The Sensor Fuzed Weapon last Friday completed acceptance testing for the Lot 8 production buy, according to Col. Riley Shelnutt, the U.S. Air Force's SFW program director at Eglin AFB, Fla. The test, first for the SFW at night, was part of the overall lot acceptance program and marked an attempt to "demonstrate the operational flexibility" of the weapon, Shelnutt said yesterday. The test took place at 8.35 p.m. EST at Eglin using an F-16 fighter. The weapon achieved five hits on four targets in the target array.
Acquisitive defense aftermarket specialist Tracor is moving to buy substantially all the assets of Westmark Systems, Tracor's former parent, in a stock-swap deal designed to simplify Tracor's capital structure and make it more attractive to investors, the company said yesterday.
U.S. astronauts and their Russian cosmonaut counterparts are set to continue practicing for the International Space Station next week with a Shuttle/Mir mission that will see two spacesuited astronauts climb from the Shuttle Atlantis to Mir while the two large spacecraft are docked.
The Ballistic Missile Defense Organization isn't satisfied with the date of 2006 that has emerged for the first unit to be equipped with the Theater High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) missile system. The date slipped from 2002 to 2004 because of a review by Pentagon acquisition chief Paul Kaminski that took almost $2 billion in funding. Revised inflation estimates force the program to give up additional money, which slipped it two more years (DAILY, Feb. 26).
The Pentagon has released $10 million included in the fiscal year 1996 defense authorization bill to upgrade the Northrop Grumman EA-6B Prowler aircraft with more sophisticated electronic jamming technologies. Lockheed Martin's Sanders unit in New Hampshire will do the upgrade work.
K.S.D., Incorporated, Banning, California, is being awarded an $11,982,883 firm fixed price contract for 2,519 strap assembly main rotor heads for the Apache helicopter. Work will be performed in Banning, California, and is expected to be completed by October 30, 1999. Contract funds will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. There were 4 bids solicited on August 7, 1995, and one bid received. The contracting activity is the U.S. Army Aviation and Troop Command, St. Louis, Missouri (DAAJ09-96-C- 0168).
NASA is calling for industry proposals on a scaled-down X-34 reusable launch vehicle (RVL) testbed to fill in the technology validation blank between the McDonnell Douglas DC-XA scheduled to fly this spring and the much larger X-33 suborbital RLV prototype still in source selection.
Hughes Training, Incorporated, Arlington, Texas, is being awarded a $7,694,150 face value increase to a firm fixed price contract for one Flight Control/Instrument Systems Maintenance Trainer, one Communication/Navigation/Electronic Countermeasures Systems Maintenance Trainer, and one Armament/Fire Control Systems Maintenance Trainer in support of the F-16 aircraft. Contract is expected to be completed March 1997. Contract funds will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. This effort supports foreign military sales to Taiwan.
Rockwell International Corporation, Richardson, Texas, is being awarded a $5,725,403 modification to previously awarded contract N00019-95-C-0212 to exercise an option for High Power Transmit Set (HPTS) spares for the E-6A aircraft. Work will be performed in Richardson, Texas (80%), Shreveport, Louisiana (17%), and Cedar Rapids, Iowa (3%), and is expected to be completed by October 1998. Contract funds will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. The Naval Air Systems Command, Arlington, Va., is the contracting activity.
Representatives of the European Space Agency and France's Centre National d'Etudes Spatiales (CNES) met with NASA engineers at Johnson Space Center last week to discuss possible cooperation on technology demonstrations for a six-seat crew return vehicle for the International Space Station.
Hughes Missile Systems Company, Tucson, Arizona, is being awarded a $76,295,361 modification to a firm fixed price contract for 1,046 TOW 2B Missiles, 3,714 TOW 2A Missiles, and 316 TOW 2A Practice Missiles, for the countries of Israel (2,531 TOW 2A), Japan (17 TOW 2A, 316 TOW 2A Practice), Korea (731 TOW 2A), Kuwait (1,015 TOW 2B), Turkey (153 TOW 2A), Thailand (102 TOW 2A), and Saudi Arabia (31 TOW 2B, 180 TOW 2A). Work will be performed in Tucson, Arizona, and is expected to be completed by November 30, 1997.
The U.S. would be better able to conduct information warfare and to defend against information attacks if the position of the Director of Central Intelligence was strengthened, according to Sen. Bob Kerrey (Neb.), ranking Democrat on the Senate Intelligence Committee.
TRW has been awarded a $214.1 million contract increase to build two Brilliant Eyes satellites it has been designing since last year, the Pentagon said Friday. The satellites will be used to validate the Space and Missile Tracking System (SMTS) concept design, and will be optimized for mid-course missile tracking. Brilliant Eyes is the low-earth orbit component of the U.S. Air Force's Space-Based Infrared System (SBIRS) missile warning system.
NASA'S SPACE SHUTTLE Columbia landed safely at Kennedy Space Center, Fla., on Saturday, carrying what may be a key clue to why the line linking the orbiter with the Tethered Satellite System spacecraft broke shortly before it reached its full deployment. Columbia landed at 8:58 a.m. EST Saturday after cloudy weather forced a wave-off on an earlier orbit.
Rolls-Royce is beefing up ties with the General Electric/Allison Engine Co. Joint Strike Fighter program engine team, taking on responsibility for the fan module on GE's proposed YF120-based JSF cruise engine and the low-pressure turbine on the GE/Allison lift engine baselined in the McDonnell Douglas/Northrop JSF concept.
With potential rescuers frightened off by debt and emergency credit nearly dried up, 78-year-old Dutch airframer Fokker expects to file for bankruptcy this week, cutting 5,600 workers along the way. "We have to do that if we want to start a new company or find a partner, because no partner will accept our debts," spokesman Leo Steijn said yesterday.
Light Helicopter Turbine Engine Company, St. Louis, Missouri, is being awarded a $23,800,000 modification to a cost plus fixed fee contract for FY96 incremental funding for the T801 Growth Engine full scale development and air vehicle support program. Work will be performed in Phoenix, Arizona (50%), and Indianapolis, Indiana (50%), and is expected to be completed by September 30, 1997. Contract funds will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. This is a sole source contract initiated on August 25, 1991. The contracting activity is the U.S.
Nichols Research Corporation, Huntsville, Alabama, is being awarded a $10,660,887 cost plus incentive fee contract for statement of work entitled: "Avenger Institutional Conduct of Fire Trainers (ICOFT) Prototype Development." Work will be performed in Huntsville, Alabama, and is expected to be completed by March 8, 1998. Contract funds will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. This is a sole source contract initiated on January 12, 1996. The contracting activity is the U.S. Army Missile Command, Redstone Arsenal, Alabama (DAAH01-96-C-R080).
Hellfire Systems Limited Liability Company, Orlando, Florida, is being awarded a $30,782,400 modification to a firm fixed price contract to exercise FY96 Option 4 for an additional 636 HELLFIRE II missiles for the Republic of United Arab Emirates. Work will be performed in Orlando, Florida, and is expected to be completed by February 28, 1999. Contract funds will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. This is a sole source contract initiated on February 1, 1990. The contracting activity is the U.S.
Hughes Space and Communications Company, El Segundo, California, is being awarded a $9,900,000 modification to previously awarded contract N00039-88- C-0300 to exercise an option for Global Broadcast System (GBS) on the last three Ultra High Frequency Follow-On Satellites, F8, F9, and F10. Work will be performed in El Segundo, California, and is expected to be completed by December 1998. Contract funds will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. The Space and Naval Warfare Systems Command, Arlington, Virginia, is the contracting activity.
AEROSPATIALE reported a 1995 net loss of 981 million francs compared to a 1994 loss of 483 million francs due mainly to restructuring costs and a weak dollar. The French company said 1996 is expected to post a loss as well. Chairman Louis Gallois told the newspaper Le Figaro that, calculating one dollar to five francs, Aerospatiale can break even in 1997 and make "significant profits" starting in 1998."
McDonnell Douglas Aerospace Corporation, McDonnell Douglas Aircraft Company, St. Louis, Missouri, is being awarded a $6,000,000 cost-plus- fixed-fee contract for sustaining support services for the AV-8B Harrier II Plus Program. Work will be performed in Hazelwood, Missouri, and is expected to be completed by November 1996. Contract funds will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. This contract was not competitively procured. The Naval Air Systems Command, Arlington, Virginia, is the contracting activity (N00019-95-C-0189).
NASA'S MARSHALL SPACE Flight Center has awarded a 45-month extension to USBI Co. for Space Shuttle Solid Rocket Boosters worth about $500 million, the U.S. space agency reported Friday. Under the restructured agreement, USBI will assemble and refurbish SRBs through September 1999 in support of seven Shuttle flights a year.
The Defense Dept. is seeking a way to protect the use of the Global Positioning System by U.S. forces and their allies during conflicts while at the same time preventing use of GPS signals by adversaries. The announcement is being made today in Commerce Business Daily by the Navstar GPS Joint Program Office. The military has expressed concern about the vulnerability of GPS in theaters of conflict. The issue may be playing a role in what has been holding up a long-expected announcement by the White House on a national GPS policy.
