MAJ. GEN. WILLIAM NAVAS has been named as the next director of the U.S. Army National Guard. Navas, now deputy assistant secretary of defense for reserve affairs, succeeds Maj. Gen. John D'Araujo Jr., who has been director since 1992.
What's the top priority on the House Intelligence Committee's agenda today? Getting its fiscal 1996 intelligence authorization bill to the House floor. The committee approved the bill several months ago, but the crush of legislation in the new Republican- controlled Congress has left it sitting in waiting. The panel is hoping its bill can go before the House Rules Committee this week, which is needed before it can go to a floor vote.
NAVSTAR GLOBAL POSITIONING SYSTEM Joint Program Office plans to release a request for proposals around Sept. 12 for the GPS Block IIF acquisition, according to an announcement in the Sept. 5 Commerce Business Daily. The office plans to award a firm fixed price contract valued at $3.6 billion, including options, in February 1996.
LITTON'S Advanced Technology Div., San Jose, Calif., will produce eight AN/ALR-67(V)2 Radar Warning Receiver systems plus spares for the Spanish AV-8B Harrier II Plus program, according to a Sept. 1 Commerce Business Daily notice from U.S. Naval Air Systems Command.
Aerospace Corp. will provide the technical expertise that goes into selection of a design concept for the new class of "converged" civil/military weather satellites the government is developing. The Commerce Dept.'s National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration has hired Aerospace to review Phase 0 concepts for the National Polar-orbiting Operational Environmental Satellite (NPOESS) produced by Lockheed Martin Astro Space and Lockheed Martin Missiles&Space.
The U.S. Air Force's electronic warfare community is "definitely going for jointness" in trying to adapt to a changed EW world without dedicated platforms, an AF officials tells The DAILY. Jointness "is allowing us to be able to develop EW programs smarter, I think, because what we're discovering is that all services are involved in that same particular mission," he says.
ROTARY POWER INTERNATIONAL'S Hunter unmanned aerial vehicle engine contract has been terminated for convenience, RPI confirmed Friday. Rival Williams International was selected earlier this month to study a new engine for Hunter after prime contractor TRW and the U.S. Army concluded RPI's heavy- fuel rotary engine was overweight (DAILY, Aug. 17, page 251, July 18, page 78).
Despite the fact that the F-4G is on standby for deployment to Bosnia, the USAF has no plans to alter its Wild Weasel retirement schedule, which begins next month. The service intends to start removing its 26 active F-4Gs at the rate of about six every three months. The retirement should be done within fiscal 1996.
Japan's Space Activities Commission wants to boost the power of the H-II booster so it can take supplies to the International Space Station. The top-level space oversight body approved plans for the National Space Development Agency of Japan (NASDA) to seek funds in fiscal 1996, which starts April 1 in Japan, to roughly double the two-ton lift capability of the all-Japanese booster. Development of the upgrade would be completed in 2001, in plenty of time for it to support the Japanese Experiment Module once it is launched on the U.S. Space Shuttle.
After nearly two years of vain search for a launch order for its MD-95 revival of the DC-9, McDonnell Douglas is ready to try a new tack-setting up Pratt&Whitney and BMW/Rolls-Royce to compete head-to-head for the launch order in a winner-take-all arrangement, program sources told DAILY affiliate Aerospace Propulsion.
The Defense Acquisition Board signed off on the Mission Needs Statement for the Joint Air-to-Air Standoff Missile (JASSM) on Thursday, freeing the program to move into concept definition. Eglin AFB plans a second JASSM industry day Oct. 17-19. The U.S. Air Force hopes to release a final request for proposals in March and to award two pre-engineering and manufacturing development (EMD) contracts next July with options for EMD.
SANDERS INC., Nashua, N.H., received a $12 million contract from the U.S. Army's Communications and Electronics Command for 20 AN/PLQ-5 laser countermeasure systems. The Dept. of Defense, announcing the contract Aug. 31, said it is a sole source effort with Sanders, a Lockheed Martin company, that was initiated on May 11.
The Air Force may install "as many as 500-plus" derivatives of Multifunctional Information Distribution Systems, or MIDS, terminals on its fighter aircraft, Air Combat Command says in response to questions from The DAILY. This number isn't firm because ACC still hasn't finished its fighter data link road map. "We believe data link is very important but we must ensure our road map is affordable and provides a significant increase in capability," ACC said in a statement.
Investors took little notice Friday of disclosures by Lockheed Martin and General Dynamics that a federal grand jury is looking into what role possible bribes involving overseas consultants may have played in F-16 sales abroad. The companies revealed the existence of the investigation in filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, which collects mandatory disclosures by publicly traded companies of anything that could have a "material adverse" effect on stock prices.
U.S. ARMY Communications-Electronics Command is conducting a market survey for sources to perform field engineering support and upgrade of Advanced Quicklook (AQL) equipment. "This effort requires the contractor to demonstrate expertise in the test and repair of AQL equipment currently fielded and to be fielded in GUARDRAIL/Common Sensor Systems 1, 2 and 4," CECOM said in a Sept. 1 Commerce Business Daily notice.
BOEING Defense&Space Group, Seattle, has received a $7.9 million contract modification from the U.S. Air Force for AWACS Integrated Countermeasures. The Defense Dept. said Aug. 29 that the contract will be for modification of the AWACS fleet to a Block 30/35 configuration, and that it "exercises the option for the Avionics Integration Laboratory and Test System-3 Electronic Support Measures Refurbishment...." It also "resolves other contractual issues," DOD said.
Spacecraft controllers at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory believe they can operate the Galileo Jupiter probe safely despite a propulsion system check value that apparently stuck in the open position during a course change in July.
U.S. Air Force testers say their cost estimate to bring the B-1B bomber's fleet-wide mission capable rate up to 75% is credible, even though the General Accounting Office said it considered the number "optimistic."
The U.S. Air Force is keeping an eye on a U.S. Navy assessment of whether to go ahead with the Joint Emitter Targeting System (JETS) which aids F/A-18 Hornets and the EA-6B Prowlers in firing HARM missiles, the AF official says. "There may be upgrades as part of that system, whatever it might be, that might meet the Air Force need," he says.
Just three months' worth of Allison Engine Co. sales and profits helped swell Rolls-Royce's half-year results, which would otherwise have been flat versus the company's performance a year ago. Pre-tax profits for the first half of 1995 soared some 75% to 70 million pounds, or about $107 million at current exchange rates, thanks to 6% stronger sales of 1.6 billion pounds ($2.46 billion) and money made from selling off a handful of Industrial Power Group properties.
AFCEA'S FORT MONMOUTH CHAPTER will hold its 20th annual symposium on Sept 12, 13, and 14, at the Ocean Place Hilton in Long Branch, N.J. The theme will be "The Digitization of Force XXI, Joint/Coalition Warriors." Admiral Richard C. Macke, Commander-in-Chief, U.S. Pacific Command, will be the keynote speaker. For more information, call Billie Jean Egerton, 908-532- 0351 for government registration and Diane Carnes, 908-389-1010 for industry registration.
Launch of Canada's Radarsat satellite on a Delta II rocket has been slipped from Sept. 20 to no earlier than Oct. 4 due to an ongoing investigation into an Aug. 5 malfunction that caused a Delta II to leave a Korean communications satellite far short of its intended orbit. The team investigating the malfunction is hoping to have an interim report ready by mid-month.
TEXAS INSTRUMENTS INC., Dallas, will produce 252 High Speed Anti-Radiation Missiles under a $63.2 million contract from U.S. Naval Air Systems Command. The contract, an exercise of an option awarded Aug. 31, combines purchase of 57 HARMs for the U.S. Air Force, 130 for Korea, and 65 missiles for Germany. The effort is being carried out under the Foreign Military Sales program.
The Koreasat-1 satellite, left in the wrong orbit when its Delta II launcher malfunctioned Aug. 5, finally reached its intended geostationary orbit Wednesday, but the fuel consumed to get it there will likely cut its intended 10-year life span to about four and one-half years, sources said. A spokesman for Lockheed Martin Astro Space, which built the spacecraft, said 17 "long maneuvers"-including one continuous 12-hour burn- were needed to boost the spacecraft nearly 4,000 statute miles over several weeks.
The House National Security and Intelligence committees have settled their funding differences on five major unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) programs, in each case going for the higher or less restrictive authorization, congressional sources said yesterday. The programs and their resolutions, the sources said, are as follows: -Close Range Maneuver Variant: The two panels settled on Intelligence's approval of the $36.8 million request. NSC had zeroed the program.
