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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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).
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.
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.
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.
EMBRAER's ERJ 145 XR has conducted its first flight, according to the Brazilian aircraft maker. The commercial aircraft features a reinforced fuselage and wings to allow a higher takeoff weight compared with other members of the Embraer 145 family. It also has increased fuel capacity and its Rolls-Royce AE 3007 A1E engines produce 8,100 lbs. thrust, a 7 percent increase. The ERJ 145 XR will undergo a test and evaluation period of nearly a year. Certification is expected in June of 2002.
The Bush Administration has withdrawn its nominee to be assistant secretary of the Army for acquisition, logistics and technology. George Williams, the former president of defense contractor COLSA Corp. of Huntsville, Ala., told The DAILY that White House informed him this week it will not nominate him for the post. His expected nomination had been announced by the White House in late May (DAILY, June 1).
LACK OF SUPPORT: Congress has no confidence in the arms control process or adherence to arms control treaties such as the 1972 ABM Treaty, says Rep. Curt Weldon, R-Pa., Weldon says Congress was not informed about two negotiated changes to the ABM Treaty in 1997. Instead, the previous Administration told the Russian Duma to ratify Start II and attach the changes to the START II Treaty, which Congress would then have to ratify or reject in whole. There were in fact 28 violations of arms control agreements by Russia and China between 1992-2000, Weldon says.
Yvonne B. Perlberg has been named a corporate vice president of Hughes and will retain her existing responsibilities as vice president and general auditor of Hughes.
Specialists are becoming increasingly worried that the U.S. electronics industry's lack of interest in radiation hardening is eroding America's ability to produce circuits capable of withstanding the space environment. With the number of rad-hard foundries and facilities dwindling, commercial satellite operators are looking for faster, better, cheaper solutions, according to W. David Thompson, president of Spectrum Astro.
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.
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.
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.
HUMANS NEEDED: Maj. Mark Draper, program manager for the Air Force Research Lab's SIRUS (Synthetic Interface Research for UAV Systems) facility (DAILY, June 1), says the role of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) in future combat will expand "to a much greater extent than they are today, certainly." But even if unmanned systems do one day take human combatants out of the field, "the human cannot be taken out of the battle," says Draper. "We need to keep his creativity, his ability to think on his feet, find creative solutions, and insight.
