NASA Administrator Daniel S. Goldin, who was picked by former President Bush for the top job at the space agency in 1992, will continue in that post for now until the newly inaugurated President George W. Bush can name a successor. Sources said Friday the incoming Administration asked Goldin to stay on temporarily and he agreed. However, the agency withheld a formal announcement until this week. Other political appointees at the space agency checked out of their jobs on Friday.
The Defense Dept.'s acquisition process for aircraft and other weapons remains too slow and costly despite many efforts at reform, the General Accounting Office wrote in a new report.
A power failure aboard Russia's Mir space station forced a delay in yesterday's planned launch of a Progress supply vehicle with fuel to deorbit the 15-year-old station, but a top official said the problem can be fixed without sending a rescue crew into orbit. The failure, which controllers at Mission Control Center-Moscow attributed to Mir's aging batteries, knocked out the station's gyrodynes and central computers, rendering it unstable for an automatic docking with Progress M1-5, according to press reports from Moscow.
Lockheed Martin has opened a center in Crystal City, Va., to demonstrate the benefits of increased interoperability. The center's first exercise, in mid-December, showed how mobile ground targets can be detected and destroyed in a simulated "system of systems" environment, the company said.
The first prototype T-50 prototype advanced trainer/light combat aircraft has entered final assembly, and a ceremony celebrating the milestone took place Jan. 15 at Korea Aerospace Industries' plant in Sachon, South Korea, according to KAI and Lockheed Martin, which are cooperating in the effort.
BEALE AFB, Marysville, Calif., has been chosen to be the home of the Global Hawk UAV, Pentagon sources told The DAILY late yesterday. The Air Force is expected to make an announcement today about the developmental reconnaissance aircraft.
Keith Hall, director of the National Reconnaissance Office and assistant secretary of the Air Force for Space, has been asked by the incoming Bush Administration to retain the positions and he has agreed to do so, The DAILY has learned. Keeping Hall, who has served in the positions since 1997, will provide some continuity in Defense Dept. personnel as the new Administration comes in, and will also mean a new Senate confirmation is not required.
Last year was the strongest year ever for aerospace mergers and acquisitions, according to a new year-end review published by the newsletter and database service Defense Mergers&Acquisitions. Worldwide defense and aerospace companies announced or completed deals worth nearly $85 billion last year, much higher than 1999's previous record of $64 billion. This year could break records as well, as $50 billion of those deals are set to close in 2001, according to the review. Following is the database service's list of the top 25 mergers and acquisitions in 2000.
The Royal Air Force in coming years plans to acquire 336 aircraft, according to a U.K. defense official. Lewis Moonie, under secretary of state for defense, said this week in response to questions from Parliament that the plans include 232 Eurofighters, 23 C-130J transports, 25 A400M transports, 5 modified Global Express jets to carry airborne standoff radar, 21 maritime patrol Nimrod MRA.4s, 22 EH101 Merlin HC.3 helicopters and 8 Boeing Chinook HC.3 support helicopters.
SENATE FOREIGN RELATIONS COMMITTEE yesterday gave voice-vote approval to President-elect George W. Bush's selection of Colin Powell to be secretary of state. Powell received praise from senators in both parties at his confirmation hearing Wednesday. The full Senate is expected to confirm Powell Saturday, after Bush takes the oath of office.
NASA's Office of Earth Science is applying Microwave/Millimeter Wave Monolithic Integrated Circuit (MMIC) technology to a new spaceborne weather instrument in hopes of improving the accuracy of weather forecasts while cutting the cost of building the hardware.
The commanding officer of Marine Tilt-Rotor Training Squadron-204 has been relieved of his command under an investigation of allegations that he told Marines to falsify maintenance records on the squadron's eight MV-22 Ospreys. Lt. Col. O. Fred Leberman was relieved yesterday by 2nd Marine Air Wing chief Maj. Gen. Dennis Krupp when the Marine Corps Inspector General, Brig. Gen. Timothy F. Ghormley, arrived with a team of eight to investigate allegations in an anonymous letter and audio tape mailed to the Office of the Secretary of the Navy on Jan. 12.
A program to demonstrate structures technology for very large airframes of 25 to 60 tons is the subject of a request for information from the U.S. Army's Aviation Applied Technology Directorate.
The F-22 program has received an additional release of $43 million in advance procurement funds for 13 Lot 2 aircraft. The funds will take the program through the remainder of January, as previous Lot 2 advance procurement funds expired yesterday. Air Force sources said plans are to continue to release funding on a month-by-month basis until the Defense Acquisition Board (DAB) meets and low rate initial production (LRIP) is approved. To date, there has been no rescheduling of the DAB since its meeting date of Jan.
Air France yesterday ferried a Concorde from Paris to Istres in southern France for taxi tests that authorities hope will help pave the way for the supersonic airliner's return to service. The flight was the first Concorde departure from Paris Charles de Gaulle since last summer's crash of an Air France Concorde that left 113 dead and led to the grounding of the type.
WALTER KROSS, a retired Air Force four-star general, has been named president and CEO of Flight Explorer, a new spin-off company owned by information technology company Dimensions International, Inc. Kross headed the U.S. Transportation Command during the Persian Gulf War, directing the largest transportation operation since World War II. Flight Explorer is an aircraft situation display and is the flagship product of the new company.
Textron Systems' pre-planned product improvement (P3I) program Sensor Fuzed Weapon (SFW) has been granted approval for full rate production by Lawrence Delaney, U.S. Air Force Assistant Secretary of Acquisition. The SFW completed five P3I milestones to achieve the positive production decision on Jan. 11: operational effectiveness, operational utility, production readiness, meeting cost goals, and the demonstrated capability to integrate the BLU-108 submunition into the Joint Standoff Weapon carrier vehicle.
XM SATELLITE RADIO has signed an agreement with Sears&Roebuck Co. to place its S-band digitial audio radios in more than 2,200 Sears stores nationwide. Once XM launches its 100-channel pay-radio service this summer, Sears will offer specialized XM radios and related service for cars initially. XM Satellite Radio has also signed retail agreements with Circuit City Stores Inc., and Best Buy Co. Inc.
Boeing yesterday reported its fourth quarter 2000 earnings rose 32% over the same 1999 period, to $877 million, excluding non-recurring items, as operating margins reached 9.3%, up 46%. Fourth quarter revenue dipped 3.3% to $14.7 billion. Earnings per share rose 36% to $1.01. Boeing predicted commercial aircraft deliveries will remain flat over the next two years, offset by production in its military and space divisions and increases in production efficiencies.
ROTARY ROCKET has paid its tax debt to Kern County, Calif., avoiding auction of property housed at the Mojave Airport that includes its low-altitude test vehicle. The county government seized the property and moved to sell it to settle a $55,917.48 tax bill that the company had not paid (DAILY, Jan. 3).
Sen. John Warner (R-Va.) said he plans to work with the incoming Bush Administration to implement organizational changes recommended last week by the congressionally chartered Space Commission. Warner, who will chair the Senate Armed Services Committee when George W. Bush becomes president Saturday, said the commission's recommendations would strengthen national security space management.
The U.S. should aggressively develop a National Missile Defense even if North Korea agrees to stop developing long-range missiles and cease exporting missile technology to Iran and other countries, Secretary of State-designate Colin Powell told the Senate Foreign Relations Committee during his confirmation hearing yesterday.
DCH TECHNOLOGY INC. of Valencia, Calif., has been picked to develop a new hydrogen sensor for the U.S. Space Shuttle fleet and X-33 suborbital testbed, working through a contract between NASA and Shape Change Technologies LLC. The company's patented "Robust Hydrogen Sensor" will be used to detect leaks in new seal systems developed by Shape Change. The sensor combines thin-film technology and an integrated circuit to detect data and communicate it to control devices or human operators.
SPAIN'S FLEET of five P-3B aircraft will be updated by EADS/CASA under a 109 million euro contract. The first updated Orion is slated for delivery by the end of September 2003, EADS said. The contract represents the culmination of the EADS/CASA effort, underway since 1995, to develop the Mission System for the P-3B. It is also a step in the consolidation of this line of business for CASA, which leads maritime patrol/anti-submarine warfare programs within EADS. The Military Transport Aircraft Div. will head this program.
