Litton Industries Inc. and Rohr Inc. kicked off their 1997 fiscal years with first quarter gains. Litton, Woodland Hills, Calif., said sales reached $1.49 billion, up 25% from sales of $836 million in 1996. The sales increase helped the company earn $39.8 million, up from $36.6 million in the same period last year.
HONEYWELL INC.'s Satellite Systems Operation, Phoenix, will contest three verdicts against it in litigation involving a technology development contract with AMERICAN FLYWHEEL SYSTEMS INC. A Phoenix jury returned three verdicts against Honeywell for a total of $38 million. One verdict went against American Flywheel for relief which will be determined by the court. The case stemmed from a development contract signed in 1993 for an electro- mechanical flywheel battery.
The General Accounting Office upheld the FAA's award of the Digital Airport Surveillance Radar (DASR) contract to Raytheon Electronic Systems, turning down protests from Northrop Grumman and ITT-Alenia, Raytheon said yesterday. The potential value of the contact is $620 million, it said. DASR, known in the FAA as the ASR-11, is a critical element of the Defense Dept. and FAA air traffic modernization program for terminal area surveillance.
China Aviation Supplies Export and Import Corp. and two Chinese airlines, China Northern, and China Eastern, signed a contract last week with McDonnell Douglas Corp. for 20 MD-90 aircraft worth more than $1 billion. The contract, which follows a letter of intent signed at the Paris Air Show, took much longer to negotiate than had been expected. MDC's Douglas Aircraft Co. unit said at the time that it believed a final agreement would be completed by the end of June (DAILY, June 14).
ALLIEDSIGNAL's board of directors voted to increase the company's common share repurchase authority by 50 million shares. Since 1985, the board has authorized the repurchase of 150 million shares. As of Nov. 30, approximately 148 million shares have been repurchased. The board also voted to seek shareowner approval of an amendment to the company's certificate of incorporation to increase the number of authorized common shares from 500 million to one billion. The additional shares would be available for stock splits, acquisitions and other purchases.
Defense Secretary-designate William S. Cohen displayed concern this year in the Senate about a Chinese intercontinental missile threat, a review of fiscal 1997 SASC hearing volumes shows. He said at a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing in March that if the Russian parliament approves the START II nuclear arms treaty, which calls for dismantling of multiple warhead ICBMs, the Clinton Administration should begin negotiations with China to keep it from developing a MIRV capability.
Raytheon Electronics Systems, Andover, Mass., is being awarded a $15,291,500 letter contract modification to a not-to- exceed $30,583,000 firm fixed price contract for concurrent spare parts to support the Saudi Arabia Phase III Modification Program. Work will be performed in Andover, Mass., and is expected to be completed by Aug. 30, 1999. Contract funds will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. The contracting activity is the U.S. Army Missile Command, Huntsville, Ala. (DAAH01-96-C- 0182).
The Dept. of Defense spent $1.2 million on aerial surveillance of Iraq during the third quarter of fiscal year 1996 in support of a United Nations commission, according to a Pentagon report.
Boeing rolled out its next-generation 737 over the weekend by kicking off a newly aggressive marketing campaign against rival Airbus Industrie portraying the A320 single-aisle twin as the embodiment of a "technology for technology's sake" design philosophy. Airbus has suggested that the 737NG is merely a freshening up of original 1970's technology, while the A320's combination of fly-by-wire and advanced autopilot/autothrottle helps squeeze out more efficiency from the aircraft and more productivity for the pilot.
Although Russia has completed development of the medium-range AA-X-12 air-to-air missile, it hasn't been widely fielded because of a lack of funds, U.S. Air Force officials say. The U.S. is still listing the weapon as a development item, indicated by the "X" in the designation. "It's a matter of getting them off the production line," an AF official said. The missile appears technically ready to go, he said. "The only thing between removing the 'X' and the current situation is money on the part of the Russian Federation," he said.
The FAA's new procurement rules could be tested in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit in St. Louis where Wilcox Electric of Kansas City said Friday it has filed a protest over FAA's transfer to Hughes Aircraft of its contract for the Wide Area Augmentation System to Hughes Aircraft.
Booz-Allen&Hamilton, McLean, Va., is being awarded a $6,953,292 cost- plus-fixed- fee contract to provide technical and engineering support services for the Command, Control, Communications, Computers, and Intelligence (C4I) systems for the Space and Naval Warfare Systems Command, Arlington, Va. The services include mission and technology analysis, procurement planning, management and data analysis, interface analysis, logistics concept formulation, technical support, and software support.
The first major component of the International Space Station has been assembled and is ready for testing, NASA reported yesterday. Russia's Khrunichev industries, working under contract to station prime contractor Boeing Co., has completed assembly of the Functional Cargo Block. It is slated to be launched in one year to provide initial power and propulsion for station. The 20-ton pressurized spacecraft will be launched on a Russian Proton vehicle in November 1997.
Boeing Defense and Space Group, Missiles and Space Division, Huntsville, Ala., is being awarded a $63,127,735 firm fixed price contract for 74 Avenger fire units for Taiwan. Work will be performed in Huntsville, Ala., and is expected to be completed by Sept. 30, 1998. Contract funds will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. This is a sole source contract initiated on Oct. 25, 1996. The contracting activity is the U.S. Army Missile Command, Huntsville, Ala. (DAAH01-97-C-0081).
Lockheed Martin Federal Systems, Owego, N.Y., is being awarded a $12,500,000 face value increase to a firm fixed price contract to provide for upgrade of the radar system on 28 MC-130H aircraft. Contract is expected to be completed June 1999. 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, P00290).
Boeing Defense and Space Group, Missiles and Space Division, Huntsville, Ala., was awarded on Nov. 29, 1996, an amount of $1,788,756 as part of a $13,324,836 cost plus fixed fee contract for AVENGER engineering services for FY97-FY99. The Avenger is a transportable surface-to-air missile/gun weapon system mounted on a High Mobility Multipurpose Wheeled Vehicle (HMMWV). Work will be performed in Huntsville, Ala., and is expected to be completed by Nov. 29, 1999. Contract funds will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year.
AEL Industries Inc., a unit of Tracor Aerospace Inc., won an $8.5 million contract from Litton Applied Technology Divisions, San Jose, Calif., to produce antennas and receivers for the U.S. Army's AN/APR- 39A(V)2 threat warning system, Tracor said. Within the terms of the contract, the Army may acquire additional systems, which could increase the value of the award to about $26.5 million through 2000, the company said.
Harris Corporation, Melbourne, Fla., was awarded on Nov. 27, 1996, a $5,130,120 face value increase to a firm fixed price contract to provide support to Army and Air Force tactical operations. The Small Tactical Terminal defense meteorological satellite programs supports the operational need of global military environment support and tactical intelligence and related activities for geophysical and space support.
McDonnell Douglas Aerospace, St. Louis, Mo., is being awarded a $50,077,792 modification to previously awarded contract N00019-96-C-0127 for 24 Harpoon Missiles and related Standoff Land Attack Missile hardware.
Airbus Industrie said the 100-seat jet its members plan to jointly build with China and Singapore will be a member of the Airbus family. China has made no secret of the fact that it preferred Airbus to take the lead in the project.
Problems with Boeing-built pressurized node structures and NASA-ordered changes have boosted the overall cost of International Space Station development by about $500 million, Boeing program manager Doug Stone confirmed in a briefing here last week.
McDONNELL DOUGLAS and the government of Hungary signed an industrial cooperation and full value offset agreement Thursday, the company announced. With Hungary considering buying the F/A-18 Hornet for the modernization of its air force, the protocol agreement sets the framework for future partnerships between McDonnell Douglas and Hungarian industry in advance of any aerospace sale to the government.
TRW, Inc., Carson, Calif., is being awarded a $61,485,068 cost plus award fee contract to provide for acquisition of the Joint Simulation System (JSIM). JSIM is a computerized warfare simulator on a distributed system. The work will be performed at TRW, Inc., Carson, Calif. Contract is expected to be completed December 2004. Contract funds will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. There were two proposals received. Solicitation began July 1996; negotiations were completed October 1996.
Pratt&Whitney, Government Engines and Space Propulsion, West Palm Beach Fla., is being awarded a $27,000,000 modification to previously awarded contract N00019-96-C-0017 for the continued preliminary design engineering support for the definition and development of the propulsion systems for the JSF Program ground and flight demonstrations. Work will be performed in West Palm Beach, Fla., and is expected to be completed by December 1996. Contract funds would not have expired at the end of the current fiscal year. This contract was not competitively procured.
