Pacific Aerospace and Electronics, Inc. (PA&E) revenues and earnings slipped in the first quarter of fiscal 2001, as the company faced weakness - and continues to expects ongoing pressure - in its casting and commercial aircraft components businesses. "We are aggressively working to resolve these issues by initiating numerous programs to reverse or offset current trends," said Don Wright, PA&E's chairman and CEO.
The next U.S. president should avoid jumping on the bandwagon for a sea-based national missile defense (NMD) system, according to defense analyst Rodney W. Jones, who contends the notion it will be a quick, easy and cheap alternative to the current ground-based NMD scheme is a myth.
The Pentagon should step up development of unmanned combat aircraft and explore a mobile version of the Tactical High Energy Laser, according to a House-Senate conference committee. Beyond major programs like the Joint Strike Fighter and National Missile Defense, the fiscal 2001 defense authorization bill that conferees completed last week has provisions that will affect a range of other aerospace programs if the full House and Senate and President Clinton sign off on the legislation.
Secretary of Defense William S. Cohen will meet with Cho Myong Nok, the first vice chairman of North Korea's National Defense Commission, today at the Pentagon while the official is in Washington visiting U.S. leaders.
The Austrian Ministry of Defense announced plans to buy nine Sikorsky S-70A Black Hawk helicopters, with an option for three more, to be used for utility transport and search and rescue missions. The acquisition would be a direct commercial sale, a company spokesman told The DAILY, with Sikorsky providing training and support. This differs from a foreign military sale, where Sikorsky would sell its helicopters to the U.S. government, which would in turn sell them to a specific country.
The F-22 Block 3.1 avionics software has passed its critical design review (CDR) with no action items, thereby achieving one more milestone in the program's congressionally mandated Defense Acquisition Board (DAB) criteria that must be completed before year's end.
Lockheed Martin Mission Systems will sustain and upgrade U.S. Air Force research satellite ground control centers under a $31 million contract announced yesterday. Under the five-year contract, the Lockheed Martin unit will handle engineering, development and sustainment at the control centers, which are located at Kirtland AFB, N.M., and Schriever AFB, Colo. The centers control research satellites designed to validate new spacecraft and ground system capabilities.
Boeing Helicopters has awarded TRW's Space&Electronics Group a $134.5 million contract for the development and manufacture of 14 Communication, Navigation and Identification (CNI) avionics ship-sets for the Army's new Comanche reconnaissance/attack helicopter.
PanAmSat Corp.'s third quarter results fell shy of Wall Street analyst estimates by a penny and declined significantly from the prior year, but the satellite broadcasting company maintains the future is bright. "PanAmSat continues to make progress on a number of current and future initiatives that will fuel the company's long-term growth," said president and CEO R. Douglas Kahn.
LOCKHEED MARTIN, the U.S. Air Force Space and Missile Systems Center and The Aerospace Corp. have assigned engineers to study an electrical problem with a timer on the Defense Satellite Communications System (DSCS III) spacecraft awaiting launch at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Fla., delaying the launch until next week at the earliest. The Air Force gave up its Thursday slot on the range for the DSCS III Titan II launch after the problem surfaced during a composite electrical readiness test, according to an Air Force spokeswoman.
INTERNATIONAL RECTIFIER CORP. has started marketing the first 1,000-volt radiation-hardened metal oxide silicon field effect transistor (MOSFET) for power management circuits and high-frequency switching systems in satellites. The devices are useful in reducing component counts in traveling wave tube amplifiers and other communication systems. Previously the highest voltage rating for a radiation hardened MOSFET was 600 volts, according to the El Segundo, Calif.-based company.
SIRIUS SATELLITE RADIO has completed in-orbit testing of its second satellite, Sirius-2. Payload and signal testing found all systems performing as required, the company reported. The New York-based S-band digital radio company plans to launch its third satellite, Sirius-3, in November, and to begin broadcasting in January 2001. A new delivery schedule for the fourth Sirius satellite, intended as a ground spare, is expected later this month. The company plans to use its three orbiting satellites to broadcast 100 channels of programming to motorists across the U.S.
NASA'S MARSHALL SPACE FLIGHT CENTER awarded a $300 million, five-year contract to Sverdrup Technology Inc., Tullahoma, Tenn., for engineering, science and technical services. The initial performance period of two years will be followed by three one-year priced options. Sverdrup will support Marshall's Engineering, Flight Projects, Science and Space Transportation directorates, as well as its systems Management Office, Space Shuttle Projects Office and the Office of the Chief Financial Officer.
BFGoodrich Aerospace, Charlotte, N.C., reports it has completed separate contract negotiations with the U.S. Air Force and Lockheed Martin in multi-year buys of its ACES II ejection seat totaling almost $60 million for a total of 346 F-16 seats. Each contract includes 12-month option quantities to cover additional aircraft sales. Contracted delivery is scheduled to begin in 2001 and run through 2005.
ITT Industries, Inc. has purchased DynCorp's Aerotherm unit in a move that will position the company to go after larger projects in the ballistic missile defense arena. "Combining Aerotherm's products and services with ITT Industries' existing capabilities will provide the critical mass needed to pursue larger procurements within the ballistic missile defense and aerospace technology sectors," stated Hank Driesse, president of ITT Industries' defense business.
BOEING SATELLITE SYSTEMS, formerly Hughes Space and Communications, plans to launch the first satellite designated a Boeing 702 on Oct. 19. The satellite, Thuraya-I, is the first of two high-power satellites the Boeing unit and Hughes Network Systems are building under a $960 million turnkey system for Thuraya Satellite Communications Co. of the United Arab Emirates. The satellite will be launched on a Zenit-3SL from the Equator at 154 degrees West longitude by the Boeing-led Sea Launch venture.
THE NAVAL AIR WARFARE CENTER Training Systems Division has awarded SDS International a contract to provide services associated with Lot III of the Navy's Training Systems Contract (TSC). The contract calls for the analysis, development, production, modification, integration and life cycle support of the Navy's training devices and systems. The contract also provides for the support of Advanced Distributed Learning equipment, programs and processes.
Raytheon Company has awarded an $8.4 million contract for production of various components for the Advanced Medium Range Air-to-Air Missile (AMRAAM) to Defense Research Incorporated, a business unit of Primex Technologies, Inc., St. Petersburg, Fla.
Orbital Sciences Corp. launched the international High-Energy Transient Explorer (HETE-2) spacecraft early yesterday in the first Pegasus air-launched rocket mission to stage out of the Kwajalein Missile Range in the Marshall Islands. Orbital's L-1011 carrier aircraft launched the winged Pegasus rocket over Kwajalein at 1:38 a.m. EDT, and the spacecraft separated from the Pegasus about 12 minutes later. NASA said the launch was delayed 48 hours while a spacecraft ground support cable was replaced.
RAYTHEON CO. won a TOW Improved Target Acquisition System (ITAS) Contractor Logistics Support (CLS) contract from the U.S. Army Aviation and Missile Command, Redstone Arsenal, Ala., valued at up to $13 million, including options. CLS covers total management of spares, repairs and information to support the TOW ITAS system while maintaining an operational readiness above 90%, Raytheon said.
The Defense Dept. reports it has selected 17 new-start projects and 20 continuing projects to receive fiscal 2001 funding under the Foreign Comparative Testing (FCT) Program. The FCT program, authorized by Congress in 1989 and administered by the office of the under secretary of defense for acquisition, technology and logistics, is designed to support the U.S. warfighter by leveraging non-developmental items from allied and friendly nations to meet U.S. defense needs more quickly and economically.
PEMCO AVIATION GROUP, Dothan, Ala., will convert Iceland-based Bluebird Cargo's first B737-300 commercial airline to a freighter. Bluebird Cargo has also taken two options for Pemco to modify two additional aircraft to cargo planes. Pemco plans to expand its Dothan facility and double the size of its workforce over the next five years to meet demand for commercial work.
BALL AEROSPACE&TECHNOLOGIES CORP. has won a $10.4 million Jet Propulsion Laboratory contract to design and develop a Stellar Reference Unit (SRU) for the Outer Planets/Solar Probe Project. The SRU will enable the attitude control subsystem aboard the spacecraft to maintain simultaneous three-axis determination of spacecraft attitude. It will include a baffle, optics, a focal plane array and related analog control electronics, digital electronics, a power converter and the necessary connections to link with the Spacecraft Flight Computer.
Charles Stark Draper, Cambridge, Md., is being awarded a $123,060,995 cost-plus-fee contract for tactical engineering support for the United States and United Kingdom MK-6 Guidance Program and guidance test equipment; tactical engineering support for investigation, evaluation, and development of SPALT (SP alteration) plans and/or special studies for the MK-6 guidance system.
Continental Airlines choose Rolls-Royce's RB211-535E4B engines to power its 15 firm Boeing 757-300 aircraft, handing out a contract worth $264 million to the British engine manufacturer. James M. Guyette, president and CEO, Rolls-Royce North America, said, "Continental has been a valued customer of ours since the mid-1990s and this follow-on business is a powerful endorsement of the performance of its current fleet of 41 Rolls-Royce powered 757s."
