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.
Sikorsky Aircraft Corp., Stratford, Conn., is being awarded a not-to-exceed $24,300,000 modification to firm-fixed-price contract DAAJ09-97-C-0005. The contractor will provide, on behalf of the State Department, maintenance and equipment support for the UH-60 Black Hawk aircraft in support of the Colombian Army and Colombian National Police. Work will be performed in Stratford, Conn., and is expected to be completed by Dec. 31, 2001. Contract funds will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. This is a sole source contract initiated on Jan. 8, 2001. The U.S.
The Gripen fighter team of Saab Aerospace and BAE Systems yesterday submitted its response to the Austrian government's request for information on new fighter aircraft. The companies said their response is based on the supply of up to 30 Gripens.
The Air Force is seeking $499.1 million in emergency funding for 15 weapon systems mainly to pay off old obligations and keep existing programs going rather than to pursue new or significantly expanded programs, a service official told The DAILY yesterday. "This is not about substantial growth," the official said.
Standard&Poor's has lowered its ratings on Pacific Aerospace&Electronics Inc. The ratings remain on CreditWatch, where they were listed with negative implications on Sep. 7, 2000. The company's corporate credit rating was downgraded from CCC to CCC minus, and its subordinated debt rating went from CC to C. "These are very low quality ratings. They are really just one level above default," said Martin Knoblowitz, a Standard&Poor's director.
JAPAN AIRLINES has ordered $350 million worth of GE engines to power 11 Boeing wide-body aircraft. JAL ordered GE90 engines to power eight Boeing 777-200ERs and CF6-80C2 engines for three Boeing 767-300ERs, following a technical review.
CENTER UNVEILING: Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala. plans to unveil the new Payload Operations Center for the Space Station on February 2, at a ceremony hosted by Marshall Center Director Arthur G. Stephenson and former astronaut Jan Davis, director of the Flight Projects Office that operates the POC. The center will serve as the hub for science commands and payload safety, receiving requests from Station science centers in Russia, Germany and Japan and routing them to the station via Mission Control Center-Houston.
ANTE UP: Following a $2 billion commitment by the United Kingdom to the engineering, manufacturing and development phase of the Joint Strike Fighter program, program officials say other interested countries are expected to make similar investments soon, albeit in lesser amounts. JSF program officials say they are expecting Italy, considered a Tier 2 investor, to commit around $1 billion for EMD, but Pentagon sources tell The DAILY the amount may be as high as $1.5 billion. The investment should come in the next few weeks.
Fairchild Fasteners, a division of Fairchild Corp., said that Olivier Jarrault, senior vice president and vice chief operating officer of Fairchild Fasteners, has been named Fairchild Fasteners' chief operating officer, United States operations. Jarrault has been with Fairchild Fasteners since April 1996.
PROGRESS LAUNCH: Russia will try again Wednesday to launch the Progress capsule that will bring down the Mir orbital station to what officials hope will be an uneventful splashdown in the Pacific. Launch Wednesday would set up a docking with Mir on Saturday, provided the 15-year-old station remains stable enough for the automatic linkup. A power failure on Mir last week forced controllers to delay launching the Progress while they regained control of its target (DAILY, Jan. 19).
NASA remains at risk of unexpected cost increases on the International Space Station because its managers plan to continue the practice of making unnegotiated changes to Station contracts, the General Accounting Office has found.
The Air Force announced Friday it plans to send 18 Northrop Grumman Global Hawk unmanned aerial vehicles and almost 1,000 program personnel to Beale Air Force Base in Marysville, Calif., the first operating base for the high-altitude, 34-hour-endurance reconnaissance aircraft.
MISSION CONTROL: NASA's Mission Control Center-Houston (MCC-H) will soon be taking over control of the International Space Station from its counterpart in the suburbs of Moscow. Hardware to be delivered with the U.S. Laboratory Module "Destiny" on the upcoming STS-98 Space Shuttle mission will allow MCC-H to control the Station through NASA's Tracking and Data Relay Satellite System (TDRSS). Russia has been controlling the Station as it passes over ground stations on its national territory, but the TDRSS hookup will allow U.S.
The Indian Air Force is advocating formation of a "nuclear air command" that would include all the country's strategic resources. The IAF has taken the position because it says it is the only service that has the required delivery platforms. In a paper titled "Vision 2020," the IAF says the army might not need a nuclear arm because of the incongruity of tactical nuclear weapons in India's draft nuclear doctrine. It also says nuclear submarines are still "beyond the Indian navy's reach."
DOD REFORM: Rumsfeld says the Pentagon should become a better customer for the defense industry. Responding to complaints that the Defense Dept.'s procurement process is cumbersome, Rumsfeld says in recent testimony before the Senate Armed Services Committee that the U.S. government hasn't been a "good interactor" with the defense industry. "The last time I looked, the three top defense contractors in size, Boeing and Raytheon and Lockheed, had a market cap that was less than Wal-Mart," he says. "Now, why is that?
Lockheed Martin will provide 40 Consolidated Automated Support System (CASS) stations to the Navy under a contract modification worth about $63 million over three years, the company announced Friday. The equipment to be provided includes 20 hybrid and 20 radio frequency stations as well as various ancillary equipment and maintenance. CASS is the world's largest automated test support program and is the Navy's standard equipment used to test aircraft carrier avionics and in depots in the U.S.
The U.S. defense industrial base can be restructured to reduce risk and attract Wall Street portfolio managers who are willing to make big commitments, according to a new study being sent this week to the White House, Congress, industry managers and shareholders.
Defense analysts offered advice last week to President-elect George W. Bush about what weapons systems might be skipped or trimmed when his administration puts its stamp on defense spending. The three panelists, who spoke at the Washington headquarters of the libertarian Cato Institute, agreed that they really don't foresee any major military program changes in the next few years, but they offered suggestions anyway.
The two fatal crashes of MV-22 tiltrotor aircraft last year were not related to faulty maintenance or an attempt to cover up maintenance records, Marine officials said. "Based on all the information that we have, we see no relationship" between the allegations and the causes of the two previous mishaps, USMC Lt. Gen. Fred McCorkle, deputy commandant for aviation, told reporters at the Pentagon Friday. In fact, he said, an anonymous letter to the Dept. of the Navy "specifically states that this is not what caused the two mishaps."
POWER PROBLEM: Increases in overhead costs from the California power shortages are expected at Boeing, Lockheed Martin and Northrop Grumman. At Boeing's Long Beach plant, 717 and C-17 production lines are on track. Northrop Grumman has run into minor delays in production for the F/A-18E/F program, which was running ahead of schedule. Aerospace plants overall are using diesel generators for electricity, but most industrial facilities must pay a premium if they have to cut back on power and can't fully meet their contracts.
HO-HUM HORNET? The General Accounting Office remains unimpressed with the Navy's F/A-18E/F Super Hornet. The GAO writes in a report released last week - "Major Management Challenges and Program Risks: Department of Defense" (GAO-01-244) -that although the Super Hornet met key performance parameters, such as range and carrier suitability, the operational testers' comparisons of the F/A-18E/F to the F/A-18C showed that the Super Hornet didn't demonstrate superior operational performance.
HEARD IN THE HALLS: A variety of names have been mentioned in the halls of the Pentagon as possibilities to replace the departing service secretaries. The Air Force is said to be considering Thomas Cooper, GE Aircraft Engines' representative in Washington and assistant secretary of the AF in the late '70s and early '80s. The AF apparently is also considering Maj. Gen. Daniel James III of the Texas National Guard. Roger Staubach, Naval Academy graduate and former Dallas Cowboys quarterback, is said to remain a top contender for the post of Navy Secretary.
RAPTOR REVIEW: Does Rumsfeld still support the Air Force F-22? If he does, he isn't saying so publicly. The former and incoming defense secretary co-signed an April 1998 statement saying the fighter is essential to maintaining U.S. air superiority (DAILY, May 4, 1998).
A committee of the International Civil Aviation Organization this week issued a series of recommendations to reduce aircraft noise and exhaust emissions, including a noise standard 10 decibels lower than current international noise rules. U.S. airlines, airframe and engine makers had unanimously supported a standard that would cut noise by eight decibels from current standards for aircraft in production.
The outgoing Clinton Administration has promised Israel that it would be one of the first nations to acquire the F-22 fighter, assuming it becomes available. "Israel, if it so chooses, will be among the first if not the first foreign customer" for the Lockheed Martin fighter, President Clinton said in a letter to the government of Israel on Friday. The F-22 would help "protect and enhance your security," the letter said. It will be up to the Bush Administration to decide if production of the plane should proceed.
