Executives at Aerospatiale, potentially left out of the Future Large Airlifter (FLA) program with the French government's withdrawal, are working on a plan that would hold the French company's place with a government deposit on future orders, The DAILY confirmed this week. After championing FLA for years, the French government said last month it couldn't afford to fund its share of the program in this year's budget (DAILY, Feb. 26), and the loss of a heavyweight partner like France raised the possibility that the whole program might fold.
U.S. military commanders-in-chief on Capitol Hill yesterday plugged the need for weapons platforms over information warfare (IW) systems and enhancements. Their testimony before the Senate Armed Services Committee, however, was opposite that of Adm. William Owens, who retired last month as the head of the Joint Requirements Oversight Council, which helps decide priorities of the military services.
A top FAA official said yesterday that the agency has told Wilcox Electric that its $475 million contract for the Wide Area Augmentation System is behind schedule, failing to meet program goals and could be canceled. George Donohue, FAA associate administrator for research and acquisition, said the Wilcox-Hughes-TRW team has until April 2 to correct "performance deficiencies." FAA Administrator David Hinson warned Wilcox in a letter that its management of the program "endangered the performance of this contract."
Clinton Administration estimates show NASA taking another $3.2 billion in cuts through fiscal 2000 beyond the $5 billion cut the White House ordered last year, leaving the U.S. space agency with a budget of $11.6 billion at the turn of the century. A grim-faced Administrator Daniel S. Goldin told reporters at agency headquarters yesterday that "these projections are not chiseled in stone," and vowed a fight to raise them as negotiations continue between the White House and Capitol Hill on the nation's long-term budget.
THE SENATE late yesterday gave voice vote approval to an amendment to the supplemental appropriations bill that would prevent the bill's endorsement of a seven-year multi-year procurement buy of C-17 airlifters from going into effect before May 24, or until there is an MYP authorization, whichever is earlier.
The U.S. Navy is working with industry on plans for its arsenal ship even though it's months away from putting out a request for proposals for the precision weapons platform that could deliver any of the vertically launched missiles in the military's inventory, the Navy's second highest admiral has told Congress.
Pratt&Whitney's newly created overhaul and repair business unit expects today to deliver its first refurbished P&W F100 fighter engine core to the U.S. Air Force in San Antonio, Tex., an example of what could be a lot more work to come. The core module is the first delivered under a contract awarded to P&W-San Antonio, or P&WSA, to cover requirements exceeding work already programmed to be performed at the Air Force's San Antonio Air Logistics Center (SA-ALC) at Kelly AFB.
OFFICE OF NAVAL RESEARCH says it will negotiate a competitive three- year contract for technical and management support services to the Submarine Warfare Division (N87) of the Office of the Chief of Naval Operations. ONR said in a March 8 Commerce Business Daily notice that the contract will cover "analyses and studies related to current and future submarine roles and missions, threat capabilities, technical trade-off analysis of submarines, submarine force level requirements, and force-wide policy issues." An RFP will be issued on about March 21.
Thanks to buoyant demand, Boeing is raising its jetliner production rates for the second time in three months after spending years cutting back, aiming to reach 27 aircraft per month by mid-1997 with boosts in the 737, 747 and 757 lines.
McDonnell Douglas Helicopter Systems, Mesa, Arizona, was awarded on March 5, 1996, a $9,310,000 modification to a firm fixed price contract for long lead time items/efforts and production of Lot 1 for the remanufacture of up to 240 Apache helicopters to the Longbow configuration. The AH-64D Longbow Apache helicopter will provide the U.S. armed forces with a more advanced attack helicopter, which will enhance readiness and combat capability. Work will be performed in Mesa, Arizona, and is expected to be completed by August 31, 1997.
McDonnell Douglas this month completed testing of an autonomous target acquisition system prototype that company officials say could be part of MDC bids for the U.S. Joint Air-to-Surface Standoff Missile (JASSM) and the U.K. Conventially Armed Standoff Missile (CASOM). In three test series, the MDC's internally developed automatic target recognition system acquired 35 of 36 targets with one near miss, Robert G. Wagner, MDC Missile Systems' director for sensor and electromagnetic technology told The DAILY during an interview in Arlington, Va.
Sverdrup Technology, Incorporated, Tullahoma, Tennessee, is being awarded a $15,000,000 face value increase to a cost plus award fee contract to provide for 200 man-years of technical and engineering acquisition manpower support to assist Aeronautical Systems Center, Eglin Air Force Base, Florida, in the test and evaluation, and procurement of munitions. The work will be performed at Eglin Air Force Base, Florida. Contract is expected to be completed September 1996. Contract funds will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year.
Sundstrand Corporation, San Diego, California, is being awarded a $10,000,000 cost plus fixed fee contract to provide for research and development support for the Engine Model Derivative Program (EMDP). Contract is expected to be completed December 1998. Contract funds will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. There were 9 firms solicited; one proposal received. Solicitation began September 1995; negotiations were complete December 1995. Aeronautical Systems Center, Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio, is the contracting activity (F33657-95/C-0091).
United Technologies Corporation, West Palm Beach, Florida, is being awarded a $10,000,000 cost plus fixed fee contract to provide for research and development support for the Engine Model Derivative Program (EMDP). Contract is expected to be completed December 1998. Contract funds will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. There were 9 firms solicited and one proposal received. Solicitation began September 1995; negotiations were complete December 1995.
Harris Corporation, Information Systems, Melbourne, Florida, is being awarded a $21,137,503 face value increase to a cost plus award fee contract to provide for five 13 meter and one 16 meter satellite communication earth terminals, deletion of the existing earth terminals at Jonathan Dickinson Missile Tracking Annex, Florida, and an upgraded microwave system and fiber optic cable link between Dickinson Missile Tracking Annex and Cape Canaveral Air Station, Florida. Contract is expected to be completed March 1999.
The Ground Based Interceptor (GBI) design being developed under the national missile defense (NMD) exoatmospheric kinetic kill vehicle (EKV) program is capable of intercepting multiple independently targetable reentry vehicles (MIRVs) but not maneuverable reentry vehicle (MARVs), Ballistic Missile Defense Organization Director Gen. Malcolm O'Neill told senate defense appropriators.
International Launch Services, the Lockheed Martin unit that markets Proton launch services outside the former Soviet Union, has rescheduled the commercial debut of the Russian booster for April 9, pushing the long- awaited launch of the Priroda pressurized Mir module back about a week to April 23. However, if new problems arise on the commercial Proton or its Hughes- built payload, Europe's Astra 1F television satellite, the Priroda launch could still go off as planned on April 14, according to RSC Energia, one of Lockheed Martin's Russian partners.
ARIANESPACE SIGNED a contract in Paris yesterday to launch three geostationary satellites for WorldSpace Inc. - Afristar 1 in mid-1998; AsiaStar 1 in late 1998, and CaribStar 1 in mid 1999. Built by Alcatel Espace, the 5,940-pound platforms will provide digital sound, text and video broadcasts to Africa, the Middle East, Asia, Latin America and the Caribbean.
Lockheed Martin Corporation, Littleton, Colorado, is being awarded a $5,366,213 face value increase to a cost plus award fee contract to extend performance of the Multi-Service Launch System (MSLS) development effort by six months. Contract is expected to be completed June 1996. Contract funds will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. Space and Missile Systems Center, Los Angeles Air Force Base, California, is the contracting activity (F04704-92/C-0013, P00025). March 14, 1996
Northrop Grumman Corporation, Melbourne, Florida, is being awarded a $42,461,709 firm fixed price contract to provide for establishment and performance of Interim Contractor Support for the Joint Surveillance and Target Attack Radar System (Joint STARS) Prime Mission Equipment through April 1997. The work will be performed at Northrop Grumman, Melbourne, Florida (30%) and Northrop Grumman Corporation, Norfolk Connecticut (46%). Contract is expected to be completed April 1997. Contract funds will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year.
Russia's Tupolev Design Bureau rolled out a Tu-144 supersonic transport Sunday modified to carry out experiments for U.S. transport industry, clearing the way for a flight test program later this spring.
The automated mission planning system for the U.S. Navy's Standoff Land Attack Missile (SLAM) completed the final test in its development test/operational test phase last week, opening the way to full operational testing later this month on the USS Kittyhawk, McDonnell Douglas said yesterday. The SLAM prime contractor said the March 14 test was conducted from an F/A-18 aircraft at White Sands Missile Range, N.M., with the missile flying a terrain-following route that included five way-points.
Realizing that it has become increasingly dependent on space assets, the U.S. Army now wants to take a more active role in designing the systems. "The Army must increase efforts to influence the design and development of space-based intelligence, missile warning, and data dissemination systems through National and Service organizations," it says in the space section of its new modernization master plan.
Martin Marietta Technologies, Incorporated, Orlando, Florida, is being awarded a $56,559,286 face value increase to a firm fixed price contract to provide for 26 Navigation Pods and 18 Sharpshooter Pods applicable to the Low Altitude Navigation Targeting Infrared for Night (LANTIRN) system for the F-15 and F-16 aircraft. Contract is expected to be completed September 1997. Contract funds will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year.
The U.S. Air Force is facing a funding shortfall in its B-1B bomber Defensive System Upgrade Program, but hopes to address the problem later this year when it builds its budget for the 1998 Program Objective Memorandum exercise, an Air Force official told The DAILY. He confirmed that the Pentagon's revised inflation estimates have taken about $43 million out of planned fiscal '98 funding, threatening to slip the electronic countermeasure upgrade by two years. But the Air Force "will address this shortage," he said.
