THOMPSON VALVES FC has received an order from SNECMA Moteur to supply cryogenic electrovalves for the third stage engines of the Ariane 5 space launch vehicle. The order for 10 flight sets will be Thompson Valves' first Ariane 5 job, although the electrovalves have been used on more than 100 Ariane launches in the engine fuel control and attitude and control systems on the third stage.
INDIAN SPACE RESEARCH ORGANIZATION (ISRO) plans to launch its Geostationary Satellite Launch Vehicle (GSLV) for the first time next month, setting the stage for commercial launches of geostationary satellites weighing as much as two tons. Krishnaswamy Kasturirangan, head of the ISRO, told reporters in Bangalore the vehicle ultimately will be able to offer launch services at a cost about 25% lower than available elsewhere. The first flight, from Sriharikota on the Bay of Bengal, will be a test to gauge the reliability of the GSLV, according to Kasturirangan.
The U.S. Navy has selected BAE Systems Helicopter TERPROM terrain navigation and ground proximity warning system for flight demonstration onboard Navy helicopters. The trials, taking place at the Naval Air Systems Command at Patuxent River, Md., on a SH-60B Seahawk trials platform, will continue until mid-2001.
Boeing Co. recently flight tested an advanced third-generation forward-looking infrared (FLIR) targeting pod on an F-15E, the company announced yesterday. The company said the test demonstrates the airplane's capacity to accept a new system without time-consuming modifications. During two flights in December on an F-15E1, a Boeing test pilot and a weapon systems operator validated the basic functional operation of the Northrop Grumman Litening II pod and the pod's interoperability with aircraft sensors and avionics.
Newly installed House Science Committee Chairman Sherwood Boehlert (R-N.Y.) pledged Tuesday to scrutinize a proposed federal safety rule that a Boeing Co. representative said could hurt the competitiveness of the U.S. commercial space launch industry. Speaking at the Federal Aviation Administration's fourth annual Commercial Space Transportation Forecast Conference in Arlington, Va., Boehlert said he wants to make sure the FAA-proposed rule doesn't unnecessarily reduce the industry's competitiveness.
Pacific Aerospace&Electronics Inc. announced Monday it has received a commitment letter from an institutional lender to provide $15 million in financing, which the company plans to use to refinance its credit lines in the U.S. and U.K., to pay a $3.6 million interest payment on its outstanding senior subordinated notes that was due on Feb. 1 and to provide working capital.
Lockheed Martin, Management and Data Systems, Philadelphia, Pa., is being awarded a $60,200,000 modification to previously awarded cost-plus-award-fee contract N00019-99-C-0049. This modification provides for the design and development of three full and two partial engineering development models, including modification kits, of the Tactical Tomahawk Weapons Control System/Land Attack Missile Fire Control System/Naval Fires Control System. Work will be performed in Valley Forge, Pa. (51%); San Diego, Calif. (15%); Arlington, Va. (14%); Dahlgren, Va. (13%); Moorestown, N.J.
The Senate Commerce Committee announced last week it has chosen new chairmen for two aerospace-related subcommittees: Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison (R-Texas) for aviation and Sen. Sam Brownback (R-Kan.) for space. Hutchison replaces Sen. Slade Gorton (R-Wash.), who lost re-election last year, while Sen. Sam Brownback (R-Kan.) succeeds Sen. Bill Frist (R-Tenn.), who left Commerce. Sen. John Rockefeller (D-W.Va.) remains ranking Democrat on aviation, while Sen. John Breaux (D-La.) keeps the same position on space.
The crash of a U.S. Marine Corps AV-8B Harrier on Feb. 3 marks the 14th fatality and the 48th of the jump jets destroyed in a flying accident over the last decade. The accident Saturday involved a two-seat TAV-8B trainer version, which crashed during landing at about 4 p.m. local time at Marine Corps Air Station Cherry Point, N.C. The accident claimed the lives of back seat instructor Maj. Todd S. Denson, Marine Attack Training Squadron 203, of Seymour Sevier, Tenn., and student pilot Capt. Jason K. Meiners, VMAT-203, of Avon Lake, Ohio.
Raytheon Company, Tucson, Ariz., is being awarded a $30,180,408 Cost-plus-award-fee/incentive-fee contract for engineering and manufacturing development of a MK 45 MOD 12/14 Target Detecting Device (TDD) under the Standard Missile-2 (SM-2) program. Work will be performed in Tucson, Ariz., and is expected to be completed by September 2003. Contract funds will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. This contract was not competitively procured. The Naval Sea Systems Command, Arlington, Va., is the contracting activity (N00024-01-C-5384).
Tenzing Communications, Inc., announced an agreement with Hughes Global Services to offer global inflight broadband communications services to allow passengers to send and receive email and browse the Internet at speeds up to several megabits per second. Tenzing is a global communications provider and Hughes provides end-to-end satellite communications services to companies worldwide.
The U.S. Air Force's F-22 completed the first flight of Raptor No. 4006 Monday, its final congressionally mandated criteria required before the Pentagon will schedule a Defense Acquisition Board (DAB) meeting to decide whether the program is ready to enter low rate initial production (LRIP).
EchoStar Communications Corp. has bought two geostationary satellite launches from International Launch Services, one on an Atlas III and one on a Proton K. The deal announced yesterday also includes options for other launches, according to both parties. ILS has launched four EchoStar communications satellites on Atlas or Proton rockets to date, according to the joint venture of Lockheed Martin Commercial Launch Services and Lockheed Khrunichev Energia International.
President George W. Bush announced yesterday that Paul Wolfowitz, undersecretary of defense for policy in the first Bush Administration, is his choice to be the No. 2 official at the Defense Dept. John Douglass, president and CEO of the Aerospace Industries Association, praised the nomination, saying Wolfowitz is a policy expert and government veteran who will hit the ground running as deputy secretary of defense.
TRW Space and Electronics Group, Redondo Beach, Calif., and Lockheed Martin Space Systems Co., Sunnyvale, Calif., are each being awarded $25,600,000 modifications to firm-fixed-price contracts. This will provide a total system Preliminary Design Review as part of the program definition and risk reduction effort supporting the National Polar-orbiting Operational Environmental Satellite System (NPOESS). The NPOESS program is a joint DoD-DoC-NASA endeavor. The work is expected to be completed December 2002.
Raytheon Co., Tucson, Ariz., was awarded on Jan. 26, 2001, a $44,707,518 letter contract to be definitized as firm-fixed-price, with a not-to-exceed cumulative total of $89,415,036. This procurement is for 1,007 Stinger Block I Missiles and associated system hardware. Work will be performed in Tucson, Ariz. (60%); Farmington, N.M. (20%), and at various locations outside of the continental United States (20%), and is expected to be completed by Jan. 31, 2004. Contract funds will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year.
A second hypersonic X-43A research vehicle has now arrived for final pre-flight processing at NASA's Dryden Flight Research Center in Edwards, Calif., after the first vehicle was successfully mated to the Pegasus rocket booster last month. The second vehicle arrived at Dryden on Jan. 31, NASA announced yesterday. The first vehicle was mated to the Pegasus booster on Jan. 10, and its flight is currently slated for early summer.
Engineers at NASA's Stennis Space Center are preparing to hot-fire two big new rocket engines that could play a major role in space transportation in the coming decade, putting each through their paces in configurations something like they will see in flight.
McDonnell Douglas Corp., a wholly owned subsidiary of the Boeing Company, St. Louis, Mo., is being awarded a $35,304,098 modification to definitize a previously awarded advance acquisition contract (N00019-00-C-0363) to a firm fixed price contract. This modification provides for the remanufacture of two Spanish AV-8B aircraft from the day attack configuration to the radar attack configuration under the Foreign Military Sales Program. Work will be performed in St. Louis, Mo. (63%), and Brough, England (37%), and is expected to be completed in July 2003.
Saturday marked the completion of the flight test program for Boeing's X-32A concept demonstrator Joint Strike Fighter, when the aircraft landed at Palmdale, Calif. at the end of its 66th flight. The X-32A, fulfilling both Boeing's conventional takeoff and landing (CTOL) and well as carrier variant (CV) requirements, has a total of 50.4 flight hours in the test program since its first flight on Sept. 18 of last year.
The first photographs of China's Chengdu J-10 single-seat multi-role combat aircraft to be posted on the Internet show, not unexpectedly, a close similarity with Israel's abandoned Lavi fighter. The J-10 has been under development with Israeli assistance since the late 1980s.
The Pentagon announced the selection of 14 new Advanced Concept Technology Demonstration (ACTD) projects for fiscal 2001, several of which involve computer networking capabilities. The ACTD program is designed to decrease the acquisition cycle time and rapidly field advanced technology systems. Representatives of the services and unified commanders reviewed a list of 60 proposals and provided their priorities to the Joint Requirements Oversight Council (JROC), in an effort to marry new operational concepts with new technologies as ACTD projects.
BAE SYSTEMS has delivered the first production Directional Infra Red Countermeasures (DIRCM) anti-missile protection turret, the company announced yesterday. The system is being fitted to transport aircraft and helicopters in service with American and British armed forces and will protect the aircraft from infra red heat-seeking missiles by jamming the seeker. DIRCM is a collaborative program involving BAE Systems and Northrop Grumman.
Sikorsky Aircraft Corp., Stratford, Conn., is being awarded a $211,864,735 modification as part of firm-fixed-price contract DAAJ09-97-C-0005, to exercise the option for 24 UH-60L Black Hawk helicopters for Israel. Work will be performed in Stratford, Conn., and is expected to be completed by Dec. 31, 2003. Contract funds will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. This is a sole source contract initiated on Jan. 24, 2001. The U.S. Army Aviation&Missile Command, Redstone Arsenal, Ala., is the contracting activity.
