Enginemaker Rolls-Royce plans to sell its Bristol Aerospace Ltd. unit in Winnipeg, Canada, in order to focus more on engine repair and overhaul, the company said yesterday. Bristol, which employs 960 as a subsidiary of Rolls-Royce Industries Canada, repairs and overhauls fixed- and rotary-wing aircraft, makes aero- engine and aircraft components for Rolls-Royce and other manufacturers, and builds missiles and rockets. It also makes military targets for air, land and sea use, along with wire strike protection systems for helicopters.
Japan's National Space Development Agency (NASDA) plans to upgrade its H-II space launch vehicle with improved cryogenic engines and new solid and liquid fuel boosters to produce versions able to lift two and three metric tons to geostationary orbit (GEO), with a third follow-on able to put four metric tons in GEO.
McDonnell Douglas and AlliedSignal Engines went ahead last week with the first test flight of their ITEC F124-powered T-45 Goshawk trainer, even though it was dropped from Australia's Lead-In Fighter contest last month and for the moment is a program without a home. During a 90-minute test flight, the aircraft reached 25,000 feet and passed minimum and maximum throttle slams and bodies, demonstrating "surge- free engine operation at altitude," AlliedSignal Engines executives reported yesterday during a briefing in Washington for aerospace reporters.
Three companies received U.S. Air Force contracts worth a total of more than $48 million for continued support of missile warning facilities. The contracts, announced by the Dept. of Defense on Oct. 1, the beginning of fiscal year 1997, are all for FY '97 work. They are as follows:
U.S. AIR FORCE T-38 trainer upgrades have begun following withdrawal of a Lockheed Martin protest to the General Accounting Office. Lockheed Martin protested after the Air Force awarded a McDonnell Douglas team $45.7 million on July 31 to design and develop of a T-38 avionics upgrade and deliver two improved aircraft. The contract could involve modification of 425 aircraft. The protest was withdrawn late last month.
A CRIMINAL INVESTIGATION of Litton's Guidance&Control Systems division, Woodland Hills, Calif., was closed by the U.S. Dept. of Justice yesterday with no action being taken, Litton said. Investigators visited Litton facilities in Woodland Hills and Salt Lake City with search warrants on March 27 seeking documentation relating to cost estimating and pricing proposal practices.
Lockheed Martin is using facilities at NASA's Langley Research Center to test insulation and other concepts for the cryogenic tanks that will be critical to making the company's X-33 reusable launch vehicle work. NASA researchers are subjecting an insulated one-by-two-foot aluminum alloy panel to 25 chill-down/heat-up cycles that simulate both the cold of the liquid hydrogen a tank would carry and the heat of reentry. Later in the test series, which ends this month, the panel will be subjected to design loads during heating and cooling.
The U.S. Air Force B-52H bombers deployed to Diego Garcia in the Indian Ocean to stand by for possible follow-up operations after the Sept. 3-4 cruise missile attack against Iraq will return to Barksdale AFB, La., in coming weeks, an AF official says. They are slated to go to Guam before they head back to Barksdale.
The U.S. Army plans to award a contract later this year to the Longbow Limited Liability Co. to adapt AH-64D Longbow Apache fire control radar technology for the RAH-66 Comanche helicopter. Longbow LLC - the Lockheed Martin/Northrop Grumman joint venture in charge of developing and building the Longbow Fire Control Radar for the Apache - is the only company with the technical knowledge to complete development of the derivate radar system for Comanche, the Army said in a recent Commerce Business Daily notice.
"We're not going to understand the loss of Sam Nunn until next year," says Rep. Curt Weldon (R-Pa.), chairman of the House National Security research and development subcommittee. He says the Georgia Democrat, who is leaving the Senate after 24 years, comprehends the needs of the military and was willing to say to President Clinton that "enough is enough, you can go no further" in cutting defense. Rep. John P.
Faced with the threat of massive computer malfunctions on Jan. 1, 2000, because of date-stamping flaws, the U.S. Air Force hopes to have the necessary fixes in place by 1999 so it will have a year to test and field modified systems.
The U.S. Army shouldn't go ahead with its planned buy of an Advanced Quickfix (AQF) helicopter system because it isn't needed for testing and its Intelligence and Electronic Warfare Common Sensor (IEWCS) package isn't mature, the General Accounting Office says in a new report.
Peter Hildebrand of the SHAPE Technical Center says electro- optical and infrared countermeasures will be the next big defense area. "I'm surprised it came to NATO so late," he tells the Association of Old Crows convention in Washington. "It's obvious that every terrorist can carry some kind of [IR or EO] weapon."
A total of about $680.5 million, or more than 2%, was taken out of Pentagon R&D accounts to close out negotiations on the fiscal year 1997 appropriations bill between Republican congressional leaders and the White House. The agreement, cleared by Congress Sept. 30 and signed by President Clinton signed later that day, is now law.
Early in fiscal 1996 when the Office of Management and Budget revised inflation estimates downwards, money was taken out of the Pentagon's fiscal '97 and future budgets. But Garant notes that the Pentagon was allowed to keep about three-quarters of the money it should have relinquished over the future years defense plan to fix its modernization program. He questions whether OMB will increase the Pentagon top-line again if inflation estimates increase, or whether it will say that the approximately $30 billion OMB let the Pentagon keep will settle that score.
The National Reconnaissance Office devotes 60% of its resources to acquisition of systems, according to briefing charts presented to the Association of Old Crows by Brig. Gen. Robert E. Larned, director of signals intelligence acquisition for NRO. The charts said 38% of the total is dedicated to space systems and 22% to ground systems. Operations represent about 16% of the agency's business and launch 12%. Infrastructure and R&D round out the spy agency's business with 6% each.
Rep. C.W. (Bill) Young (R-Fla.), chairman of the House Appropriations national security subcommittee, sees President Clinton as a free agent on defense spending if he is re-elected. "If he wins re- election, he won't have to kowtow to the far left in his own party," says Young. "I don't know which way he'll go."
The Pentagon may have to brace itself yet again for changing inflation estimates. "There exists great potential...for the inflation estimates to go up somewhat," says Ronald Garant, director of investment for the Pentagon Comptroller's office. Besides a potential increase resulting from real inflation, Garant says the rate could go up because of changes at the Dept. of Commerce in the way that inflation measures are applied to the government.
The German government purchased seven GKN Westland Super Lynx helicopters, designated Sea Lynx Mk88A, under a contract valued at 100 million pounds ($156 million), GKN Westland said Friday. Production will start in 1997 and the first aircraft will be delivered in 1999. The contract includes significant opportunities for German industry, with an industrial benefits package equal to the value of the contract. GKN Westland is also discussing with the German navy a program to upgrade the 17 existing MK88 Sea Lynx to Mk88A standard.
Diversification contributed to a third quarter drop in Raytheon's projected earnings, as the former defense-dominated company continues to increase its commercial business dealings. "You have 100% predictability [in defense], but you're subject to the ups and downs of the defense budget," says Peter D'Angelo, executive vice president and chief financial officer. "You have much less predictability in the commercial markets because you are subject to the consumer marketplace."
Japan's 10 space-related ministries and agencies have asked the Ministry of Finance for a total of $3.57 billion for the fiscal year beginning in April 1997, a 6.5% increase over the current fiscal year. Work on the International Space Station and related activities would consume almost a third of the requested amount. The biggest ticket item for the coming year would be for the Japanese Experiment Module and other Station hardware, at $645.4 million.
ORBIT INTERNATIONAL CORP., Hauppauge, N.Y., has received a preliminary contract to manufacture console intercommunication units in support of the Aegis Shipboard Program. Orbit's Instrument Div. will supply Hughes Aircraft Company, Fullerton, Calif., with about $3.95 million dollars worth of panels to be delivered over the next 18 months.
Lockheed Martin contract employees continue to work supporting the International Space Station at NASA's Ames Research Center, despite a Japanese decision to build the Centrifuge Accommodation Module for the orbiting lab (DAILY, Oct. 3). The company had notified about 300 workers at Ames that they faced layoffs at the end of September (DAILY, Sept. 16), but a spokeswoman said no notices were sent out. Ames manages the centrifuge project for NASA, but negotiations over shifting it to Japan could take a year or more.
Recent operations in Bosnia have highlighted a "lack of SEAD [Suppression of Enemy Air Defenses] capability" for NATO, according to Norman Ray, the alliance's assistant secretary general for Defense Support. "When we needed it at certain times, we didn't have enough," Ray tells the Old Crows. To mitigate the problem, "we need to address the common EW requirement facing us."
Rockwell International formally took control of the depot workloads at Newark AFB, Heath, Ohio, Friday, making the base the first military facility privatized by industry. Rockwell won a $264 million contract from the U.S. Air Force on Dec. 15, 1995, for the Privatization-in-Place of the base. Rockwell will perform the guidance and navigation depot repair functions on the 56 workloads in the missile systems and aircraft areas. The main program items are Peacekeeper and Minuteman missiles and systems for the F-16, B-1B and KC- 135 aircraft
