Northrop Grumman's Pegasus X-47A, the first demonstrator in the company's bid to build the UCAV-N (Navy Unmanned Combat Air Vehicle), is set to roll out of the factory July 30, with flight tests beginning by year's end. In addition to receiving funding from the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), Northrop Grumman is investing $35 million of its own money in Pegasus as part of an attempt to re-establish the company's pre-eminence in cutting edge aviation technology, according to company officials.
Despite positive sales in its aerospace segment, Honeywell International Inc. on July 24 posted a 92 percent drop in net profit for the second quarter due largely to charges the company took related to its failed merger with General Electric Co. Company officials reported net quarterly earnings of $50 million, or 6 cents per share, compared with $617 million, or 76 cents per share a year ago at this time.
The model of a new International Space Station module left Turin, Italy on July 24, bound for the European Space Agency's technical center (ESTEC) in the Netherlands, where it will undergo structural and thermal tests that will last until next summer.
The non-profit Foundation for Advancing Science and Technology Education announced July 24 it is developing what it says will be the first piloted aircraft powered by a hydrogen fuel cell. The foundation is converting a French DynAero Lafayette III to electric propulsion and is exhibiting the airplane this week at the Experimental Aircraft Association AirVenture 2001 show in Oshkosh, Wis. First flight is slated for next year using lithium ion batteries.
UNIVERSAL SPACE NETWORK, INC., of Horsham, Pa., provided communications services through its western Australia PrioraNet ground station to Boeing Satellite Systems during launch and the first orbits of XM Satellite Radio's "Roll" XM-1 and "Rock" XM-2 satellites, the company announced. "Rock" was launched in March, "Roll" in May. The satellites, built for XM Satellite Radio by Boeing, will deliver up to 100 channels of digital-quality music, news and information to XM radios throughout the U.S.
Sen. Christopher "Kit" Bond (R-Mo.), a member of the Senate Appropriations defense subcommittee, will try to add $180 million to the Bush Administration's fiscal 2002 military budget to pay for the U.S. Navy's procurement of an additional three F/A-18E/F Super Hornets, an aide told The DAILY July 24. The Administration has requested FY '02 funding for 48 Super Hornets (DAILY, June 28). Bond wants to raise that to 51 to make up for a shortfall in FY '01 procurement.
SUPPLEMENTAL SIGNED: President Bush signed the fiscal 2001 supplemental appropriations bill into law July 24, providing $5.5 billion for defense, including $153 million for the Airborne Laser, $80 million for V-22 research and development, and $17 million for the Global Hawk unmanned aerial vehicle.
The Lockheed Martin-led team's X-35B Joint Strike Fighter concept demonstrator will complete its flight testing at Edwards Air Force Base, Calif., rather than flying cross-country for additional test flights at Naval Air Station Patuxent River, Md., a company spokesman said July 24. Flight tests are likely to end this week, said John Kent, the spokesman.
NASA's Stennis Space Center, Miss., successfully conducted the second of three tests of the Electro-Mechanical Actuator (EMA) technology used on the former X-33 program, the space agency announced July 24. The space center conducted the test of the X-33's Linear Aerospike XRS-2200 flight engine set on July 23. The test achieved an 80 percent power level and lasted for the full planned duration of 25 seconds, NASA reported. All of the test objectives appear to have been met, pending a final review, according to NASA.
TRW Inc. of Huntsville, Ala., has awarded Harris Corp. of Melbourne, Fla., a six-year, $70 million contract for work on the In-Flight Interceptor Communications System (IFICS) for the Ground-based Midcourse Defense Segment program, Harris announced July 24. The contract value for the company could rise to more than $130 million if the company is awarded a proposed option to produce the IFICS as part of the Battle Management Command, Control and Communications element of the GMDS program, according to the company.
TRW SPACE&ELECTRONICS' indium phosphide (InP) integrated circuit is part of a broadband radiometer being used by the Swedish Odin-1 science satellite, the first InP integrated circuit to fly in space. The chip enables the radiometer to detect very faint radiation being emitted by galactic oxygen. A better understanding of interstellar oxygen chemistry may provide scientists with greater insight into the formation and evolution of galaxies, according to TRW. The Odin-1 satellite, built and operated by the Swedish Space Corp.
ORBITAL IMAGING CORP. (Orbimage) of Dulles, Va., announced a multi-year agreement with NASA's Stennis Space Center, Miss., to supply up to $6 million worth of imagery from the 200-band hyperspectral camera to be carried on the company's OrbView-4 satellite. NASA will use the data - the first commercial hyperspectral imagery from space - to develop environmental monitoring applications for managing the Earth's water and land resources, according to the company. "Through this agreement ...
DynCorp Technical Services of Reston, Va., will provide additional upgraded radio systems for U.S. Air Force Air Combat Command B-52H aircraft under a $6.5 million contract modification, the company announced July 24.
Depending upon the reception given to the proposals of National Security Advisor Condoleezza Rice over the next several weeks, the U.S. and Russia may be on the verge of a breakthrough in missile defense, several defense analysts said July 23. Whether a breakthrough can be made will depend in large measure on the kinds of proposals Rice puts forth, they said.
The next advanced weather satellite - and the first one capable of detecting storms outside Earth's atmosphere - was launched July 23 atop an International Launch Services Atlas IIA booster. The Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite, or GOES-M, lifted off from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Fla., at 3:23 a.m. Eastern Daylight Time.
Japan's Self-Defense Agency is expected to pick prime contractors soon for two major development programs - the MPA, a replacement for the Maritime Self-Defense Force's Lockheed/Kawasaki P-3Cs, and the C-X, a replacement for the Air Self-Defense Force's Kawasaki C-1 tactical transports. Observers expect Kawasaki Heavy Industries to win the MPA contract, because of its extensive experience in anti-submarine warfare aircraft through licensed productions of Lockheed P-2H, P-2J and P-3C aircraft.
General Dynamics extended its offer for all outstanding shares of Newport News Shipbuilding's common stock as it awaits government approval for its proposed merger, the company announced July 23. The offer, previously scheduled to expire on July 20, now will extend to Aug. 3, the company announced. As of July 20, more than 21 million Newport News shares had been tendered to General Dynamics, which it said exceeds the number of shares outstanding.
Space Shuttle Atlantis is slated to land at Kennedy Space Center, Fla., early July 24 after its nearly 12-day mission to the International Space Station, a mission that included the first spacewalk through the station's new Joint Airlock. On July 21, mission specialists Mike Gernhardt and Jim Reilly used the airlock, dubbed Quest, for a spacewalk lasting just over four hours. Working with the robotic arms on both the shuttle and station, they installed the last supply tank to the Quest exterior.
A British Royal Air Force test pilot conducted two flights July 19 that brought the Lockheed Martin team closer to completing flight testing of its X-35B Joint Strike Fighter concept demonstrator, the company said July 23.
Goodrich Corp., of Charlotte, N.C., announced a 14 percent increase in per-share income in the second quarter compared to last year, and attributed the growth to its aerospace segment. The company announced July 23 that its second-quarter income was $88.8 million, up 14 percent from the $78.8 million it posted in the same quarter last year. Net income for the current quarter was $83.3 million, up from the $81.7 million the company reported in the second quarter last year.
Shortages of certain engine parts could cause B-2 bombers to begin experiencing groundings less than four years from now, according to the Defense Department's fiscal 2001 annual report on the aircraft. The B-2's analog engine controllers "are becoming obsolete due to vanishing vendor issues," the congressionally mandated report says. "With the current controller failure rates, it is estimated that parts shortages will begin to cause aircraft groundings in June 2005."
Ratings agency Fitch Inc., affirmed its ratings for AAR Corp. of Wood Dale, Ill., on July 23. Fitch analyst assigned a BBB (medium grade) rating to the company's senior credit. The company's ratings outlook remains stable, analysts said. The ratings affirmation was based on recent improvements in the company's financial profile following last year's termination of a support agreement with GE Aircraft Engines for engine parts, as well as the number of contracts awarded to the company by major airlines and OEMs during the past few months.
