Lockheed Martin Corp. turned in higher than expected third quarter earnings, at $0.28 a share before recurring items, despite a 37% slip in operating earnings that was caused by lower shipments of F-16 fighters than the prior year. Wall Street's consensus for the quarter was $0.24 a share.
AirNewco and MyAircraft.com, two of the largest aerospace and aviation business-to-business (B2B) exchanges, are tying the knot, rolling up into one mega e-market even before they get their individual exchanges off the ground. AirNewco, whose founders include Air France, American Airlines, British Airways, Continental Airlines, Delta Air Lines, Iberia Airlines, SAirGroup, United Air Lines and United Parcel Service, was conceived last April in the hopes of using the e-world to streamline the aviation industry's supply chain.
Backed by a powerful group of lawmakers, Rep. David Vitter (R-La.) introduced a bill Tuesday that would direct the Ballistic Missile Defense Organization to design and deploy a land-based and sea-based National Missile Defense "as soon as technologically possible."
As NASA has struggled to maintain relevancy in the face of budget crunches, attrition and a dual-faceted trend toward space commercialization and globalization, the old dog has learned a few new tricks and has pieced together a blueprint for going after commercial ventures, according to a top agency official. "Commercialization, globalization and access to world markets were once terms to be avoided at all costs," Dan Tam, assistant to the administrator for commercialization, said Tuesday at the International Space Symposium in Washington.
The F-22 is on track to meets its exit criteria for the engineering and manufacturing development phase by the end of December in the "best case" and by January or February in the "worst case," Air Force Secretary F. Whitten Peters told reporters yesterday.
The Airbus A3XX will be launched early next year, Philippe Camus, Co-CEO of the European Aeronautic Defense and Space Company (EADS) told The DAILY here as the company reported financial results for the first half of 2000. Airbus has received 32 firm orders for the aircraft, and Camus said he expects additional orders to come in very soon. EADS reported first half earnings of 533 million euros and revenues of 10.6 billion euros.
Bell Helicopter Textron Chairman and CEO Terry Stinson said yesterday that the company is revamping its organizational structure and tweaking development and marketing efforts to address new market dynamics, namely what it sees as a swelling demand for tiltrotor aircraft.
Germany's Dornier, now part of the new European Defense and Space Company (EADS), has won a multi-million dollar contract from the Royal Thai Air Force (RTAF) to modify one of its six Alenia G.222 transports with a new radar for reconnaissance and surveillance.
An Ohio congressman has introduced a bill aimed at making Air Force science and technology programs a higher priority. The Air Force Science and Technology for the 21st Century Act, introduced last week by Rep. Tony Hall (D-Ohio), would set up a high-level Office of Air Force Research in the Office of the Air Force Secretary. Headed by a two-star general, the office would develop and implement Air Force science policy.
Clinton Administration officials and Senate Foreign Relations Committee ranking Democrat Joseph Biden (Del.) defended a controversial 1995 U.S.-Russian agreement during a congressional hearing yesterday, saying the pact has helped to sharply curb the flow of arms from Russia to Iran.
The Association of the United States Army (AUSA) capped its annual meeting by adopting a number of resolutions, including one calling for a boost to defense spending from its current 2.8% of Gross Domestic Product to 4.0%. AUSA's resolutions also called on officials to allocate a bigger piece of the defense pie to the Army, in order to support readiness and transformation efforts - shifting the Army's share of the budget to 28% from its present level of 25%.
Responsibilities for the Midcourse Space Experiment (MSX) satellite and associated ground support infrastructure were recently taken over by U.S. Air Force Space Command, Peterson AFB, Colo., from the Ballistic Missile Defense Organization. BMDO had been operating the deep space surveillance system since its launch in April 1996.
Pacific Aerospace&Electronics Inc. said it has received a contract from Textron Lycoming for about $2 million to manufacture cast aluminum engine components. "This is an important competitive win for Pacific Aerospace&Electronics, as it opens new markets for our casting technology,'' said Werner Hafelfinger, Vice President and COO. "We are proud to become a manufacturing partner with the Lycoming team and look forward to exercising our diverse manufacturing capabilities."
A successful first launch of an inert AIM-120 AMRAAM from an F-22 test aircraft on Tuesday completed another milestone mandated by Congress before money can be released for initial production of the new air superiority fighter.
AEROJET said it has received a $40.5 million U.S. Air Force contract for work on the Defense Support Program (DSP), the satellite-based system to detect and report missile launches, satellite launches and nuclear detonations. The contract was awarded to Aerojet's DSP Post Production Support (DPPS) and Shield Support team. In addition, Aerojet said, the Air Force negotiated contract extension options for DPPS efforts in 2002 and 2003 valued at $82 million.
A USAF investigator should recommend within two weeks whether to go ahead with a general court-martial against Capt. Darron A. Haughn - pilot of the C-130E that crashed in December killing three airmen and injuring seven others - following four days of special court-martial hearings last week at Little Rock AFB, Ark. Haughn, of the 61st Airlift Squadron, is charged with dereliction of duty and negligent homicide as a result of the Dec. 10 incident at Ahmed Al Jaber AB, Kuwait.
Boeing's X-32A Joint Strike Fighter concept demonstrator, having made an emergency landing on a dry lake bed at Edwards AFB, Calif., on Tuesday, was being checked out in a hangar at Edwards yesterday. It was the third flight of the day for the new plane. A Boeing spokesman said the jet should be flying again in "a couple of days."
The U.S. Air Force activated a Space Aggressor Squadron this week at the Space Warfare Center, Peterson AFB, Colo. The new unit is similar to the AF's airborne aggressor units that simulate enemy squadrons to train pilots and aircrews during Red Flag exercises at Nellis AFB, Nev. While Red Flag exposes aircrews to air, ground and space threats (DAILY, Sept. 27), the new squadron at Peterson is aimed primarily at the space arena. Its role is also to simulate potential adversaries, and try to inhibit U.S. and allied forces from using their space assets.
Major shortcomings in NATO performance and Britain's contribution to last year's Kosovo campaign were highlighted in the first volume of a detailed report by the all-party House of Commons Defense Committee, published on Tuesday. Introducing the report, Committee chairman Bruce George said the campaign dispelled the illusion that NATO could simply be used as an instrument of diplomacy. As the report pointed out, NATO was originally configured as a defensive organization to protect its members against all-out attack.
L-3 Communications boosted sales and net income for the third quarter by 34.5% and 39.3%, respectively, and turned in earnings per share of $0.69 versus $0.51 a share a year ago, easily outpacing analysts' estimates of $0.66 a share. The New York-based company's third quarter EPS benefited by a penny from the divestiture of its interest in a Turkish operation and "close to half a cent" in taxes during the quarter.
Rolls-Royce and Canada's CAE, extending an existing agreement, have teamed to compete for major U.K. naval projects. They will jointly offer an enhanced systems integration service on naval programs. CAE will provide the naval automation expertise for integration projects, and Rolls-Royce will provide the electric propulsion expertise.
Two companies are working under contracts from the Space and Naval Warfare Systems Command on modeling and simulation for the SPAWAR Naval Simulation System, or NSS. Metron Inc., of Reston, Va., and Rolands&Associates, of Monterey, Calif., were chosen for the work. Metron received $9.4 million and Rolands got $6.3 million.
Shortly after Lockheed Martin's Joint Strike Fighter X-35A made its first flight yesterday, Boeing's X-32A pilot declared an in-flight emergency and was diverted to one of the dry lake beds surrounding Edwards AFB, Calif., where the aircraft reportedly landed without incident. A cockpit light illuminated during the X-32A's third flight of the day, "indicating a potential loss of braking capability," and the pilot called the tower, which diverted him to one of the expansive dry lake beds, a Boeing spokesman said.
The U.S. Navy needs an extra $17 billion a year to carry out its modernization plans, according to a new Congressional Budget Office report released. While the Clinton Administration's 2001 Future Years Defense Program sets the Navy's average budget at $88 billion over the next five years, current plans for a 300-ship Navy will cost an inflation-adjusted $105 billion a year through 2020, CBO said.
Rockwell Collins, a unit of Rockwell International Corp., plans to spend about $300 million to acquire K Systems, Inc., the parent of Kaiser Aerospace and Electronics Corp., according to the terms of a definitive agreement.
