MCDONNELL DOUGLAS HELICOPTER CO. Mesa, Ariz., is in line to conduct the "Mission Enhancement Little Bird (MELB)" flight test program. "The objective of this program is to modify the A/MH-6 aircraft with enhanced components, conduct a qualification flight test program, and demonstrate specification compliance," the Aviation Applied Technology Directorate of U.S. Army Aviation and Troop Command said in a March 14 Commerce Business Daily notice. A 21-month effort is planned.
Propulsion and fastener specialist Thiokol Corp. paid off the last of the $220 million debt it was saddled with when it spun-off from Morton Thiokol in 1989, the company reported yesterday. Falling real interest rates made it possible. The company will take a $7.7 million pre-tax hit against third-quarter earnings to cover the cost of retiring $85.5 million in private placement debt, but avoids the interest that would have accrued through the notes' maturity dates of June, 1996, and June, 1999.
March 20, 1995 Bell Helicopter Textron, Incorporated, Fort Worth, Texas, is being awarded a $25,672,213 modification to a firm fixed price contract for 16 OH-68D Kiowa Warrior Helicopters. Work will be performed in Fort Worth, Texas, and is expected to be completed by August 31, 1997. Contract funds will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. This is a sole source contract initiated on January 5, 1995. The contracting activity is the U.S. Army Aviation and Troop Command, St. Louis, Missouri (DAAJ09-94-C-0145).
A European Space Agency plan to cut the cost to its members of Europe remaining in the International Space Station program was accepted by the ESA Council last week, dropping the proposed Crew Return Vehicle (CRV) but retaining the other major European elements of the Station effort. In a letter faxed to NASA Administrator Daniel S.
MCDONNELL DOUGLAS HELICOPTER CO., Mesa, Ariz., received a $7.3 million modification to an earlier contract for technical support of the Longbow helicopter program. The contract, awarded March 17, was for engineering development and field demonstration of the SINCGARS Improved Packet Switching (IPS) system. The Dept.
Having passed a "paper" Defense Acquisition Board with flying colors, RAH-66 Comanche program managers plan to meet as soon as possible with joint staff officers to look at broadening the reconnaissance helicopter's role in joint operations, an Army official told The DAILY yesterday. The desire to broaden Comanche's role stems from a desire to "have more than the Army looking at" the helicopter, the source said. Vice Chief Adm. William Owens has taken particular interest in Comanche, visiting contracting team Boeing-Sikorsky earlier this year.
Space Systems/Loral has picked the Delta II booster to launch the first four of its Globalstar low-Earth orbit communications satellites, citing the reliability of the McDonnell Douglas rocket as the basis for its selection. The Loral Corp. subsidiary said last week it had also optioned at least five more Delta launches for its network of 48 Globalstar satellites, which will also include eight in-orbit spares.
GENERAL DYNAMICS Land Systems, Tallahassee, Fla., was awarded two contracts for more work on the Single Channel Ground and Airborne System (SINCGARS) program. On March 14, it got $10.4 million for 20 pre-pilot receiver/transmitters, 50 Generation 1 receiver/transmitters, and 50 Generation 2 receiver/transmitters for System Improvement Program (SIP) pilot production radios, part of SINCGARS. On March 17, it got $5.9 million for 3,393 radio receiver/transmitters. Both contracts were from U.S. Army Communications and Electronics Command.
Failure of Congress to restore $77 million cut from the AH-64D Apache Longbow program by the Senate Appropriations Committee could ultimately result in a cost of "several hundred million" dollars, a U.S. Army officer said Friday. Brig. Gen. Peter C. Franklin, assistant deputy for systems management in the office of the assistant secretary of the Army for research, development and acquisition, hoped that a congressional conference committee on the fiscal year 1995 supplemental and rescission bill would restore the money.
A gliding vehicle capable of delivering munitions or equipment from C- 130 aircraft or helicopters is the subject of a market survey being conducted by the U.S. Army Soldier Systems Command, Natick, Mass. Under consideration is "a technology based developmental effort to demonstrate an aerial delivery capability for payloads of 5,000 lbs minimum (with a goal of 10,000 lbs) and a lift-to-drag ratio of 6:1 or greater," the command said in a March 24 Commerce Business Daily notice.
March 20, 1995 Martin Marietta Technologies, Incorporated, Littleton, Colorado, is being awarded a face value increase to a $26,600,000 fixed-price-incentive contract for replacement of 3 Delco Guidance Units applicable to the Titan IV launch vehicle. The work will be performed at Littleton, Colorado (10%), and Goleta, California (90%). Contract is expected to be completed March 1998. Contract funds will not expire at the end of the fiscal year.
ITT CORP. Aerospace/Communications Div., Fort Wayne, Indiana, on March 17 got $15 million more for its effort on the Single Channel Ground and Airborne Radio Systems (SINCGARS) enhanced packet engineering development and field demonstration. The original sole-source contract, from U.S. Army Communications and Electronics Command, was awarded Aug. 2, 1994.
March 24, 1995 Ceridian Corporation, Bloomington, Minnesota, is being awarded a $12,619,683 fixed-price delivery order under an indefinite delivery/indefinite quantity requirements contract for 129 kits for the upgrade of AN/AYK-14(V) airborne mission computers for the F/A-18 aircraft. Work will be performed in Minneapolis, Minnesota, and is expected to be completed by October 1996. Contract funds will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. This contract was not competitively procured.
Kaminski says he wants to preserve the option to add Titan IVs beyond the six in the follow-on buy as a "prudent hedge against the EELV schedule." He says, however, that his intent "is not to ever have to execute that option."
Advanced Research Projects Agency Director Larry Lynn defended the embattled Technology Reinvestment Project and contended that the Defense Dept. dominates the program selection process and uses military relevance in its choices. "As long as TRP is in the budget and I'm director," Lynn told the House Appropriations national security subcommittee on Thursday, "the military relevance will be the key" in funding programs. TRP is supposed to foster the development of technologies with both military and commercial uses.
The idea of a mixed military airlift fleet of McDonnell Douglas C-17s and off-the-shelf commercial freighters is gaining momentum on Capitol Hill, as lawmakers become more intrigued with the possibilities of using money saved from the C-17 program to pay for other Pentagon programs. Rep.
NASA has set up a panel to investigate a problem on the NOAA-14 weather satellite launched last fall that has shut down its microwave sounding unit, which measures the atmospheric temperature at different altitudes. The unit stopped scanning on March 2, although its motor continued to draw current. When controllers realized the motor was overheating, they shut the unit down to avoid damage, apparently with success. Since then, anomaly controllers have reactivated the unit twice, once on March 15 and again two days later.
Four Titan IV launches are planned in FY '96, three from Cape Canaveral and one from Vandenberg AFB, including the debut flight of the Titan IVB, which will have upgraded solid rocket motors, Kaminsky says.
Kaminski explains the decision to include a low-Earth orbit component in the Air Force's Space Based Infrared System (SBIRS) early warning effort. LEO satellites can do a better job of narrowing down missile launch sites, impact points, and booster trajectories, and can provide better mid-course guidance, he says.
Systems being developed by the U.S. Army in its battlefield digitization effort are susceptible to electronic warfare devices now in the U.S inventory and likely to be available to potentially hostile forces in the future, a top Army officer said. Lt. Col. Steven Kostek, the Army's Information and Electronic Warfare (IEW) program executive officer (PEO), said that current Army capabilities to intercept and disrupt digitized communications will be available to potential enemies by the next century.
Pentagon acquisition chief Paul Kaminski believes DOD's plans to finish out the Titan IV heavy lift program at 47 rockets will sufficiently accommodate payload demands until a new heavy-lift EELV comes on line after 2005. The Pentagon had originally planned a total of 65 Titan IVs but trimmed that number last year. Kaminski tells the House Appropriations national security subcommittee that he plans to review the acquisition strategy for the Titan IV follow-on buy, vehicles 42 through 47, later this year. The Air Force will issue an RFP in fiscal 1996, he says.
NASA took a $150 million hit Friday as the Senate Appropriations Committee marked up the fiscal 1995 rescission bill, with the National Transonic Facility at Langley Research Center suffering the deepest cut. Panel members cut $42 million from FY '95 funds allocated to upgrades at the Langley wind tunnel designed to increase productivity, citing plans to build a high-productivity transonic tunnel as part of the proposed $2.3 billion National Wind Tunnel Complex (NWTC).
NASA's investigation into an "altercation" between two senior managers in the headquarters gymnasium has been put on hold, according to an agency spokeswoman. With disciplinary action a possible outcome, one of the participants wants more time to prepare for questioning, she said. Sources have said Wesley L. Harris, associate administrator for aeronautics, and Michael B.
House Republican leaders haven't arrived at a budget authority ceiling for fiscal 1996, and Speaker Rep. Newt Gingrich (R-Ga.) wants key negotiators to meet again on the issue, Rep. C.W. (Bill) Young, who chairs the House Appropriations national security subcommittee, said Friday. Young and Rep. Floyd Spence (R-S.C.) argued for increased spending above the Administration's request in a meeting with Gingrich, which was attended by House Budget Chairman John R. Kasich (R-Ohio).
Sen. Charles Grassley (R-Iowa) is appealing to Republican "frugal hawks" to oppose any increase in the defense budget. Instead, he said in comments scheduled for release Friday, "we should press hard for better management, accurate information and accountability." Otherwise, he added, "we are all doomed to repeat the mistakes of the 1980s." Grassley made the remarks in one of a series of speeches on defense he gave last week.
