The U.S. Air Force has completed a rapid development program to equip some of its Bosnia-deployed F-16s with a precision targeting system that relies on data inputs from a forward air controller.
Rep. Glen Browder (D-Ala.) has become the fifth member of the House National Security Committee to announce that he will not be running for re-election this year. Unlike the other four, Browder isn't retiring but is seeking the Senate seat of Sen. Howell Heflin (D-Ala.), who has announced his retirement.
The Coast Guard this week will announce a contractor for its next generation surface search radar, to be integrated with shipboard displays via an onboard fiber optic local area network (LAN). The new system, which will also be used by the Navy, replaces 1970s vintage technology and includes X- and S-band radars for the larger ships. Expected winner is Hughes Aircraft, and the initial contract should be nearly $5 million.
Near-term funding problems for the Joint Air-to- Surface Stand-off Missile appear to have been solved. Terry Little, the new JASSM program director, tells The DAILY that fiscal '96 money is about to be released, and "I believe the [FY '97] budget request will fix the problem in '97." JASSM was facing a shortfall of several million dollars (DAILY, Nov. 2, 1995). Still to be settled is the fiscal '98 shortfall, but Little says this will be resolved in the AF's fiscal '98 program objective memorandum exercise.
An upgraded Romanian MiG-21 fighter made its first flight two months ahead of schedule, according to Israel's Elbit. The upgrade started in 1993 and is being undertaken by Elbit and Aerostar Bacau of Romania for the Romanian ministry of defense, Elbit said. It said the program is the only full-scale MiG-21 modernization program currently underway. At the heart of the effort is a new avionics suite intended to increase the operational capabilities of the Russian-built fighter.
U.S. ARMY'S Armored Gun System may be at the end of the road. After producing six test vehicles, United Defense LP faces program termination, probably this week. The Army desperately wants the replacement for the 30+- year-old M551-A1 Sheridan, but the problem is cost. The original $750 million, 300-vehicle program (plus FMS) envisioned in 1992 has grown to $1.3 billion.
U.S. NAVAL Air Warfare Center, Aircraft Division, Indianapolis, said a competitive test and development program for 25 prototypes of the Selective Availability Anti-Spoof Module (SAASM) is being planned. NAWC-AD said in a Jan. 31 Commerce Business Daily notice that it is working on the effort with the Navstar GPS Joint Program Office. The notice said a pre-proposal conference is planned for Feb. 16 at NWAC-AD in Indianapolis. A contract award is slated for April, and first delivery will be in October.
Lockheed Martin has delivered a 40-foot aluminum lithium test article to NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center for six months of testing designed to certify the lightweight alloy and structure as the Space Shuttle external tank
THREE FIRMS RECEIVED $8 million Air Force contracts on Feb. 1 to analyze materials and procedures to reduce pollution in the production of weapon systems. The contracts will run through January 2003. The firms are: Battelle Inc., Columbus, Ohio; Arinc Research Corp., Annapolis, Md.; and Versar, Springfield, Va. Three hundred firms were solicited originally, and seven proposals were submitted. The contracting activity is the Human Systems Center, Brooks AFB, Tex.
U.S. AIR FORCE'S Aeronautical Systems Center, Eglin AFB, Fla., is soliciting information from industry on acquisition of an Air Superiority Target (AST), formerly known as the Next Generation Aerial Target. ASC said in a Feb. 5 Commerce Business Daily notice that the AST's "primary mission...will be to support Test and Evaluation (T&E) of air-to-air and surface-to-air munitions, and aircraft missile warning and fire control systems." Operational capability is envisioned for fiscal year 2003.
Pentagon acquisition chief Paul Kaminski said Friday that he killed the Hunter unmanned aerial vehicle program because it failed to meet requirements. The decision, which allows the U.S. Army to keep the delivered air vehicles and ground systems for possible future use (DAILY, Feb. 2), was made after program expenditures of $667 million and 4,600 flight hours. It follows a recommendation of the Joint Requirements Oversight Council last October to consolidate UAV efforts and seek more cost-effective solutions.
MINIATURE AIR LAUNCHED DECOY request for proposals, initially slated for release on Feb. 6, now is set for release in early March, according to a Feb. 5 Commerce Business Daily notice from the U.S. Air Force's Aeronautical Systems Center, Wright-Patterson AFB, Ohio.
Israel Aircraft Industries last month tested a new short-range unmanned aerial vehicle called Eye-View that it said is intended for paramilitary and civilian use, and will be displayed for the first time at the Singapore Air Show this week.
Republicans charge that a new National Intelligence Estimate that the U.S. does not face a ballistic missile threat for about 15 years has been politicized by the Administration, and Sen. Bob Smith (R-N.H.) wants the Senate Intelligence Committee to look into it. He tells the Senate that he hopes "we are not going to find" that "some pressure was put on to play this down." But he says he has been in Senate Armed Services Committee meetings "where I have heard the contrary from very high ranking Administration and military officials." Republican Sen.
U.S. Air Force Lt. Gen. Eugene E. Habiger, commander in chief- designate of the U.S. Strategic Command, told the Senate Armed Services Committee yesterday that the command is "currently pursuing" industrial base capabilities to support key strategic components and systems.
NASA Space Shuttle Director Bryan O'Connor said Friday he will leave NASA at the end of February "to pursue other interests." No replacement was named immediately. The U.S. space agency is preparing a management reorganization that would shift control of the Shuttle program to Johnson Space Center Director George Abbey (DAILY, Jan. 29).
Administrator Daniel S. Goldin will decide this month on the U.S. space agency's next steps toward setting up "NASA Science Institutes" to spread the cost of space science research, with a pilot institute in space life sciences likely to get underway at Johnson Space Center before the end of the year.
FRENCH ENGINEMAKER SNECMA signed a strategic alliance agreement with Taiwan's Economics Ministry on Friday, company executives said. The first project is a maintenance center for SNECMA turbofans powering 60 Dassault Mirage 2000-5 fighters slated for delivery later this year, and CFM International CFM56-7 engines that will power six new Boeing 737-800 jetliners ordered by China Airlines.
Pentagon acquisition chief Paul Kaminski formally okayed plans for a money-saving multi-year C-17 airlifter buy last week, and the Air Force has until Thursday to tell Comptroller John Hamre which AF programs should benefit from the more than $800 million in savings. In his acquisition decision memorandum, or ADM, signed Feb. 1, Kaminski also turned over acquisition management of the C-17 to the Air Force and confirmed that even with the C-17 issue settled, the Air Force should still pursue the Civil Reserve Air Fleet (CRAF) Enhancement Study.
Orbital Sciences Corp. won't have a lot of time to reconsider its role in the X-34 small reusable launch vehicle prototype program. The "cooperative agreement" under which NASA joined OSC and Rockwell in developing the liquid-fueled air-launched flyback booster includes a payback provision if the agreement is terminated, and Administrator Daniel S. Goldin told reporters last week he's "not gonna wait months" to hear from OSC.
The two contractors selected this year for the pre- EMD phase of JASSM will go through a "rolling downselect," as in the Joint Direct Attack Munition (JDAM) program that Little headed before taking over (Cont. p. 174)JASSM. The points of focus will be affordability, the degree to which contractors can convince program officials of the technical achievability of their program, and performance versus promises.
Russia won't make its March 10 date for launching the Priroda laboratory module to Mir, and the delay could impact the next U.S. Space Shuttle docking mission to the Russian space station. Under an agreement worked out during recent discussions in Houston and Washington (DAILY, Jan. 31, Feb. 1), both the Priroda launch and STS-76 have been scheduled for a March 21 launch. However, since the Mir crew and their ground support would be hard-pressed to handle two dockings at once, plans call for a review of the readiness of both craft on about March 1.
House and Senate Republicans who support a faster pace for Ballistic Missile Defense programs than the Clinton Administration wants have served notice that they will strongly oppose the Administration's $2.73-2.8 billion BMD request for fiscal 1997 in its present form. "We're not going to stand for that," Rep. Curt Weldon (R-Pa.), chairman of the House National Security research and development subcommittee, said in an interview. "They're pulling numbers out of the air."
Mounting losses on fixed-rate engine repair contracts along with other aircraft engine business troubles forced overhauler and parts-specialist Aviall to put its engine-related overhaul operations on the auction block, and the company said late Wednesday it expected to write off as much as $270 million against 1995 profits to cover it. Wall Street reacted decisively as Aviall shares dove $1.87 to close yesterday at $6.62, and investment house Gruntal&Co. downgraded the stock to "underperform," saying it plans to drop research coverage of Aviall.
Orbcomm, the satellite messaging service under development by Orbital Sciences Corp. and Canada's Teleglobe Inc., yesterday began offering its two-way message and positioning service commercially. At the same time, the company announced its service will be available in Canada under its first non-U.S. license agreement.
