The staff of the House National Security Committee has been cut by 25%-not the one-third that has been imposed by the House Republican leadership on other committees. Asked if he felt he had sufficient resources to mount a stiff challenge the Clinton Administration's fiscal year 1996 Pentagon budget, Chairman Floyd Spence (R-S.C.) said yesterday that "we felt [the 25% cut] was a lot better than one-third," and that he "didn't want to push my luck too much."
An Atlas IIAS booster lifted the Intelsat 704 telecommunications platform to its geostationary transfer orbit early yesterday, and the international satellite consortium reported the platform operating nominally late in the day. Liftoff of the Martin Marietta booster, with its four Castor IVA strap-on solid boosters, came from Cape Canaveral Air Station, Fla., at 1:18 a.m. EST, the first Atlas launch of 1995
The Republican leadership in Congress plans to seek an increase to President Clinton's proposed defense budget but has not yet decided whether to push for a real increase in defense spending, House Budget Committee Chairman John Kasich (R-Ohio) said. But Republican support for defense doesn't mean the Pentagon shouldn't be reformed, Kasich said in an interview on CNN's "Evans&Novak" show. The program aired Saturday.
RAYTHEON AIRCRAFT CO. said the U.S. Air Force has exercised its sixth option for production of T-1A Jayhawk trainer aircraft. The option, worth about $127 million to Raytheon, calls for delivery of the planes from July 1996 through May 1997. So far, the funded value of Raytheon's Jayhawk contracts is about $755 million, involving 180 aircraft.
Comsat Corp. said it has bought out a Brazilian partner and assumed full ownership of a venture that provides private-line communications equipment and services in Brazil. Comsat's International Ventures business unit purchased Industrias Villares' 50% share of Comsat VIC for an undisclosed amount and renamed the venture Comsat Brazil. Comsat said it intends to invest $15 million in Comsat Brazil this year on top of $5 million it has already put into the venture.
ROCKWELL INTERNATIONAL and HeathCor Holdings of Dallas said they have entered into an agreement outlining the use of information management technology from the B-1 bomber and Space Shuttle in the field of home health care. The companies said the technology will be used in the first fully-integrated information management system for the home health care industry.
CORONADO CAPITAL CORP., Placentia, Calif., said it has acquired Alimet Inc. and Pacific Missile Systems Corp. Alimet owns proprietary chemistries and manufacturing technologies for the production metal matrix composites. Pacific Missile Systems Corp. specializes in the design, machining, welding, fabricating and assembly of metal products for the commercial, aircraft, aerospace and defense markets. Combined assets of the companies is about $2 million. They will be located at Placentia.
HUGHES AIRCRAFT CO., Electro-Optical Systems Div., El Segundo, Calif., has received a $7.4 million modification to an award from Army Aviation and Troop Command for support of the AN/AAQ-16 forward looking infrared system for Special Operations MH-60 and MH-47 aircraft.
A "radical restructuring" will reduce the number of U.S. intelligence satellites by almost 50%, outgoing Director of Central Intelligence R. James Woolsey told the Senate Intelligence Committee yesterday. In written testimony submitted at his appearance before the panel during his last day on the job, Woolsey said the intelligence community is "in the midst of cutting the number of reconnaissance satellites nearly in half and making even deeper cuts in ground stations."
LORAL Training&Technical Services, Horsham, Pa., has received a three-year contract to maintain all mini-computers, micro-computers and other computer-aided systems for Ford Motor Co. in North America. The unit of Loral Corp. said terms of the contract aren't being disclosed.
The White House has accepted NASA's plans to develop a next-generation U.S. space launch vehicle, clearing the way for release of the "Cooperative Agreement Notices" (CANs) inviting industry to join the space agency in a reusable launch vehicle development effort.
January 5, 1995 Sikorsky Aircraft Corporation, Stratford, Connecticut, is being awarded a $7,920,000 ceiling priced order to provide 36 transmission housings for the CH-53D helicopter. Work will be performed in Stratford, Connecticut, and is expected to be completed by December 1996. Contract funds will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. This contract was not competitively procured. The Naval Aviation Supply Office, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, is the contracting activity (N00383-92-G-K311).
Thiokol Corp.'s Strategic Operation has received an order for three Castor 120 solid rocket motors from Lockheed Missiles and Space Co. for the planned Lockheed Launch Vehicle (LLV) family of commercial boosters. The Brigham City, Utah, motor company said it will deliver the motors in 1996, but disclosed no other details of the contract.
Rep. James Sensenbrenner (R-Wis.), the new chairman of the House Science Committee's space subcommittee, is keeping a low public profile on space issues as he begins his new job. The Wisconsin congressman, who is well known for his concerns about Russia's participation in the International Space Station and for his public face-offs with NASA Administrator Daniel Goldin over Station and other issues, has had no comment on the possible implications of the political turmoil in Russia that has resulted from the rebellion in Chechnya.
Composites-specialist Hexcel, struggling to emerge from bankruptcy protection, sold its Chandler, Ariz., honeycomb plant to Northrop Grumman for $30 million, Hexcel said yesterday, and will book a $16 million gain on the deal.
McDonnell Douglas Aerospace received nearly $1 billion in U.S. Navy contracts on Jan. 6 for the F/A-18 program, including production for Finland and Switzerland. Six contracts, awarded by Naval Air Systems Command, totaled $992.7 million. The contracts were as follows: -- $328.8 million for fiscal year 1994 production of two F/A-18C/Ds for the U.S. Navy and 34 F/A-18C/Ds for Switzerland. -- $250.4 million for fiscal '94 production of 11 F/A-18Cs for Finland.
China's Dongfanghong No. 3 communications satellite, launched last November, has failed in orbit after a fuel leak. The China Daily reported yesterday that the domestically produced spacecraft, which was designed for an eight-year service life, has experienced a leak in its attitude control thruster system that rendered it unusable. According to an Associated Press report from Beijing, the China Aerospace Corp. has a similar satellite under construction and will modify it to prevent a recurrence of the problem.
January 3, 1995 Canadian Commercial Corporation, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, is being awarded a $11,227,824 firm-fixed-price contract for the procurement of four recovery, assist, securing, and traversing (RAST) systems for shipboard helicopter landing systems. Work will be performed in Mississauga, Ontario, Canada, and is expected to be completed by January 1997. This contract was not competitively procured. The Naval Air Warfare Center, Aircraft Division, Lakehurst, New Jersey, is the contracting activity (N68335-95-C- 0057)
FINAL RFP for a feasibility study of short and very short range air defense systems for NATO will be released about Jan. 26, according to the U.S. Army's Missile Command. MICOM said in a Jan. 10 Commerce Business Daily notice that interested U.S. companies should contact the program's management office in London by Jan. 13.
The National Transportation Safety Board wants all Robinson R44 and R22 light piston helicopters grounded following a string of recent fatal accidents involving loss of control and inflight breakups, and warned FAA on Friday there may be a fundamental flaw with the rotor design.
