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.
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.
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.
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).
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.
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.
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).
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
TILTROTORS BEFORE:Although there are members of Congress and the public who have expressed concern over the "new technology" used in tiltrotor aircraft, Bell has been involved in with concept demonstrators of the capability for quite some time. As early as 1943 Bell began serious research into a "convertiplane" concept - today known as tiltrotor. The Model 200/XV-3 program began in earnest in 1950 as a joint U.S. Army/Air Force program to investigate the convertiplane concept for military use. The four-seat XV-3 had a Pratt&Whitney R-985 radial engine.
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.
Northrop Grumman Corp.'s Integrated Systems Sector successfully completed the first of a set of flight tests for the Affordable Moving Surface Target Engagement (AMSTE) project, the company announced last week.
A flight experiment at NASA's Dryden Flight Research Center, Edwards, Calif., has successfully demonstrated a new software data analysis tool, called the "flutterometer," which is designed to increase the efficiency of flight flutter testing. "This tool can result in dramatic decreases in time and cost for military and commercial aircraft testing," Dryden project engineer Rick Lind said in a statement.
Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld praised Lt. Shane Osborn, pilot of the U.S. Navy EP-3 surveillance plane that made an emergency landing on China's Hainan Island, and his crew, at a ceremony here May 18. Rumsfeld told the crew that he and President Bush and the members of Congress "support you as we refashion our military for this new century."
BMD CONFERENCE: Rep. Curt Weldon (R-Pa.), a senior member of the House Armed Services Committee, is organizing a June 28-29 conference in historic Valley Forge, Pa., to make the case for ballistic missile defense. Missile shield proponents from the British Parliament, academia and advocacy groups are among those expected to participate. Weldon believes it will be hard to achieve big spending hikes for missile defense and other defense programs without building public support (DAILY, May 17).
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.
POWER HUNGRY: Electrical power requirements will become a major driver in future aircraft design as avionics become more elaborate, says Karl Krapek, president and chief operating officer of United Technologies Corporation. "Whether piloted or unpiloted, future aircraft will have significantly greater electronics requirements," he says. "We really believe that engine thrust will take a backseat to electrical generation." Future unmanned aircraft will require a minimum of 300 kilowatts of power, Krapek says, which will come from a 10,000-lb. thrust engine.
PANAMSAT CORP. of Greenwich, Conn., announced shares of its common stock have begun trading on the Nasdaq Europe exchange following its recent admission to the international stock market. The company, which operates four satellites that deliver broadcast, cable, Internet and telecommunications services to European customers, will trade under the symbol SPOT. The company launched a fifth European coverage satellite, the PAS-10 Indian Ocean Region satellite, on May 15 (DAILY, May 16).
