee. Army Lt. Gen. Patrick M. Hughes testified Feb. 6 that China "continues to accord the highest priority" to acquiring advanced air, air-defense and sea denial capabilities through both indigenous production and foreign purchases.
