Lockheed Martin Co., Sunnyvale, Calif., is being awarded a $59,744,340 (estimated) cost-plus-award-fee contract modification to provide for adjustment of the launch schedule for the Milstar communication satellite program. This includes a two-month delay in the launch of Space Vehicle 3 (launch in April 1999) resulting from the launch failure of Titan IV mission A-20.
European Space Agency experiments will fly on Chinese spacecraft for the first time under an agreement signed July 9 between ESA and the Chinese National Space Administration (CNSA). ESA and CNSA will cooperate on project "Double Star," the first mission launched by China to explore the Earth's magnetosphere, the magnetic bubble that surrounds the planet. The agreement was signed at ESA's Paris headquarters by ESA Director General Antonio Rodota and CNSA Administrator Luan Enjie.
Parts shortages linked to a variety of causes severely hampered U.S. Air Force readiness during the last five years, but programs aimed at correcting the shortcomings are showing signs of success, a government report found. The General Accounting Office, fulfilling mandates from the 2000 National Defense Authorization Act and two congressional committees, looked at three AF programs - E-3 and C-5 aircraft fleets and the F-100-200 engine fleet - and 75 parts they depend upon regularly, Aerospace Daily affiliate AviationNow.com reported.
Pilot programs by the U.S. Transportation Command (TRANSCOM) are cutting air cargo wait times by nearly one third, according to TRANSCOM Deputy Commander in Chief Lt. Gen. Daniel G. Brown. The pilot programs are part of the Strategic Distribution Management Initiative (SDMI) - an effort by TRANSCOM and the Defense Logistics Agency (DLA) to re-think and improve the DOD's $80 billion per year logistics operation. According to Brown, before SDMI, no single DOD organization has ever attempted to measure and improve DOD logistics.
Air Force Secretary James Roche plans to recommend that Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld hold off for a year on a plan to cut the B-1B bomber force by more than a third, a congressional aide told The DAILY July 9.
Bell-Boeing Joint Program Office, Patuxent River, Md., is being awarded a $14,000,000 modification to previously awarded advance acquisition contract (N00019-00-C-0183) to provide additional funding to continue the manufacture of the CV-22 aircraft. Work will be performed in Ridley Park, Pa. (50%); Fort Worth, Texas (35%); and Amarillo, Texas (15%), and is expected to be completed in December 2004. Contract funds will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. The Naval Air Systems Command, Patuxent River, Md., is the contracting activity.
The Boeing Co., Kent, Wa., is being awarded a $26,075,826 cost-plus-award-fee contract modification to provide for a nine-month extension (through September 2002) of intertial upper stage integration and launch support for the Defense Support Satellite on the Titan IV Launch Vehicle. At this time, zero funds have been obligated. This work is expected to be completed September 2002. Solicitation began September 2000; negotiations were completed May 2001. The Space and Missile Systems Center, Los Angeles, Calif., is the contracting activity (F04701-97-C-0004; P00039).
Messier-Dowty, maker of landing gear systems for military and commercial aircraft, announced July 9 it was opening a new $46 million facility in Mirabel, Quebec, to manufacture landing gear components for the Airbus A320 commercial aircraft. Claude Sauvageau, project manager for the existing Messier-Dowty facility in Mirabel, Quebec, said the new plant is an extension of the existing 160,000-square foot facility. That facility manufactures landing gear components for the Airbus A320 and A340 families.
General Electric Aircraft Engines, General Electric Co., Lynn, Mass., is being awarded a $15,521,000 advance acquisition contract to provide long lead funding for the procurement of long lead hardware needed to manufacture 96 F414-GE-400 engines and devices for the F/A-18E/F Super Hornet aircraft. Work will be performed in Lynn, Mass. (58%); Evendale, Ohio (25%); Rutland, Vt. (4%); Albuquerque, N.M. (4%); Madisonville, Ky. (4%); Hooksett, N.H. (3%); and Wilmington, N.C. (2%), and is expected to be completed in May 2004.
Lockheed Martin Corp., Marietta, Ga., is being awarded a $44,372,078 modification to a firm-fixed-price contract to provide for program support through September 2001 for the F-22 aircraft. At this time, the total amount of funds has been obligated. This effort will be performed by Lockheed Martin, Marietta Ga. (52%); Lockheed Martin, Fort Worth, Texas (35%); and The Boeing Co., Seattle, Wash. (34%). This work is expected to be completed September 2001. Solicitation began March 1999.
MERGER BACKLASH? Congress has been on recess since before the European Union announced July 3 that it would block the merger of General Electric Co. and Honeywell International Inc. But if a recent letter by Sen. John "Jay" Rockefeller (D-W.Va.), chairman of the Senate Commerce Committee's aviation subcommittee, is any guide, lawmakers won't have warm and fuzzy things to say about U.S.-EU relations when they return to Washington the week of July 9.
Harris Belman has been named vice president, for Business Development - Systems Integration within its Information&Electronic Systems Integration Sector.
AL Wyatt has been appointed vice president of Operations. Alexis Livanos has been appointed executive vice president of and second -in-command, reporting directly to BSS president Randy Brinkley.
EADS Sogerma Services and Thales Avionics have signed a contract to upgrade six C-130 military transport aircraft for a South American air force that was not identified. EADS Sogerma Services, a subsidiary of the European Aeronautics Defence and Space Co., is headquartered in Bordeaux, France and will be the prime contractor for the upgrade and maintenance. Thales Avionics, which provides avionics, electrical systems and cabin electronics, will provide its Topdeck avionics suite. The company is a subsidiary of Paris-based Thales.
TRIDENT CONVERSION: The 2002 defense budget's allotment of funds for converting Trident SSBNs (nuclear-powered ballistic missile submarines) into SSGNs (nuclear-powered cruise missile submarines) is a "good news/bad news" situation, according to Michael Vickers, director of strategic studies at the Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments. "The good news is now you've got an SSGN program," says Vickers.
HEARING MANIA: Congress will be filled with a host of high-level military officials the week of July 9 for hearings that could shed light on the Bush Administration's defense plans. Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz and Lt. Gen. Ronald Kadish, director of the Ballistic Missile Defense Organization, will testify on ballistic missile defense policies and programs before the Senate Armed Services Committee, an event that could be filled with fireworks due to deep partisan divisions over missile defense.
The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) is currently developing aerial vehicles no larger than one foot in any dimension that could eliminate the need for human scouts to locate and identify enemy troops. Organic Air Vehicles (OAVs) could carry a variety of sensors, including infrared or electro-optic devices, to detect vehicles or individual soldiers. They could also perform covert imaging in confined urban areas as well as biological and chemical agent detection, tagging and targeting, and battle damage assessment.
Australia is committed to working with the Bush Administration on missile defense, partly because its forces could gain access to some of the technology involved, Defence Minister Peter Reith said in a recent speech. "From our role in early warning through to our objectives in intelligence and surveillance and ... the protection of our own forces, I am not prepared to limit or foreclose our access to, or benefits from, missile defense technology," Reith said at an Australia/New Zealand/U.S. defense alliance conference in Sydney last week.
NASA PROGRAM: Rep. Mark Udall (D-Colo.), a member of the House Science Committee's space panel, wants local and state governments to have greater access to geospatial data from NASA, other federal agencies and commercial sources to help them manage growth. He has introduced a bill that would authorize NASA to award $15 million in grants a year for pilot projects that integrate geospatial information sources for use by state, regional, local and tribal agencies.
Mark Tucker has been appointed vice president - Program Operations. Robert P. Iorizzo has been appointed president of the company's Electronic Sensors and Systems Sector.
United Industrial Corporation recently announced the appointment of Paul J. Hoeper and Maurice P. Ranc to the Board of Directors of its AAI subsidiary.
