Northrop Grumman signed a long-term agreement with Boeing that extends its 747 fuselage work beyond the end of the decade and consolidates the Boeing jetliner work done by its recently acquired Grumman and Vought businesses under a single agreement, the company reported yesterday.
GENERAL DYNAMICS Land Systems Div., Tallahassee, Fla., on March 30 received $128.5 million from U.S. Army Communications-Electronics Command for Single Channel Ground and Airborne Radio Systems (SINCGARS).
A nearly $30 million hit to the Defense Dept.'s congressionally mandated SR-71 Blackbird reactivation won't slow the program, a U.S. Air Force official told The DAILY yesterday. Pentagon planners have estimated that they will spend only $72.5 million of the $100 million that Congress gave them to restart the Mach 3 reconnaissance airplane, the official said on the condition of anonymity. House-Senate conferees agreed Wednesday to rescind $27.5 million from the $100 million reactivation effort (DAILY, April 6, page 26).
ITT AEROSPACE/COMMUNICATIONS DIV., Fort Wayne, Ind., received a $145.7 million contract on March 30 from U.S. Army Communications- Electronics Command for Single Channel Ground and Airborne Radio Systems (SINCGARS). It received another CECOM award of $28.9 million that day for additional SINCGARS work.
The U.S. Army and Marine Corps ammunition inventory is stocked beyond requirements, but several types are below the services' stated inventory requirements, according to a GAO study revealed Tuesday. The GAO's analyses of Army and Marine Corps munition stockpiles- "Industrial Base: Inventory and Requirements for Artillery Projectiles" (GAO/NSIAD-95-89)-found that the Army is short by 172,059 munitions and the Marine Corps by 407,823 projectiles.
LITTON ELECTRON DEVICES, Tempe, Ariz., has received an additional $10.8 million for 4,000 AN/PVS-7B night vision ground goggles. The contract was awarded March 31 by U.S. Army Communications-Electronics Command.
Hughes in coming years will acquire and sell off businesses, focusing on core competencies while at the same time growing its space and telecommunications business to at least one-third of its overall revenues, C. Michael Armstrong, Hughes Electronics Div.'s CEO, said yesterday in Washington. Domestic and international space and telecommunication ventures, such as direct broadcast satellites, could grow enough to equal and possibly surpass the company's efforts in automotive electronics and the defense business, Armstrong told defense writers.
ITT ELECTRO OPTICS PRODUCTS DIV., Roanoke, Va., was awarded $21.5 million more for 6,000 AN/PVS-7B night vision ground goggles. U.S. Army Communications-Electronics Command awarded the contract on March 31.
GENERAL DYNAMICS Land Systems Div., Sterling Heights, Mich., on March 31 received a $166.5 million contract from the U.S. Army Tank Automotive Command for 132 M1A1 Abrams tank hardware kits for Egypt. Work under the award will be completed by March 31, 1997, the Dept. of Defense said.
Northrop Grumman won a $271 million contract from the U.K. Defense Ministry to develop and produce a directed infrared countermeasures system, or DIRCM, that could be worth as much as $500 million if all the options are exercised. Components for the system, called Nemesis, will be built and assembled in the U.K. for both the Defense Ministry and the U.S. Special Operations Command, which is also involved in the program.
Senate Armed Services Chairman Strom Thurmond (R-S.C.) and ranking Democrat Sen. Sam Nunn (D-Ga.) have made a joint presentation to the Senate Budget Committee asking for fiscal 1996 defense budget authority and outlays of $273 billion. The result would be an increase of $12.2 billion in budget authority and $11.6 billion in outlays over the Administration's FY '96 request. The Administration requested $257.8 billion in budget authority and $261.4 billion in outlays.
To investors and financial analysts chagrined that Raytheon chose this week to spend its money on buying E-Systems rather than a buying back Raytheon shares, the companies' top managers had this to say-wait until next year's results prove the value of buying a business with growth prospects.
The world's largest composite aircraft made its first flight March 31 in Germany, according to wire service reports. The flight of the Hoehenforsher Strato 2C, built by Burkhart Grob of Mindelheim-Mattsies, Germany, lasted one hour. The plane has a 56.5 meter wingspan and a 24 meter-long airframe.
Discussions on the transfer to Canada of four new British conventional submarines are nearly complete. The last of the four "Upholder" class hunter-killer subs, costing around $1.6 billion, entered service with the Royal Navy only last year-but almost immediately joined the others in storage at Barrow-in-Furness because of defense cutbacks.
SBS Engineering Inc. said it plans to sell its flight simulator business to Camber Corp. of Huntsville, Ala. Terms of the deal weren't disclosed. SBS said Tuesday that it has entered into a letter of intent with Camber, which, it said, "will complete work on the backlog of existing SBS Engineering flight simulation orders and will assume responsibility for all outstanding customer proposals and quotations."
The Defense Dept.'s bureaucracy, including some of the defense agencies and field activities, must be cut back, Rep. Floyd D. Spence (R- S.C.), chairman of the House National Security Committee said Tuesday.
Pratt&Whitney is looking to increase its overhaul and repair business by 1998, a move that could involve three or four acquisitions, according to Karl Krapek, the company's president. Pratt now generates about $500 million from its overhaul and repair business, Krapek said, but the goal is a $1 billion increase within the next three years.
An Israeli Shavit rocket yesterday launched the OFEQ-3 satellite. Israel Aircraft Industries, which built the satellite, said it is "suitable for various commercial, scientific, and technological payloads, for a variety of applications." The applications are thought to include intelligence functions. The satellite orbits the earth every 90 minutes at an inclination of 37 degrees, IAI said.
AEL Industries said its Aero Div. in East Alton, Ill., is converting three Shorts SD3-60 aircraft from passenger to cargo configuration under a contract from Short Brothers (USA), Arlington, Va. A contract for a similar modification of a fourth aircraft is expected, AEL said yesterday. The first SD3-60 was delivered in December, and work was completed in less than 45 days, AEL said. Two other planes are in work at the Aero Div.'s modification center at the St. Louis Regional Airport.
COMPUTER SCIENCES CORP.'s Applied Technology Div., San Diego, received a sole source U.S. Navy contract March 30 for systems development and life cycle support for the Advanced Combat Direction System (ACDS) program. The contract was awarded by the Naval Command, Control and Ocean Surveillance Center, Research, Development, Test and Evaluation Div., San Diego.
Floating bases with structures up to 4,000 feet long are being eyed by the U.S. Navy as staging sites for aircraft and for storage of pre- positioned equipment. Naval Sea Systems Command said in an April 6 Commerce Business Daily notice that it is "assessing alternative concepts for providing Mobile (or Maritime) Offshore Bases (MOBs) in the future."
Talley Defense Systems, Phoenix, and General Motors' Delphi Interior and Lighting Systems have agreed to develop a new driver-side automotive airbag inflator, Talley said. Talley leveraged its R&D efforts in the propellant business to become a pioneer in the development of the automotive airbag, but sold the business in 1989. The terms under which it made the sale, however, allowed it to re-enter the business after April 21, 1994.
House-Senate negotiators yesterday cut Senate rescissions in half on the AH-64 Apache helicopter and the Joint Tactical Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (JT-UAV) programs as they reached agreement on a $3.07 billion fiscal 1995 defense supplemental, congressional sources said. The compromise bill would be offset by $2.26 billion in national security appropriations and $450 million from other defense programs in different appropriations bills, they said.
VITRO CORP., Rockville, Md., will provide engineering services for installation of submarine sonar equipment under a $9.5 million U.S. Navy contract. Vitro, a subsidiary of Tracor Inc., said March 23 that it will conduct feasibility studies for the installation of new equipment, develop installation plans, and monitor submarine construction. It will also review engineering, logistics, and configuration management documentation.
