British Aerospace was expected to pull out all the stops to resume flight development of its Eurofighter 2000 DA.2 prototype last weekend, after completion of flight control software revision checks with partner Daimler-Benz Aerospace. Eurofighter is concentrating all of its efforts on putting in enough flying time in DA.2 to qualify for the flight to Le Bourget and the display program at this year's Paris Air Show, now less than a month away. Officials had hoped the Eurofighter 2000 would make its public flying debut at Paris this year.
Madon says a prediction by Hughes exec Steven Dorfman that there could be a launcher shortage for communications satellites is right on the mark. Madon sees the number of communications satellites that need to be launched ramping up to 35 a year in the 2000-2010 time frame, almost double today's numbers.
NASA has rejected all four bids it received last fall for the Earth Observing System (EOS) spacecraft, terming the cost estimates they contained "unrealistically low" and restarting the competition under new procurement rules. Beginning with the EOS common spacecraft bus procurement, NASA will emphasize "best value" in picking suppliers. The agency defined the new criterion as "the best, most affordable technical approach documented via contract."
The House Budget Committee early yesterday approved the Republican leadership plan to balance the federal budget by 2002 that included a five- year increase of almost $70 billion in defense budget authority over the Clinton Administration's five year defense plan. Approval came on a 24-17 vote that essentially followed party lines with Democratic Rep. Mike Parker (Miss.), who worked with Republicans on their plan, voting with them.
House Republican budget assumptions see a NASA budget of $11.7 billion by fiscal 2000, almost $1.5 billion less than the Clinton Administration's budget runout, with the savings funded through privatizing the Space Shuttle and cutting $2.7 billion from the space agency's Earth Observing System (EOS).
An F-117A Night Hawk fighter from Holloman AFB, N.M., crashed into sacred Zuni Pueblo land Wednesday night during a training flight, killing the as-yet unidentified pilot, the Air Force said yesterday. Contact with the aircraft, from the 49th Fighter Wing, was lost at about 10:25 p.m., and a rescue and recovery team from Kirtland AFB, N.M., was dispatched to the site.
U.S. AIR FORCE awarded contracts to Lockheed Aeronautical Systems Co. and Pratt&Whitney for continued effort on the F-22 fighter program. Lockheed got $59.8 million and P&W got $7.6 million.
The U.S. Army will accept the second Hunter joint tactical unmanned aerial vehicle system today following completion of the air vehicles earlier this week, a TRW spokeswoman said. The delivery comes at a time when Hunter is under scrutiny to demonstrate its performance. Army and Marine Corps officials are believed to hold the tri-service program in high regard, but Navy concerns have led the Joint Requirements Oversight Council (JROC) to call for a fall demonstration of the system.
McDonnell Douglas' decision to develop a new rocket capable of launching payloads up to 8,400 pounds to geostationary transfer orbit was made possible by a commitment from a customer who wanted a new source of lift for one of its key payloads. But that customer wasn't the U.S. government, which has helped keep medium- and heavy-lift domestic launchers afloat as they have lost 68% of the commercial launch market to foreign rivals.
With troubles on the FAA Advanced Automation System (AAS) behind it and several key wins in tactical weapons, training and electronic combat, Loral finished its fiscal 1995 with sharply higher sales and profits that were 26% ahead of fiscal 1994's pace. Reporting the full-year results yesterday, Loral Chairman Bernard Schwartz predicted still more success in fiscal 1996.
After 11 months of study, the Air Force has turned up no evidence to support claims by a whistleblowing former General Electric engineer that an electrical problem poses a safety risk to thousands of GE-powered military and commercial aircraft, a finding that comes just in time for the Justice Dept.'s decision next week on whether to remain involved in the whistleblower action.
NUCLEAR NON-PROLIFERATION TREATY was extended indefinitely yesterday after months of negotiations. The U.S. and 177 other countries that are parties to 25-year old treaty hammered out the agreement at the NPT renewal conference in New York, the Arms Control and Disarmament Agency said. All declared nuclear countries-China, France, Kazakhstan, Russia, Ukraine, the U.K. and the U.S.-are parties to the NPT. One of the main points of contention is the remaining absence of India, Israel and Pakistan.
At the very moment the U.S. needs to encourage high-tech companies- especially in the aerospace industry-to pursue research and development, tax policy does nothing to advance the cause and may even discourage it, Lockheed Martin's tax policy chief told lawmakers Wednesday.
Design and testing of lightweight structures for the F/A-18E/F aircraft that would benefit the projected Joint Advanced Strike Technology (JAST) plane will be carried out for the U.S. Navy by McDonnell Douglas.
NASA Administrator Daniel S. Goldin, who spent Wednesday going over a painful restructuring designed to cut another $5 billion from his agency's expected funding, vowed to "fight with every ounce of energy I have" Republican budget assumptions released the same day that would take about twice as much money from the space program.
Officials of the Pentagon's Ballistic Missile Defense Organization and the U.S. Air Force plan to meet soon with local officials to discuss use of the Eglin Gulf Test Range off the Florida Panhandle as a site for Theater Missile Defense (TMD) tests against targets launched from the Florida Keys. According to a DOD announcement issued yesterday, BMDO is considering Eglin AFB, Fla., as a launch site for the Army's Patriot Advanced Capability-3 (PAC-3) and the Navy's Aegis air defense system against simulated theater missiles launched from the Lower Keys.
Spending for the federal science, space and technology budget function would be cut even deeper in the House than the $7.9 billion seven-year cut proposed in the Senate, with about $10 billion coming from NASA space programs alone, according to documents released yesterday by the House Budget Committee and Democrats on the House Science Committee.
House Budget Chairman John R. Kasich (R-Ohio) yesterday unveiled the House Republican leadership plan intended to lead to a balanced budget by 2002. It would increase Clinton Administration defense budget authority by almost $10 billion in fiscal 1996 and peak with a $17.8 billion addition in FY 1998.
Lockheed Missiles&Space Co. has received a $20.8 million contract from the U.S. Navy for fiscal year 1995 work on the Trident II missile program and long lead material for the FY '96 Trident II effort. The contract was awarded May 1 by the Navy's Strategic Systems Program. The Dept. of Defense said the work will be carried out in Sunnyvale, Calif., and will be completed by September 1999.
The U.S. market for Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS) will grow to $656 million by 2001-a six-fold increase over 1994, according to a new study released by the research firm Frost&Sullivan. But Republicans in Congress, concerned with balancing the federal budget by 2002, may prevent federal support beyond funds already supported in the 1991 Intermodal Surface Transportation and Efficiency Act, warns the report, "U.S. Market for Intelligence Transportation Systems: A Future Market Already Emerging."
The FAA has selected the Trimble 8100 GPS receiver for its flight inspection aircraft. The system will be installed in the agency's Beech 300s. The planes help validate navigational aids and flight procedures to ensure the safety of the National Airspace System. Trimble Navigation Ltd., Sunnyvale, Calif., said the 8100 is a nine- channel Global Positioning System receiver capable of primary remote and oceanic flight navigation. It can be upgraded to 12 channels and wide area augmentation system capability, the company said.
McDonnell Douglas yesterday unveiled plans to develop a new two-stage rocket aimed at doubling the capacity of the Delta II while maintaining the Delta's stellar 99% success rate. The new Delta III rocket is set to debut in the spring of 1998 and would be capable of launching payloads up to 8,400 pounds into geostationary transfer orbit, putting it in direct competition with rockets such as Lockheed Martin's Atlas, Europe's Ariane 4 and upcoming Ariane 5, Russia's Proton and China's Long March.
The general director of Russia's Polyot Production Association in Omsk has been removed from the leadership by an "employee revolution" prompted by uneven salaries within the company and an "intolerable management style." Forty-two of 48 "working collectives" organized by shop managers voted in a "coup d'etat" against Valentin Zaitsev, head of the huge Polyot concern since Soviet times, while he was on a business trip to Moscow.
McDonnell Douglas Corp. again heads the list of the top 100 Defense Dept. contractors. The company, in first place last time around, was awarded $9.2 billion in Pentagon contracts for the latest tabulation period, fiscal year 1994. The list, released by the Pentagon yesterday, puts Lockheed in the No. 2 slot with $6.5 billion. The merger of Lockheed Corp. and Martin Marietta Corp., consummated in March, was too late to make the list, but Lockheed Martin is likely to dethrone McDonnell Douglas when figures are compiled for fiscal 1995.
Senate Armed Services Chairman Strom Thurmond (R-S.C.) doesn't like Senate Budget Chairman Pete V. Domenici's (R-N.M.) defense budget mark, which follows the Administration plan exactly for the next five years, while House Appropriations national security subcommittee chairman Rep. C.W. (Bill) Young (R-Fla.) has expressed satisfaction with the mark of House Budget Chairman John R. Kasich (R-Ohio), which boosts President Clinton's defense budget authority by about $70 billion over five years.
