U.S. Air Force investigation of the non-fatal Aug. 31 crash of a T-6 Texan II trainer continued yesterday, and a standdown from flying operations remained in effect. The Raytheon-built aircraft crashed in a cornfield in clear weather at about 4:50 p.m. local time while the crew was practicing instrument approaches at Stinson Airfield, a small airport near San Antonio, Tex.
GE Engine Services, Cincinnati, Ohio, is being awarded a $12,328,120 firm-fixed-price contract for the maintenance and overhaul of 70 engines (T700-GE-700) applicable to the Black Hawk aircraft. Work will be performed in Arkansas City, Kan., and is expected to be completed by Oct. 30, 2001. Contract funds will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. There were two bids solicited on May 12, 2000, and two bids were received. The U.S. Army Aviation and Missile Command, Redstone Arsenal, Ala., is the contracting activity (DAAH23-00-C-0335).
No money has been put forth and no contracts have been signed by the Russian government for the Soyuz and Progress spacecraft needed in 2001 to support the International Space Station (ISS).
CPI AEROSTRUCTURES' common stock began trading yesterday on the American Stock Exchange. It will no longer trade on the Nasdaq SmallCap Market. Arthur August, chairman and president of the Edgewood, N.Y., subassembly manufacturer, said the move was designed to boost "support and visibility" with investors. The new stock symbol is CVU.
F-22 maneuvers with weapons bay doors open have been successfully completed, marking the third of nine flight test-related milestones finished this year, the U.S. Air Force said. In the latest test, completed Aug. 22 at Edwards AFB, Calif., Lockheed Martin test pilot Jon Beesley flew Raptor 4002 with its center weapons bay doors open. He performed maneuvers and flew at a high angle of attack. The test evaluated the ability of the doors to withstand significant changes in pressure gradients generated by airflow, the AF said.
European Aeronautic Defense and Space Company (EADS) received an $11.9 million contract from the U.S. Navy to manufacture AN/APG-65 radar equipment for the F/A-18 Hornet fighter. The radar systems, developed by Raytheon-Hughes, will be made by the EADS Airborne Systems unit in Ulm, Germany, under a license agreement covering 2001 and 2002. The company said preparation for licensed construction of the equipment started in 1987 when the German Air Force opted to use the radar during the upgrade of German F-4 Phantoms.
The Ballistic Missile Defense Organization plans to continue its National Missile Defense test schedule despite President Clinton's decision to not move forward with deployment of the system during his Administration. "There is no change to the R&D schedule," Air Force Lt. Col. Rick Lehner, BMDO spokesman, said Friday after Clinton's announcement. He said the next test, Integrated Flight Test (IFT-6), is now on track for December or January. It had been planned for October but was pushed back following the failure of the last test of July 8.
CHINA DEBATE: When the Senate returns from its August recess Tuesday, it plans to take up legislation that would give China permanent normal trade relations (PNTR). It's still uncertain how or when the Senate will consider a proposal by Sen. Fred Thompson (R-Tenn.) aimed at curbing weapons proliferation by China. Thompson's proposal could come up during the PNTR debate, as an amendment to another measure, such as the fiscal 2001 intelligence authorization bill, or as a stand-alone bill.
Motorola got the green light from the Dept. of Defense to begin full production of the U.S. Army Common Ground Station (CGS) battlefield intelligence and reconnaissance ground processing system. "The CGS is the first large-scale C4ISR system built mainly from commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) technologies to meet the DOD's strict guidelines for performance, cost and oversight associated with major defense programs," said Mark Fried, corporate VP and general manager of the Motorola Integrated Information Systems Group.
AeroThrust Corp., Miami, Fla., won a six-year, $110 million contract to perform heavy maintenance on Pratt&Whitney JT8D engines for U.S. Navy and Marine Corps C-9 and Air Force C-9, T-43A and C-22B aircraft. "It is very gratifying to receive this new contract since we have just completed a successful five-year contract with the military," said James E. McMillen, president. "To be selected again is testament to our commitment to customer service."
President Clinton's decision to delay a National Missile Defense deployment decision drew criticism and praise from Congress Friday. Senate Governmental Affairs Committee Chairman Fred Thompson (R-Tenn.) called the decision "dangerous" because it delays the NMD deployment deadline by a year, to 2006, even though North Korea may be able to strike the U.S. with a missile by 2005. House Armed Services Committee Chairman Floyd Spence (R-S.C.) said the decision "will increase the risk to Americans."
NASA's Langley Research Center has awarded indefinite delivery/indefinite quantity contracts worth as much as $45 million total over five years to Ball Aerospace, Lockheed Martin and Swales Aerospace for space technology research and development.
CRASH of a T-6 Texan II trainer Aug. 31 near San Antonio, Tex., prompted the U.S. Air Force to halt flights of the aircraft. The two aircrew ejected safely. They were on an aircraft familiarization flight and conducting instrument procedures at the time of the accident, the AF said. "As a result of this...accident," it said, "...the T-6 Texan II will be stood down for an indeterminate period of time, during the accident investigation...."
ALCATEL BEATS IAI: Turkey has picked France's Alcatel to supply reconnaissance satellites. Turkey backed away from a deal with Israel Aircraft Industries after Alcatel cut its price. Contract negotiations are slated to begin soon.
EUROFIGHTER PROGRESS: First Eurofighter production center fuselage has been handed over to BAE Systems for final assembly by EADS military aircraft division's facility at Manching, Germany. Manching will begin final assembly of the German air force's first Eurofighter in December. EADS Gerafe, Spain, plant, meanwhile, is slated to start final assembly of the first Eurofighter for the Spanish air force next March.
MYSTERY METAL: French investigators were still trying to determine the origin of the piece of metal that is thought to have brought down the Concorde on July 25, and how the piece got on the runway. The object is assumed to have slashed the aircraft's tires. Tire fragments penetrated the lower wing skin, ruptured a fuel tank and started a huge fire. Presenting a preliminary report last week, the French accident investigation bureau said a scheduled runway inspection was delayed on the day of the Air France crash, which killed 113.
HUMAN MARS EXPLORATION: The Mars exploration restructuring underway at NASA headquarters (DAILY, Aug. 31) focuses on sending robots to the Red Planet over the next 20 years, but the agency's Mars program director wants it understood that human exploration and development of space (HEDS) has a say in the plan as well. "We want the HEDS enterprise to be part and parcel of our replanning activity so...we can see and make some reasonable judgment about how much of the HEDS needs we can incorporate in the space science mission set," says G. Scott Hubbard.
CINC HEARING: The Senate Armed Services Committee plans to hold a confirmation hearing Wednesday on President Clinton's nominees for two U.S. commands. Marine Corps Lt. Gen. Peter Pace was nominated as commander-in-chief of the U.S. Southern Command, the unified command that overseas U.S. military activities in an area that includes Latin America south of Mexico. Air Force Lt. Gen. Charles Holland was nominated to be the CINC for the U.S. Special Operations Command.
Boeing licensed its pneumatic ejection rack technology to Sargent Fletcher Inc., of El Monte, Calif., in an effort to lower the rack's price. Under the agreement, whose financial terms weren't disclosed but which runs for 22 years, Sargent Fletcher can design, produce and sell pneumatic ejection racks based on Boeing's patents, copyrighted technical data and know-how.
The National Defense Political Action Committee, which supports military veterans who run for Congress and are deemed to favor a stronger national defense, said it has endorsed four additional candidates, including Army veteran Paul Rappaport, a Republican who hopes to defeat Sen. Paul Sarbanes (D-Md.), a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.The PAC endorsed three House candidates, all Republicans: Bob Hering of Florida and Tom Liddy of Arizona, who have both served in the Marines, and Army veteran Rob Simmons of Connecticut.
STATION WARMUP: Flight controllers will begin preparing the International Space Station this week for Sunday's planned arrival of the Space Shuttle Atlantis, turning the three-module orbiting lab into its proper orientation for docking today and switching on heaters in the U.S.-built node Thursday to warm it for the Shuttle crew. If it lifts off as planned Friday morning (DAILY, Aug. 31), Atlantis is scheduled to dock at 2:12 a.m. EDT Sunday.
Marking the final milestone in a $180 million air defense system for Thailand, the Royal That Air Force declared Phase III of the Royal Thai Air Defense Systems (RTADS) fully operational. "With completion of this project, the Royal Thai Air Force now has one of the most modern air defense systems in the world," said Donald Wilhelm, vice president for Airspace Management Systems at Northrop Grumman's Electronic Sensors and Systems Sector.
Avcorp Industries Inc. achieved single-digit revenue gains for the third quarter of fiscal 2000, although earnings were hit by several one-time charges to bolster the company's financial health. "We are taking actions to be profitable," said John Nicholson, president and CEO of the Vancouver, B.C., supplier of aerospace components. "Our order backlog is strong, the fourth quarter will benefit from the cost-reduction actions taken in the third quarter and we are optimistic about substantially improved results in the first quarter of 2001."
NASA's Inspector General has recommended the directors of Kennedy Space Center, Fla., and Marshall Space Flight Center, Ala., review their centers' existing contracts to ensure contractors involved with hazardous operations or high-value hardware have safety plans that come up to standards required for new contracts.
First flight test of a GBU-15 glide bomb with a more effective warhead and a GPS/INS system was conducted Aug. 16 at Eglin AFB, Fla., Raytheon Co. said yesterday. Video of the test indicates that the objective - to fly autonomously using the Global Positioning System-aided Inertial Navigation System capability - was met, according to Raytheon, which won a $46 million contract last December to deliver 1,200 of the weapons within 12 months.
