In light of past experience with Russian funding delays, NASA has a newfound interest in developing some redundancy to the Service Module aboard Station. U.S. engineers are considering both an "interim control module" to take up slack from the FGB (see above) and a more permanent "propulsion module" to give the Station another set of engines. Lockheed Martin's "Bus-1" is fading as a contender for the interim fix.
The line item veto which took effect with the new year is expected to give President Clinton greater leverage in appropriations negotiations with Congress. Congressional sources do not expect Clinton to use it often once he demonstrates its potency. The new law permits the president to strike out any specific spending item from any appropriations bill while approving the bill. Six senior members of Congress have filed a suit in Federal court challenging the constitutionality of the act.
RAYTHEON ELECTROMAGNETIC SYSTEMS DIV., Goleta, Calif., received an $18.3 million contract from U.S. Naval Air Systems Command on Dec. 23 for engineering services to modify the AN/ALE-50 Multi-Platform Launch Controller for use with the Integrated Defensive Electronic Countermeasures (IDECM) for the Fiber Optic Towed Decoy. Also on Dec. 23, the company won a $6.7 million contract from the U.S.
LITTON SYSTEMS' Guidance and Control Systems Div., Woodland Hills, Calif., received a $10.4 million contract from U.S. Naval Air Systems Command on Dec. 19 for 39 Computer Interface Units/Encoders, system repairable assemblies and piece parts with related technical support data for GFE 82- 89 Block Upgrade in support of the EA-6B program.
NASA is still scrambling to keep the International Space Station on schedule in the face of laggard Russian funding for its Service Module. Congressional aides say they've been told the six-to-eight-month delay in getting the delayed Service Module attached to Station may not be any longer than the time it would take to orbit an alternative that could handle the Service Module's attitude control and reboost chores. U.S.
The Air Force plans to adopt recommendations from the General Accounting Office for plans to privatize maintenance depots at Kelly AFB, Tex., and McClellan AFB, Calif. In a Dec. 31 report, "Air Force Depot Maintenance: Privatization-in- Place Plans are Costly while Excess Capacity Exists" (GAO/NSIAD-97-13), GAO found that current privatization plans could be too costly and leave excess capacity problems at Kelly, McClellan and three other depots.
The U.S. Navy hopes to begin sea trials of the McDonnell Douglas F/A-18E/F by mid month. F-1, the first two-seat variant, will make the inaugural F/A-18E/F carrier landing on the USS John C. Stennis. The Stennis will be operating off the Florida coast.
The U.S. Air Force is going to spend the next three weeks in source selection on the Wind Corrected Munitions Dispenser program. Following a fly-off between the Alliant Techsystems and Lockheed Martin systems, the Air Force will award a production contract to one of the companies Jan. 27. The Air Force received program bids Friday.
LOCKHEED MARTIN has begun seeking FAA certification for its C-130J transport, with flight tests that started in November slated to conclude in May. The initial test validated calibration of air data systems, Lockheed Martin said. During the test a C-130J was flown from Dobbins Air Reserve Base, Marietta, Ga., to NAS Jacksonville, Fla. The next several tests will focus on the aircraft's propulsion system. In addition to the baseline C- 130J, Lockheed Martin is seeking certification of the L-382J, the commercial cargo variant of the aircraft.
The Ballistic Missile Defense Organization this month intends to release a request for proposals (RFP) for high energy laser (HEL) research. Industry will only have a month to respond to the RFP, according to BMDO. The organization is interested in HEL concept and system research, technology research and technology demonstration. Details will be clarified with release of the RFP. A contract award is planned for this April.
SADARM (Sense and Destroy Armor Munition) passed its production verification test when submunitions from four of the projectiles hit five targets. SADARM scored almost twice as many hits as required in the Dec. 18 test, GenCorp's Aerojet reported. It said the first article test validates low-risk transition from development to production.
NORTHROP GRUMMAN CORP., Baltimore, received a $6.6 million contract Dec. 19 to upgrade six ALQ-131 electronic countermeasures systems from the Block I to Block II configuration, FY1997 contractor logistics support, and one lot of spare parts. The Dept. of Defense, announcing the award Dec. 19, said it supports foreign military sales to Singapore. The contract was let by the U.S. Air Force's Warner Robins Air Logistics Center, Robins AFB, Ga.
Shuffling the Station assembly sequence has become a complicated problem because Russia's FGB space tug isn't up to the job of moving around the truss segment and other hardware that otherwise could simply be moved up. The shortfall is not in the tug's engines, but in the software used in docking. The FGB was built to be the active element in docking maneuvers, but only with the U.S. Node 1 and the Service Module, which would take over after that.
The U.S. Marine Corps said it plans to begin production of the AN/TPS- 59(V)3 radar, an updated version of the TPS-59(V)1 intended to track multiple tactical ballistic missiles and improve capabilities to track other small radar cross-section targets. It said Maj. Gen. Michael J. Williams, commander of Marine Corps Systems Command, approved a request to procure 11 upgrade kits for the existing radar following a program decision meeting on Dec. 18.
Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition and Technology Paul Kaminski is requesting waivers for some missile defense and satellite acquisition programs that would release the Pentagon from being required to submit fiscal year 1997 selected acquisition reports (SARS) on those efforts. Kaminski, in a memo sent to the congressional defense panels last month, says the five programs identified meet the legal criteria for granting SAR submission waivers.
Airbus Industrie partners have agreed to a memorandum of understanding on restructuring the consortium, Airbus announced Friday in a two-sentence release that contained no further details. "We are obviously encouraged," an Airbus spokesman told the DAILY Friday. "There had been a number of reports recently, true and false, of a lack of an agreement among the partners. Now we have that."
Robert S. Walker, retiring chair of the House Science Committee, announced effective today he will become president of the Wexler Group, a Washington-based lobbying firm. The former Pennsylvania Republican congressman was first elected to the House in 1976.
A U-2 ground-station that can control on-board sensors and relay information via satellites to facilities in the U.S. is slated to deploy to Saudi Arabia. Once landing rights have been granted, the Air Force will rearrange its Saudi Arabia-based U-2 data exploitation system, Maj. Gen. Kenneth Israel, Defense Airborne Reconnaissance Office director, told The DAILY Friday. U-2s already operate out of Saudi Arabia.
NORTHROP GRUMMAN CORP., Rolling Meadows, Ill., won a $20.6 million U.S. Air Force contract for 116 Advance Repeater Tuning Units/Dual memory units for the AN/ALQ-135 electronic countermeasures system of the F-15 fighter. Most of the items, 104, support foreign military sales to Saudi Arabia. The contract was awarded Dec. 19 by the USAF's Robins Air Logistics Center, Robins AFB, Ga.
The AF is taking over acquisition responsibility for the Predator unmanned aerial vehicle. Pentagon acquisition chief Paul Kaminski in December made Arthur Money, the top AF acquisition official, the acquisition executive for the program. Previously the Navy had acquisition authority because the program is run out of the Navy-led UAV Joint Project Office. Now the program will be managed by an AF officer out of the UAV Joint Project Office.
Teledyne Ryan Aeronautical plans to roll out its Tier II Plus "Global Hawk" unmanned aerial vehicle next month. The ceremony will take place at its San Diego headquarters on Feb. 22. First flight of the high- altitude endurance UAV is currently slated for April.
The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative's Industry Sector Advisory Committee for Aerospace Equipment is slated to hold a meeting Jan. 15 to review current issues that influence U.S. trade policy in the aerospace industry. Issues to be addressed include U.S. trade policies, priorities, negotiating objectives and bargaining positions with respect to the operation of any trade agreement and other matters related to the development, implementation and administration of U.S. trade policy. The five-hour meeting will be open to the public only from 11:45 a.m.
The issue of what mix of manned and unmanned airborne reconnaissance assets the Pentagon should operate will come under scrutiny once more as part of the Quadrennial Defense Review, according to an Air Force official. "We are doing trade-off analyses" in the QDR, Maj. Gen. Kenneth Israel, director of the Defense Airborne Reconnaissance Office, told The DAILY.
A General Accounting Office report on the New Attack Submarine program reveals a split between GAO and the Defense Dept. over design transfer costs. DOD supports the Navy's $154 million in then-year dollars to transfer the design data from General Dynamics' Electric Boat to Tenneco's Newport News Shipbuilding. GAO feels the Navy figure is "highly optimistic," since the last major design transfer for a complex ship design between shipyards was for the DDG-51 and cost between $400 million and $500 million.
