Harris Corp.'s RF Communications Division, of Rochester, N.Y., has been awarded an $11 million contract from the U.S. Air Force's Electronics System Center, at Hanscom AFB, Mass., to equip its Tactical Air Control Party squadrons with Falcon II AN/PRC-117F multiband/multimission manpack radios. The TACPs will use the radios to request air support using satellite communications and to direct aircraft using the very high frequency and ultra high frequency mode.
Now that the Mir space station era is over, the Russian space community is looking for a new long-term program to provide comparable research and political opportunities. Some members of the space community consider the International Space Station to be insufficient to employ the country's space industry and maintain Russia's image as a space-pioneering nation.
Pratt and Whitney, Military Engines, East Hartford, Conn., is being awarded a $72,000,000 cost-plus-fixed-fee contract to continue essential risk reduction propulsion system engineering activities and initiate schedule-critical propulsion system long-lead hardware in order to ensure a smooth transition from the JSF concept demonstration phase to the JSF engineering and manufacturing development phase. Work will be performed in East Hartford, Conn. (72%); Middletown, Conn. (16%), West Palm Beach, Fla.
Northrop Grumman Corp., Field Support Services, Inc., Jacksonville, Fla., is being awarded a $6,347,620 firm-fixed-price delivery order against a previously awarded basic ordering agreement (N00019-00-G-0120) to manufacture 63 Drag Tee Kits and install the following systems into the F-14/B&D aircraft: 55 drag tees, 61 nacelle elements, 13 flap slats, 11 flight control backup modules, one wing leading edge, 104 ALE-47s, six airframe changes 710 which includes a fuselage structure and aft deck installation, 10 soft mild detonation cord (SMDC) replacements, and one upgrad
ECC International Corp. of Orlando, Fla., announced it has been awarded a $4.5 million contract to produce crew station components for Lockheed Martin Information Systems' Close Combat Tactical Trainer. The contract calls for deliveries to begin in July 2001, and is the third annual CCTT production contract that ECC has received from Lockheed Martin, the company announced April 16. The production effort includes various components and major subassemblies, including new input/output and display systems.
The U.S. space intelligence system of the future will have to anticipate the demands of its users rather than respond only to requests as it does today, and offer continuous global coverage instead of periodic views of specific areas, according to an official of the National Reconnaissance Office. Carol Staubach, director of advanced systems and technology for the NRO, also said the new system will have to be controlled by the users, be easy to operate, and offer information from a variety of sources.
L-3 Communications announced its Display Systems division has been awarded a contract from Lockheed Martin Missiles and Fire Control to provide the display system for its Line-of-Sight Anti-Tank program (LOSAT). The contract is valued at about $2 million, plus production options for a total potential of over $6 million, L-3 announced on April 16.
Insistence that all new satellite technology be compatible with old systems is keeping the U.S. intelligence community from moving to new systems as quickly as it would like, according to Air Force Space Command's director of operations. Maj. Gen. Howard Mitchell said, "... we are constraining ourselves ... because we insist that all of the new systems be backward compatible with a bunch of the old systems, legacy systems."
Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott (R-Miss.) and two other members of the Mississippi congressional delegation have written to Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld urging him to overturn the Navy's plans to cut production of the T-45 trainer aircraft.
Raytheon Company, Electromagnetic Systems Division, Goleta, Calif., is being awarded a $12,350,310 modification to a previously awarded firm-fixed-price contract (N00019-99-C-1051) to support the AN/ALE-50 Countermeasure Decoy Dispenser Set Program and Integrated Defensive Electronics Countermeasures Program. Support will include the production of Integrated Multi-Platform Launch Controllers, associated supplies, services and technical data for the Navy F/A-18E/F and the Air Force B-1B and F-15 aircraft.
Raytheon Systems Co., Goleta, Calif., is being awarded $7,265,214 as part of a $10,909,566 (base year total) firm-fixed-price contract with an estimated cumulative total of $29,810,894 if all options are exercised. The basic contract award is for 243 Standard Advanced Dewar Assemblies, Type II (SADA II) in support of the Horizontal Technology Integration (HTI) Second Generation Forward Looking Infrared (FLIR) Night Vision-80 B-Kit Production Program. Work will be performed in Goleta, Calif., and is expected to be completed by Sept. 30, 2002.
Aerospace and defense companies boosted their soft-money political donations by 58 percent in the 1999-2000 election cycle, joining a surge in uncapped contributions from the business community to the national Democratic and Republican parties, according to a new report by Common Cause, a soft-money critic. The aerospace and defense industry ranked 16th among the top 33 business contributors of soft money, giving $8.15 million in the 1999-2000 period. That's an increase from $5.16 million in the 1995-1996 election cycle.
Howmet Corp., Winsted, Conn., and Walbar Engine Components, Chandler, Ariz., are being awarded a $12,811,465 firm-fixed-price, indefinite-delivery indefinite-quantity contract, to participate in a program to provide for up to 27,905 stage-one turbine blades applicable to the F110 engine on the B-1 aircraft. There were five firms solicited and three proposals received. Solicitation began December 2000; negotiations were completed March 2001. At this time, $3,062,115 of funds have been obligated to Howmet, and $3,088,433 have been obligated to Walbar.
Imagine a non-visual orientation system that uses the sense of touch to remind a pilot which way is up. The Tactile Situational Awareness System (TSAS), currently under development at the Naval Aerospace Medical Research Laboratory (NAMRL) does exactly that. Developers hope that TSAS could one day greatly reduce the number of air accidents caused by spatial disorientation - a common experience among pilots that costs the Department of Defense an estimated $300 million in lost aircraft each year.
The four members of the Defense Departments's V-22 review panel will go before a key congressional panel in two weeks to discuss their still-unreleased findings. The Senate Armed Services Committee announced April 16 that the panel's chairman, Marine Corps Ret. Gen. John Dailey, will testify May 1, as will the three other panel members - former Lockheed Martin CEO Norman Augustine, Air Force Ret. Gen. James Davis and scholar Eugene Covert.
SFA, Inc., Largo, Md., is being awarded Task Order 0004 for $6,102,536 to previously awarded contract (N00014-97-D-2008) for 106,900 hours of effort in support of research, development, and application-oriented systems for sensing systems, integrated optics and communications systems supporting the Optical Techniques Development and Measurement Project. Work will be performed in Washington, D.C., and is expected to be completed by July 2002. Contract funds in the amount of $720,000 will expire at the end of the current fiscal year.
LAND VS. DITCH:While ditching a plane loaded with classified data and equipment into the ocean is an option for a pilot whose aircraft is in trouble, there is no DOD policy nor U.S. Navy policy to do so, according to the Pentagon. "It is the pilot's judgment call," one source tells The DAILY. That protocol may differ during war time, though, he says. In the case of the Navy EP-3E that made an emergency landing on Hainan Island, China, "It is not a hostile country. It is an international country," says the source.
UAVs KEY: UAVs could take up the slack for the Navy as it replaces its aging fleet of P-3 aircraft. "We need to replace this force," says Vice Admiral Edmund P. Giambastiani. Calling continuous cycles of P-3 repair and maintenance a "very expensive, very tough way to operate," he believes that high-endurance UAVs can pick up part of the surveillance and reconnaissance load as the aircraft are retired.
REVIEWS CONTINUE: The numerous ongoing strategy and program reviews being conducted by the Pentagon are "moving along very well," says Rumsfeld. But, they have "not been laced together yet," he says. While officially the Pentagon is not providing many more details of the reviews, what is known is that there are several reviews conducted separately which examine various strategies, specific programs and military capabilities. The service chiefs report the have had some input into the reviews. Rumsfeld says President Bush has not yet been briefed.
Rockwell International Corp. filed a plan with the Securities and Exchange Commission in connection with the company's previously announced tax-free spin-off to shareholders of Rockwell Collins, the company's avionics and communications business. Under the terms of the spin-off, shareholders of Rockwell will receive shares in the new company on a one-for-one basis. The company will also apply to be listed on the New York Stock Exchange.
The U.S. Air Force and Lockheed Martin are exploring ways to resurrect NASA's futuristic X-33 reusable launch vehicle as a military plane and to secure roughly $14 million in bridge funding this year. The U.S. Air Force and Lockheed Martin are exploring ways to resurrect NASA's futuristic X-33 reusable launch vehicle as a military plane and to secure roughly $14 million in bridge funding this year.
TAKEOVER OPPOSITION: Three members of the Senate Armed Services Committee are urging President George W. Bush to block ASM Lithography (ASML) of the Netherlands from buying San Jose, Calif.-based Silicon Valley Group Inc. (SVG), whose subsidiary, Tinsley Laboratories, "has unique capabilities" to make precision optics for reconnaissance satellites, sensitive military applications, and semiconductor tools. In an April 10 letter, Sens. James Inhofe (R-Okla.), Tim Hutchinson (R-Ark.) and Bob Smith (R-N.H.) express doubt that U.S.
The final design review for the Navy's Fire Scout Vertical Takeoff and Landing Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (VTUAV) has been completed and hardware is now being built in anticipation of systems integration tests this summer. "Engineering and manufacturing development fabrication assembly is well-underway," said Doug Fronius, vice president of Advanced Development for Northrop Grumman's Unmanned Systems product team.
The U.S. aerospace industry's international trade surplus plunged last year by $10.7 billion or 29 percent to $26.7 billion, as exports declined and imports set a record high, the Aerospace Industries Association said April 12. Exports fell $7.7 billion to $54.7 billion, while imports rose $2.8 billion to $27.9 billion. The 2000 surplus was down $14.3 billion from a peak of $41 billion in 1998 and was at its lowest level since it reached $26.6 billion in 1996.
X-43 FLIGHTS: The first of three unpiloted X-43 vehicles in NASA's Hyper-X program will soon begin hypersonic flight from the space agency's Dryden Flight Research Center, Calif. They will be flying from seven to 10 times the speed of sound, using air-breathing scramjet engines instead of traditional rocket power. Briefings on the program are planned for this week.
