The world's largest all-composite aircraft, Grob's G850 Strato 2C high-altitude, long-endurance stratospheric research aircraft, is the German manufacturer's property following resolution of differences with the German government after cutoff of state funding some months ago.
U.S. Air Force planners are looking to change the way Conventional Air-Launched Cruise Missiles deployed on B-52s are used after three CALCMs failed to fire during last week's attack on Iraq. All 16 CALCMs used in the attack were assigned to 10 targets, but there were no backups, an AF official said. If CALCMs are used in the future, it is likely the B-52s will carry some spares, according to the official.
Rockwell Collins is expanding its long-term relationship with China with several new programs and joint ventures. Co-development work is focusing on advancement of technologies needed for China's planned, 100-passenger jet transport. The AE-100 is being built in partnership with AIR, the European regional aircraft manufacturing consortium. Collins' General Aviation and Air Transport divisions are both involved in the effort.
Industry officials see signs that some of the Pentagon's acquisition reform steps are hampering the ability of new companies to enter the defense market. The Pentagon's move to heavily weigh past performance in procurement source selections drew the most criticism from industry panelists at an American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics conference in Washington on Tuesday.
The U.S. Air Force expects to buy around 450 AGM-142 standoff missiles over the next three years for U.S. and overseas users, according to the service's Aeronautical Systems Center. The U.S. would buy about 50 missiles over each of the next three years, while about 100 missiles each year would be for foreign military sales, ASC said in a Sept. 12 Commerce Business Daily notice. An AF official said the buys are notional quantities for planning purposes.
Kanematsu of Japan has exercised three more options for the Hawker U-125A, a special-mission version of the Hawker 800 executive jet configured for maritime search and rescue missions. The aircraft will be delivered in 1998, joining seven other U-125As that will by that time be in service with the Japan Air Self Defense Force. The JASDF has options for up to 27 -125As for delivery through 2005.
The Inmarsat-3 advanced mobile satellite communications platform has reached quasi-synchronous orbit and is drifting toward its checkout position at 28 degrees East longitude, the international mobile communications consortium has reported.
Argentina wants the U.S. to release eight retired P-3 Orions to meet its maritime patrol aircraft requirement, an Argentinian naval official told The DAILY in Washington. Cdr. Carlos E. Hillman of Argentina's embassy said Wednesday that the request has been briefed to Pentagon officials, and that it is likely to be approved. The aircraft are in storage at Davis-Monthan AFB, Ariz., he said. Argentina is requesting the aircraft as "material in excess" to the U.S. inventory, which would minimize their price.
The General Accounting Office said the U.S. Army must either reopen a competition for the Special Operations Lightweight GPS Receiver (SOLGR), or award the contract to Trimble Navigation, which protested the Army's choice of Rockwell. GAO said that despite claims by Rockwell and the Army that Rockwell's receiver required only minor modifications, the mods in fact "are significant and not minor." The request for proposal demanded a non- developmental item, but GAO said Rockwell's submission can't be classified as such.
An Ariane 42P booster carried the U.S. Echostar II direct-broadcast satellite to its geostationary transfer orbit Tuesday, increasing the capacity of the Colorado-based company's DISH Network satellite television service by more than 100 channels.
House backers of a plan to keep the Northrop Grumman B-2 bomber in low rate production beyond the present buy made their case for a final time yesterday before issuance of a Pentagon study of deep strike options that will probably oppose additional stealth bombers.
Fabrication of prototype dynamic components for Sikorsky's S-92 Helibus has begun at the company's Stratford, Conn., plant. Final assembly is slated to begin next year and first flight is planned for 1998. Six companies are involved in the six-nation partnership.
CUBIC DEFENSE SYSTEMS INC., San Diego, set to build 15 Joint STARS ground data terminals and spares under a $23.9 million U.S. Air Force contract (DAILY, Aug. 27), said the first production unit of this lot is slated for delivery in February 1998, and that the work is already underway. The company said yesterday that the systems will be built over a two-and-a- half-year period. It said this is the fourth production lot option exercised under the basic contract, which was awarded in 1993.
British Aerospace yesterday credited years of deep restructuring for a rebound good enough to generate a nearly 75% boost in 1996 first-half pre- tax profits, and the company forecast more of the same thanks to increased productivity and a strong order book.
Flight Safety International received two five-year contracts from the U.S. Navy. One covers training of pilots and flight crews of the C-9B transport, and the other is for pilot and crew training of the CT-39D/E/G executive jet. FlightSafety said the training will be carried out at its centers at St. Louis.
The recovery in demand for jetliners will allow Northrop Grumman to recall or hire about 900 workers for five plants in its Commercial Aircraft unit, the company said yesterday. Facilities in Grand Prairie, Tex., Hawthorne, Calif., Stuart, Fla., and Perry and Milledgeville, Ga., will all see increases, bringing total commercial aircraft employment to 8,140 by year-end.
Regional carrier Continental Express handed the AE 3007 turbofan program of Rolls-Royce's Allison Engine Co. a long-awaited boost with an order for at least 25 AE-powered Embraer EMB-145 regional jets and enough options to take the total buy to 200 planes over the next 12 years. Allison says it's the largest single commercial order so far for the 7,600-lbst. AE 3007, but hints that more sales may be just over the horizon. The AE 3007 is also "being evaluated by other regional and business aircraft manufacturers," Allison says.
The U.S. Army will start a development program to incorporate Demand Assigned Multiple Access (DAMA) in Milstar satellite SMART-T ground terminals to allow more efficient use of bandwidth, said Col. Michael Mazzucchi, the service's Milstar program manager. Raytheon is in line for an engineering change contract to begin developing the DAMA implementation, Mazzucchi said Tuesday in a telephone interview from his Ft. Monmouth, N.J., office. A team of Raytheon and Rockwell International won the SMART-T low-rate initial production (LRIP) contract this year.
Bell Helicopter Textron and Dornier Luftfahrt GmbH said they have signed an agreement to jointly pursue a German Federal Border Guard requirement to replace its fleet of Bell UH-1D single engine helicopters with new twin engine helicopters. Under a memorandum of understanding signed at the Farnborough air show last week, Dornier Luftfahrt will be the prime contractor and Bell will be the subcontractor. The two teamed in the past to provide over 350 UH-1Ds to the German Armed Forces and Border Police. That program was completed in 1971.
House and Senate conferees on the fiscal 1997 defense appropriations bill failed to settle any of the major tactical aircraft differences in the two bills yesterday and were working on a package that was $4 billion over the $244 billion ceiling senior members of the conference believe President Clinton will accept, congressional sources said. Nevertheless, Rep. C.W. (Bill) Young (R-Fla.), House Appropriations national security subcommittee chairman, maintained that the conference could finish by tonight.
Program managers at McDonnell Douglas and AlliedSignal Engines are contemplating their next move now that Australia has dropped their ITEC F124-powered Goshawk from the Lead-In Fighter contest. The decision (DAILY, Sept. 10) leaves British Aerospace's Hawk and Aermacchi's MB.339C as competitors for the $800 million procurement to replace Aermacchi MB.326Hs beginning in 1999 (DAILY, Aug. 1).
VICE ADM. DONALD D. ENGEN (USN-ret.) will head an independent review of the Pentagon's executive air fleet that supports the president, the Pentagon said Tuesday. The move follows incidents in Florida last week in which one of the fleet's CH-46 helicopters rolled over while taxiing and burst into flames, and another landed in a field after a warning light went on in the cockpit. There were no fatalities or injuries in either case. Last month, a C-130 of the fleet crashed shortly after takeoff from Jackson Hole, Wyoming, killing all aboard.
The U.S. Air Force has picked AlliedSignal Avionics to supply 1,685 interim Global Positioning System sets in a program to upgrade transport aircraft that was directed by Defense Secretary William Perry after the April crash in Croatia of a CT-43 that killed all aboard, including Commerce Secretary Ron Brown. The AF Space and Missile Systems Center, Los Angeles AFB, Calif., awarded the $1.9 million contract late Tuesday. All kits must be delivered by Oct. 10.
GenCorp's Aerojet and British Aerospace's Royal Ordnance said they have signed an agreement to work together on such technologies as advanced warheads, minimum smoke/low signature propellants and insensitive munitions. "This is the first step in a planned approach to combine the unique technologies and capabilities of the two companies to satisfy international defense and aerospace requirements for energetic products," said Joe Carleone, tactical, defense and armaments VP for Aerojet.
