The House National Security Committee has taken two steps to deal with its concern that findings of the most recent National Intelligence Estimate appear to downgrade the ballistic missile threat. The committee tells Director of Central Intelligence John Deutch to convene a panel of independent, non-government experts to review assumptions and conclusions of the November 1995 NIE. Its conclusion that the U.S. won't face a strategic missile threat for 15 years has drawn heavy criticism in Congress.
U.S. ARMY Communications and Electronics Command awarded additional contracts to ITT Electro-Optical Products Div., Roanoke, Va., and Litton Systems Inc., Electron Devices Div., Tempe, Arizona, for spare parts for the AN/AVS-6 Aviator's Night Vision Goggle and AN/PVS-7 Ground Night Vision Goggle. ITT got $9.9 million as part of a $229.1 million contract, and Litton got $5.5 million as part of a $129 million contract. The awards were made on April 24.
The federal government could realize substantial savings by using the same ground equipment to control its various satellite networks, but so far has failed to tackle difficult coordination problems because there is no clear national policy on the issue, the congressional General Accounting Office stated in a report released last week.
U.S. ARMY Communications and Electronics Command said in an April 16 Commerce Business Daily notices that Hughes Aircraft Co. and Texas Instrument are in line for supplies and services to support the Second- Generation Horizontal Technology Integration (HTI) Forward Looking Infrared (FLIR) system. The companies are co-developers of the system.
The Pentagon's Inspector General says in a new report that the U.S. Army is fielding its new and upgraded weapon systems relatively smoothly, but that its planning for depot maintenance is inadequate and could cost the service money. In the report, dated April 17 but just released, the IG found that "Combat units were generally satisfied with the handoff of the initial 10 systems evaluated." The systems were operational and supportable, it said.
The Senate Armed Services Committee passed a fiscal year 1997 defense spending bill that increases the Administration's $254.4 billion request by $12.9 billion and boosts funding accounts for a number of weapons modernization programs. The bill, passed late Thursday, is similar to the FY '96 defense budget, in which the Republican-led Congress shifted funding away from non- traditional defense programs like defense conversion and environmental cleanup, and put it into weapons programs.
Clinton Administration officials continue to play negotiations with Russia over International Space Station cooperation very close to the vest, and NASA's other Station partners are getting restless. At the annual AIAA symposium last week the European, Japanese and Canadian space agency chiefs all said they need to know just what sort of deal Administrator Dan Goldin will strike in Moscow next month (DAILY, April 29), particularly if it impacts their plans for building and using the Station. Notably absent at the AIAA event was Russian Space Agency head Yuri Koptiev.
Due to a typographical error in a House National Security Committee chart, The DAILY erroneously reported in the May 3 issue (page 201) that the committee authorized $780 million, a cut of $30 million, for the SSN-23 Seawolf submarine program. In fact, the committee approved the full request of $810 million.
Long lead funding of about $224 million for 12 low rate initial production F/A-18E/F aircraft and 29 F414-GE-400 engines was awarded Wednesday to McDonnell Douglas and General Electric, respectively. The Pentagon said that MDC got $188.9 million for F/A-18E/F long-lead materials, and that GE received $35 million for the engines and support services and data.
The U.S. Navy yesterday awarded Alliant Techsystems $52.6 million for the coveted Tactical Unmanned Aerial Vehicle program intended to fill the Army, Navy and Marine Corps UAV requirement. Alliant Techsystems's Defense Systems unit beat out seven other competitors with its Vixen bid. Alliant is teamed with Cirrus Design, Combustion Dynamics Ltd., GS Engineering, IAI Taman, Lockheed Martin, Mission Technologies, Southwest Research Institute and The Stratos Group.
The Senate Armed Services Committee added about $800 million to the Administration's $2.8 billion request for ballistic missile defense, earmarking more than $300 million of that for a national missile defense (NMD) system, Hill aides said yesterday. The total BMD add-on will end up between $800 million and $820 million, with the NMD portion marked between $300 million and $365 million, a Senate aide said. The panel worked into the night, and the final markup was expected to be made public this afternoon.
NASA's long-term plan for upgrades to keep the Space Shuttle flying safely until a replacement is fielded remains uncertain, in part because the head of the U.S. space agency wants to apply his "faster-better- cheaper" approach to the change-resistant program. Administrator Daniel S. Goldin told the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics yesterday that he has been displeased with proposals for upgrading Shuttle systems while a commercial reusable launch vehicle (RLV) is developed.
U.S. intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) forces would be challenged to fully support two nearly simultaneous regional conflicts, according to Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Gen. John Shalikashvili. Shalikashvili told Congress in his "1996 Threat Assessment Report" that while congressional funding for intelligence collection and dissemination initiatives has supported the ISR forces, both the Pentagon's Intelligence Bottom Up Review and Joint Monthly Readiness Review indicate shortfalls.
The House National Security Committee has charged the Navy with failing to bring technologies along for the pre-competitive phase of the New Attack Submarine prototype program, and authorized an unrequested $188 million for the service to pursue the incorporation of these technologies. The funding was among $7.5 billion added in procurement and $1.65 billion in research and development as the committee late Wednesday reported out a $267 billion fiscal 1997 national security authorization - $13 billion above the Clinton Administration request.
An original U.S. Army plan to buy more than 300 systems to pick out targets has been scaled back to the study level. The Army's Communications and Electronics Command said in May 2 Commerce Business Daily notice that "a change of strategy" has promoted it to shift from a planned buy of 336 Target Acquisition Systems (TAS) to issuance of a "broad agency announcement" (BAA) for study of a Target Location and Observation System (TLOS).
The FAA has signed a contract with Hughes Aircraft Co. to continue work on the Wide Area Augmentation System (WAAS). The agency terminated Wilcox Electric's $475 million contract to develop the air navigation system after the company failed to meet cost and schedule targets (DAILY, April 30).
A classified U.S. Air Force briefing for senators on projected threats to air superiority, slated for this month, will validate the need for the F-22 fighter, AF officials say. Maj. Gen. John Hawley, chief of the AF's Global Power directorate, said in an interview yesterday that the session will "get down to the ground truth on the threat."
McDONNELL DOUGLAS HELICOPTER SYSTEMS, Mesa, Ariz., said it has become a key supplier of electrical subassemblies and components for aircraft. It said it delivered more than 6,900 electrical cables during the first quarter of 1996. It said the work has added 700 new jobs and represents the third- largest program at Mesa. In addition to providing subassemblies for Mesa- built helicopters - the AH-64A, MD 500 Series and MD Explorer - the company said it produces components for such MDC products as the F/A-18, F-15, AV- 8B, T-45TS, C-17 and Harpoon missile.
Condor Systems, Sterling, Va., is in line for a U.S. Army contract to integrate an aircraft identification system into the Ground Based Sensor. Condor "will provide the engineering services and supplies required for implementing Hostile Aircraft Identification Equipment (HAIDE) into the" GBS, the U.S. Army's Communications and Electronics Command said in a May 2 Commerce Business Daily notice. CECOM said it will be issuing a sole source solicitation to Condor for the non-cooperative target recognition (NCTR) system.
TRW's Space&Electronics Group will test and evaluate airborne application of the Battlefield Combat Identification System (BCIS) for the U.S. Army's Communications and Electronics Command. The command said in a May 2 Commerce Business Daily notice the TRW unit, at Redondo Beach, Calif., would carry out the work on a sole source basis. The company now supplies BCIS for land vehicles.
BASE TEN SYSTEMS INC., Trenton, N.J., said McDonnell Douglas has chosen it to develop and produce a Maintenance Data Recorder (MDR) for use aboard the Longbow Apache helicopter. The initial contract calls for development and production of up to 370 shipsets, and future requirements are estimated at over 1,000, Base Ten said. It said the MDR is the centerpiece of the Longbow Apache's digitized maintenance system.
A SPY-1B radar aboard the USS Bunker Hill tracked M-9 missiles launched from mainland China to areas off Taiwan in March, demonstrating its capability against such weapons, a U.S. Navy admiral said yesterday. While the radar performed beyond the Navy's expections, it would be able to detect theater ballistic missiles over a broader area if it could be cued by other systems, said Rear Adm. Rodney Rempt.
British Airways abruptly suspended a $1 billion jetliner competition this week that it just as abruptly launched early this year, telling five competing airframers that management is having second thoughts. Less than four months ago, the carrier invited Airbus Industrie, British Aerospace, Boeing, Fokker and McDonnell Douglas to bid on supplying up to 60 regional aircraft to replace its Boeing 737-200s and some other aircraft in use by airline partners (DAILY, Jan. 16).
IFR SYSTEMS INC., Wichita, received a subcontract from Magnavox Electronic Systems Co. under its prime contract with the U.S. Air Force Electronic Systems Center to modify and upgrade certain communication system test instruments. IFR said it will design and manufacture a modified version of the AN/GRM-114B test set currently fielded by the U.S. Army and Marine Corps.
