MCDONNELL DOUGLAS AEROSPACE will supply the engineering effort to U.S. Naval Air Systems Command for the F/A-18 Conformal Antenna System Phase I program. NavAir said in a Sept. 11 Commerce Business Daily notice that the effort will, among other things, ensure that the APX-111 system is interoperable with the conformal antenna.
Hughes Aircraft Co. has reached an agreement to acquire Magnavox Electronic Systems Co. for $370 million in cash, Hughes said yesterday. Magnavox, based in Fort Wayne, Ind., produces tactical communications, electronic warfare, electro-optic, anti-submarine warfare and command and control systems. Michael T. Smith, chairman of Hughes Aircraft and vice chairman of Hughes Electronics, said, "The business lines of Magnavox are a natural fit with the business lines of Hughes Aircraft, particularly with those of Hughes Radar and Communications Systems.
A Senate appropriations subcommittee recommended fiscal 1996 NASA funding at a level more than $126 million higher than the House has approved, but with the understanding that things could change radically before the measure reaches the Senate floor.
Canada's Radarsat synthetic aperture radar (SAR) Earth observation satellite will map the Antarctic ice shelf during its upcoming mission to help scientists learn if it is shrinking, a possibility with serious implications for the world's coastal regions. Ice-mapping is just one application planned for the 7,000-pound satellite, set for launch next month pending outcome of an investigation into the failure of its Delta II launch vehicle to place a Korean communications satellite in the proper orbit last month (DAILY, Sept. 5, page 346).
ALLIEDSIGNAL AEROSPACE has signed an agreement with Amherst Systems Inc., Buffalo, N.Y., to jointly develop a portable electronic combat suite tester for use on the flight line, in hangars and in maintenance shops. Initial target of the team will be the U.S. Navy and Air Force's Joint Services Electronic Combat System Tester (JSECST), intended to replace the Navy's USM-406C tester and provide the AF with a new EC test capability.
HAZELTINE CORP., Braintree, Mass., received a $9.4 million modification to an earlier U.S. Navy contract on Sept. 8 to exercise an option for fabrication, assembly, test and delivery of 210 Mk. 4 Mod 0 sonar acoustic countermeasure devices. The contract was awarded by Naval Sea Systems Command.
U.S. Naval Air Warfare Center Aircraft Division, Patuxent River, is soliciting industry for an evaluation of "naval air platforms and sensors, their tactical use, and future tactical and system concepts." The center said in a Sept. 5 Commerce Business Daily notice that it wants "detailed quantitative analyses and evaluations of current and future Navy Air Undersea Warfare (USW) systems to allow for an assessment of systems modifications, system employment tactics and associated performance improvement."
NAVAL RESEARCH LABORATORY, Washington, D.C., said in a Sept. 6 Commerce Business Daily notice that it has a requirement to upgrade an NRL 2 micron laser optical parametric oscillator system that is part of an infrared countermeasure system located in the bomb bay of an NRL P-3 aircraft.
LOCKHEED MARTIN Services Group, Cherry Hill, N.J., will operate and maintain up to six electronic combat range sites under a $31 million, 52- month contract awarded through Nellis AFB, Nev. The ranges, used for pilot training in an electronic combat environment, are located at Dugway, Utah; Powell, Wyo.; Forsyth, Mont.; La Junta, Colo.; Belle Fourche, S.D.; and Harrison, Ark. Lockheed Martin said its contract calls for the operation and maintenance of electronic countermeasures and scoring equipment at the ranges.
TRW will develop faster, less expensive methods to make high performance computer chips and multi-chip modules under a $22 million contract from the Pentagon's Advanced Research Projects Agency. TRW's Space&Electronics Group, Redondo Beach, Calif., said yesterday that the contract calls for it to develop and demonstrate new ways to fabricate and package millimeter wave monolithic integrated circuits made from gallium arsenide and indium phosphide.
SPACE SYSTEMS/LORAL AND GLOBALSTAR will host an Oct. 24-25 conference in Palo Alto, Calif., on new developments in satellite communications. The theme of the Pacific Hemisphere Conference for the Pacific Telecommunications Council (PTC), to be held at Space Systems/Loral headquarters, will be "Spanning the Pacific: Satellite Technology and Services Under Development." For further information, call David Burns, vice president international marketing for Space Systems/Loral, at 415/852-5810.
The U.S. Marine Corps is sending another F/A-18 squadron equipped with the Airborne Self-Protection Jammer to operate over Bosnia-Herzegovina, complementing the ASPJ-equipped Marine squadron already flying out of Aviano air base in Italy. The aircraft carrier USS America is slated to take over from the USS Theodore Roosevelt in the Adriatic Sea in the next few days. Aboard the America are 12 F/A-18Cs from Marine Squadron VMFA-251 that are fitted with the self-protection suite, a Marine Corps statement said.
The Defense Dept. doesn't plan to undertake a new Bottom-Up Review, at least not according to a DOD statement issued on behalf of Paul Kaminski, the defense under secretary for acquisition and technology. The U.S. Air Force's principal deputy secretary for acquisition, Lt. Gen. George Muellner, told reporters last week that DOD, and Kaminski in particular, were considering such a review (DAILY, Sept. 7, page 363).
Rep. Norman Y. Mineta (D-Calif.), ranking Democrat and former chairman of the House Transportation Committee, said yesterday that he will resign his House seat on Oct. 10 to become a vice president at Lockheed Martin, managing the company's transportation and services division.
The U.S. and NATO have signed an agreement on joint production of the Airborne Warning and Control System (AWACS) radar system improvement program (RSIP) and are awaiting results of testing before finalizing acquisition plans, NATO officials said yesterday.
SIGNAL TECHNOLOGY CORP., Sunnyvale, Calif., is manufacturing microwave components, integrated assemblies and power supplies for the AN/ALQ-184 electronic countermeasures pod under multiple contracts from E-Systems' Goleta Div. valued at $7.1 million. Signal Technology said the work will be performed by its ST Keltec and ST Microwave subsidiaries in Arizona and California, respectively. It said the contracts call for the production of 82 systems and carry options for up to 80 additional systems.
TEXAS INSTRUMENTS' Defense Systems and Electronics Group, McKinney, Tex., received a $12 million contract Sept. 7 from the U.S. Air Force's Aeronautical Systems Center, Wright-Patterson AFB, Ohio, for design and test of two upgrade kits for the AN/AAQ-17 Gunship Infrared Detection Set for the AC-130U and AC-130H aircraft.
Planned procurement of a Eurocopter AS-365N2 helicopter by Saitama Prefecture near here has been cancelled to protest France's nuclear test in the South Pacific. The local government had planned to use the helicopter for medical evacuation and emergency missions. The helicopter is valued at $923 million, and cancellation penalties will be paid to a sales agent.
U.S. AIR FORCE'S Aeronautical Systems Center says the date for an industry day at Eglin AFB, Fla., on the Miniature Air Launched Decoy (MALD) has been changed from Sept. 21 to Sept. 22. MALD is an effort of ASC's Lethal SEAD program office and the Advanced Research Projects Agency.
