KEY REPORT: The Hart-Rudman Commission, a federal advisory panel co-chaired by former Sens. Warren Rudman (R-N.H.) and Gary Hart (D-Colo.) and formally called the U.S. Commission on National Security in the 21st Century, plans to release the third of its three planned reports next month. The "Phase 3" report will recommend changes to the national security apparatus. The first report assessed the international security environment and the second proposed a security strategy.
ATLANTIC COAST AIRLINES HOLDINGS INC. has upped its order for Fairchild Dornier 328JETS, adding 32 jets for Atlantic Coast Airlines (ACA), its United Express operation. Options for the jets increased to 83 from 30, available to ACA or Atlantic Coast Jet (ACJet), the company's Delta Connection carrier. The value of the deal is now pegged at $1.75 billion, with a total of 145 328JETS on order or under option.
UPS Aviation Technologies said it will build the "world's first" GPS navigation receiver capable of using signals from the Wide Area Augmentation System (WAAS) for precision instrument approaches. The capability will benefit thousands of general aviation airports after its certification, expected later this year. The Salem, Ore., company said it has not yet determined if upgrading its existing GPS navigation system will be possible or whether the precision approach capability will be offered only in new products.
BAE Systems warned that its full-year performance results to be announced in March will reflect losses of 420 million pounds ($609 million), and that two of its major aircraft programs are involved. Following a profits-warning statement issued on Wednesday, BAE said that further personnel reductions would be inevitable in its staff of more than 100,000. Most of the reductions were expected to be among the 3,000 employees at the Brough factory in Yorkshire, where Hawk trainer production has slowed in the absence of anticipated new orders.
Exostar, the e-marketplace of BAE Systems, Boeing, Lockheed Martin and Raytheon, announced the appointment of Andy Plyler as president and CEO. Plyler, who has more than 15 years of aerospace, defense and airline experience, joins Exostar from PartsBase.com of Boca Raton, Fla., where he had been chief operating officer since May 2000. Before that, he was director, e-business, Aerospace Div., AlliedSignal (now Honeywell International).
The 93rd Air Control Wing at Robins AFB, Ga., recently took delivery of the U.S. Air Force's ninth E-8C Joint Surveillance Target Attack Radar System (Joint STARS) production aircraft, some seven weeks ahead of schedule.
The U.S. Army has awarded a $3 million development contract to Rockwell Collins for its Flight2 avionics architecture, which will be used in upgrading 150 special operations helicopters.
Rolls-Royce said that it has signed a $1 billion, ten-year maintenance support agreement with American Airlines for its fleet of RB211-535E4 aero engines, and that the work will be carried out at Texas Aero Engine Services Ltd. (TAESL), a joint venture between American and Rolls-Royce. The agreement involves the provision of comprehensive maintenance for American Airlines' current fleet of 102 Boeing 757s. Twenty-three more of the twin-engine airliners, due for delivery throughout this year and next, will also be covered by the agreement.
BAE Systems has won a $13.3 million contract option from Lockheed Martin Aeronautics Company to design and build two C-130J simulators for the U.S. Air Force. The Flight Simulation and Training unit of BAE Systems will manufacture a C-130J weapon systems trainer (WST) as well as an avionics systems management trainer (ASMT) under the program. Both are slated for delivery to Little Rock AFB, Ark., beginning in November 2003, the company said in announcing the award yesterday.
The Senate Armed Services Committee announced yesterday that it is getting seven new members in the new 107th Congress: two Republicans and five Democrats. The new Republican members are Sens. Jim Bunning (Ky.) and Susan Collins (Maine). The new Democrats are Sens. Daniel Akaka (Hawaii), Bill Nelson (Fla.), Ben Nelson (Neb.), Jean Carnahan (Mo.) and Mark Dayton (Minn.).
Defense Secretary-designate Donald Rumsfeld said yesterday that he favors an increase in defense spending, a broad review of aircraft modernization programs, an overhaul of the defense acquisition process to speed development of new weapons, and modernization of U.S. command, control, communication, intelligence and space capabilities.
While the Space Commission sees the U.S. Air Force as the appropriate service to handle the responsibilities of the nation's space assets for now, it also calls for immediate reform in coordination of management, and emphasizes that space should be established as a national security priority.
One factor in Defense Secretary-designate Donald H. Rumsfeld's preparation for his Senate Armed Services Committee confirmation hearing yesterday apparently was his Jan. 5 conversation at the Pentagon with outgoing Defense Secretary William S. Cohen, in which Cohen reviewed 48 different defense issues. Cohen, briefing reporters on Jan. 9, said that he first called Rumsfeld saying he was making up a list of 10 things he thought Rumsfeld should address, but by the time he finished, it had grown to 48.
Aerospace Hardware Exchange (AHX) yesterday launched its transactional website, www.AHXonline.com, intended to help companies reduce waste through the efficient management of their aerospace hardware transactions and inventories. AHX describes itself as the only neutral online marketplace dedicated exclusively to the buying, selling and overall management of aerospace hardware - fasteners, bearings, bushings, electrical components, connectors, mechanical seals, fittings, adaptors and other standard components.
Sen. Bob Smith (R-N.H.) believes the Space Commission report released yesterday points the way toward a Space Force separate from the Air Force, although the document stopped short of recommending that as the solution to advancing space interests in the near-term.
An F-16 fighter than has flown more than 22 years as an advanced technology test aircraft has completed its service, Lockheed Martin reported yesterday. The jet, serial number 75-0750, is best known for its work as the Advanced Fighter Technology Integration (AFTI)/F-16 technology demonstrator, a role it has filled since the early 1980s. Aircraft 750 flew its final flight on Jan. 9, from Fort Worth, Tex., where it was built, to Wright-Patterson AFB, Ohio, where it is scheduled to be retired and inducted into the Air Force Museum there.
Outgoing Secretary of Defense William S. Cohen yesterday released the third edition of a report addressing the growing threat from more than 25 countries that currently have or are in the process of acquiring or developing nuclear, biological and chemical (NBC) weapons and the means to deliver them.
The U.S. Army, as part of its overall transformation efforts to a lighter, more lethal and mobile force, is looking to the right mix of manned and unmanned platforms to perform a multitude of its roles in the future. Army transformation will be helped by "the synergy between manned and unmanned systems," Edward Bair, Army program executive officer for intelligence, electronic warfare and sensors (IEW&S) said Tuesday at a conference outside Washington.
In another move to put humans into space, China early Wednesday launched an unmanned Shenzhou 2 capsule atop a Long March 2F rocket, the Chinese Xinhua News Service reported. The launch from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in northwestern Gansu Province was China's second in a series of flights expected to lead to humans in space by 2005. The United States and Russia are the only nations with spacecraft capable of launching humans into orbit. China launched its first unmanned Shenzhou , or "God ship," 14 months ago.
CISCO SYSTEMS INC. announced the first active-duty military implementation of the Cisco Networking Academy Program. Scott AFB, Ill., it said, is one of the first of more than 90 Air Force Networking Training Centers (NTCs) worldwide that will be implementing the Networking Academy program by the end of October 2004.
European launch giant Arianespace last year suffered a loss of about $185 million - its first annual earnings loss in 20 years - despite a record 12 successful commercial launches, the French-led consortium announced Wednesday. The loss "is just due to several factors," said Jean-Marie Luton, Arianespace chairman and CEO. For one thing, Arianespace had to use two types of rockets for its commercial customers - the Ariane 4 for eight of its launches and the Ariane 5 for four others, he said.
Boeing's X-32B Joint Strike Fighter short takeoff vertical landing (STOVL) concept demonstrator completed initial low- and medium-speed taxi tests at Palmdale, Calif., on Monday afternoon, a key step as the aircraft prepares for first flight sometime this spring.
Sen. Olympia Snowe (R-Maine) announced yesterday that she is leaving the Senate Armed Services Committee and the chairmanship of the seapower subcommittee to take a seat on the powerful Senate Finance Committee. Senate rules prevent Snowe from sitting on both committees. She said she decided to take the Finance post only after it became clear that Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) would get a seat on Armed Services, where their home state would continue to have a voice on military issues.
Boeing Co. said it will launch a U.S. Air Force weather satellite aboard a Delta IV rocket in 2003. A Delta IV Medium vehicle will place a Defense Meteorological Satellite Program (DMSP) satellite in a near-polar, sun-synchronous orbit. The satellite, DMSP-17, will be launched from Vandenberg AFB, Calif., and is part of a 22-launch U.S. government manifest for payloads aboard Delta IV rockets.
Honeywell shareholders "overwhelmingly" blessed the company's proposed link-up with General Electric Co., with 74% of the outstanding shares voted in favor of the merger. Yesterday's vote pushes the two giants one step nearer to closing the deal, said Michael R. Bonsignore, Honeywell chairman and CEO, who will step down once the transaction is consummated.
