The Pentagon on Friday unveiled its plan to restructure future spending for its theater missile defense program, a move that senior officials say will yield more than $2 billion in savings that can flow back into modernization accounts.
Russia will launch three spacecraft to support Mir in 1996 that were originally scheduled to make the trip last year, Koptiev says. "Because funding was short and it was late," three of the 11 planned Mir support launches last year were delayed, he says. The tight funding (DAILY, Feb. 14), delayed one of six Progress M cargo capsules, one of three Soyuz TM crew transfer vehicles, and the Priroda module. Late delivery of scientific equipment shared the blame for Priroda's slip, however.
Olin Ordnance, St. Petersburg, Fla., and Alliant Techsystems, Hopkins, Minn., shared the firm fixed price contract to produce 120mm tank ammunition rounds, M831A1 and M865, at the Iowa Army Ammunition Plant, Middletown, Iowa. Olin received $45.8 million and Alliant, $64.4 million. Contracting activity is the Army Armaments, Munitions and Chemical Command, Rock Island, Ill.
The third test flight of the Hera target missile was conducted Feb. 15 at White Sands Missile Range, N.M., according to Precision Standard Inc., whose Space Vector unit is a principal Hera subcontractor to Coleman Research Corp. Last week's flight, and flights on April 24, 1995, and Oct. 2, 1995, "pave the way for the Hera target system to support upcoming intercept tests for the Theater High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) missile and radar system," Precision Standard said.
Widnall also relates how the E-8 Joint STARS ground surveillance aircraft's images are affecting the behavior of combatants in Bosnia. "The NATO commander enforcing the separation there has taken to slapping those pictures down in front of the Serbs during their meetings, saying 'See, you can't do anything we don't know about!'"
Overall ground control of the International Station will lie with Mission Control Center-Houston, Koptiev tells Russian reporters who have been raising a stink since U.S. Station Director Wilbur Trafton said a U.S. astronaut will always be on-board Station commander (DAILY, Feb. 12). But Mission Control Center-Moscow has proved its worth in the Shuttle/Mir phase of the Space Station program, and will continue to have a supporting role. "This issue should not be driven exclusively by policy, but by technical considerations as well," Koptiev said.
Several South American countries - Argentina, Venezuela, Chile and Brazil - want to join the U.S. in its Red Flag fighter exercises, reports USAF Secretary Sheila Widnall.
There's a little more than $100 million available in the U.S. Air Force's Science&Technology budget to make sure that a "small number" of technologies recently identified in the New World Vistas study "that are so leveraging" are pushed ahead, Muellner says. "To me, a small number is two, three, maybe four technologies that we can get critical mass against," he says, noting that the AF Scientific Advisory Board is supposed to decide which technologies get the money when they meet next in April at Eglin AFB, Fla.
Werner Schaer was named vice president of telecommunications. Prior to his appointment, Schaer headed CSC's former Network Integration Division. GLOBALSTAR L.P. William F. Adler, previously a partner with Fleischman and Walsh, L.L.P., Washington, D.C., has joined Globalstar L.P. as vice president and division counsel.
ENGINE MODEL DERIVATIVE PROGRAM (EMDP) research and develop0ment support contracts were awarded by the U.S. Air Force Feb. 13 to Allison Engine Co., Indianapolis, and Williams International Corp., Walled Lake, Mich. The USAF's Aeronautical Systems Center awarded $10 million each to Allison and Williams. They will complete their work by December 1998.
Berger G. "Bud" Wallin, executive vice president for special projects and an officer of the company, has announced his retirement, effective April 1, 1996.
Eric Doremus was appointed vice president of customer and product support for Honeywell Military Avionics. Most recently, Doremus served as project leader for Defense Avionics Systems' new business operating system introduction. John Fowler has been appointed director of business development for Honeywell Military Avionics.
U.S. and European astronauts will try again next week to deploy a satellite from the Space Shuttle at the end of 12-and-a-half miles of electrically conductive tether, repeated an experiment foiled in 1992 when a bolt on the deployment system snagged the tether after only about 850 feet had spooled out.
COMSAT and the Clinton Administration have reached agreement on the U.S. proposal for a commercial Intelsat spinoff that would take over the 136-nation telecommunications consortium's advanced services while leaving public- switched telephony to the rump organization.
Charles F. "Chuck" Krumm has been appointed manager of the Gallium Arsenide Operations facility in Torrance, Calif. Krumm most recently served as manager of Radar and Communications Systems' Microwave/Millimeter Wave Monolithic Integrated Circuits (MIMIC) program team.
BOEING 777 airliner has been named winner of the Robert J. Collier Trophy, the National Aeronautic Association said yesterday. Boeing was cited for "designing, manufacturing and placing into service the world's most technologically advanced airline transport." Frank Shrontz, Boeing chairman and chief executive officer, said, "We are extremely honored to have earned the 1995 Collier award, which is our industry's highest honor." The trophy will be formally presented in May in the Washington, D.C., area.
William R. Martin was named vice president, Washington, D.C. operations. Martin previously served as vice president of business development for Alliant's Aerospace Systems Group.
The Joint Requirements Oversight Council has recommended to the Pentagon leadership, at behest of Gen. John M. Shalikashvili, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, that near-term theater missile defense programs be funded for quick development and that longer-term systems be ready for operation in the next few years.
Phillips Laboratory honored six scientists and engineers for outstanding accomplishments in technical program management and space research. Named were: Carl E. Baum, senior scientist in the Advanced Weapons and Survivability Directorate, for his work in electromagnetic theory. Herbert C. Calson, Jr., a senior researcher at the laboratory's Geophysics Directorate, Hanscom Air Force Base, Mass., for his discoveries in inospheric physics.
The Defense Dept. yesterday issued the final report on its study of the dual-use potential of the new technology of microelectromechanical systems (MEMS), concluding that the military can take advantage of a commercial manufacturing base and that the U.S., at least for the moment, is the world leader in the field. With the commercial base, DOD investment in MEMS R&D is expected to be modest - from $46 million this fiscal year to $63 million in FY'97 and leveling off at $75 million in fiscal years 1998 and 1999.
Robert Andrews, who most recently served as director of strategic analysis for Rockwell International's Washington office, has been named vice president, program coordination. George C. Roman has been promoted to vice president, operations and management. Roman, previously senior director of operations and management, joined McDonnell Douglas in 1980 as program coordinator for the Harpoon missile program.
NASA test pilots have flown approaches and landings in a modified Boeing 737 from a "windowless cockpit" that used sensors and high- resolution video displays to demonstrate a promising design for future supersonic transports. The U.S. aeronautics agency said three months of flight tests from Wallops Flight Facility and Langley AFB, Va., with about 20 flights of the NASA 737 Transport Systems Research Vehicle and a Westinghouse BAC 1-11 that supplemented the 737 in sensor data collection.
