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.
Sticking with the Clinton Administration's defense modernization plan, which includes buying the Joint Strike Fighter, the F-22 and other expensive new weapons, would require the Defense Department's $60 billion procurement budget to rise by about $20 billion a year for the next 15 years, according to a new report by the Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments.
Bell-Boeing Joint Program Office, Patuxent River, Md., is being awarded an $18,900,000 modification to previously awarded advance acquisition contract (N00019-00-C-0183) to provide additional funding for the manufacture and delivery of the Fiscal Year 2001 production V-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 by October 2003. Contract funds will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year.
Lockheed Martin, Government Electronics Systems, Moorestown, N.J., is being awarded a $30,002,956 cost-plus-award-fee level-of-effort option exercise for 326,000 man-hours to perform Aegis Combat System Baseline upgrades and critical experiments. The work will be performed in Moorestown, N.J., and is expected to be completed by May 2002. Contract funds in the amount of $236,273 will expire at the end of the current fiscal year. The Naval Sea Systems Command, Arlington, Va., is the contracting activity (N00024-98-C-5197).
The futuristic X-40A technology demonstrator had its seventh - and final - free-flight test in California over the weekend, paving the way for NASA's X-37 robotic spaceplane program. However, the future for the X-37 itself isn't yet clear. It wasn't given new money under NASA's Space Launch Initiative program, which released its first contract awards last week, and NASA, contractor Boeing and the Air Force are now discussing what to do with it.
Rockwell Collins Government Systems, Cedar Rapids, Iowa, is being awarded a $17,658,290 modification to previously awarded firm-fixed-price contract (N00019-01-C-0092) to exercise an option for the production of 307 AN/ARC-210(V) Electronic Protection Radio Systems (49 RT-1556B, 34 RT-1747D, 50 RT-1824C, 174 RT-1794C ARC radios), including ancillary equipment and associated support. This contract combines purchases for the U.S. Navy (134: 49 RT-1556B, 35 RT-1794C and 50 RT-1824C), the U.S. Air Force (83: 49 RT-1794C and 34 RT-1747D), the U.S.
AIL Systems Inc., Long Island, N.Y., is being awarded a $5,047,755 firm-fixed-price contract to provide for repair of various components applicable to the AN/ALQ-161A Electronic Countermeasures System for the B-1B aircraft. AIL Systems will perform this effort in Deer Park, N.Y. Warner Robins Air Logistics Center, Robins Air Force Base, Ga., is the contracting activity (09603-98-D-0083-0041).
President Bush intends to nominate R. Nicholas Burns to be the U.S. Permanent Representative to the Council of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, with the rank of ambassador extraordinary and plenipotentiary, the White House announced. Burns has been ambassador to Greece since 1997. A career member of the Senior Foreign Service, he served as State Department spokesman and acting assistant secretary of state for public affairs from 1995 to 1997.
BAE Systems Australia has signed an agreement with the Boeing Co. to become a key in-country partner to supply the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) with Airborne Early Warning and Control aircraft, according to the company. Under the $200 million USD agreement, BAE Systems Australia has responsibility for developing, supplying and supporting the electronic support function; electronic warfare self-protection systems; operational mission simulator; mission support segment and AEW&C support facility.
Raytheon Co., Electronic Systems, Bedford, Mass., is being awarded a $53,220,106 modification to firm-fixed-price contract DAAH01-95-C-0446 for Patriot classification, discrimination and identification Phase III (CD13) and Patriot radar enhancement Phase 3 radar modifications. Work is expected to be completed by Dec. 31, 2005. Contract funds will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. This is a sole source contract initiated on Feb. 6, 2001. The U.S. Army Aviation&Missile Command, Redstone Arsenal, Ala., issued the contract.
Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, which is assembling the main wing and central fuselage of the Global Express as a risk-sharing partner, has completed and sent the 100th shipset to Bombardier. The local production began in January 1996. Mitsubishi is also working on Bombardier's Continental business jet, CRJ-700 and CRJ-900 programs.
Two Marines assigned to the V-22 squadron command at Marine Corps Air Station New River, N.C., expressed confidence in the Osprey during a congressional field hearing May 21, saying they look forward to flying on the Bell-Boeing aircraft after its flaws are corrected. Maj. Karston Henkel, squadron assistant operations officer, and Staff Sgt. Tom Fowler, squadron maintenance chief, both called the Osprey a "phenomenal" aircraft whose capability will far exceed the CH-46 helicopter it's designed to replace.
Sikorsky Aircraft Co., Stratford, Conn., is being awarded a $9,218,800 delivery order amount as part of an estimated $24,556,910 indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract for 95 main rotor blades for the UH-60 Black Hawk helicopter. Work will be performed in Stratford, Conn., and is expected to be completed by Sept. 30, 2001. Contract funds will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. This is a sole source contract initiated on Jan. 31, 2001. The U.S.
CAE of Toronto plans to buy Netherlands-based Schreiner Luchtvaart Groep B.V.'s Schreiner Aviation Training (SAT) to accelerate the company's entry into the U.S. and European flight training market, the company announced May 18. CAE will buy 100% of SAT's outstanding shares for 193 million Euros, or about $170 million USD. The transaction is expected to close in July, pending regulatory and other approvals.
A major supplier of engine components to Pratt&Whitney has announced the opening of its first manufacturing facility outside of Germany to service North American customers. MTU Aero Engines GmbH, based in Munich, will open a wholly owned engine components subsidiary - MTU Aero Engine Components - in Newington, Conn. Both companies are part of the Daimler Chrysler Group. The new company is the first manufacturing facility for MTU Aero Engines outside of Germany.
F-22 FATE: Capitol Hill has mixed views about when the Bush Administration needs to decide the fate of the Lockheed Martin F-22 Raptor. Timing has emerged as an issue because Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld recently told lawmakers he won't make major decisions about defense programs until he submits his fiscal 2003 budget next year. Some congressional aides believe the Administration needs to weigh in on the F-22 before FY '02 starts Oct. 1, since a decision on whether to begin low-rate initial production (LRIP) has already been on hold for much of FY '01.
Seven House members have asked a key spending panel to add $300 million to the Bush Administration's fiscal 2002 request for NASA to ensure adequate funding for the International Space Station.
BALL AEROSPACE&TECHNOLOGY CORP., of Boulder, Colo., is conducting environmental tests on the Cryogenic Telescope Assembly (CTA) for the fourth and last of NASA's Great Observatories, the Space Infrared Telescope Facility (SIRTF). The company completed integration of the CTA and has now moved on to testing. The CTA and two SIRTF instruments, the Infrared Spectrograph and the Multiband Imaging Photometer, were built by Ball Aerospace.
SPACEDEV INC., of Poway, Calif., announced it received over $1 million in new business during April, including grants from the California Space Authority to explore innovative and low-cost space access. Under a $175,000 grant, SpaceDev will work with the Sea Launch Co., headquartered in Long Beach, Calif., to start a program aimed at providing assured, affordable and timely access to space for secondary payloads.
Orbital Technologies Corp. (ORBITEC), of Madison, Wisconsin, announced the successful testing of an innovative new liquid-fueled rocket engine the company said could be an integral part of programs promoting low-cost access to space. ORBITEC announced last week that it tested the first rocket engine that operates without hot combustion gases contacting the combustion chamber wall.
ITT Industries' Aerospace/Communications Division, of Fort Wayne, Ind., has been awarded an $8 million contract for formulation phase work on an advanced imager for the next generation of geostationary weather satellites operated and funded by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). The new Advanced Baseline Imager (ABI) will be a primary instrument on NOAA's future Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellites (GOES), beginning with the GOES0-R mission in 2008.
The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) and prime contractor Frontier Systems are developing a new vertical take-off and landing (VTOL) unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) intended to stay aloft for up to two days and travel over 2,500 nautical miles. The A160 "Hummingbird" could represent a significant leap in performance above current helicopters, which can typically fly about eight hours over a range of roughly 800 nautical miles. It will not, however, be setting any speed records.
One of the key issues being examined by members of the Federal Aviation Administration's Commercial Space Transportation Advisory Committee is whether the U.S. should adopt the European model for government indemnification for satellite launches. COMSTAC is currently examining the adequacy, effectiveness and need for the current liability risk-sharing regime mandated by the Commercial Space Transportation Competitiveness Act of 2000.
