Hughes has continued its practice of backing competing new space launchers in a 10-launch agreement with Japan's Rocket System Corp. announced yesterday for flights on the H-IIA upgrade of the all-Japanese H- II booster. The deal between Hughes Space and Communications International (HSCI) and RSC, which was set up to commercialize the H-II (DAILY, March 19, 1992), calls for at least 10 launches between 2000 and 2005, with options for additional launches beyond that. Terms of the deal and the number of options were not disclosed.
AIR NEW ZEALAND ENGINEERING SERVICES will become a Light Helicopter Turbine Engine Company heavy maintenance service center to support the CTS800-4N engine for the GKN Westland Super Lynx helicopter. The Royal Australian and Royal New Zealand Navies will soon order new maritime helicopters, and the Super Lynx is under consideration.
CACI International Inc., Arlington, Va., won a $14.7 million contract with the U.S. Navy's Space and Naval Warfare Systems Command to provide Logistics Support Facility operations and maintenance services for the Integrated Undersea Surveillance System (IUSS) Program, the company announced last week. Work is being performed at the Naval Amphibious Base in Little Creek, Va., and in the Norfolk, Va., metropolitan area.
Weakness in the sixth stage of the compressor on General Electric's 22,000 lbst. F414 fighter turbofan powering the U.S. Navy's F/A-18E/F Super Hornet caused a stall during recent flight testing and led the Navy to halt the flight test program.
AEROSPACE SAFETY TECHNOLOGIES INC., Stratford, Conn., won a contract to install the No-Ice system on the auxiliary electronic fairings of two U.S. Air Force E-9A aircraft.
The Longbow Limited Liability Co. has delivered its first production version Longbow Hellfire missile to the U.S. Army's Missile Command, the company reported yesterday. The Army next will undertake production verification testing to ensure the program has transitioned correctly from the development phase to production.
ROCKWELL INTERNATIONAL CORP. ordered computer-assisted design and manufacturing software from STRUCTURAL DYNAMICS RESEARCH CORP., Milford, Ohio. The approximately $1 million order includes maintenance and services for Rockwell's portion of the next generation of Navstar Global Positioning System satellites for the U.S. Air Force Space and Missile Systems Center.
MCDONNELL DOUGLAS won a contract from the U.S. Air Force to provide training for B-1B and B-52H bomber crews. The $15.5 million contract will run through September 2001. McDonnell Douglas will provide instructors and courseware development teams to support 22 B-1B crews at Dyess AFB, Tex., and 21 B-52H crews at Barksdale AFB, La.
U.S. AIR FORCE officials are planning a multi-stage improvement program for the fleet of 21 Northrop Grumman B-2 bombers that could cost as much as $490 million over the next five years. "Improvements and enhancements are a normal part of the life cycle of any aircraft. The B-2 aircraft is entering that phase of its life cycle," the AF's B-2 system program office at the Aeronautical Systems Center, Wright Patterson AFB, Ohio, said in a written response to questions.
DIAGNOSTIC/RETRIEVAL SYSTEMS INC. won two contracts through its subsidiary DRS TECHNOLOGY APPLICATIONS&SERVICE CO., Gaithersburg, Md. LOCKHEED MARTIN TACTICAL DATA SYSTEMS, Egan, Minn., awarded the company a contract worth approximately $1.2 million to provide Tactical Display Consoles (TDC) for upgrading the Combat Direction System in U.S. Navy amphibious ships. The Navy's Naval Surface Warfare Center exercised an option on an existing, multiple-year contract for $1.5 million to provide additional Combat Display Emulators for land-based applications.
Engineers at Orbital Sciences Corp. analyzing the Nov. 4 failure of a Pegasus XL launch vehicle to jettison its two payloads have determined that the shock of third-stage separation broke a critical switch that killed power to the pyrotechnics that should have cut the satellites free.
Here is a partial list of subcontractors for the Joint Strike Fighter teams to be headed by Boeing and Lockheed Martin. The Pentagon announced last week it had picked the two companies in a downselect for the concept definition phase of the program that eliminated McDonnell Douglas (DAILY, Nov. 19). The two winning companies have not yet revealed all of their team members, but the following lists represent teams members announced as of Friday, Nov. 22. BOEING: Pratt&Whitney - engine.
Earnings listed in some small-company quarterly reports released in the past few weeks suffered as the companies continued to dump non- aerospace related businesses, but companies nearing the end of the process are starting to show improvement.
ROHR INC., Chula Vista, Calif., said it signed a contract with Nomads Inc., a Detroit travel club flying a 727-200 aircraft, for a Super 27 re-engine kit. The kit includes new nacelles, struts, engine mounts and thrust reversers which are fitted to new Pratt&Whitney JT8D-217C/219 engines. The improvements meet FAA Stage 3 and ICAO Chapter III noise requirements.
A Guardrail Common Sensor enhancement program will allow the U.S. Army to expand its use of the U.S. Air Force U-2 reconnaissance planes by enabling it to fully control U-2 sensors, according to Army officials.
November 18, 1996 Lockheed Martin Corporation, Aeronautical Systems Division, Marietta, Ga., is being awarded a $26,500,000 cost-plus-incentive-fee letter contract to modify a P-3 aircraft for use as a Cooperative Engagement Capability (CEC) test platform. Work will be performed in Greenville, S.C., and is expected to be completed by May 1998. Contract funds will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. This contract was not competitively procured. The Naval Sea Systems Command, Arlington, Va., is the contracting activity (N00024-97-C-5469).
The Navy has revised its requirements for installing electro-optics systems on combatants and other ship classes for surveillance and detection in littoral environments, the service informed the Senate Armed Services Committee. The fiscal year 1996 SASC authorization report directed the secretary of the Navy to submit a report addressing the service's electro-optical plans to provide the CG-47 Aegis class cruiser, DD-963 class destroyer and other classes of ships with fully integrated electro-optical surveillance systems.
