Lucas Industries yesterday said it has sold its Lucas Aerospace Communications&Electronics business to Sierra Technologies of Buffalo, N.Y. The price wasn't disclosed. The deal was consummated in two parts. In one, Sierra Technologies is acquiring the Aul business of Lucas. In the other, Sierra Networks Inc., a new company, acquires the Epsco, Weinschel and Zeta units of Lucas. The four units together employ about 500 workers and have a combined value of about $40 million.
Information systems owned and operated by U.S. intelligence agencies may be headed down the same privatization road that's seen for the Defense Dept.'s information systems, intelligence officials said in Washington.
In an apparent concession to Northrop Grumman's design team, the McDonnell Douglas-led team competing in the Joint Advanced Strike Technology contest last week internally revealed a family of aircraft that uses the Pratt&Whitney F119 engine-not General Electric's competing F120.
Litton Systems, Incorporated, Guidance Control System Division, Woodland Hills, California, is being awarded an $853,617 increment as part of a $5,369,181 (with 5 options, cumulative total is $18,224,058) cost plus fixed fee contract for research for the development of a miniature guidance package for missiles and other airborne vehicles under the Global Positioning System Guidance Package, Phase A. Work will be performed in Woodland Hills, California, and is expected to be completed by June 30, 1999. Contract funds will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year.
With the blessings of the Base Realignment and Closure Commission and Congress, the U.S. Army and Air Force hope to embark on a plan that would lead to the joint acquisition of ground-based command, control, communications, computers and intelligence (C4I) systems and eventually to airborne and space-based C4I equipment, according to a top Air Force official.
The U.S. Air Force wants to continue operating at least 12 EF-111 electronic combat aircraft through fiscal 1999, when the Navy's funding begins for additional EA-6B Prowler upgrades, according to service officials. Under the current plan, the AF will retire all 40 EF-111s in its inventory by the end of FY '97. But this leaves what the AF calls a "bathtub" until funding for 20 more EA-6Bs starts two years later.
Raytheon Company, Lowell, Massachusetts, is being awarded a $6,639,271 face value increase to a Firm Fixed Price contract for a Value Engineering Incentive Payment for Lot IX of the Advanced Medium Range Air-to-Air Missile (AMRAAM). Contract is expected to be completed February 1996. Contract funds will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. Approximately 51% of this effort supports foreign military sales to Korea, Norway, Turkey, Denmark and Switzerland.
Boeing Co. yesterday confirmed its share of a long-awaited $7.5 billion airliner deal with Saudi Arabia, but Douglas Aircraft Co. said it had been asked to delay announcement of its order. On Sunday, the 50th anniversary of Saudia Arabian Airlines, the Saudi Defense Minister and Saudia Chairman Prince Bin Abdul Aziz announced the orders in Jeddah. President Clinton said in February 1994 that Saudia would order the planes, but financing problems have slowed the program.
Russia has an impressive variety of space communications projects under development which are potentially capable of satisfying national needs, but funding problems and Western competition may force many of them out of business before they can get started, according to Russian civil space officials.
Hughes Missiles Systems Company, Tucson, Arizona, is being awarded a $5,429,730 face value increase to a Firm Fixed Price contract for a Value Engineering Incentive Payment for Lot IX of the Advanced Medium Range Air- to-Air Missile (AMRAAM). Contract is expected to be completed February 1996. Contract funds will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. Approximately 51% of this effort supports foreign military sales to Korea, Norway, Turkey, Denmark and Switzerland.
Rockwell International Corporation, Cedar Rapids, Iowa, is being awarded a $8,891,687 firm-fixed-price contract for 496 control display navigation units for the global positional system installed onboard various Navy aircraft. Work will be performed in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, and is expected to be completed by September 2000. Contract funds will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. This contract was not competitively procured. The Naval Air Systems Command, Washington, D.C., is the contracting activity (N00019-94-C-0219).
WESTINGHOUSE ELECTRIC CORP. will develop and produce missile warning detection systems for Northrop Grumman's Directional Infrared Countermeasures (DIRCM) system under a $35 million contract. The award, from Northrop Electronic Systems International, calls for Westinghouse Electronic Systems to produce its AN/AAR-54(V) Passive Missile Approach Warning System (PAWS). PAWS has been developed under contracts from the U.S. Navy, Army and Air Force, and the U.K. Ministry of Defense. DIRCM, also known as "Nemesis," has been chosen by the U.K. MOD and the U.S.
Lt. Gen. Richard Hawley, the U.S. Air Force's top uniformed acquisition official, has been nominated to the four-star post of commander of Allied Air Forces Europe, U.S. Air Forces in Europe and Air Force Component Commander, U.S. European Command at Ramstein AB, Germany. Hawley, who will replace Gen. James Jamerson, is himself expected to be replaced by Maj. Gen. George Muellner, now director of the Joint Advanced Strike Technology (JAST) program.
The computer system for the U.S. Army's RAH-66 Comanche will be demonstrated with Intel's Pentium chip later this year to show that the helicopter's onboard processing power can be continuously upgraded over the life of the program. Dick Frediani, Westinghouse's program manager in charge of Comanche's mission computer, said yesterday that the demonstration is slated for "the August to September timeframe." Westinghouse is a subcontractor to Comanche prime contractor Boeing-Sikorsky
Lockheed's Sanders unit and ITT Avionics have teamed to compete for the Integrated Defensive Electronic Countermeasures (IDECM) program. Sanders, which will serve as the prime contractor, said yesterday that the team "is emphasizing integration and will provide a low-risk NDI (Non- Developmental Item)-based solution to meet the Navy and Air Force IDECM specifications."
Boeing Defense and Space Group, Wichita, Kansas, is being awarded a $7,944,375 face value increase to a Cost Plus Fixed Fee contract for development of a prototype off-aircraft pylon tester applicable to the B- 52H aircraft. Contract is expected to be completed June 1997. Contract funds will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. Solicitation began September 1994 and negotiations were complete May 1995. Oklahoma City Air Logistics Center, Tinker Air Force Base, Oklahoma is the contracting activity (F34601-92/C-1116, P00038).
Honeywell, Incorporated, St. Petersburg, Florida, is being awarded an $853,617 increment as part of a $7,000,000 (with 5 options, cumulative total is $14,631,063) cost plus fixed fee contract for research for the development of a miniature guidance package for missiles and other airborne vehicles under the Global Positioning System Guidance Package, Phase A. Work will be performed in St. Petersburg, Florida, and is expected to be completed by June 30, 1999. Contract funds will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year.
The ATR82 high-speed turboprop transport, the long-planned entry by Avions de Transport Regional into the growth regional market, will probably never be built, ATR chief Henri-Paul Puel suggested last week. Puel told reporters at a Le Bourget press conference that development of the 84-passenger aircraft "has been slowed, but the project will be kept alive."
RAVEN INC., Alexandria, Va., on June 9 received a $7.2 million award from the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory to conduct research "associated with a hardware-in-the-loop (HWIL) model to be used for advanced passive missile countermeasures for next generation aircraft," according to the Dept. of Defense. "This contract was competitively procured under a Broad Agency Announcement and one proposal was received," it said. The effort is to be completed by June 1999.
Cessna Aircraft Company, Wichita, Kansas, is being awarded a $40,787,500 Firm Fixed Price contract for the procurement of five OT-47B tracker aircraft and provides for integration of the APG-66(V) radar and the WF- 360TL imaging system onto the aircraft. Contract is expected to be completed March 1997. Contract funds will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. One firm was solicited and one proposal was received. Solicitation began November 1994 and negotiations were complete April 1995.
Raytheon Company, Missile Systems Division, Bedford, Massachusetts, is being awarded a $7,887,647 modification to previously awarded contract N00019-86-C-0216 for additional funds necessary to meet contractual obligations for previous AIM-54C Phoenix missile production for the period 1986-1988. This determination was made after re-examination of the contract by the U.S. Navy. The contractor's facilities under the contract are located in Lowell, Massachusetts, and Chambersburg, Pennsylvania. Work under the contract was completed in January of 1994.
ALLIEDSIGNAL Aerospace Equipment Systems is working under a contract of more than $12.2 million to provide the turbine cooling valve for the Pratt&Whitney F119 engine under development for the U.S. Air Force's F-22 fighter. James Griffin, vice president and general manager of AlliedSignal Engine Systems and Accessories, said the valve "is designed to shut off cooling-flow bleed air from the engines to improve specific fuel consumption during cruise conditions."
The U.S. Air Force's fiscal 1997 program objective memorandum includes initial funding for the design of an airborne laser demonstrator, Fogleman says. The service plans to field a demonstrator by 2002 that will "have significant contingency capability." Boeing and Rockwell have AF contracts to design airborne laser concepts that rely on 747-400 freighters to carry chemical oxygen iodine lasers (DAILY, May 12, 1994). The airborne laser will have enough fuel for 30-40 engagements per 12-to-18 hour mission, Fogleman said.
The USAF, which has been questioning whether 20 Joint STARS is enough, is now starting to wonder whether the Joint STARS mission would be better executed by UAVs. The service "will take a hard look" at advances in UAV sensor packages, Fogleman says, adding, "We need to explore all of these kinds of opportunities." He also remarked that the next AWACS "ought to be a space-based radar system."
It's looking more and more likely that former Hill staffer Bob Davis will be filling the newly created position of deputy under secretary of defense (space). Although several names had earlier been floating around, Davis is now the "most likely" to fill the position, according to one Pentagon source in the know. Davis was a key space staffer on the House Appropriations defense subcommittee and responsible for bill language that called for a revamping of military space activities.
