NASA's proposal to buy up to $24 million in Russian goods and services for the International Space Station came under fire yesterday from Republicans on the House International Relations Committee, who accused the agency of twisting the meaning of the Iran Nonproliferation Act (INA) to allow the purchase.
The Pentagon is giving the two largest and most costly new aircraft programs some wiggle room in meeting their requirements on time, Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition, Technology and Logistics, Jacques S. Gansler told reporters yesterday. The Dept. of Defense's acquisition chief said the down-select between competitors Boeing and Lockheed Martin for the Joint Strike Fighter contract now will likely take place this September, a slip of more than several months from the April or May timeframe originally planned by the JSF joint program office.
HOUSE-SENATE CONFEREES have reached agreement on a fiscal 2001 spending bill that provides $14.3 billion for NASA, $250 million above President Clinton's request and $683 million over fiscal 2000. The bill includes the $290 million that NASA proposed for its Space Launch Initiative, which was removed in the House. It also fully funds the request for Space Shuttle operations and the $420 million request for the Mission to Mars. It provides $2.114 billion for the International Space Station, $211 million below fiscal 2000.
NASA's Space Shuttle Discovery is scheduled to dock with the International Space Station this afternoon for a highly complex assembly mission that will feature four days of extravehicular activity (EVA) and leave the Station ready to receive its first crew early next month.
A $117 million initial public offering announced by MirCorp yesterday comes too late to save Russia's 14-year-old Mir space station from deorbiting next year, although some MirCorp contracts may be executed on Russia's side of the International Space Station, according to Energia Designer General Yuri P. Semyonov.
SAirGroup, the parent company of Swissair, will join nine of its airline peers in launching AirNewco, a business-to-business (B2B) exchange for the aviation industry. The 10 founding partners -- Air France, American Airlines, British Airways, Continental Airlines, Delta Air Lines, Iberia, Qantas Airways, SAirGroup, United Airlines and United Parcel Services, represent almost $50 billion in annual purchasing. Through AirNewco, the airline giants aim to help buyers and sellers cut costs and streamline inventories.
TradeAir.com, an electronic exchange trading real-time aviation parts, challenged the industry to create a more open environment by offering the company's transaction data, software and trading database to users free of charge. To bolster market-wide collaboration, TradeAir.com said it will freely license its TradeOmeter "market ticker" product, which lets users search for traded parts and most recent prices, under the assumption partners will reciprocate and distribute their data to all users.
This month, Dept. of Defense personnel will get to try out the "identification card of the future", a new common access card which employs "smart card" technology to store and process information on an integrated chip. "I applaud the fact this card gives our people a key technological tool to improve performance while protecting individual privacy," said Bernard Rostker, under secretary of defense for personnel and readiness.
Lockheed Martin has completed upgrades to the first of six U.S. Air Force tethered aerostat radar system (TARS) sites and has received the go-ahead to begin work at a second site, according to the company. The first site to have electronics equipment upgrades and aerostat replacement completed is at Deming, N.M. The service also has given Lockheed Martin the go-ahead to begin modernization activities at its Yuma, Ariz., TARS site, a Lockheed Martin spokesman told The DAILY.
TASC Inc., a unit of Litton Industries, won a $170 million two-year contract to handle systems engineering and technical assistance for enterprise networks, plus land- and space-based communications, for a U.S. government agency "This is a major competitive win for us," said James H. Frey, Litton senior VP and group executive of Litton Information Systems Group and president of Litton TASC.
The intelligence community is reshaping to face the technological threats of the future, particularly the challenges brought on by the revolution in information technology, according to John C. Gannon, chairman of the National Intelligence Council, at a recent speech to the Washington College of Law at American University. Technological innovation, particularly in areas like analytical tools and collaborative technologies, is key. This entails developing partnerships between business and government since commercial applications dominate the information marketplace.
A House-Senate conference committee reached agreement on a fiscal 2001 intelligence authorizationb ill during a closed meeting late Tuesday, but no details were released because staff members were putting the finishing touches on the legislation late yesterday. Porter Goss (R-Fla.), chairman of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, told the DAILY that the bill will contain "nothing startling" and should be "relatively non-controversial." The full House could take up the bill as early as today, he said.
Thomson-CSF Sextant In-Flight Systems, the California-based arm of French aerospace giant Thomson-CSF, tapped Olivier Boluart to be the Director of E-Services. E-Services, a "recent focus" for Thomson-CSF Sextant's Aerospace Group, is charged with handling the company's e-initiatives in areas such as in-flight Internet for passengers; aircraft maintenance and performance evaluation records for ground personnel, as well as access to schedules, weather data and email for airplane crews.
Using the National Business Aviation Association (NBAA) convention as the backdrop, Canada's Bombardier Aerospace gave customers a preview of its new e-business customer service portal for corporate aviation, slated to launch in the first quarter of 2001. Rob Gillespie, president of Bombardier Aerospace's business aircraft, said the move to develop the new aviation e-customer service program is aimed at "simplifying" the lives of corporate support departments by automating tasks.
SIA Engineering Co. and BFGoodrich Aerospace have formed a partnership to repair and overhaul pylon components and thrust reversers and overhaul aircraft nacelles. This arrangement is based on SIAEC purchasing 30% of the BFGoodrich subsidiary Rohr Aero Services-Asia (RASA). The agreement also provides for an option of an additional 10% stake in RASA, subject to certain undisclosed conditions.
The Pentagon spewed out 142 major defense awards -- worth more than an estimated $14.7 billion -- in the final two weeks of fiscal year 2000, and all 142 awards are already listed in the contracts database of the Defense/Aerospace Competitive Intelligence Service (DACIS). According to DACIS publisher InfoBase Publishers, Inc., the deals are placed into a dynamic reference source through which subscribers can click and access everything from program descriptions to detailed proprietary analysis, as well as contractor information.
Eaton Aerospace, a subsidiary of Eaton Corporation, picked NetVendor, a provider of Internet software and services which enable business-to-business (B2B) transactions, to launch the company's first Web-based e-commerce initiative. Eaton will utilize NetVendor's E.MBRACE technology to create an online ordering system for its global distributor network.
France's Messier-Dowty has revamped its corporate set-up to boost the company's visibility in the aerospace marketplace. The new business unit (BU) structure consists of Airbus BU, Boeing/Military BU and Regional/Business Aircraft BU. The landing gear giant said realigning the corporate structure with its customers' organizations reflects "current shifts" in the global aerospace sector and should improve the company's responsiveness.
The U.S. will maintain its role as a major defense supplier to Greece as that country continues efforts to update its forces, Secretary of Defense William S. Cohen stressed this week.
A new report from Jupiter Research predicts the business-to-business (B2B) commerce will enjoy "astounding growth" over the next five years, skyrocketing to $6.3 trillion by 2005, compared to the $336 in B2B commerce expected this year. The study looks at 12 of the major industries in the U.S. Aerospace and defense companies, in the top five, will conduct more than half of their B2B buying and selling online by 2004, according to the report.
The fiscal 2001 defense authorization bill that a House-Senate conference committee finished last week gives final form to a commission that would be charged with studying the future of the aerospace industry.
LOCKHEED MARTIN MISSILES AND SPACE, Sunnyvale, Calif., has been awarded a $522 million contract for fiscal year 2001 Trident II (D5) missile production and deployed system support. The bulk of the work on the contract will be in Sunnyvale, with the remainder split amongst several other facilities throughout the U.S. The contract covers 12 new missiles, and is expected to be completed by September 2005. The Navy's Strategic Systems Programs, Washington, D.C., is the contracting agency. 68
Rolls-Royce's e-business unit, named Sourcerer, is using the Web to "harness future growth" according to Patricia Hewitt, the U.K.'s Minister for Small Business and E-Commerce. Sourcerer boasts everything from stationary to turbine blades and handles about 2,000 online orders a day from a CD catalog, through its e-procurement system, Sourcerer On Line. Now, Sourcerer is gearing up to move its catalogue and supply chain network to a Web-based exchange.
The House gave final approval to the fiscal 2001 defense authorization bill by a wide margin yesterday, but several Republican leaders on the House Armed Services Committee said higher funding levels will be needed in the future to address military shortfalls. House members approved the $309.9 billion bill by a 382-31 vote, with 206 Republicans, 175 Democrats and one independent supporting the bill and four Republicans, 26 Democrats and one independent opposing it.
