Dana Badgerow former vice president and general manager of Honeywell's Skinner Valve Division in Connecticut, was appointed vice president of the Minneapolis Operation for Honeywell Military Avionics.
The company elected the following new members to the board of directors: Steven D. Dorfman, senior vice president of Hughes Electronics Corp. and president of Hughes Telecommunications and Space Company and a member of the Hughes Office of the Chairman. Roderick M. Sherwood, III, corporate vice president and treasurer of Hughes Electronics Corp., chairman of Hughes Investment Management Co. and a member of the Hughes Chairman's Forum. Michael T. Smith, chairman of Hughes Aircraft and vice chairman of Hughes Electronics Corp.
More evidence that the recovery is strong enough to start boosting jobs - Northrop Grumman says it plans to add 650 jobs in its commercial aircraft division thanks to the pick-up, including 240 at the company's Hawthorne, Calif., plant hit earlier this year by layoffs. Chairman Kent Kresa says the company's role as primary jetliner component subcontractor to Boeing could be worth $6 billion during the latest up- cycle.
Magnavox, a Hughes subsidiary, has developed a "Lapsat" briefcase-sized computer terminal that troops could use to get intelligence and other information from anywhere in the world. "It's a satellite Earth station in a briefcase," says Dr. Arthur R. Tilford, head of the Lapsat project for Hughes. "It has its own satellite antenna, PC, color video system, audio sound system." While the military has made no firm commitment to buy Lapsat, the company has received a number of requests for information about it.
Senate Republicans last Wednesday night thwarted a move led by Sen. Charles Grassley (R-Iowa) to cut $11.3 billion in budget authority from the fiscal year 1997 budget resolution's defense spending account. Grassley's amendment was defeated by a vote of 57 to 42. A number of senior Republicans on the defense panels were concerned the amendment might pass, because it was defeated only in a tie vote when offered at the Budget Committee level. A number of Democrats who support defense rallied with their GOP colleagues on Wednesday night to defeat Grassley.
A little noticed amendment to the fiscal 1997 defense authorization on the House floor would call for a study of mergers and acquisitions in the defense industry. It would look into the effect of mergers on excess capacity, the degree of change in dependence on defense business by industry, and the effect on employment in the three years that will precede enactment of the '97 defense authorization. The amendment, one of a package, was offered by Rep. Maxine Waters (D-Calif.).
The U.S. Army has isolated two of three faults in Javelin missiles that malfunctioned at Ft. Hunter Liggett, Calif., during Limited User Tests in late April, Army spokesmen say. Details weren't available, but a spokesmen say one problem was linked to bad wiring, and the other to insufficient "glue" at an unspecified point. Live-fire testing is expected to resume in the next two weeks. That leaves the Army with about a month to equip the first unit with Javelin, a goal it has insisted in recent weeks that it will achieve.
The Senate Armed Services Committee is unhappy with delays by the Pentagon in responding to Congress' request in the fiscal 1996 budget bill to speed up the Space and Missile Tracking System (SMTS) program and has threatened to move control of the program from the Air Force to the Ballistic Missile Defense Organization.
The U.S. Navy hasn't included funding for the Marine Corps V- 22 defensive armament in its fiscal '98-'03 program objective memorandum, a Marine official says. Last year, the Corps hoped the issue would be addressed in this POM drill (DAILY, Oct. 6, 1995), and that the result would have been a turret gun. Marines are hopeful the money will somehow find its way into the POM, even though "POM lock" occurred last week. One says that if the system isn't in POM '98, it must be addressed in the fiscal '99 program review.
Wall Street's aerospace interests are thrilled to see indications that congressional appropriators will wind up adding at least $11 billion to the fiscal 1997 defense spending request (DAILY, May 15). That's less than House or Senate authorizers came up with, but still as much as $5 billion more than many veteran Hill-watchers had expected, and Merrill Lynch VP Byron Callan tells clients that aerospace companies can count on getting at least some of the money. "The add-ons could be viewed as bait," he says.
Thomas Collins has been promoted to vice president and general manager of COMSAT MOBILE Communications. He replaces Christopher J. Leber who moves to the newly created COMSAT Personal Communications division as vice president and general manager.
Kenneth Reed has been named president of McDonnell Douglas-Canada in Malton, Ontario. The plant manufactures wings and other components for Douglas commercial aircraft. Reed was VP-missile production in Titusville, Fla.
Michael K. McDonald, previously director, domestic marketing, has been appointed vice president, business development for Rockwell's Collins Avionics and Communications Division.
The next few months are shaping up tobe crucial ones for most of the major players in the aerospace industry, with some $24 billion in long-term international contests ranging from smart missiles to strike aircraft all due to be decided this summer. In fact, through the fall 14 major competitions totalling more than $30 billion will shape the defense landscape well into the next decade, and Lockheed Martin is poised to take a role in at least nine of them.
One of the most important things Lockheed Martin has learned through its partnerships with Russia on expendable launch vehicles is that the Russians are able to use a much smaller workforce, says Lockheed Martin's Norman Augustine. A launch vehicle design, from the very start of mockup, has to allow for fewer people and faster turnaround time, he says. Augustine and his colleagues at Lockheed Martin boast their newly unveiled VentureStar candidate for NASA's Reusable Launch Vehicle program will require 50 people or less to operate (DAILY, May 17).
The Senate Armed Services Committee wants the Pentagon to proceed slowly on the DarkStar high altitude endurance unmanned aerial vehicle program and stipulates that no action be taken on replacing the vehicle that crashed last month. The committee, in its report on the fiscal 1997 defense budget request, opted not to increase the funding request for the DarkStar, or Tier III Minus, UAV and noted that because "the specific causes of [the] crash are as yet unknown, [it] views with concern the headlong rush to accelerate the program."
Jim Lundeen has been named general manager for UNC Accessory Services in Texas. Prior to joinging UNC, Lundeen held manager positions with AlliedSignal Aerospace in Phoenix, Ariz. and Garrett Airline Services in Phoneix, Ariz., Toulouse, France, and Rome, Italy.
Richard L. (Dick) Klass, who most recently served as vice president at the International Planning and Analysis Center, Washington, D.C. , has been named to the newly created position of vice-president - government marketing.
Cordis B. (Cork) Colburn has been named staff vice president - government relations. Colburn joined the company in 1992 as corporate director of legislative affairs after a 24-year career with the U.S. Army.
Paul T. Tucker, who most recently served as president and chief executive officer of Knight-Ridder Financial (KRF), has been named vice president, business development.
Candace A. Clark was promoted to senior vice president, chief legal officer and secretary and J. Kenneth Nasshan to vice president, public relations. Marvin L. Grier has been named president of Kaman Instrumentation Corp.
Nick Fuhrman, previously a senior professional staff member on the subcommittee on Space and Aeronautics of the House Committee on Science, has been appointed director of government relations.
Susan Collins, who most recently served as director of marketing, has been appointed vice president of consumer marketing for DIRECTV DBS entertainment services.
