Cash flow problems at Russia's new State Rocket and Space Center in Samara will give European Space Agency astronaut Thomas Reiter an extra six weeks on the Mir space station. Reiter's Euromir '95 mission, originally scheduled to last 135 days, could run an additional 44 days because the Samara plant may not be able to complete a booster to take a replacement crew to Mir. The plant is geared to six-month mission cycles, and the shorter Euromir mission "strained the system," according to a Russian aerospace source.
CHRYSLER TECHNOLOGIES Airborne Systems Inc., Waco, Tex., received a $7.7 million modification to a previously awarded contract to exercise an option for operations and maintenance of the Fleet Tactical Readiness Group Large Aircraft Program. The Dept. of Defense said the program provides electronic warfare training and simulation during fleet exercises. The contract was awarded Sept. 28 by U.S. Naval Air Systems Command.
Both the fiscal 1996 defense appropriations compromise bill and the national security authorization are stalled - but for substantially different reasons. Congressional sources say there is greater uncertainty surrounding the appropriations bill. But, they say, once it's resolved, the bill will clear Congress in one form or another. The slow pace of the authorization conference, on the other hand, has led some conferees, still a minority, to warn that there may not be a bill.
The Russian Space Agency has revealed that a satellite launched by the Russian Space Forces earlier this month was placed in the wrong orbit, highlighting growing friction between the civilian and military space authorities. The classified satellite, officially designated Cosmos 2321, was launched on Oct. 6 from the 1st State Test Cosmodrome at Plesetsk by a Cosmos 3M launcher. It entered an elliptical orbit with an apogee of 821 kilometers, a perigee of 261 kilometers, an inclination of 82.95 degrees and a period of 95.09 minutes.
AEROSPACE CORP., El Segundo, Calif., got a $296 million increase to an earlier contract for 1,462 members of technical staff for scientific engineering and technical effort in support of the U.S. Air Force and other government agencies during FY 1996. The AF's Space and Missile Systems Center, Los Angeles, awarded the contract on Oct. 2.
BOEING DEFENSE&SPACE GROUP, Wichita, will carry out engineering and manufacturing development of modifications to incorporate aerial refueling "hose and drogue" wing pods and associated equipment on KC-135R tankers under a $24.4 million contract awarded Sept. 28 by the U.S. Air Force's Aeronautical Systems Center.
Engineers on the Galileo Jupiter project plan to use the memory in the spacecraft's central computer to store data collected as its probe plunges into the planet's cloud tops if they cannot fix a tape recorder, which may have failed last week. The computer can store about 500,000 bytes, enough to hold data from the probe for later playback. The recorder, put into a safe "ready" mode after it wouldn't stop rewinding last Wednesday night, can hold about 900 megabits.
Science Applications International Corp., San Diego, will support the U.S. Space and Naval Warfare Command under a three-year, $28 million communications security contract. Under the Common Tier 1 System, SAIC will help integrate computers and software, and help field the Tier 1 element of the Dept. of Defense's Electronic Key Management System. SAIC said the program will provide automated communications security and key management system support for the Navy, Army, Air Force, Marines, Coast Guard and other government agencies.
NORTHROP GRUMMAN CORP. received two contracts Aug. 29 from U.S. Naval Air Systems Command totaling $58.6 million for ground support equipment for the E-2C aircraft program for the government of France. The efforts are being carried out under the Foreign Military Sales (FMS) program.
Rep. Mark Neumann (R-Wis.), the freshman Republican who voted and worked against the fiscal 1996 defense appropriations conference report, has been replaced on the House Appropriations national security subcommittee, his office acknowledged. Rep. Ernest J. Istook Jr. (R-Okla.) replaced Neumann on the subcommittee. Istook was previously on the military construction subcommittee, which Neumann will join.
China Great Wall Industries Corp., operator of the Long March, is planning to launch another spacecraft, the EchoStar direct broadcast satellite, between Christmas and New Year's Day-roughly a three- week turnaround between launches. But don't bet any money on it, says an industry source familiar with the launch schedule. "Everyone seems to be skeptical that the Chinese can turn their launch pad around that quickly," the source says.
BOEING DEFENSE&SPACE GROUP, Seattle, will support continued operation of the Airborne Surveillance Testbed under a $116.5 million modification to an earlier contract. The new contract was awarded Sept. 29 by the U.S. Army Space and Strategic Defense Command.
The Air Force isn't likely to fund the second part of the F-15E's jammer suite-the AN/ALQ-135 Band 1.5-an AF official says. "You're taking a risk there," he says, but "we believe within the funding constraints we have it's an acceptable risk." The AF will "deal with those threats in another way," such as jamming or destroying it before a strike. The ALQ-135 Band 1.5's aren't likely to be funded unless F-15s are shot down in some conflict, he says.
Reiter and his two Russian colleagues reportedly hadn't been informed of the possible mission stretchout by the end of last week, in part because they are gearing up for a tricky spacewalk this week. On Friday the German ESA astronaut will become the second West European, after France's Jean-Loup Chretien, to walk in space. Reiter and cosmonaut Sergei Avdeev will deploy space environment and astrophysics experiments on the European Science Exposure Facility, and restock a Russian experiment located nearby on the new Spektr module.
MCDONNELL DOUGLAS, St. Louis, will modify Harpoon anti-ship missiles for Canada and Australia under a $9.3 million Foreign Military Sales contract awarded Sept. 29 by the U.S. Naval Air Systems Command.
TASC INC., Reading, Mass., on Sept. 22 received a $1 million increment as part of a $43 million contract for systems engineering and technical analysis support of the Defense Airborne Reconnaissance Office. The contract was awarded by the Defense Evaluation Support Activity, Kirtland AFB, N.M.
MCDONNELL DOUGLAS, St. Louis, got a $10.5 million increase to an earlier contract to incorporate combined memory modules into the digital radar signal processor on 131 AN/APG-70 radar systems for the F-15 aircraft. Under the contract, awarded Sept. 25 by the U.S. Air Force's Aeronautical Systems Center, the work will be carried out by Hughes Aircraft Co. at El Segundo, Calif.
"We will have a good review of ASW before this year is out," says Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Jeremy M. Boorda. The study will allow the U.S. Navy to "decide where we'll go for the future" in anti-submarine warfare, he tells reporters in Washington.
Arianespace Chairman and CEO Charles Bigot complained bitterly at a press conference in France earlier this month that the Long March and Russia's Proton are undercutting Ariane by 20%-30%. Bigot said his customers have told him Arianespace's prices are just too high compared to his Chinese and Russian counterparts. A Hughes agreement with China Great Wall gives some insight into Long March pricing. Hughes signed a contract for a little over $600 million for options on ten Long March launches through the end of the decade.
LOCKHEED MARTIN Logistics Management, Arlington, Tex., got a $145 million increase to an earlier contract on Sept. 28 from the U.S. Air Force's Oklahoma City Air Logistics Center for modification, maintenance and repair of various Dept. of Defense weapons systems and support equipment.
The Air Force's C-17 has the endorsement of Boorda, who says "airlift is really important to us." Although he readily acknowledges that he's "not real sure my opinion is all that important on this subject" because his concern is with sealift, he notes that "my own personal inclinations are to support the C-17 as the answer" for airlift.
Thiokol Corp. and aerospace-heavy merchant bank The Carlyle Group are teaming to buy gas turbine components and repair giant Howmet Corp. for $750 million, Thiokol reported Thursday night. As in many other Carlyle-assisted deals - including the one that eventually led to Vought's acquisition by Northrop Grumman - Carlyle will hold the majority stake but stands ready to sell it to Thiokol after three years. The deal should close in December.
The U.S. Army's funding priorities won't allow UH-60 Black Hawk helicopters to undergo a planned $1 billion upgrade until fiscal year 2004, according to the service's project manager for utility helicopters.
TINKER AIRCRAFT CO., Tinker AFB, Okla., will provide Depot Level Maintenance supplies and services to support the E-3 aircraft under a $9.1 million contract awarded Sept. 28. The contract is an addition to an earlier award.
Ranking Senate Armed Services Committee Democrat Sam Nunn (Ga.) suggests a two-track process for the future of NATO that would take into consideration Russian feelings of "increased...isolation, paranoia or instability." The first track would be keyed to political and economic developments to make countries eligible for membership in the European Union. This would precede NATO membership, subject to the alliance's formal approval.
