GENERAL DYNAMICS Land Systems, Product Support and Services Co., Warren, Mich., got a $26.1 million contract Aug. 31 from the U.S. Army Tank- Automotive&Armaments Command for maintenance and supply support services for government of Kuwait-owned M1A2 Abrams tanks, M113A3 Armor Personnel Carrier-Ambulance, M577A3 Command Post Vehicle, and the M88A2 Improved Recovery Vehicle.
Gordon J. Louttit was elected vice president, general counsel and secretary of The Aerospace Corporation, El Segundo, Calif. Louttit comes to Aerospace form the Whittaker Corporation in Los Angeles, where he served as vice president, assistant general counsel and secretary.
The first of 72 F-15S fighters for Saudi Arabia was rolled out yesterday by prime contractor McDonnell Douglas at its St. Louis plant. The plane made its first flight June 19, and has since been put through a flight test program and painted in Royal Saudi Air Force markings in preparation for yesterday's ceremony. MDC said the cockpit of the F-15S features enhanced multi-purpose displays, and a wide field-of-view head-up display. The plane also carries the Low Altitude Navigation and Targeting Infrared for Night (LANTIRN) system.
SHORTS GROUP of Bombardier Inc., Belfast, Ireland, displayed the Shorland S600, and addition to its Shorland series of light armored vehicles, at the Royal Navy and British Army Equipment Exhibition in England. Shorts said the S600 can carry up to 12 personnel. Two versions have been developed-the Internal Security Vehicle (ISV), and the Infantry Mobility Vehicle (IMV). Earlier this year, Shorts teamed with British Aerospace Australia to develop a variant of the IMV for the Australian Army's Bushranger military vehicle requirement.
The Royal Thai Air Force yesterday received the first of 18 new F- 16A/B aircraft yesterday in ceremonies at Lockheed Martin Corp.'s Fort Worth, Tex., plant. The company said the new plane will be used to establish a second F-16 squadron and base in Thailand. Thailand already operates the F-16, having received 18 F-16As and Bs in the 1980s.
Intelligence Director John Deutch and Defense Secretary William Perry are working the final details of a plan to consolidate the activities of the eight intelligence and defense agencies involved in the collection, dissemination and distribution of imagery. Deutch and Perry are planning to come up with a plan by the end of the month to form a "National Imagery Agency," according to a source familiar with the process. The imagery activities would then be consolidated over a one-year period starting Oct. 1, the source said.
Cedric D. Beckett has been appointed president of Windsor Manufacturing, the precision machining segment of Barnes Aerospace, a major operating unit of Barnes Group Inc.
Anthony DiVincenzo, who most recently served as vice president and general manager of UNC Airwork in Millville, N.J., has been named to the newly created position vice president of operations.
Jonathan D. Addelston was named corporate vice president and Chief Technology Officer (CTO). He joins BDM from PRC Inc., where he was most recently vice president, software engineering and had also been director of PRC's Core Competency Program.
Charles H. Kaman, chairman and chief executive officer, has been awarded the Department of Defense Distinquished Public Service Medal "for exceptionally distinquished service as an inventor and pioneer in the field of rotary-wing flight."
U.S. ARMY Research Laboratory's Survivability/Lethality Analysis Directorate, White Sands Missile Range, N.M., has a requirement for electro-optical device vulnerability analysis. "This effort entails the research and development of new and/or improved O/EO [optical/electro- optical] measurement methodologies and tools for performing theoretical, laboratory, and field O/EO system signature, jamming and characterization analysis," the lab said in an Aug. 31 Commerce Business Daily notice.
Peter J. Von Minden was named vice president and general manager for training and support programs and Craig L. Johnson was named vice president and general manager for the F-15 program.
NASA and the FAA are forming an Integrated Product Team to manage a joint research effort aimed at boosting the efficiency of the U.S. air transportation system. NASA Administrator Daniel S. Goldin and David R. Hinson, the FAA administrator, signed an agreement Monday setting up the joint research program. Plans call for the two agencies to develop a new air traffic control system utilizing the Global Positioning System, Wide Area Augmentation System, data link and other advanced technologies.
U.S. ARMY Communications and Electronics Command, Ft. Monmouth, N.J., on Aug. 31 awarded two contracts worth a total of $25.6 million to Litton Industries and ITT for additional night vision goggles. Litton's Electron Devices unit, Tempe, Ariz., got $10.2 million for AN/PVS-7B Ground Goggles and AN/AVS-6 Aviator Goggles. ITT Electro-Optics Products Div., Roanoke, Va., received $15.4 million for PVS-7Bs and AVS-6s.
The Joint Air-to-Surface Standoff Missile (JASSM) completed a pre- Defense Acquisition Board meeting, and Defense Dept. officials deemed the program ready to enter into the Milestone 0, or program definition, phase. JASSM's pre-DAB was "a great success," an AF spokesman said Monday, and DOD will now issue an acquisition decision memorandum for program definition. The formal DAB had been scheduled for Sept. 20.
UNITED DEFENSE LP, Armament Systems Division, Minneapolis, received a $34.3 million modification to an earlier contract on Aug. 31 for the requirements analysis/component maturation extension effort in support of the Crusader Phase I and II development program. The contract was awarded by the U.S. Army Tank-Automotive&Armaments Command, Picatinny Arsenal, N.J.
NASA has designated North Carolina State, Rice and Rutgers Universities as the agency's latest Specialized Centers of Research and Training (NSCORTs) for ground research into the role of gravity in the development of living organisms. Each school will receive about $1 million a year for five years, NASA said Monday. N.C. State and Rice will work on gravitational biology, while Rutgers will study bioregenerative life support.
Loral Air Traffic Control has received a $10 million contract from the FAA to produce and install new hardware and software to replace aging display channel computers from five Air Route Traffic Control Centers (ARTCCs). Loral said yesterday that it will provide new mainframe computer hardware and software to replace IBM 9020E Display Channel Complex (DCC) computers that have been in operation since the early 1970s.
