-- OFFICE OF NAVAL RESEARCH is soliciting industry for advanced notional war fighting concepts which could be employed by the fleet by about 2015. The concepts will be used in the Technology Initiatives Game (TIG-95), to be conducted Sept. 18-22. TIG-95, ONR said in a June 29 Commerce Business Daily notice, "will assess the potential impact of [new] concepts on the Navy's future war fighting capability."
-- SCIENCE APPLICATIONS INTERNATIONAL CORP. (SAIC), San Diego, on June 27 received a $15.5 million contract for services in the areas of systems performance analysis, acoustic and environmental modeling, data collection and analysis in support of the Naval Undersea Warfare Center, Environmental and Tactical Support Systems Department, New London, Conn. Ninety-two proposals were solicited and one was received.
The U.S. Navy is putting the newest version of its Tactical Aircraft Mission Planning System (TAMPS) through final testing and expects to field the system "at the end of August," a program official said Friday. The testing of TAMPS version 6.03, which is in line to replace version 5.0, is scheduled to be completed at the end of this month. A final report will be issued sometime in August, clearing the way for installation of the new software, Brian M. Riely, the Navy's TAMPS program manager said during an interview at his office in Arlington, Va.
A range scheduling conflict has forced Lockheed Martin Missiles&Space to reschedule its planned first flight of the new Lockheed Launch Vehicle (LLV), the company reported. The new launch date will be July 25, with LLV-1 scheduled to fly from Vandenberg AFB, Calif., instead of on July 18 as originally scheduled (DAILY, July 6, page 12) on one of two separate launch windows. Lockheed Martin said the slip was forced solely by range scheduling, and stressed that its launch vehicle would have been ready to fly on the 18th as originally planned.
Army aviators are crafting a long-term UH-60 Black Hawk modernization program that would bring the service's 923 A models up to the capability of its L model utility rotorcraft, the top Army aviator told The DAILY yesterday. "The Black Hawk needs a lot of work," said aviation program executive officer Maj. Gen. Dewitt Irby, who retires this month. His successor hasn't been named yet, but RAH-66 Comanche program manager Brig. Gen. James Snider is believed to be the front-runner for the job.
-- ALCATEL TELSPACE AND SSE TELECOM have agreed to invest $750,000 each in Media4 Inc., an Atlanta-based company developing new products for the distribution of multimedia information over wireless networks. The products are aimed at providing business users with the ability to exchange compressed digital video, audio, software and textual data over satellite networks. Alcatel Telspace, Paris, is a leading provider of satellite Earth stations while SSE Telecom, McLean, Va., is a manufacturer of Earth station components and systems.
-- VIRTUAL REALITY LABORATORIES, San Luis Obispo, Calif., has introduced a new Apollo 13 computer program that makes it possible to see the astronauts view of the Earth, moon and planets at any time during the flight. It also includes video clips of the Apollo 13 liftoff, interior shots of the cabin and a detailed mission description of all Apollo flights.
An Air Force Titan IV lifted off from Cape Canaveral Air Station with a classified payload yesterday morning, flying in a northerly direction that suggested a high-inclination signals intelligence mission. Liftoff came at 8:38 a.m. EDT. Air Force officials reportedly cautioned the government of Canada that the rocket's trajectory would take it over that nation's extreme eastern provinces of Nova Scotia and Newfoundland.
-- LOCKHEED MARTIN ATLAS IIAS launch vehicle has been selected to orbit the Indonesia Palapa C-1 satellite. The launch is scheduled for January 1996 from Cape Canaveral. Arianespace was originally scheduled to launch the satellite, but its owners, Satelit Palapa Indonesia and Pasifik Satelit Nusantara, apparently switched to the Atlas because it could launch earlier.
-- NAVAL SURFACE WARFARE CENTER's Crane, Ind., division plans construction of an Electro-Optics Center, according to a June 28 Commerce Business Daily notice.
-- AT&T TRIDOM announced the introduction of ClearLink 100, a very small aperture terminal (VSAT) system for receive-only data networks. The system incorporates one-way technology designed by Gilat Satellite Networks, Ltd., an Israeli company based in Tel Aviv.
-- MCDONNELL DOUGLAS CORP., St. Louis, got a $44.1 million contract from Naval Air Systems Command June 29 for 32 Advanced Tomahawk Weapon Control Systems (ATWCS), non-recurring engineering design/development effort to develop sub-ATWCS for submarines, as well as general technical support.
-- WESTINGHOUSE ELECTRIC CORP., Sykesville, Md., was awarded a $17.2 million Naval Systems Command contract on June 29 for AN/SQQ-89 design agent services.
Weak leadership by the Joint Staff continues to hobble efforts to train U.S. soldiers, sailors and airmen to work and fight together, despite a string of attempts since the mid-1970s to strengthen the Joint Staff's oversight, the General Accounting Office concluded.
Secretary of Defense William Perry's decision late Friday to allow Airborne Self-Protection Jammers to be integrated into F/A-18s flying over Bosnia-Herzegovina raises the possibility of foreign sales. "This is a temporary modification based upon the current threat in the Bosnia operational area and the Joint Staff's concurrence with the operational need," a DOD statement explaining Perry's decision said. "This approval should not be interpreted as an approval of the AN/ALQ-165 [ASPJ] as a long-term solution without further formal review."
-- ADVANCED TECHNOLOGY LABORATORIES, Camden, N.J., is working under a $3 million contract to develop technologies for automation of ship systems. Naval Surface Warfare Center, Dahlgren Div., awarded the contract June 15.
Pratt&Whitney has taken delivery of the first RD-120 rocket engine shipped as part of its agreement with Russia's NPO Energomash to market the engine as a small-booster power plant. The Russian/Ukrainian-built engine was delivered to P&W's Government Engines&Space Propulsion (GESP) test facility in West Palm Beach, Fla., the company said. Pratt said it was the first flight-qualified production rocket engine delivered to the U.S. from Russia, and will be used for design studies and two hot-fire tests.
The U.S. Army Research Laboratory has developed a process that it says could substantially reduce the cost of composite structures in weapon systems like the RAH-66 Comanche helicopter. Two separate systems were developed, one in the process control arena and one in processing itself, ARL Director John W. Lyons said during a recent presentation at the Pentagon.
DON H. DAVIS was named president and chief operating office of Rockwell International Corp. yesterday, the company reported. He was previously executive vice president and COO, with primary responsibility for Rockwell's automation, automotive and telecommunications businesses. Kent M. Black, executive vice president and a COO with primary responsibility for aerospace, defense, avionics and graphics business, will retire early next year, the company said.
-- ALLIANCE For Competitive International Satellite Service is taking another swipe at Inmarsat-P. The group of U.S. satellite telecommunications firms asked the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to deny Comsat's application to invest in the I-CO Global Communications satellite venture, a spinoff of Inmarsat that is commonly known as Inmarsat-P. The group said the involvement of Comsat, the U.S. signatory to Inmarsat, "will only enhance the anti-competitive aspects of the Inmarsat-P" venture.
-- ANALYSIS&TECHNOLOGY INC., North Stonington, Conn., is supplying engineering support services for current and future submarines, surface combatants and advanced naval vehicles under a $14 million contract awarded June 22 by the Naval Surface Warfare Center, Carderock Division, Bethesda, Md.
-- MICROLITHICS INC., Golden, Colo., was awarded a $20.4 million contract by the Naval Surface Warfare Center, Dahlgren, Va., for AN/UYK- 44(V) Militarized Reconfigurable Processor (MPR) Standard Electronic Modules (SEMs). The modules are installed in militarized reconfigurable computer systems. The contract was awarded on June 26.
-- U.S. COMMERCE DEPT. has extended the Landsat system contract until the demise of Landsats 4 and 5. Under the extension, EOSAT will continue its role as the system operator and exclusive marketer of Landsat data.
-- SCIENCE APPLICATIONS INTERNATIONAL CORP. (SAIC), San Diego, received an $8.1 million contract June 21 from the Naval Coastal Command and Ocean Systems Center for C4I open systems engineering and technical support.
The House panel that funds NASA is ordering the space agency to draw up plans that would essentially close three of its centers-Goddard Space Flight Center, Marshall Space Flight Center and Langley Research Center-by the fall of 1998.
