MICHAEL J. BUTCHKO JR., president of Space Gateway Support, will chair this year's 38th Space Congress, scheduled for May 1-4 at Cape Canaveral, Fla. Butchko, a retired AF major general, became president of Space Gateway Support in Sept. 2000. The company is responsible for operating the Joint Base Operations Support Contract at the Kennedy Space Center, the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, portions of Patrick AFB, Fla., and other support contracts.
A broad-based industry coalition is polling its members to determine how to move forward with issues that were not sorted out last week by a committee of the International Civil Aviation Organization. ICAO's Committee on Aviation Environmental Protection (CAEP) recommended that aircraft engine noise be lowered by 10 decibels from the current Chapter 3 international noise rules for newly certified aircraft (DAILY, Jan. 19).
United Defense, L. P., Armament Systems Division, Minneapolis, Minn., is being awarded a $6,726,839 modification to previously awarded firm-fixed-price contract N00024-99-C-5206 for the procurement of seven MK 63 Mod 1 Weathershields, with options for an additional six shields. The MK 63 Mod 1 Weathershield provides all-weather protection for the 5"/62 caliber MK 45 Mod 4 naval gun. If the options are exercised, it will bring the total cumulative value of this contract to $12,492,701. Work will be performed in Minneapolis, Minn. (60%) and Louisville, Ky.
The B. F. Goodrich Aerospace, Aircraft Integrated Systems, Vergennes, Vt., is being awarded a $5,790,140 firm-fixed-price commercial contract for 20 Low Rate Initial Production Integrated Mechanical Diagnostics system kits for installation into the Navy/Marine Corps H-53 helicopters. Work will be performed in Vergennes, Vt., and is expected to be completed by September 2001. Contract funds will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. This contract was not competitively procured.
Lockheed Martin Corp., Marietta, Ga., has been awarded a $40 million contract to provide for one month (January 2001) advanced procurement in support of low rate initial production (LRIP) of 13 F-22 aircraft and associated equipment (Lot 2), the Pentagon announced. The work will be performed at The Boeing Co., Seattle, Wash., Lockheed Martin, Ft. Worth, Texas and other locations. Aeronautical Systems Center, Wright-Patterson AFB, Ohio, issued the contract. (See related story page 119.)
Lockheed Martin Corp., Ft. Worth, Texas, is being awarded a $5,168,717 modification to a firm-fixed-price contract to provide for adjustment of the unit price for 44 F-16 aircraft based on the production rate clause in the contract. This clause allows for adjustment in the unit price of the aircraft based on the rate of aircraft production over the period January 2001 through March 2002. This effort supports foreign military sales to Egypt. The work is expected to be completed December 2003.
Ball Aerospace&Technologies Corporation of Boulder, Colorado is being awarded a $62,520,444 cost-plus-award-fee contract for systems engineering and integration and management support for the Russian American Observation Satellites (RAMOS) program in the areas of sensor technology, prototype elements, systems and subsystems, and experimentation efforts for sensor technology developments. Work will be performed at Boulder, Colo. and Moscow, Russia and is expected to be completed in June 2010. Contract funds will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year.
McDonnell Douglas Corp., St. Louis, Mo., is being awarded an $11,300,000 firm-fixed-price contract to provide for the following in support of upgrade of the Programmable Armament Control Set (PACS) for the F-15E aircraft: five PACS retrofit kits, five PACS line replaceable units (one Converter-Processor and four Electronics Sequencing Units), five spare umbilical sets; three kits to upgrade support equipment, non-recurring engineering, and associated technical orders, data and warranty. The work will be performed at McDonnell Douglas, St.
Raytheon/Lockheed Martin Javelin Joint Venture, Tucson, Ariz., is being awarded $4,739,293 as part of a $5,064,744 cost-plus-award-fee contract for fiscal year 2001 to 2003 engineering services for the Javelin missile system. Work will be performed in Tucson, Ariz. (56.1%) and Orlando, Fla. (43.9%), and is expected to be completed by Jan. 16, 2004. Contract funds will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. This is a sole source contract initiated on June 20, 2000. The U.S.
Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman John Warner (R-Va.) said his panel will conduct its own investigation of the Oct. 12 terrorist attack on the USS Cole guided missile destroyer in Yemen. Warner said such investigations are a committee tradition and that he will launch the Cole review quickly.
Astec Helicopter Services of Stavanger, Norway, and Volvo Aero Corp. of Trollhattan, Sweden, have signed an agreement in principle aimed at establishing a joint company to repair and overhaul helicopter engines.
F-15 BOOSTER: House Minority Leader Dick Gephardt (D-Mo.) encouraged South Korean President Kim Dae Jung to buy St. Louis-made F-15s during a trip about two weeks ago to the Asian country, Gephardt spokeswoman Sue Harvey told The DAILY yesterday. Harvey said South Korea plans to buy 40 fighters and that the F-15 is one of the aircraft it's considering.
The Lockheed Martin Missiles and Fire Control, Orlando, Fla., Joint Air-to-Surface Standoff Missile (JASSM) completed its first development test at White Sands Missile Range, N.M., Friday, marking the first of eight contractor development test and evaluation (CDT&E) flights as part of the weapon's engineering and manufacturing development (EMD) phase.
Space Imaging said it has been awarded a license by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) to operate a commercial remote sensing spacecraft capable of providing half-meter resolution imagery of the Earth. The license is dated Dec. 6, 2000. The Denver company is defining technical specifications for the new satellite, and anticipates launch in 2004.
With Space Shuttle Atlantis waiting to be rolled back to the launch pad, technicians on Monday began reviewing the results of X-rays of critical booster cables that earlier had not been inspected. The 36 cables, which relay power and commands throughout the twin solid rocket boosters, were X-rayed and tested for their electrical conductivity over the weekend inside the Vehicle Assembly Building at Florida's Kennedy Space Center.
Senate Armed Services Committee member John McCain (R-Ariz.) has urged incoming Pentagon chief Donald Rumsfeld to resist spending that the Defense Dept. doesn't request but that members of Congress attach to defense bills to satisfy industry interests back home. McCain said such "unrequested add-ons" in the defense appropriations process have risen from about $200 million to $300 million a year when Rumsfeld was defense secretary in the 1970s to about $6 billion to $7 billion today.
Last week's release of $43 million of advance procurement funds for 13 Lot 2 F-22 aircraft did not require congressional approval, outgoing Secretary of the Air Force F. Whitten Peters told The DAILY.
Northrop Grumman Corp. announced the appointment of two executives in the Air Combat Systems business area of its Integrated Systems Sector. Charles B. Wands has been appointed vice president-business management and chief financial officer, and Paul K. Meyer has been named vice president-business and advanced systems development. Wands previously served as director-business management and CFO for ACS' Unmanned Systems integrated product team. He replaces Lance G. Newquist, who was recently appointed sector VP-business management for ISS.
DynCorp Information Systems, LLC, Chantilly, VA was awarded a fixed price letter contract on Dec. 21, 1999. Definitization was completed today for a total value of $29,000,000. The requirement is for the Defense Message System (DMS) Transition Hub (DTH). Contract life is for a one-year base period with four one-year options. DynCorp Information Systems LLC, a large business, will provide services in support of the legacy messaging systems operation as well as transitional message interface with DMS users.
Bell-Boeing Joint Project Office, Patuxent River, Md., is being awarded a $14,683,138 modification to a previously awarded cost-plus-incentive-fee contract (N00019-99-C-1090) for the design, development, manufacture, installation and testing of a CV-22 aircraft Flight Training Device (CV-FTD#1) for the U.S. Air Force. Work will be performed in Fort Worth, Texas (92.4%) and Ridley Park, Pa. (7.6%), and is expected to be completed by May 2003. Contract funds will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year.
Senate Banking Committee Chairman Phil Gramm (R-Tex.) said yesterday that he plans to do comprehensive rewrites of the Defense Production Act and the law authorizing the U.S. Export-Import Bank. Both laws will expire at the end of September. The DPA shields defense contractors from lawsuits if the Pentagon gets priority over other customers due to pressing defense needs. It also allows the use of loans and other incentives to create domestic production capacity for vital defense needs.
The U.S. Navy has warned that it may have to cut 12 aircraft and one ship in fiscal 2001 if Congress and the new Administration don't approve supplemental spending for "urgent shortfalls" in other areas. A Navy "information paper" said that a FY '01 supplemental appropriations bill "could provide these crucial resources and thereby preserve our critical investment accounts."
A Defense Meteorological Satellite Program weather satellite is expected to be launched today from Vandenberg AFB, Calif., after undergoing two launch delays over the weekend due to equipment problems. "We expect it to go off tomorrow morning without a hitch," Vandendberg AFB Staff Sgt. Rebecca Bonilla said yesterday.
Dreamtime, the Silicon Valley startup that has pledged $100 million to NASA to wire the International Space Station for high-definition television and digitize the agency's archives, has completed its first round of financing with a European investment fund, and is nearing a decision on which HDTV camera to buy, according to the company's chief executive. Bill Foster said Friday Dreamtime raised "multiple millions" with the European fund, while declining to specify just how much.
Three separate military investigations are keeping the Bell Boeing MV-22 tiltrotor aircraft program under close scrutiny, while a program insider says the U.S. Marine Corps has gone to far in trying to save the program at any price.
