Astronaut/researchers on the Space Shuttle Atlantis continued to use their cosmonaut colleagues from the Mir 18 crew as guinea pigs to study the effects of long-term exposure to microgravity yesterday following the conclusion of five days of docked operations on Tuesday.
GDE Systems, Inc., San Diego, California, is being awarded a $5,163,129 indefinite delivery/indefinite quantity contract, with cost-plus-fixed-fee pricing arrangements, for engineering services to support the upgrade of the Air Courses of Action Assessment Model (ACAAM). ACAAM is a high-level model utilized for combat option assessments in the theater environment. Work will be performed in San Diego, California, and is expected to be completed by June 2000. Contract funds will expire at the end of the current fiscal year. This contract was not competitively procured.
Even though Prime Minister John Major's surprisingly strong victory Tuesday in a Conservative Party leadership challenge puts the planned late-July attack helicopter decision back on track, the program now faces another hiccup-Treasury demands for cost cuts. The prospect of a weak Major losing enough support to force a second, prolonged round of balloting provoked worry among defense executives that the long-awaited decision would slip until after Parliament returned from recess (DAILY, July 5, page 3).
A team led by Alliant Techsystems is competing for the U.S. Air Force's $2 billion EELV program by capitalizing on the Solid Rocket Motor Upgrade (SRMU) Alliant developed for the Titan IV and a cryogenic stage supplied by Europe's Arianespace. The team, announced Monday by Alliant, also includes TRW, Aerojet, AlliedSignal Aerospace, STI Inc. and Reynolds, Smith and Hills. Alliant said the team submitted its proposal to the Air Force on June 19.
Texas Instruments, Inc., Defense Systems and Electronics Group, Dallas, Texas, is being awarded a $95,068,181 modification to previously awarded contract N00019-91-C-0196 for the engineering, manufacturing and development of the Joint Standoff Weapon (JSOW) Bomb Live Unit 108 (BLU- 108), a low-cost weapon with air-to-ground capabilities employing a Global Positioning System (GPS) targeting capability. In addition, this modification adds requirements for the procurement of four JSOW baseline test sets for the U.S. Air Force.
The Senate Armed Services Committee has overruled the Senate Intelligence Committee and fully funded the Defense Airborne Reconnaissance Office's $80 million fiscal 1996 request for the Tier 2 Plus unmanned aerial vehicle. The Intelligence Committee zeroed the request in its FY '96 authorization, called the U-2 reconnaissance plane "a much more capable multi-sensor reconnaissance aircraft," and said the funds should be used for avionics upgrades of the U-2 and upgrades of the engines on the RC-135 reconnaissance aircraft.
The U.S. Air Force on June 30 released the following list of actions it said it is taking "to execute the FY 1996-1997 President's budget, achieve efficiencies or make organizational changes." It said the force structure, realignment and management actions "affect both active duty and Air National Guard units in several different weapon systems." None of the actions exceeds thresholds established by the Defense Base Closure and Realignment Act, the service said. It said another list will be released this summer.
Raytheon Aircraft Company Wichita, Kansas, is being awarded a $52,822,000 modification to a firm fixed price contract for 14 C-12R aircraft for the Army Reserve. Work will be performed in Wichita, Kansas, and is expected to be completed by August 30, 1997. Contract funds will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. This is a sole source contract solicited on May 13, 1993. The contracting activity is the U. S. Army Aviation and Troop Command, St. Louis, Missouri (DAAJ09-94-C-0115).
McDonnell Douglas has set the eighth test flight of its DC-X single stage to orbit subscale prototype for tomorrow at White Sands Missile Range, N.M. The test is scheduled to include a critical rotation maneuver for a vertical base-first landing.
RAYTHEON CO. yesterday downplayed press reports of an injunction by a Brazilian federal judge suspending its $1.3 billion contract with the government of Brazil for the Amazon Surveillance System (SIVAM).
Motorola, Incorporated, Scottsdale, Arizona, is being awarded a $26,788,790 Cost Plus Award Fee contract for development of the Speakeasy Phase II multiband, multi-mode military radio. Work will be performed at the following locations: Motorola, Incorporated, Scottsdale, Arizona (32%); ITT Aerospace, Communications Division, Clifton, New Jersey (39%); and Lockheed Sanders, Incorporated, Nashua, New Hampshire (29%). Contract is expected to be completed July 1999. Contract funds will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year.
SAMUEL K. HOFFMAN, former president of the Rocketdyne Div. of Rockwell International, died June 26 in Santa Barbara, Calif. He was 93. Hoffman joined North American Aviation in 1949 after working 20 years in the aircraft engine industry. In 1955, he was appointed general manager of a separate division of North American, a division he named Rocketdyne. He was named VP of North American Aviation in 1957 and president of Rocketdyne in 1960. He retired in 1970.
McDonnell Douglas Corporation, McDonnell Douglas Aerospace, St. Louis, Missouri, is being awarded an advanced acquisition contract with a ceiling value of $93,000,000 for long lead items for FY 96 F/A-18C weapon systems requirements. Overall, 12 weapon systems will be procured. Work will be performed in St. Louis, Missouri, and is expected to be completed by September 1998. Contract funds will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. This contract was not competitively procured.
Litton Systems, Inc., Guidance and Control Division, Northridge, California, is being awarded a $7,257,495 firm-fixed-price contract for 56 stores management units, bench models, support data, and incidental engineering support of the H-60 helicopter. Work will be performed in Northridge, California, and is expected to be completed by October 1997. Contract funds will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. This contract was competitively procured by a request for proposals and three offers were received.
Litton Guidance and Control Systems, Northridge, California, is being awarded a $6,299,990 firm-fixed-price contract for 59 AN/APN-217(V)6 radar navigation systems. Work will be performed in Northridge, California, and is expected to be completed by August 1997. Contract funds will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. This contract was not competitively procured. This contract combines purchases for the U.S. Navy (74%), and the government of Egypt (26%), under the Foreign Military Sales Program (FMS).
Lockheed Fort Worth Company, Fort Worth, Texas, is being awarded a $28,400,101 face value increase to a Firm Fixed Price contract to definitize engineering services in support of integration of the Tri- Service Standoff Attack Missile (TSSAM). Contract funds will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. Aeronautical Systems Center, Wright- Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio is the contracting activity (F33657- 82/C2034, P02096).
McDonnell Douglas Corp., McDonnell Douglas Aerospace, St. Louis, Missouri, is being awarded a not-to-exceed $44,100,000 letter contract which will be definitized as a combination fixed-price-incentive, cost-plus-incentive, fixed-price-level-of-effort contract 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. Work will be performed in St. Louis, Missouri, and is expected to be completed by November 1997.
Lockheed Martin said yesterday that the demonstration flight of the first Lockheed Launch Vehicle (LLV) will take place July 18 from the Space Launch Complex 6 at Vandenberg AFB, Calif. The LLV will launch the GEMStar satellite, which was delivered to Vandenberg yesterday.
Even though the Defense Dept. hasn't yet appointed its new deputy under secretary of defense for space, Tony Valletta, DOD's deputy assistant secretary for C3I acquisition, makes clear that his office will remain the system architect for all of DOD's C3I architecture, including satellite communications and satellite systems. The Defense Information Systems Agency (DISA) will also retain its role in defining standards, he tells an EIA conference. Space programs "will be managed out of his office [DUSD space] from a functional perspective," Valletta says.
-- U.S. AIR FORCE'S Rome Laboratory, Griffiss AFB, N.Y., is soliciting industry for work on the "Enhanced All-Source Fusion for Electronic Warfare Planning and Execution" program. Rome said in a June 29 Commerce Business Daily notice that no formal RFP will be issued. In a May 24 CBD notice, it said the effort involves development, integration, demonstration and testing of "fusion models which locate, identify and track mobile red, blue, and gray components of the electronic environment to enhance [the] operational combat mission planner's mission effectiveness."
Yuri Semyonov, the canny president of Energia Rocket and Space Corp., took advantage of all the warm feelings surrounding the docking (and the presence of NASA Administrator Daniel S. Goldin and other U.S. dignitaries) to make a pitch to the Russian government for funds. "The only thing we lack is financial support," he told reporters at Mission Control Center-Moscow. "I think that after this event our leadership will change its attitude and the situation will improve....We are full of optimism.
Because the consolidation involves the elimination of jobs- 19,000 company-wide when job cuts announced earlier this year are factored in-Sunnyvale won't see any big uptick in employment. In fact, it will continue to lay off employees in the near term, says Sam Araki, head of the Sunnyvale operations. "The net balance, hopefully, will be a plus, but it will not be a large number of increases," he says.
Rebellion by Conservative Party backbenchers against Prime Minister John Major's leadership-which was expected to come to a head in a crucial vote Tuesday-could distract lawmakers from a promised final decision on a new army attack helo before the Parliamentary recess later this month.
