The Defense Dept. should fund force modernization and recapitalization at $60 billion a year starting in fiscal year 1998, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. John Shalikashvili said yesterday. Under current Pentagon plans, the $60 billion level would be reached in fiscal 2000.
CUBIC CORP., San Diego, said sales and earnings for the first quarter fiscal 1996, ended Dec. 31, 1995, were both up. Sales stood at $93,964,000, up from the $69,607,000 of the same quarter a year ago. Net income climbed to $2,166,000 (.36 per share) from the $1,858,000 (.31 per share) recorded for the first quarter of fiscal 1995.
Debt-watcher Standard&Poor's lowered ratings on $1.4 billion in Northrop Grumman debt, citing the company's plans to use bank debt to buy Westinghouse's Electronic Systems Group. "The firm's good program diversity and priority, coupled with improving operating efficiencies, should support current credit quality," the rating agency said Tuesday in a prepared statement. "However, ratings assume that operations will meet healthy financial performance measures over the next three years."
David H. Vadas has been named director of the Aerospace Research Center at AIA. He succeeds Virginia C. Lopez, who retired last year. Robert J. Polutchko, vice president, technical operations, Lockheed Martin Corp., has been elected chairman of AIA's Technical Operations Council. He succeeds Carmen Palermo, vice president and chief scientist, Harris Corp. James M. Sinnett, senior vice president/general manager, McDonnell Douglas Corp. was elected vice chairman.
Industry is responding positively to the cultural changes in production inaugurated by the Dept. of Defense, Paul Kaminski, under secretary of defense for acquisition and technology, said yesterday. He cited two examples from opposite ends of the corporate spectrum: Boeing's development of the 777 airliner and Kohler Co.'s successes in the 5 hp lawnmower engine market.
As global politics, technology and American taxpayers' expectations combine to shift warfighting away from large-scale "brute force" engagements toward quick, precise operations, Air Force leaders and program supporters need to fight hard to preserve modernization programs that will allow U.S. forces to fight the new form of warfare, AF Chief of Staff Gen. Ronald Fogleman said yesterday.
Timothy B. Nichols, who most recently served as vice president of Marketing for Marketing, Sales and Service, has been named vice president of distribution and customer service for MS&S.
Patrice Albrecht was named vice president, communications and international relations. He succeeds Xavier Picard, who retired Feb. 1, 1995. Francis Avanzi was named chief operating officer and executive vice president.
Space launch insurance underwriters are unwilling to cover China's Long March booster in the wake of Wednesday's failure on liftoff from Xichang with the Intelsat 708 spacecraft aboard, according to a launch insurance expert.
Peter Du Fosse has been promoted to vice president of Corporate Development. Clayton Waltermire joins the company as vice president and general manager of the Electron Technology Division located in Easton, Pa.
Gen. John R. Galvin (US Army-Ret.), dean of the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University, and former NATO Supreme Allied Commander Europe, was elected to the Raytheon Co. board of directors.
Naval Air Systems Command expects in the next few weeks to release a request for proposal for fleet maintenance computer-based trainers covering most of its aircraft, a program worth more than $100 million. NavAir is already on contract with McDonnell Douglas for the F/A-18 fleet maintenance CBT, and trainers for the F-14 and E-2/C-2 trainers were small business set asides. But contracts for the remaining CBTs will be subject to full and open competition, said Capt. Ray J. Morris, NavAir's program manager for aviation training systems.
The Naval Undersea Warfare Center Division, Newport, R.I., plans a sole source award to ECC International, Orlando, Fla., to upgrade F/A-18 Simulated Aircraft Maintenance Trainers (SAMT), both SAMT cockpit and Instructor/Operator Stations (IOS), and an upgraded cockpit and IOS. A Feb. 5 Commerce Business Daily notice said a firm fixed price contract is anticipated.
Hughes Aircraft Co. and Westinghouse Electric Co. have been selected by the JAST program office for developmental studies and limited demonstration of competing Multifunction Integrated Radio Frequency Systems (MIRFS) - coveted contracts that are widely expected to lead to eventual production by one of the two companies of the Multifunction Nose Aperture (MFA) for the Joint Strike Fighter.
Flight Safety International, Flushing, N.Y., is in line for a sole source contract from the Naval Air Warfare Center Training Systems Division, Orlando, Fla., for academic and simulator instructional services (initial and refresher training courses) in support of the Navy's C-9B, CT-39E/G, CT-39D and UC-12M commercial aircraft under the Navy's Command Aircraft Crew Training (CACT) program.
TEXAS INSTRUMENTS is developing a low cost gimbal system applicable to a broad spectrum of missiles and other precision weapons under a $6.7 million contract awarded Wednesday by the Office of Naval Research. The U.S. Navy solicited proposals from 300 companies, and 20 submitted bids. The idea behind the project is to give future weapons the ability to lock on to a target throughout the trajectory to the target.
Naval Air Systems Command said in a Jan. 29 Commerce Business Daily notice that it plans a sole source award to McDonnell Douglas Corp. for the fiscal 1996 buy of simulators for the T-45TS program - an Instrument Flight Trainer (Device 2F137) and two Operational Flight Trainers (Device 2F138).
Despite a $1 billion U.S. loan to Aeroflot for 10 Ilyushin 96M/T aircraft powered by Pratt&Whitney engines, the aircraft isn't likely to be certified by the U.S. in the near future, said Anthony Broderick, FAA associate administrator for regulation and certification.
Evans&Sutherland Computer Ltd. and SEOS Displays Ltd. have signed an original equipment manufacturer agreement that Evans&Sutherland says consolidates its position as a single supplier for complete visual systems. It said the agreement, announced Jan. 25, is "the final piece" in a plan "to establish itself as an independent system supplier rather than an image generator subcontractor." Under the agreement, SEOS "will supply the display system optical elements and associated structures," Evans&Sutherland said.
U.S. Navy Secretary John Dalton yesterday plugged the importance of Navy and Marine Corps modernization efforts and said the two are making progress in acquisition reform. "It's important that we invest in science and technology [and] that we invest in research and development," Dalton said during a speech on the state of the Navy at the National Press Club in Washington.
The Defense Dept. and C-17 prime contractor McDonnell Douglas have resolved one issue in a draft version of a General Accounting Office report on spare parts for the aircraft, with the contractor reimbursing the government $182,000 for the excessively priced parts. What has not been resolved, defense officials said at a Pentagon news briefing yesterday, is the GAO contention that McDonnell Douglas made $860,000 more than it should have in profits on the $29 million spare parts program.
The last C-17 airlifter based at Rhein-Main AB, Germany, to support deployment of U.S. forces to Bosnia departed for its home base in the U.S. on Feb. 10, McDonnell Douglas said yesterday. The deployment of U.S. forces in the NATO mission is nearly complete, but at the peak of the effort, MDC said, 12 C-17s were based at Rhein-Main. As of Feb. 12, one of the airlifters remained in Germany, at Ramstein AB. The others had returned to Charleston AFB, S.C.
