SPACE STUDY: A commission formed by the Center for Strategic and International Studies is studying the impact of commercial space services on U.S. national security. The commission, which consists of members of Congress, former military officials and space experts, is trying to determine how the U.S. can maintain its military superiority while satellite technology and services become increasingly available in the global market.
A Northrop Grumman/Raytheon avionics joint venture has received the Air Force's First "F-22 War on Costs" gold award for its effort to reduce avionics costs associated with the F-22, Northrop Grumman announced last week. The team is led by Northrop Grumman Corp.'s Electronic Sensors and Systems Sector, headquartered in Baltimore, Md. Raytheon Co. is headquartered in Lexington, Mass.
MD Robotics, a subsidiary of MacDonald, Dettwiler and Assoc. Ltd, of Richmond, B.C., is delivering another piece of Canadian technology to the International Space Station Alpha as part of Shuttle mission STS-102.
Iridium Satellite LLC announced yesterday it has signed agreements with 13 service providers to offer worldwide distribution capabilities from its satellite network when the company launches its commercial service next month. The non-exclusive agreements will allow the providers to sell Iridium services to industrial and government markets in remote areas where no other forms of communication are available, the company said.
Derco Aerospace Inc., of Milwaukee, Wisc., is providing avionics, systems and structural upgrades for five Lockheed C-130E Hercules owned by the Brazilian government and used for its $1.4 billion SIVAM (System for the Vigilance of the Amazon) program, to help support the preservation of the Amazon region.
Members of Congress said yesterday that they are reviewing a request by Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld to postpone a decision on starting low-rate initial production for the F-22 until he completes his strategic review of the Defense Dept.'s programs. But at least one key lawmaker, Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman John Warner (R-Va.), has already signaled support for the request. "I don't think we'll have any trouble with it," a committee aide told The DAILY. "I don't see that it does that much."
Fighter manufacturers around the world will produce nearly 3,500 fighters worth $124 billion between 2001 and 2010, according to a new report. Boeing will get the biggest share, more than 600 fighters worth $27.6 billion, says the report from Forecast International/DMS, Newtown, Conn. It says that the Eurofighter consortium will take second place with $21 billion in projected sales, and that the team of Lockheed Martin and Boeing will come in third with $16.5 billion in sales of the new F-22.
Boeing's X-32B short takeoff and landing (STOVL) concept demonstrator remains on schedule for first flight during the last week of March, a Boeing spokesman said yesterday.
Aviation Week and Standard&Poor's have announced two new market indices for measuring the market performance of global airline and aerospace industries. The companies are both divisions of The McGraw-Hill Companies. The new indices will be the Aviation Week (AW) Airline 25 and the Aviation Week (AW) Aerospace 25 and will measure the daily, weekly and year-to-date market performance of companies around the world in both categories, beginning in late April.
NASA's use of the metric system remains inconsistent and space agency employees are given little guidance on its use, according to a new report from the NASA Inspector General. Spotty use of the metric system has proven disastrous for NASA in the past - the loss of its $125 million Mars Climate Orbiter was blamed on a mixup over metric and English units that likely put the craft in a doomed orbit (DAILY, Oct. 1, 1999).
AIR 2000 intends to acquire up to eight 757-200s, confirming that Boeing will benefit from an expected 3% to 5% annual growth in the European leisure travel market, the company told Aerospace Daily affiliate Aviation Daily. "We believe the recent consolidation of the European travel industry will be a positive thing for us," said Drew Magill, regional director of marketing for Boeing.
BFGoodrich said it has delivered the 50th Super 27 re-engining kit and with an orderbook for 61 aircraft, the program now has more commitments than any other commercial jet aircraft re-engining program with the exception of the DC-8-70. The program extends the life of 727-200s with new nacelles and engines from BFGoodrich Aerostructures and Pratt&Whitney.
The U.S. Air Force is trying to figure out whether it would make sense to replace several of its intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) aircraft with one multi-mission platform, according to Air Force Gen. John Jumper, commander of Air Combat Command.
Space shuttle Discovery and seven astronauts thundered into orbit yesterday morning on an historic mission to conduct the first crew exchange for the International Space Station Alpha. The flawless, on-time liftoff of STS-102 at 6:42 a.m. Eastern Standard Time came as Alpha soared over the South Pacific ocean about 1,000 miles south of Perth, Australia, Aerospace Daily affiliate AviationNow.com reported.
Boeing has shuffled the leadership of its Satellite Systems division, which the Seattle-based aerospace giant bought from Hughes Electronics last year in a $3.75 billion deal, Aerospace Daily affiliate AviationNow.com reported. Tig Krekel, president of Boeing Satellite Systems, and Joe DeSarla, the division's executive vice president, are leaving the company "to pursue other opportunities," Boeing said in a release.
A recently completed technical evaluation of the Navy's Cooperative Engagement Capability (CEC) shows it is on track to a successful operational evaluation in April and May of this year, the Navy has announced. The CEC system is intended to provide the capability for a warship to cooperatively engage targets by using data from other CEC-equipped ships, aircraft, and land-based sensors, even in a jamming environment, according to the Navy.
Rolls-Royce announced it has won a new engine business deal worth up to $125 million with U.K. leisure airline Air 2000 for a fleet renewal order of up to eight Boeing 757s. Rolls-Royce said four of the aircraft would be taken on operating lease from New York's CIT Aerospace Group, with deliveries scheduled to begin in spring 2003. Air 2000 had options on the other aircraft, which would be taken between 2003 and 2005. The RB211-535 engines currently power 16 Boeing 757s operated by Air 2000.
The Boeing Co. has formed a new organization focused on providing air-refueling tanker aircraft to military customers around the world, the company announced yesterday. The 767 Tanker Programs organization is part of the Boeing Military Aerospace Support business, which offers support products and services, including aircraft modifications. Bob Gower will lead the new organization as vice president, Boeing said. He most recently served as general manager of Navy Missile Programs for Boeing in St. Charles, Mo.
Lockheed Martin plans to remain in the race to produce a successor to NASA's aging space shuttle despite losing $356 million on the failed X-33 program. Once perceived the leading contender to replace the space shuttle, the X-33's cost-overruns and poor performance prompted NASA to cancel the Lockheed Martin program March 1. NASA instead pledged to spur technology for space travel through the $4.5 billion Space Launch Initiative, which seeks to develop a second-generation reusable launch vehicle by 2005.
Standard&Poor's has raised its ratings on Pacific Aerospace&Electronics, Inc. The company's ratings remain on CreditWatch with developing implications, which means they can be raised or lowered. The Wenatchee, Wash.-based manufacturer of metal and ceramic components and assemblies for aerospace and other industries has received about $13.8 million of financing from an institutional lender, and has issued a $13.8 million, 18% two-year senior secured note and common stock warrants.
Rep. Dave Weldon (R-Fla.), who cowrote a new law creating a commission to study the future of the aerospace industry, will be vice chair of the House Science space subcommittee in the 107th Congress, committee Chairman Sherwood Boehlert (R-N.Y.) announced Tuesday. Rep. Gil Gutknecht (R-Minn.) will be vice chair of the full committee, and Reps. Timothy Johnson (R-Ill.) and Felix Grucci (R-N.Y.) will have the same jobs on the research and technology subcommittees, respectively.
President Bush will nominate Pete Aldridge to be undersecretary of defense for Acquisition, Technology and Logistics, the White House has announced. He is currently the CEO of the Aerospace Corp. in Arlington, Va. Aldridge held the post of secretary of the Air Force from 1986 to 1988 and has held a variety of positions within the Dept. of Defense.
Gen. James L. Jones, Marine Corps Commandant, denied a report that the Corps is searching for potential alternatives to its troubled V-22 Osprey, the unique tiltrotor aircraft that has been plagued by crashes that killed 23 Marines in two crashes last year. "There has been no watershed event that has prompted me to ask for a search of options, or a study of alternatives to the Osprey, and I have not done so," Jones said in a statement released yesterday in response to a New York Times story.
ALLIANT TECHSYSTEMS INC.'S ratings have been removed from CreditWatch, where they had been placed Jan. 31, 2000, Standard&Poor's reported. The company's pending acquisition of Alcoa Inc.'s Thiokol Propulsion business should have no effect on its credit quality, Standard&Poor's said.
Recent U.S. overtures on missile defense are helping to ease European concerns about American plans to build such a system, NATO Secretary General Lord George Robertson said yesterday. Those overtures include the Bush Administration's pledge to build a system that protects American allies as well as the U.S., and the Clinton and Bush Administration's commitment to close consultations with NATO allies on missile defense, Robertson said during an American Enterprise Institute forum on trans-Atlantic relations.
