As the Senate began consideration of the $264.7 billion fiscal 1996 national security authorization yesterday, Sen. Sam Nunn (D-Ga.) succeeded in earmarking $35 million for the U.S. Army's Corps SAM theater missile defense system. The Senate Armed Services Committee, on which Nunn is the ranking Democrat, had zeroed the $30.4 million request for Corps SAM in its markup of the bill. Yesterday, the Senate endorsed Nunn's amendment by a vote of 98 to 1.
A CZECH FIRM has been cleared to sell a passive counter-stealth detection system to the former Soviet Republic of Kyrgyzstan, the Czech Republic's Industry and Trade Ministry said in Prague yesterday, according to wire reports. In its initial announcement that a $20 million Tamara system would be sold abroad by HTT Tesla Pardubice, the Czech government identified the buyer only as a "trustworthy and politically stable" former Soviet state (DAILY, July 31, page 152).
LORAL VOUGHT has received $155.2 million from the Army to modify the Army Tactical Missile System (ATACMS) to carry the Brilliant Anti-Tank submunition. The four-year contract to build the Block II missile also includes two options, worth an additional $24.98 million, that would extend the contract to the year 2000. ATACMS will be able to carry 13 BAT submunitions to targets as far as 140 kilometers away. The Block I ATACMS has been operational for four years and Block IA, with about twice the range as the Block I, is in engineering development.
Rockwell International and Lockheed Martin will bid as equal partners on NASA's planned consolidated prime contract for the Space Shuttle program, executives of both companies announced yesterday. The two companies, which between them already have some two-thirds of NASA's Shuttle business, have formed a joint venture to seek the Shuttle prime contract that will probably be named United Space Alliance (USA), the companies said.
Congressional actions to date on fiscal 1996 military space RDT&E and procurement are listed below for selected programs. Conferences to work out differences will take place after Congress returns from its August recess. A table highlighting aircraft programs appeared in the Aug. 2 issue of The DAILY (page 164). Tables on other areas of the DOD budget will appear in future issues. AIR FORCE SPACE RDT&E (in millions of dollars)
Rep. George Brown (D-Calif.) is considering urging President Clinton to veto the appropriations bill that funds NASA and other appropriations bills as well to stave off Republican cuts to civilian research and development (R&D). Meeting with reporters on Capitol Hill yesterday, Brown said he would encourage the presidential vetoes to restore a White House balance of civilian and defense R&D that has been upended by "anti-technology" House Republicans.
An ex-Lockheed executive prosecutors claim is the key figure in a scheme to bribe an Egyptian official to help close a sale of three C-130 airlifters pleaded guilty Monday in an Atlanta federal court. Suleiman A. Nassar, Lockheed's Middle East and North Africa marketing VP from 1987 to 1990, "is the person who our evidence indicates is the main perpetrator in this matter," said assistant U.S. Attorney Martin Weinstein. "He fabricated the critical payment documents."
U.S. Secretary of State Warren Christopher has asked Indonesia and the Philippines if they are interested in buying the F-16 fighters purchased by Pakistan, but blocked from delivery by Congress, according to wire reports. Christopher brought up the issue, mentioning pricing information, during a meeting yesterday with Indonesian Foreign Minister Ali Alatas and in a session Tuesday with Philippine Foreign Minister Domingo Siazon. The ministers were "non-committal" about Christopher's inquiry, a State Dept. spokesman said.
HUGHES MISSILE SYSTEMS CO., Tucson, Ariz., received two contracts from the U.S. Army Missile Command on July 26 worth a total of $14.2 million. One contract, for $9 million, was for various repair parts for the Stinger missile system used by Bahrain, Denmark, Japan, and Israel. The other award, for $5.2 million, was for 261 TOW-2B missiles.
Intelligence satellites are needed now more than ever and must be much more flexible to deal with the proliferation of threats in the post-Cold War era, according to House Intelligence Committee Chairman Larry Combest. While in the old days technical collection assets could be designed with a primary target-the Soviet Union-in mind, the inability today to know where the next major crisis will pop up has generated a need for "portable intelligence," Combest (R-Tex.) said in an interview yesterday.
ITT AEROSPACE/COMMUNICATIONS Div., Fort Wayne, Ind., will supply portable radios that are compatible with the U.S. Army's SINCGARS System Improvement Program. Under a $9.5 million contract, the company will produce 575 radios and 545 Lightweight InterNet Controllers (LINCs) for use in the joint service Task Force XXI Advanced Warfighting Experiments, beginning in 1997.
EXPECTED HOUSE VOTE on an amendment striking the $493 million B-2 stealth bomber add-on from the fiscal 1996 defense appropriations bill failed to materialize yesterday as the Republican leadership decided to take up the Labor and Health and Human Services appropriations bill instead. The Pentagon money bill may come up today or tomorrow, the final legislative day before the House begins its scheduled four-week recess on Saturday.
U.S. ARMY's Dismounted Battlespace Battle Lab plans to hold a week-long demonstration of countersniper technologies during the first part of August at Ft. Benning, Ga. "The purpose of the demonstration is to promote user/developer interaction regarding current counter-sniper technology capabilities and aid in potential requirements building for these technologies," the Army Research and Development Center said in a July 17 Commerce Business Daily notice.
A chart in yesterday's Aerospace Daily (p. 164) incorrectly listed the Senate Appropriations Committee as having zeroed funding for the F-15E. The panel funded the aircraft at $311.2 million.
Contractors developing business plans for a next-century Reusable Launch Vehicle (RLV) are leaning toward smaller payloads than the 25,000 pounds to Space Station orbit contained in NASA's "cartoon" vehicle requirement, according to the head of the RLV program at agency headquarters.
MOTOROLA Government and Space Technology Group, Scottsdale, Ariz., has received a $29 million contract for the four-year Speakeasy II program, aimed at development of a digital tactical radio that can be flexible enough to function with a variety of existing and future military and commercial communication systems. Subcontractors in the program, which is supported by the U.S. Air Force, Army and Navy, include ITT Aerospace/Communications Div., Fort Wayne, Ind., and Sanders, a Lockheed Martin company, in Nashua, N.H.
Boeing Co. is still evaluating the fate of its tiltrotor unmanned aerial vehicle project, even though it said two weeks ago it planned to build a second Heliwing to replace one that crashed in June (DAILY, July 18, page 77). A Boeing spokesman called premature last week's announcement that Boeing's Military Aircraft unit would replace the Heliwing prototype that lost power and crashed in a test flight near Moses Lake, Wash. (DAILY, June 15, page 421)
The four congressional committees with primary responsibility for overseeing Pentagon funding have weighed in with their recommendations for the fiscal 1996 national defense budget. Below are selected aircraft procurement funding amounts passed by the House National Security Committee (HNSC), Senate Armed Services Committee (SASC), House Appropriations Committee (HAC) and Senate Appropriations Committee (SAC). Future tables on funding in areas such as RDT&E and space programs will appear in upcoming issues of The DAILY.
The second flight test of the Theater High Altitude Air Defense (THAAD) missile on Monday was aborted after its velocity exceeded parameters and led to a conflict with range restrictions. "At burnout the missile was going too fast, its velocity was high, higher than anticipated," a spokesman for the U.S. Army Missile Defense Program Executive Office said yesterday. The THAAD was launched at about 12:30 p.m. EDT at White Sands Missile Range, N.M., on a simulated intercept (DAILY, Aug. 1, page 155).
RAYTHEON AIRCRAFT CO., Wichita, is being solicited on a sole source basis by U.S. Army Missile Command for Low Altitude Threat Simulators (LATS), according to a July 5 Commerce Business Daily notice.
The next two years of the Joint Advanced Strike Technology program will be "critical" in determining whether the joint aircraft technology development program will satisfy the U.S. Navy, Marine Corps and Air Force, said Navy Air Warfare Director Rear Adm. Brent Bennitt. The next two years will "define for us whether this is really doable or not," Bennitt told The DAILY during an interview. "When you start to take paper and move toward demonstrators, that will respond to a number of our questions with hardware."
B-2 backers must win a House today on an amendment striking out the B- 2 add-on or likely give up on more B-2s for at least a year. Both supporters and opponents of additional production of B-2s beyond the 20 already under contract claimed to have the votes needed to win. In a close contest like this the fact that the House Republican leadership backs the B-2 gives supporters an edge because the leadership can pick the best time to vote.
House members passed the fiscal 1996 VA, HUD and independent agencies appropriations bill Monday night, including the $13.67 billion NASA funding measure adopted by the House Appropriations Committee. The action came after the House resoundingly defeated several amendments designed to shift NASA funds to other programs, including amendments designed to kill the International Space Station introduced by Rep. Dave Obey (D-Wis.) and Rep. Tim Roemer (D-Ind.) (DAILY, July 28, page 139.
The U.S. Air Force is readying a contract for engineering and manufacturing development (EMD) of a Preplanned Product Improvement (P3I) program for the BLU-108 portion of the Sensor Fuzed Weapon (SFW). "EMD is expected to begin in November 1995," the AF's Aeronautical Systems Center said in a July 31 Commerce Business Daily notice. "This development is considered an improvement of an on-going program conducted by Textron Defense Systems and is expected to last 36 months," it said.
Hurricane Erin's approach to the east coast of Florida forced NASA to pull the Space Shuttle Endeavour back to the Vehicle Assembly Building at Kennedy Space Center. The U.S. Air Force closed housing at Cape Canaveral AFS, and several aerospace companies sent their workers home early.
