LOCKHEED MARTIN'S SANDERS unit won an $18.9 million contract to upgrade the USQ-113 communication jammer on U.S. Navy EA-6B Prowlers. Sanders said it will develop three pre-production systems and also upgrade 30 existing systems beginning in July 1997.
Comptek Research Inc., Buffalo, N.Y., received $4.3 million in orders from two NATO nations for electronic warfare simulation and training systems. It didn't identify the countries in announcing the orders yesterday, but said the systems would be used to support mission planning activities related to EW systems on the Tornado strike plane.
MALAYSIA has ordered two Sikorsky S-70A Black Hawk helicopters for executive transport missions, the company announced yesterday. Delivery is planned for early 1998.
Alliant Techsystems has built its entry in the Pentagon's Evolved Expendable Launch Vehicle (EELV) competition around the flight qualified Solid Rocket Motor Upgrade (SRMU), scheduled to make its first flight in January as an upgraded strap-on booster for the Titan IV.
The first Swiss-assembled F/A-18 Hornet made its first flight in Switzerland Oct. 3, McDonnell Douglas announced Monday. The aircraft must complete 250 tests before the Swiss Defense Procurement Agency turns it over to the Swiss air force early next year. Final assembly and ramp activities for 31 more F/A-18s will be done at the Swiss Aircraft and Systems Co. in Emmen. Switzerland has contracted to buy 34 F/A-18s. They will be delivered to the Swiss air force between 1997 and 1999.
The U.S. Navy, already testing applicability to the Joint Standoff Weapon of unitary warheads from France and Israel, is considering evaluation of one from Britain, according to program manager Capt. Bert Johnston. "We're going to try to do an FCT [Foreign Comparative Test] for the Broach" warhead, designed by British Aerospace subsidiary Royal Ordnance for the Conventionally Armed Standoff Weapon (CASOM), Johnston told The DAILY in an interview.
Germany's Daimler-Benz Aerospace AG (DASA) has given the go- ahead to Russia's Khrunichev State Space Center for large-scale production of the Rokot launch vehicle for commercial use by the Eurokot joint venture.
Commercial aircraft orders spurred U.S. factory orders higher in September, according to the latest Commerce Dept. figures. Transportation orders increased 19.8% to $44.9 billion, the first rise in four months. More than three-fourths of the increase was due to aircraft and parts, which rose 85% to $12.9 billion. Defense contractors' orders increased 9.4% to $5.4 billion in September after a 2% August rise.
Airline operators of the hundreds of 737s in the U.S. fleet said they are complying with orders from the FAA and a service bulletin from Boeing to check rudder systems to avoid possible loss of control of the aircraft (DAILY, Nov. 4). But the Air Transport Association questioned the relevance of the test to airline operating conditions and the absence of a cutoff date in the FAA order. Mike Rioux, ATA senior VP-operations and saftey, said airlines will have to check the rudder systems about once a month for an indefinite period.
Raytheon Aircraft Co. finalized contracts with the top 17 subcontractors for the Beech/Pilatus PC-9 Mk.II, the winning entry in the Joint Primary Aircraft Training Systems (JPATS) competition, the company announced. It listed the companies, the products they will make for JPATS and sites at which they will be made as follows:
Acme Electric Corp., East Aurora, N.Y., said it will sell the assets of its aerospace division to Ultra Force Battery Co. Inc., a newly formed subsidiary of B.A.T. International Inc., Burbank, Calif., for about $6 million. Closing is expected within 90 days. Acme said the agreement also allows for the license of its battery- related technologies for the electric vehicle and other commercial markets. Acme designs and manufactures power conversion equipment.
In today's congressional elections, five members of the House National Security Committee are in tossup races and one trails his Democratic challenger; on the Senate Armed Services Committee, only one member, Robert Smith (R-N.H.) is in serious trouble. Facing tossup races are HNSC members Robert Dornan (R-Calif.), John Hostettler (R-Ind.), Todd Tiahrt (R-Kan.), Mike Ward (D-Ky.) and Peter Torkildsen (R-Mass.). James B. Longley (R-Maine), is behind his Democratic challenger in polls.
Top executives of the McDonnell Douglas/Northrop Grumman/British Aerospace team competing for the Joint Strike Fighter program say they haven't considered the possibility of failing to win one of the two concept development contracts to be awarded Nov. 18. Harry Stonecipher, president and chief executive officer of MDC, told reporters during a press conference in Washington on Friday that losing has "never crossed our mind." He said he hadn't "thought five minutes" about what that would mean.
Lockheed Martin Tactical Defense Systems, St. Paul, Minn., is being awarded a $49,884,000 ceiling-priced letter contract for the fabrication, testing, installation, and delivery of upgrade improvement program kits for four Royal Norwegian Air Force P-3C aircraft under the Foreign Military Sales (FMS) Program. The contract also provides for integrated logistics support; technical and source data; spares; operation and maintenance training; support equipment; and Oo level maintenance. Work will be performed in Eagan, Minn. (75%), and Greenville, S.C.
Boeing Defense&Space Group, Seattle, Washington, is being awarded a $34,892,599 face value increase to a firm fixed price contract to provide for Lot Two production for the Airborne Warning and Control System (AWACS) Radar System Improvement Program (RSIP). The work will be performed at Westinghouse Electric Corp., Baltimore, Maryland. Contract is expected to be completed January 2000. Contract funds will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year.
Middle Eastern carrier Emirates ordered 16 Airbus Industrie A330-200s with an option for seven more, becoming the largest customer for the -200 model, Airbus announced yesterday. Deliveries will begin in January 1999. The A330-200s replace Emirates' A300-600s and A310s.
HUGHES MISSILE SYSTEMS CO. negotiated a tentative agreement on a new contract with Machinists at its Tucson, Ariz., plant, the company announced Saturday. The three-year agreement was reached late Friday, as union members continued to work under an extension of the previous contract. Terms of the contract will be announced Sunday, Nov. 10, at a ratification meeting.
This could be a "crucial week" in the negotiations between the Dutch government and Samsung Aerospace for the takeover of bankrupt Fokker, a spokesman for the Dutch Economic Ministry said yesterday, denying reports of late last week that a deal was imminent. "In the process of negotiations things go up and down," the spokesman told The DAILY in a telephone interview from Amsterdam yesterday. "In the essence of negotiations, talks about one subject can influence another subject."
Kaman Aerospace Corporation, Bloomfield, Conn., is being awarded a $13,239,000 modification to previously awarded contract N00019-95-C-0127 for long lead materials and services to manufacture the SH-2G(E) aircraft upgrade for the Egyptian Government under the Foreign Military Sales (FMS) Program. Work will be performed in Bloomfield, Conn., and is expected to be completed by July 1998. Contract funds would not have expired at the end of the current fiscal year. The Naval Air Systems Command, Arlington, Va., is the contracting activity.
Lockheed Martin Vought Systems Corporation, Grand Prairie, Texas, is being awarded an $18,000,000 increment as a modification to a cost plus incentive fee contract for partial FY97 incremental funding for the continued development of the Army Tactical (Army TACMS) Missile System Block II Guided Missile and Launching Assembly. Work will be performed in Grand Prairie, Texas, and is expected to be completed by July 31, 1999. Contract funds will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. This is a sole source contract initiated on October 28, 1994.
The U.S. Navy has awarded a contract to San Diego-based Science and Applied Technology for further development of a dual-mode seeker for anti- radiation missiles, and to prepare the seeker for flight testing. Capt. William Belden, program manager for the High-speed Anti- Radiation Missile (HARM) and the Advanced Anti-Radiation Guided Missile (AARGM) seeker program, said initial captive carry tests of the SAT seeker "were very successful." And, "given those results," he said, "it made sense to move into the next phase of this development program."
United Technologies Corporation, West Palm Beach, Florida, is being awarded a $13,098,794 firm fixed price contract to provide for 690 Multiple Spare parts applicable to the F100-PW-229 engines on the F-15S for the Royal Saudi Air Force, in an unclassified Foreign Military Sales transaction for the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. The work will be performed at United Technologies Corporation, East Hartford, Connecticut. Contract is expected to be completed September 1999. Contract funds will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year.
LUCASVARITY said China has approved its repair and overhaul center in Xiamen, South China, and that the center is open for business. The operation is a result of a joint venture between Lucas Aerospace and Taikoo Aircraft Engineering Co. (TAECO).
Lockheed Martin Federal Services Corporation, Gaithersburg, Maryland, is being awarded a $6,816,680 face value increase to a cost plus award fee contract to definitize cost growth associated with transition to the new Command and Control Sustainment Contract for the Air Force Satellite Control Network. The work will be performed at Lockheed Martin Federal Services Corporation, Colorado Springs, Colorado (70%) and various other locations. Contract is expected to be completed October 2003. Contract funds will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year.
Rockwell International Corporation, Anaheim, California, is being awarded an $11,235,382 cost plus award fee contract to provide for the Inertial Measurement Unit Performance Data Processor Modification Program for the Expanded Missile Data Analysis System applicable to the Minuteman missile system. The work will be performed at Rockwell International Corporation's plants in Anaheim, California (20%), and Layton, Utah (40%) and Boeing Defense&Space Group's plants in Sunset, Utah (30%) and Seattle, Washington (10%). Contract is expected to be completed December 1999.
