Table details SAR programs for third quarter Selected Acquisition Report (SAR) programs for the three-month period ending Sept. 30, 1996, are detailed in the following table, released by the Dept. of Defense (DAILY, Nov. 18). Dollar figures are in millions. Current Estimate Change this Qtr Cost Cost Weapon Base Base Then Base Then
Bell Helicopter Textron won a $310 million contract for the four- bladed AH-1W SuperCobra program, the Pentagon announced Thursday. It calls for three EMD prototypes for the U.S. Marine Corps.
Emery also says BMDO is still deciding if it can accelerate deployment of THAAD from 2006 to 2004 - another area Kaminski asked it to review. The major issue is cost, Emery says. Since the Gulf War, the organization has been directed to put all its TMD programs on an aggressive schedule with moderate risk, Emery says. BMDO, he says, is "trying to go as quickly as possible" with all of the TMD programs.
The Navy's E-2C early warning aircraft are having to stay airborne longer, so the Navy is thinking about adding an aerial refueling capability, says Walter E. Bahr, program manager for the service. One of the reasons the E-2Cs are seeing more extensive use is that the Air Force's AWACS planes are being heavily tasked and are unable to take the burden of the Hawkeyes.
The Boeing 757-300, the newest and largest single-aisle airplane made by the company, reached its firm design configuration milestone, Boeing said. Engineers can begin releasing design information to Boeing factories and suppliers so fabrication of parts, tools and assemblies may begin. According to Jack Gucker, vice president for Boeing 737/757 Derivative Programs, the 757-300 will have the shortest design-to-production-to- delivery cycle time of any Boeing derivative airplane program.
The U.S. Air Force is running a series of simulated endurance missions to determine the effects of fatigue on B-2 bomber pilots who may have to fly missions of 24 hours or more. The first test took place in early October, when pilots flew a simulated 34-hour mission; a 38-hour mission was simulated early this week, the Air Force said.
Rep. Julian C. Dixon (D), of Culver City, Calif., a nine-term House member with prior service on the House Appropriations national security subcommittee, is the leading candidate for the Democratic vacancy on the subcommittee and is interested in the slot, congressional sources said. House Democrats are expected to settle on their committee and subcommittee assignments in meetings starting next Monday. Republicans will make their decisions on assignments beginning next Wednesday.
The U.S. Army's test strategy for the Patriot PAC-3 is risky and could result in premature commitments to production and eventual cost growth, the Pentagon Inspector General reports. But the Army rejects the finding and says the program has been developed in a way that "ensures all key performance indicators will be measured or verified through validated simulations to allow for a low-risk, informed production decision."
The U.S. Air Force has told Science Applications International Corp. (SAIC) and The Aerospace Corp. it does not endorse their proposed merger, effectively killing the deal. "The Air Force has concluded that the proposed merger would negatively impact the trusted agent role the Aerospace FFRDC has served for over 36 years and is not in the best interest of the U.S. government," Air Force acquisition chief Arthur Money told The Aerospace Corp. in a letter on Thursday.
A losing bidder in a competition for a $39 million Johnson Space Center contract to provide Russian language translation services has charged the winning bidder was picked because of a "close personal relationship" with JSC Director George Abbey. In bid-protest documents filed with the U.S. General Accounting Office, Centra Technology Inc. (CTI) of Bedford, Mass., argues winning bidder TechTrans International (TTI) of Houston benefited from a "pattern of favoritism" growing out of Abbey's relationship with the president of TTI.
Top NASA human spaceflight officials are off to Russia this week to try to straighten out the International Space Station Service Module schedule, thrown out of whack when funding from the central government dried up again (DAILY, Oct. 15, 21, 28). Station Program Manager Randy Brinkley and Wilbur Trafton, the associate administrator for space flight, hope to pave the way for a visit later by Administrator Daniel S. Goldin that in turn will play into the planned January meeting between Vice President Gore and Prime Minister Viktor Chernomyrdin. With the U.S.
The Quadrennial Defense Review is capturing the attention of almost every defense program at the Pentagon. The latest QDR player is the Airborne Laser, even though it won't be operational until 2003. Rudy De Leon, the Air Force under secretary, says the system will "figure prominently in the upcoming Quadrennial Defense Review."
Failure of the first GPS-aided flight of the Joint Direct Attack Munition (JDAM) was caused by a still undetermined problem in the weapon's radio frequency components, a U.S. Air Force official said. He also said a different GPS problem on a subsequent flight is being studied.
As it prepares its fiscal 1998 budget submission, the Ballistic Missile Defense Organization is being asked by Pentagon acquisition chief Paul Kaminski to determine what it would take to make the Navy Upper Tier program more robust, says Brig. Gen. Curtis H. Emery II, BMDO's deputy for TMD acquisition programs. Congress over the past few years has directed the Pentagon to make Navy Upper Tier a higher priority program.
Lessons being learned by TRW about the operational use of lasers are flowing back and forth between the Airborne Laser program and the Space-Based Laser program, says the company's John Waypa. For example, he says, SBL packaging will benefit ABL, while optics manufacturing experience gained in the ABL program will help SBL.
McDonnell Douglas established agreements with Derco Aerospace Inc. and Kitco Inc. to provide spare parts and components for F-4 Phantom and A-4 Skyhawk aircraft. Approximately 950 Phantoms are in active service nine countries, and McDonnell Douglas says planned upgrades will keep the F-4 operational until 2015. About 260 Skyhawks still see active duty.
The Joint Air-to-Surface Standoff Missile program's pre-engineering and manufacturing development program is expected to cost $784.2 million, the Pentagon said Friday in its most current Selected Acquisition Report filing. It was the first filing for JASSM and only covers the cost up to the Milestone 2 decision in two years. Lockheed Martin and McDonnell Douglas are expected to deliver a total of 44 missiles under this phase of the Air Force/Navy program, the SAR data indicated.
The laser in the ABL system can probably be downsized, but it may not be possible to make it small enough for fighters, Waypa indicates. "You can certainly come down in class," he says, but it is "a stretch to project you could come down to fighter aircraft."
Modeling and simulation (M&S) budgets will grow steadily, assuming a larger percentage of a falling defense budget over the next 10 years, according to the Electronic Industries Association. In 1997, M&S RTD&E budgets will be at $1.411 billion dollars, 3.8% of the total RTD&E budget. The figure will rise to $1.993 billion (fiscal 1997 dollars), or 6.7%, by 2006. The M&S procurement budget stands at $2.216 billion, or 5.1%, in 1997, and will rise to $3.007 billion, 6.1%, by 2006, EIA projects.
A North Carolina company will begin marketing thermal protection blankets originally developed for NASA's Space Shuttle fleet as a way to keep drivers cool during auto races. BSR Products Inc., Mooresville, N.C., plans to sell thermal protection kits to hold down the heat radiated through engine firewalls, transmission tunnels and floors during a race, when cockpit temperatures can reach 160 degrees. The kit, which marks the first commercial use of Shuttle TPS insulation, lowered cockpit temperatures in a Penske Racing Inc.
Russian space officials say work on the Service Module is only three months behind schedule, but NASA isn't so sure. No one has a clear idea what Russian subcontractors have been doing since the funds dried up, and worry they have gone on to more lucrative work, leaving the Service Module six months to a year off track.
A Russian An-124 airlifter on Nov. 12 transported two GE90 engines for the 777 airliner from Seattle to General Electric's Durham, N.C., facility for a teardown inspection for "suspect hardware." Following tests, the engines are slated to be flown back to Seattle in the Nov. 17-21 period.
The new air traffic control system for the Delhi airport in India was running at least four months behind schedule at the time of the collision this week of a Saudi Arabian Airlines 747-100 and a Kazakh Airways Il-76 about 50 miles from the airport. Authorities still are investigating the cause of the accident, in which 349 people were killed.
