Allied Research Corp. said its MECAR S.A. defense unit will produce a dual-use mortar fuze for the U.S. Army under a newly exercised contract option. "We are pleased with the confidence the Army has placed in our ammunition," said Glenn Yarborough, president and CEO of the Vienna, Va.-based Allied Research. "I expect this activated option, for $847,300, will be one of several that will be picked up in the months ahead."
ITT Industries will supply its Single Channel Ground and Airborne Radio System (SINCGARS) to modernize the Saudi Arabian National Guard's tactical communications systems under a new $29 million deal. The contract covers the latest export model of the system, known as the Advanced Tactical Communication Systems (ATCS), which features better voice and data networking capabilities and is compatible with previously fielded SINCGARS systems. ATCS is useful for forward-deployed units because of its small size and GPS capability, ITT said.
Lockheed Martin's X-35C Joint Strike Fighter carrier variant (CV) is slated to make its first flight on Saturday morning, a company spokeswoman said. The flight, from Palmdale, Calif., to nearby Edwards AFB, will take about 30 minutes, she said.
MOOG INC. of East Aurora, N.Y. won a $7.5 million, long-term contract from U.S. Army Aviation and Missile Command in Redstone Arsenal, Ala., to provide pitch trim acuators for the Army's Black Hawk helicopters.
Postponements mount for the launch of Arianespace Flight 137, which will carry the Eurasiasat-1 satellite to orbit. The launch service contractor said yesterday that satellite builder Alcatel Space Industries requested payload checks that must be conducted in the S3 preparation building. Arianespace said a new launch date will be set early next week for liftoff with the satellite mounted atop an Ariane 4 rocket from the European spaceport near Kourou, French Guiana. Launch dates of Dec. 8 and Dec. 11 were scrubbed for "verifications."
Missile defense spending needs to be increased by several billion dollars a year to ensure the U.S. can deploy an effective system as soon as possible, the Center for Strategic and International Studies asserts in a one of several "Homeland Defense" reports released yesterday.
Hawker Pacific Aerospace finally turned in third quarter results, after a required independent accounting review was held up last month by a switch to a new accounting firm (DAILY, Nov. 27). The landing gear maintenance company lost $11.1 million, or $1.88 per share - compared to $518,000 or $0.09 a share a year earlier - mostly due to one-time hits.
TRW Inc. announced that David M. Cote, 48, now president and COO, will succeed Joseph T. Gorman, 63, as president and CEO. Cote's appointment becomes effective Feb. 1, 2001. Gorman will remain chairman and a member of the board until July 31, 2001, when he will retire from the company and both positions, TRW said. At that time, Cote will assume the title of chairman and CEO. Gorman, a 32-year veteran of the company, has served as chairman and CEO for the past 12 years.
China has a host of efforts underway to deny the use of space to potential enemies and exploit space for its military and civilian goals, according to Richard D. Fisher Jr., a senior fellow at the Jamestown Foundation. China's space-related modernization is part of a strategy to build "asymmetrical" capabilities against the U.S. and force Taiwan to accept unification on Beijing's terms, Fisher wrote in a paper released at the Center for Security Policy's conference on space power Monday.
Material Technologies Inc., a Los Angeles-based specialist in metal fatigue monitoring technologies, said it has won a $2 million U.S. Air Force contract to develop a system for military aircraft turbine engine assessment. The project is part of the AF's nondestructive on-wing capability of evaluating interior parts of engines. The contract is a follow-on to the Phase 4 Development Contract issued in February 1999 to the team of MATECH and the University of Pennsylvania.
Mexico needs to buy 360 new commercial airplanes, worth about $18 billion, over the next two decades, according to Boeing, which aims to snag the bulk of that business, maintaining its lead position in Latin American markets. "Latin America, and especially Mexico, is an extremely important region for Boeing," said Daniel da Silva, Boeing VP of sales for Latin America and the Caribbean. "Boeing is responsible for more than 75 percent of all airplane deliveries to Latin America since 1988."
Northrop Grumman's revenue growth will outpace that of its major competitors, like Lockheed Martin and Raytheon, if management's forecasts are on the ball, according to Prudential Securities defense analyst Todd Ernst. "Assuming that management meets its growth and margin objectives, the outlook is definitely [stronger than we expected]...," Ernst said in a review of Northrop Grumman's annual outlook.
ITT Industries, Defense Ltd. said it has won a contract from the U.K. Ministry of Defense to modernize military air traffic control radar systems. Under the Replacement Precision Approach Radar (RPAR) Program, ITT said it will replace most of the military air traffic control landing systems now in use in Great Britain and at other Royal Air Force sites. The contract could be worth up to $125 million if all options are exercised.
Spending on all defense programs except military personnel will be cut across the board by 0.22% or roughly $500 million as part of a deal negotiated between Congress and the White House on the remaining fiscal 2001 spending bills, sources told The DAILY yesterday. The $287.5 billion fiscal 2001 defense appropriations bill was signed into law earlier this year (DAILY, Aug. 11), but defense and non-defense programs are being cut now to keep a lid on total spending, sources said.
ASTRA 2D, a Boeing 376 HP spacecraft built for Societe Europeenne des Satellites (SES) of Luxembourg, is slated for launch on Dec. 19, Boeing Satellite Systems Inc. said yesterday. The satellite will be launched aboard an Ariane 5 rocket from the Guiana Space Center. The 43-minute launch window opens at 9:26 p.m. (4:26 p.m. PST; 12:26 a.m. Wednesday, Dec. 20, GMT).
After delays of more than eight years and around $435 million in wasted R&D, some progress was made late last week with the MOD's Bowman digitized battlefield communications system program. In competition with three other companies, the U.K.'s Marconi Mobile was nominated as preferred supplier for the personal role short-range tactical radio equipment element in this $2.46 billion British army requirement.
The Pentagon's Mobility Requirement Study will almost certainly show that the Air Force needs more airlift, Air Force Gen. Charles Robertson, commander of the Air Mobility Command, said Tuesday. The report, which was due out over the summer but which has been delayed, will show the airlift requirement of 49.7 million ton miles per day should be raised, Robertson said at a Defense Week conference on military airlift.
NEC Corporation and Toshiba Corporation are merging their space operations, in a move designed to bolster their competitiveness in international commercial space markets. "The unified business will enjoy increased resources, and offer superior space related systems and cost competitiveness," the two said in a prepared statement.
Boeing and Lockheed Martin are both exploring a possible dual-role tanker/cargo plane that could replace the U.S. Air Force's aging KC-135 tanker while helping alleviate the service's airlift shortage, representatives of the two companies said Tuesday and Wednesday. Both companies are trying to sell the Air Force on the idea, and a tanker requirement study the Defense Dept. is doing in addition to an airlift study (see related story) could move the issue along, company representatives said at a Defense Week conference on military airlift.
The U.S. aerospace industry will show modest growth in 2001 and probably 2002 and 2003, the head of the Aerospace Industries Association said yesterday. John W. Douglass, president and CEO of AIA, said that in 2000, orders for U.S. aerospace products increased 21%, signaling growth in the next couple of years. The industry generated $144 billion in sales this year, down $7.4 billion from last year's $151 billion, a record.
Boeing enjoyed a strong year in 2000 and has promising days ahead in expanding its products and market reach, but there's never time to relax, Phil Condit, the company's Chairman and CEO, said yesterday. "2000 has been a very exciting year. 2001, I believe, will be even more exciting," Condit predicted at a news conference in Seattle.
First flight of the fifth "Beluga" freighter was conducted at Toulouse, France, on Dec. 12. The last of the aircraft built by SATIC flew for four hours and five minutes. The crew consisted of Chief Test Pilot Lucien Besnard, Co-Pilot Didier Roncery and Flight Engineer Bruno Bigand. Delivery of the aircraft to Airbus Industrie is slated for later this month, half a year earlier than originally planned. Regular flights are slated to begin early next year.
A U.S. Army task force is trying to figure out how to accelerate removal of the remaining Bell AH-1 Cobra and UH-1 Huey attack helicopters from the Army National Guard and reserve fleets to cut operations and support (O&S) costs.
CAE Electronics of Montreal and OriginalSim, a specialist in e-engineering chains also based in Montreal, have teamed to pursue the Tactical Aviation Mission Systems Simulation (TAMSS) Technology Demonstration Program. One other company on the team is BAE Systems Canada of Kanata, Ontario.
The U.S. Navy decided Tuesday to delay a decision on full-rate production of the V-22 tiltrotor aircraft in the wake of the crash Monday night of a U.S. Marine Corps MV-22 Osprey that killed all four Marines aboard. "The Assistant Secretary of the Navy for Research, Development and Acquisition has decided to delay a decision on whether to proceed with full-rate production," said 1st Lt. David Nevers, a Headquarters Marine Corps spokesman.
