With final data in hand for half of 1996, Merrill Lynch analyst Byron Callan finds that while aircraft orders remain robust, cancellations are running well ahead of 1995 levels. "In the first half of 1996, we estimate that there were 98, more than double the 41 reported a year ago," Callan wrote in his monthly tabulation for investors of new orders and cancellations for Boeing, McDonnell Douglas and Airbus Industrie jetliners. Of that 98, Boeing accounts for 87, mostly resulting from swaps by customers from existing aircraft type orders to new types.
Lockheed Martin yesterday unveiled its framework for absorbing the 22 Loral businesses it acquired in April, putting more than half the units under the C3I&Systems Integration business sector. Management has set itself a deadline of the end of the third quarter to come up with any further consolidation steps that might be needed.
Lockheed Martin Vought Systems won a $48.2 million U.S. Army contract to upgrade select Multiple Launch Rocket System (MLRS) launchers with an interim capability to fire extended range rockets and missiles. The company said last Thursday that it will upgrade 34 launchers with the hardware and software necessary to fire the new extended-range Block 1A Army Tactical Missile System (ATACMS) missile. Options under the contract also call for upgrading of 10 MLRS launchers to fire the new extended-range MLRS rocket.
House and Senate defense authorization conferees continued to support electronic warfare in the FY '97 defense authorization act and told the Defense Dept. to develop a reactive receiver for the EA-6B Prowler. Conferees said it was "unacceptable" that the Pentagon wasn't undertaking an EA-6B reactive receiver program this fiscal year with funds allotted specifically for that purpose in the FY '96 authorization bill. They said in this year's authorization act that they expect the program to begin "at once."
McDonnell Douglas has received a U.S. Air Force contract to develop installation of the Common Missile Warning System for F-15E fighters, and possibly F-15Cs. It would augment existing warning systems. The AF's Aeronautical Systems Center awarded the $6.7 million contract last Thursday. MDC was the only bidder. The contract is for design and engineering and manufacturing development
THE SENATE Friday approved the nomination of Adm. Jay. L. Johnson to be chief of naval operations. He succeeds the late Adm. Jeremy M. Boorda, who took his own life on May 16. Also approved Friday was the nomination of Gen. Howell M. Estes III to head U.S. Space Command. Estes was elevated to the four star rank at the same time.
The Senate quit last Friday without taking up the House-approved $265.6 billion fiscal 1997 defense authorization conference report. Senate approval would have cleared the bill for President Clinton to sign it into law. Senate Democratic Leader Sen. Thomas A. Daschle (S.D.) blocked a unanimous consent request Friday night, saying that two Democrats on the conference committee refused to sign the report because they had "very serious concerns about it that they would like the opportunity to discuss."
House and Senate fiscal 1997 defense authorization conferees have denied the Navy's $17.6 million budget request to buy a commercial off-the- shelf signals intelligence package for the P-3C aircraft because of concern the service hasn't adequately planned for use of the system.
Senate and House defense authorizers, in their fiscal year 1997 defense bill, watered down a Senate provision prohibiting the sale of high resolution imagery of Israel on the global market. During debate of its version of the bill in June, the Senate adopted an amendment offered by Sens. Jon Kyl (R-Ariz.) and Jeff Bingaman (D-N.M.) to stop the sale of any spy-quality imagery of Israel that isn't already "routinely available" on the global market (DAILY, June 27).
DENMARK'S ARMED FORCES CHIEF, Adm. Hans Joergen Garde, was one of nine passengers who died Saturday when their Gulfstream III executive jet crashed while trying to land near the town of Vagar in the Faroe Islands. The cause of the crash hasn't been determined, but a Danish military official in Washington said it occurred in bad weather. The aircraft was on its way to Copenhagen after stops in Greenland and Iceland. The acting armed forces chief is Danish Air Force Lt. Gen. Christian Hvidt, who was Garde's deputy and chief of the defense staff.
BELL/BOEING reported successful mating of the wing, fuselage and empennage of the third V-22 engineering and manufacturing development aircraft. First flight of an EMD Osprey is slated for December, the team said. Low-rate initial production of the V-22 will begin next year with V-22. The contractors note that while the LRIP contract signed last month calls for four V-22s in FY '97, congressional authorizers have recommended a buy of six aircraft.
The U.S. Navy's shipboard cruise missile detection capability will be improved with last week's award of a contract for about $15 million to Lockheed Martin for an infrared search and track (IRST) system. Total value of the contract could increase to about $45 million if all options are exercised, the Pentagon said. All deliveries are slated to be made by mid-2000.
A U.S. Marine Corps plan to upgrade its AH-1W Cobra helicopters will, among other things, alleviate visibility problems lamented by aircrews, according to Maj. Mark Bamberger, program coordinator for the Corps' Light Attack Helicopter squadron. Night vision and situational awareness improvements will be added in the fiscal '98/'99 timeframe, but an enhancement addressing all safety issues won't hit the fleet until the 4BW, or four-bladed, version of the Cobra is fielded, an event now slated to begin in fiscal '05, Bamberger said in an interview.
House defense authorization conferees receded to their Senate counterpart's direction to create a new National Imagery and Mapping Agency (NIMA) in fiscal year 1997. Resolving the differences between their respective versions of the FY '97 defense authorization bill, the conferees adopted the Senate position that NIMA be established as a single U.S. agency for imagery and geospatial information. The House bill did not call for creation of NIMA.
NASA is sifting its options for flight-testing reusable launch vehicle (RLV) technology in the wake of last week's loss of the DC- XA, but a lack of funds probably will thwart a move to replace the vertical takeoff and landing prototype using spares and parts salvaged from the wreckage. More likely is some sort of follow-on to the X-33 RLV testbed Lockheed Martin is building, perhaps built around another new advanced engine like the linear aerospike Lockheed Martin is using.
Debt-watchers Moody's Investors Service and Standard&Poor's agreed Friday that Boeing's plan to acquire Rockwell International's defense and space units is a good one, and confirmed existing ratings on most of the debt of both companies.
Part of the agreement on the fiscal 1997 defense authorization conference calls for a vote next month on the "Defend America Act," the legislation sponsored by Bob Dole when he was Senate Majority Leader and House Speaker Rep. Newt Gingrich (R-Ga.). Republicans feel the legislation will highlight the lack of a nationwide missile defense for Dole to use against President Clinton in the election campaign.
