The gap between Senate Armed Services Committee members' views on defense spending and policy has been seen as narrow in the past, but it will widen into a larger rift clearly separating the Democrats from Republicans in the next Congress, some Republican congressional aides and Capitol Hill observers predict. But not everyone agrees.
Acquisition and consolidation expenses ate into net income numbers for Hexcel Corp., Stamford, Conn., during the third quarter, the company said. Hexcel reported sales of $189.5 million, up from $81.4 a year ago, due to the acquisitions of composite businesses from Ciba-Geigy Limited, Ciba- Geigy Corp., and Hercules Inc. and recently announced build rate increases for certain commercial aircraft. Without the acquisitions, sales were about $92 million, a 13% increase over 1995.
EUROPE'S METEOSAT SECOND GENERATION (MSG) program will get two more weather satellites under an agreement signed this month by Jean-Marie Luton, director general of the European Space Agency, and Tillmann Mohr, director of Eumetsat. Under the agreement ESA will procure the MSG-2 and MSG-3 platforms from European industry, while Eumetsat will launch the two platforms in 2002 and 2007 respectively and operate them until at least 2012. ESA is already developing MSG-1 for launch in 2000. It will carry a Eumetsat advanced radiometer and an ESA radiation budget experiment.
Rockwell International began mailing a proxy statement-prospectus to share owners for a Dec. 4, 1996 meeting, in which share owners will vote on the proposed tax-free reorganization of the company and the sale of Rockwell's Aerospace and Defense businesses to Boeing, Rockwell said Wednesday. "Our December meeting will mark one of the most important days in the history of Rockwell as we head into a very promising future," Donald R.
ECHOSTAR, meanwhile, has lowered the cost of its direct-to-home satellite receiver to $199 for the second unit. The first unit costs $299, and a complete two-receiver system, plus a year of programming totals $798, the Englewood, Colo.-based company said. The price cut comes as the company starts broadcasting on its second satellite, Echostar II, offering an "America's Top 50" programming package via its DISH (Digital Sky Highway) network. A one-year subscription to the Top 50 package costs $300, Echostar said.
U.S. air strikes last year against Serb targets in Bosnia were important in bringing about the Dayton peace negotiations, a State Dept. official told reporters yesterday.
HUGHES AIRCRAFT CO., Fullerton, Calif., won a $12.7 million subcontract from Dornier GmbH for an off-the-shelf air defense system for the German Air Force, Hughes announced yesterday. Hughes will supply the Sentry system to the Control and Reporting Center Schonewalde. It will customize the system by adding a digital data link to the NATO E-3A AWACS aircraft, tailoring the graphic user interface for German operational needs, and integrating an advanced tracker supplied by Dornier.
Two recent military contracts to civil aviation companies for helicopter training were praised by the Helicopter Association International as a "significant step toward broader privatization." HAI cited a UNC Aviation Services' contract, valued at up to $101 million, for helicopter flight training for the Army Aviation Training Center, and a FlightSafety International contract from the Air Force worth over $4 million for simulator training of UH-1N crews at the FSI Bell Helicopter training center.
The General Dynamics Voluntary Political Contribution Plan made its largest contributions in September, $5,000 each, to the National Republican Congressional Committee and the Republican Senate Council, an examination of Federal Election Commission records disclosed. The contributions to the Republican House and Senate campaign fund- raising arms overshadowed disbursements last month to individual candidates by the GD PAC.
MCDONNELL DOUGLAS last week delivered one of two F/A-18E/F avionics and weapon system test aircraft to the U.S. Navy at NAS Patuxent River, Md., MDC reported. The aircraft, designated E5 for the flight test program, arrived at Pax River after a 1.7 hour flight for MDC's St. Louis facility. Earlier last week the E/F flight test program completed 292 flights and 475.3 flight hours. Last month, aircraft E2 logged its 100th flight.
The Democratic Party's shift to a new centralist philosophy will create a bipartisan core of moderate Democrats and Republicans who will steer the legislative agenda of the 105th Congress, some Democratic leaders predict.
SAMSUNG AEROSPACE's negotiations with the Dutch government for the takeover of Fokker hit a stumbling block, according to reports in the Dutch press yesterday. The government agreed to subsidize Fokker in exchange for guarantees that production of the Fokker 100 and planned Fokker 130 will stay in The Netherlands. But the government said Samsung's assurances of Dutch jobs are "insufficient." A Fokker spokesman told The DAILY that negotiations could continue into Friday.
The General Accounting Office yesterday denied Hughes Aircraft Co.'s protest to the U.S. Air Force on the $3 billion Joint Air-to-Surface Standoff Missile program, ending several months of legal wrangling between the two parties. Hughes protested June 27 after Lockheed Martin and McDonnell Douglas were selected to proceed with a 24-month Program Definition and Risk Reduction phase in the Air Force/Navy program (DAILY, July 1).
McDonnell Douglas is under investigation by a federal grand jury for a deal with China, but it remains confident that it violated no laws, a company spokesman said. The New York Times reported yesterday that the investigation centers on a $5 million side agreement to the $1.6 billion Trunkliner program, in which China is coproducing 20 MD-90s in Shanghai and McDonnell Douglas is building a mix of 20 MD-80s and MD-90s in Long Beach, Calif., for China.
Kellstrom Industries Inc., Sunrise, Fla., signed an agreement to acquire International Aircraft Support L.P., San Carlos, Calif., Kellstrom announced. Kellstrom will pay about $26.5 million in cash and warrants for 500,000 shares of Kellstrom common stock at $9.25 per share. The warrants expire two years from the closing date, which is expected within 90 days.
TEXTRON INC. named Terry D. Stinson president and CEO of Bell Helicopter Textron, effective January 1997. The company said he replaces retiring president Lloyd Shoppa. Shoppa will stay with Bell through August as vice chairman to assist in Stinson's transition. Stinson joined Textron in 1991 after 17 years at UTX. He started as group vice president of Textron's Aerospace Systems and Components segment, and currently serves as president of the segment. He will remain in that position through the end of the year.
Croatia signed a contract with Bell Helicopter Textron Inc. for 10 Bell 206B-3 JetRangers yesterday in Washington. The helicopters will be used by the Croatian Air Force for pilot training. "This is a definite decision to leave the Eastern technology and the Eastern way of thinking," said Steven Turcic, the deputy chief of acquisition and contracting for the Croatian Ministry of Defense. The $15 million contract includes training and a support package.
The U.S. Army developmental Advanced Threat Infrared Countermeasures (ATIRCM) system successfully countered all missiles fired against it in a recent test at White Sands Missile Range, N.M., system prime contractor Lockheed Martin Sanders reported.
A U.S. Navy-sponsored study of what it would take to marinize the Predator unmanned aerial vehicle has concluded that the UAV could operate from aircraft carriers and large-deck amphibious ships without major modifications.
Aerospace Safety Technologies Inc. (ASTI) and AlliedSignal Inc. resolved a patent infringement case brought by ASTI in 1995, the companies announced yesterday. The suit related to alleged improper use by AlliedSignal of ASTI's proprietary and patented electrothermal heating technology.
Sen. Richard Lugar (R-Ind.) suggested yesterday that the U.S. should be willing to tap Nunn-Lugar denuclearization funds to help pay the $600 million cost to Russia of making START II strategic weapons reductions.
NASA Space Shuttle managers have delayed setting a launch date for the Space Shuttle Columbia for another week, going right down to the wire on a targeted Nov. 8 launch date to gather more data on unusual erosion in the nozzle of one of the Reusable Solid Rocket Motors (RSRMs) that flew on the most recent Shuttle launch.
Sen. Larry Pressler (R-S.D.), considered one of the most vulnerable Republican senators up for re-election, could loose his Senate seat, dealing a blow to supporters of NASA's Mission to Planet Earth. Pressler, who chaired the Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee and sat on its science, technology and space panel in the 104th Congress, is running neck and neck with former Rep. Tim Johnson (D-S.D.).
The U.S. Marine Corps is testing new AN/VIS-9 night vision goggles that would replace GEC-Marconi-built MXU-810 "cat's eyes" now in use with Marine Corps tactical aircraft. "The new goggles are now in the initial stages of field testing," Capt. Stephen ("Franz") Brooks said in a Marine Corps release. He flew an AV-8B Harrier at the NAS Patuxent River, Md., in preparation for initial test of the new goggles.
