The U.S. Air Force wants to deploy its F-117 stealth fighter to support operations in Bosnia-Herzegovina, but the deployment order is being held up by diplomatic complications, an AF official said yesterday. The F- 117s would fly out of Aviano air base, Italy. Support equipment and personnel have already been deployed. Although DOD officials have said Serbian air defenses already have been severely damaged, an F-117 deployment would have a similar aim as the use of Tomahawk cruise missiles- hitting targets repeatedly with the lowest risk to U.S.
White House technology policymakers plan a detailed effort in coming months to map long-term federal spending, in conjunction with industry, on technologies that will keep the U.S. aircraft industry competitive in the global marketplace.
Launch of the proposed 100-passenger YS-X regional transport has been postponed for the time being. The original plan called for first flight in 2000. Japan's Ministry of International Trade and Industry hopes to continue technical market research, and is requesting 993 million yen (about $9.3 million) in the government's fiscal 1996 budget for such work.
ANNUAL C4I INDUSTRY DAY at Hanscom AFB, Mass., is planned for Oct. 25. The event, hosted by the New England Chapter of the National Security Industrial Association (NSIA) in conjunction with the U.S. Air Force's Electronic Systems Center (ESC) at Hanscom, is aimed at improving the acquisition process at ESC and providing a forum for CEO-level communication and resolution of key industry issues and concerns, NSIA said. Keynote speaker is Darlene Druyun, the U.S. Air Force's acting assistant secretary for acquisition.
Nunn calls reinstatement of funding for the MEADS (Medium Extended Air Defense System) program one of the "dramatic improvements" to SASC's authorization made on the Senate floor. It was his amendment on Aug. 2 that made $35 million available to MEADS. The amount includes funding to examine Patriot technology for the mission of MEADS, or Corps SAM. SASC had deleted funding for the program in its markup.
BIONETICS CORP., Hampton, Va., on Aug. 30 got a $9.4 million increase to an earlier contract from the U.S. Air Force for photographic and optical support for the Eastern Test Range and the Kennedy Space Center, Fla., for FY 1996.
RF MICROSYSTEMS, San Diego, received a $9.5 million modification to an earlier U.S. Navy contract to exercise an option for technical and engineering services in support of the Joint Special Operations Div. of the Naval Air Warfare Center, Aircraft Div., St. Inigoes, Md. The contract was awarded Sept. 5.
U.S. Navy F-14 Tomcat fighters flew their first operational strike mission last week, used laser-guided bombs to attack targets in Bosnia- Herzegovina. The targets were designated by F/A-18s. F-14s of Squadron VF-41, flying from the carrier USS Roosevelt in the Adriatic Sea last Tuesday, dropped 1,000-pound Mk. 83 bombs on Serb ammunition depots, a Navy spokesman said. Guidance for the beam-riding munitions was provided by Hornets carrying Loral-built Nite Hawk laser designators, he said.
The Tier II Plus high altitude endurance unmanned aerial vehicle completed its initial design review (IDR) with only minor follow-up actions necessary, the UAV's manufacturer, Teledyne Ryan Aeronautical, said. The IDR was conducted Aug. 28-31 at Teledyne Ryan's San Diego facility. The company was chosen three months ago to design and develop the UAV. Teledyne Ryan said Wednesday that the review identified "various follow-up action items," and that "a plan for resolution of each, along with closure dates, will be developed."
MCDONNELL DOUGLAS CORP., St. Louis, will supply joint systems support services for the AV-8B aircraft for the U.S. Marine Corps under a contract awarded Aug. 29 by the U.S. Naval Air Warfare Center, Weapons Div., China Lake, Calif.
MCDONNELL DOUGLAS will roll out the first F/A-18E/F Hornet next Monday at 10 a.m. CDT at the company's St. Louis headquarters. First flight is slated for December.
Although the hardpoints on the Tier II Plus UAV aren't intended for weapons, Advanced Research Projects Agency's Director Larry Lynn won't say they couldn't be used that way. A U.S. Army suggestion is to use the Tier II Plus to attack theater missiles in their boost phase, but there is generally a "cultural aversion to lethal UAVs," Lynn says.
Lockheed's first production C-130 turboprop airlifter, which retired in ceremonies at Eglin AFB yesterday (DAILY, Sept. 8, page 374), has turned out to be quite a bargain. "The First Lady" saw some 40 years of service, including 4,500 combat hours. But a look back at the original, 1953 cost-plus-incentive-fee contract papers reveals a price tag of less than $1 million each for seven aircraft plus spares. "Let's just say it's long since depreciated," quips a company spokesman.
Improvements in the accuracy and explosive power of 1,000 pound bombs will make them as effective as today's 2,000 pound bombs, Muellner says. Weapons engineers "may be able to push that even down to a 500 or 200 pound category," he says, which he said could "come pretty close" to proportionally shrinking in size.
VITRO SERVICES CORP., Fort Walton Beach, Fla., received a $90.4 million contract Aug. 28 from the U.S. Air Force's Development Test Center, Eglin AFB, Fla., for FY 1996 operation and maintenance of the range facility at Eglin AFB.
The Defense Dept. will soon move ahead with the Maneuver variant of the Joint Tactical Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (JT-UAV) and let operators decide for themselves how they would use such a vehicle, according to Larry Lynn, director of the Advanced Research Projects Agency.
Ranking Senate Armed Services Committee Democrat Sam Nunn (Ga.), in an assessment of the fiscal 1996 Senate defense authorization bill, says there was "too much micromanagement" of ballistic missile defense in both the House and Senate authorizations, and expresses the hope that the conference would address the problem. He also says the Missile Defense compromise, which undid SASC's directive for mandatory deployment of a multi-site national missile defense by 2003, was an improvement.
In an exchange on the Senate floor, Sen. John W. Warner (R- Va.), chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee's air land forces subcommittee, assures Sen. Richard Shelby (R-Ala.) that the U.S. Army's developmental efforts on the liquid propellant gun of the Crusader Advanced Field Artillery System will be allowed to proceed.
A conference for companies involved in the U.S. Air Force's Integrated Maintenance Data System (IMDS) is slated for Oct. 18-19 at Mitre Corp.'s facility in Bedford, Mass. The AF's Electronic Systems Center said in a Sept. 6 Commerce Business Daily notice that results of conceptual studies and demonstrations will be presented at the conference by Systems Research and Applications (SRA), Loral Federal Systems, The Analytical Science Corp. (TASC), TRW, and Computing Devices International (CDI).
The House late Thursday approved by a vote of 294-125 a $244.1 billion fiscal 1996 defense appropriations bill. The measure now goes to conference with the Senate, probably this week. The Senate already has passed a $242.7 Pentagon money bill.
JOHNSON CONTROLS WORLD SERVICES INC., Cape Canaveral, Fla., received a $95.9 million U.S. Air Force contract on Aug. 30 to provide FY 1996 launch base support services for the 45th Space Wing operations at Cape Canaveral AS, Fla., and the Eastern Range.
NORTHROP GRUMMAN CORP., Point Mugu, Calif., will support the F-14 weapon system for 711,920 labor hours under a $49 million contract from the U.S. Naval Air Warfare Center Weapons Div. at Point Mugu, awarded Aug. 31.
As Thomas Reiter settles in on Mir for a four-and-a-half-month stay (DAILY, Sept. 6, page 356), his boss at the European Space Agency is looking for another shot at using Russia's orbiting lab for European experiments. Jorg Feustl-Buechl, manned spaceflight and microgravity director at ESA headquarters, says he will propose a third "Euromir" flight in 1997 to supplement Euromir '94 and '95. ESA has paid about $50 million to Russia for the first two Mir visits.
