The first flight of Lockheed Martin's short takeoff vertical landing (STOVL) version of its Joint Strike Fighter will be a vertical liftoff at Palmdale, Calif., and is expected to take place some time next month. Lockheed Martin's JSF concept demonstrator program has differed considerably from competitor Boeing's program, but nowhere is this more apparent than with the companies' two very different approaches to vertical flight.
Even if machinists at the Boeing military aircraft plant in St. Louis went on strike, financial losses probably would not be significant, according to one industry analyst. Nor would the U.S. Navy be likely to suffer substantially from the delayed aircraft delivery time, said Richard Aboulafia, senior military aircraft analyst at the Teal Group in Fairfax, Va.
The first flight of NASA's Hyper-X vehicle has been rescheduled for June 2nd while flight engineers at Dryden Flight Research Center in Edwards, Calif. continue to analyze data from an April 28 captive-carry flight. "They just want to make sure all the data they looked over was what they wanted to see and everything went successfully with the captive carry," said NASA spokesperson Leslie Williams.
HERLEY INDUSTRIES, Inc., of Lancaster, Pa., has been awarded contracts to supply microwave assemblies for Lockheed Martin F-16 fighters being sold to international markets, the company announced May 22. Total value of the contracts is $3 million. The company designs, develops and manufactures complex microwave products for commercial, defense and aerospace markets.
The Army needs a $500 million budget increase over the next few years to alleviate a shortage of aviation spare parts, Lt. Gen. Charles Mahan, the Army's deputy chief of staff for logistics, told a congressional panel May 22. Mahan testified before the House Government Reform Committee's national security panel that the Army has failed to meet its aviation supply availability goal of 85 percent at the wholesale level in any of the last 16 years. It missed the goal by an average of 6 percent during that period.
Due to incorrect information from official Pentagon sources, an article in the May 22 issue of The DAILY incorrectly stated that the V-22 Osprey has been moved to a DoD ACAT-1 D Pentagon acquisition category program. Sources now report the V-22 has been moved to a Navy ACAT-1 D program. The Navy ACAT-1 D still requires DoD Defense Acquisition Board oversight and gives Edward "Pete" Aldridge, Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition, Technology and Logistics, any production decision authority. DoD ACAT-1 D programs are generally large, service-wide programs.
Standard&Poor's has revised its ratings on K&F Industries from stable to positive, citing the aerospace component provider's reduced debt following its 1997 recapitalization. The ratings service also said the company's cash flows are benefiting from industry demand, which it said should be sustainable. K&F is a leading supplier of braking systems - wheels, steel and carbon brakes, and anti-skid systems - and fuel tanks to commercial and military aerospace markets.
BAE Systems has completed a series of live fire tests of the Advanced Threat Infrared Countermeasures/Common Missile Warning System (ATIRCM/CMWS) at the White Sands Missile Range, N.M. The tests were conducted from April 4 to April 24, and completed a major phase of the developmental test/operational test - a critical requirement for the Low Rate Initial Production (LRIP) decision expected early next year. ATIRCM/CMWS is the next-generation countermeasure to protect aircraft from infrared-guided missiles.
China Southern Airlines and MTU yesterday laid the cornerstone for the new MTU Maintenance Zhuhai Co. Ltd., which will work on IAE V2500 and other aircraft engines when it opens in 2002. The center is a 50% each joint venture between the two companies, Aerospace Daily affiliate Aviation Daily reported. It is located in Zhuhai, one of China's special economic zones, close to Hong Kong and Macao. Capacity is expected to grow for up to 150 engine overhauls a year by 2006.
The Air Force's Global Hawk unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) is preparing for its trip home from Australia early next month, after which it is expected to fly to Paris be one of the major attractions at the 2001 Paris Air Show. The U.S. Department of Defense is scheduled to display more than 20 aircraft at the air show, including the F-22 Raptor and the B-2 stealth bomber. The show will take place June 17 to 24 in Le Bourget, France.
The U.S. Army conducted three successful intercept tests of the Patriot Advanced Capability-2 (PAC-2) missile defense system over the Gulf of Mexico, the Army announced May 21. The first Patriot launched intercepted a MQM-107 drone target flying an inbound profile at low altitude. The second two Patriots intercepted Patriot Omnidirectional Target Ariel-Tow (POTA-Tow) targets, which were flying a nominal trajectory inbound toward the Patriot radar.
Australia's government today confirmed the go-ahead for a range of new military equipment programs, kicking off its biggest defense-spending hike in two decades by tabling a A$12.7 billion (US$6.64 billion) 2001-02 defense budget that includes the first dollop of funds to pay for the upgrades outlined in December's Defense White Paper.
L-3 Communications' Link Simulation and Training division has been awarded a $6.4 million firm-fixed-price contract by the Oklahoma City Air Logistics Center for the lease and maintenance of Boeing 737 aircraft that will be used for in-flight training of E-6 Take Charge and Move Out (TACAMO) flight crews. The logistics center is based at Tinker Air Force Base. Link will provide program management, scheduling and quality assurance services, and has contracted with AAR Aircraft Services of Oklahoma City to provide the 737 leases and maintenance support.
CACI International Inc. has been awarded a $21 million subcontract for work with the Air Force Armament Center at Eglin Air Force Base, Fla., which company officials say will give the Arlington, Va.-based company a key role in helping develop, test and field AF tactical weapon systems. The contract was awarded by Sverdrup Technology, Inc., of Tullahoma, Tenn., and is for work with the Technical and Engineering Acquisition Support (TEAS) contract with the armament center.
DRS Technologies Inc. has been awarded an $18.3 million production contract from Raytheon Missile Systems Co. to produce second generation forward looking infrared (Gen II FLIR) detectors for the Javelin missile's Command Launch Unit, the company announced May 22.
Airbus, seeing a potential for 600 aircraft sales over the next 20 years to Japanese carriers, yesterday announced establishment of subsidiary Airbus Japan headquartered in Tokyo and headed by Patrick Carroll, an 18-year resident of Japan. Carroll, the former BAE Systems representative in Japan, said, "we aim to win half of this market," Aerospace Daily affiliate Aviation Daily reported.
The Swedish Defence Materiel Administration (FMV) has ordered development and evaluation of the CTT Zonal Drying System for one of the Swedish Air Force's C-130 Hercules transport aircraft. The air force currently uses a ground-based dehumidification system for its eight Lockheed Martin C-130s when they are at their home base.
AeroAstro, Inc., a small satellite technology company, has performed the first installation of its wireless Sensor Enabled Notification System (SENS) for an aircraft noise monitoring demonstration at Gulfport-Biloxi Regional Airport in Mississippi.
M. A. Mortenson, The Construction Organization, Colorado Springs, Colo., is being awarded a $19,989,760 firm-fixed-price contract for Aircraft Maintenance Hangars, Phase 1, at Naval Air Station, Norfolk. The work to be performed provides for the demolition of existing hangars and construction of two new one-module, Type 1 Modified Aircraft Maintenance Hangars (E-2C) on reinforced concrete pile foundations and all incidental related work. Work will be performed in Norfolk, Va., and is expected to be completed by November 2002.
Department of Defense acquisition officials have moved all production decisions on the V-22 Osprey program from the Navy's senior acquisition executive to the Defense Department's under secretary for acquisition, technology and logistics, adding a new wrinkle to the controversial aircraft's development. The V-22 has been officially designated as a DoD ACAT-1 D, which means the acquisition category now comes under DoD authority and any production decisions fall to Edward C. "Pete" Aldridge, the new undersecretary of defense for AT&L.
Deploying the latest weapon in the war on drugs - the U.S. Coast Guard's MH-68 attack helicopter - is delayed again as pleasant weather and mechanical blunders foiled final testing of the aircraft's ruggedness at sea. The Coast Guard planned to make a decision last week on the $18 million program, which would field a new squadron of eight leased helicopters. But now the agency expects to wait until further testing can be arranged later this summer, a Coast Guard spokesman told Aerospace Daily affiliate AviationNow.com.
NASA is planning a full-scale Space Shuttle Reusable Solid Rocket Motor test-firing for May 24, the space agency announced May 21. The test, in Promontory, Utah, will test-fire the rocket motor for 123.2 seconds. It will take place at Thiokol Propulsion, an Alliant Techsystems Co., and will be used to qualify a new insulation design on the motor's nozzle-to-case joint, which NASA said would improve flight safety and help reduce costs on the motor.
Rolls-Royce is expecting new Trent engine orders worth $1.8 billion due to the planned expansion of the United Arab Emirates' Emirates airline, which currently operates 22 Airbus A300/310/330s, 12 Boeing 777s and one Boeing 747-400F. According to news reports here, Emirates officials plan to announce at the Paris Air Show that the airline will buy another 60 Airbus and Boeing wide-body transports, in addition to existing orders for six A330-200s, six A340-500s, seven of the new A380-800/F VLCTs, and another Boeing 777-300.
Ducommun, an aircraft components supplier, has agreed to buy smaller assemblies maker Composite Structures, Ducommun announced May 21. Terms of the agreement were not disclosed, Aerospace Daily affiliate AviationNow.com reported.
KAISER ELECTRONICS, a Rockwell Collins company, has been selected by the Boeing Co. to supply flat panel color displays for the U.S. Air Force F-15E program, the company announced May 21. The Kaiser five-inch FPCD will replace the current CRT-based display in new production F-15E aircraft.
