Boeing announced a leadership change in the engineering and lean enterprise activities of its Military Aircraft and Missile Systems business unit. Al Haggerty, vice president and general manager of engineering and executive focal point for lean enterprise activities, will retire on April 1, 2001, after 39 years with the company.
NASA plans to launch the nation's next polar orbiting weather satellite Sept. 20 to replace a six-year-old platform that has drifted off its 2 p.m. Equator-crossing time. An Air Force Titan II ICBM refurbished as a launch vehicle by Lockheed Martin is scheduled to lift off with the $267 million NOAA-L spacecraft at 6:22 a.m. EDT Sept. 20 from Vandenberg AFB, Calif., at the beginning of a 10-minute launch window.
Lockheed Martin's N-SAT-110 telecommunications satellite, designed and built for Space Communications Corp. (SCC) and JSAT Corp. of Tokyo, arrived in Kourou, French Guiana, Sunday where it will be readied for launch this fall. "We have completed all the required final system verification activities and anticipate a successful launch and long-term presence in the Asia region," said Dave Durey, N-SAT-110 program manger for Lockheed Martin Commercial Space Systems, Sunnyvale, Calif.
AeroThrust Corp., Miami, Fla., is being awarded a $23,649,711 requirements contract for depot level maintenance for 39 JT8D engines for the Navy/Marine Corps C-9, Air Force C-9, T43-A, and C-22B aircraft. Work will be performed in Miami, Fla., and is expected to be completed by September 2001. Contract funds will expire at the end of the current fiscal year. This contract was competitively procured via the Internet with five offers received. The Naval Air Systems Command, Patuxent River, Md., is the contracting activity (N00019-00-D-0419).
Lockheed Martin Corp., Naval Electronic and Surveillance Systems, St. Paul, Minn., is being awarded a $12,327,666 modification to previously awarded contract N00019-98-C-0013 to procure 10 P-3C Block Modification Upgrade Program Installation Kits (A-Kits) for the P-3C Update II and Update II.5. Work will be performed in Clearwater, Fla. (64%), Eagan, Minn. (33%), and Greenville, S.C. (3%), and is expected to be completed by June 2003. Contract funds will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year.
Ball Aerospace Technologies Corp., Westminster, Colo., is being awarded a $7,600,310 cost-plus-fixed-fee contract for the design, development, prototype manufacturing, test and demonstration of a low-observable S-band, multi-beam, phased-array antenna system. Work will be performed in Westminster, Colo., and is expected to be completed by February 2002. Contract funds will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. This contract was competitively procured through a Broad Agency Announcement.
Unrelated problems led Naval Air Systems Command to suspended operations of 374 Marine Corps aircraft - 11 MV-22 Ospreys, 198 AH-1W Cobra attack helicopters and 165 CH-53E heavy-lift helicopters.
Navy engineers have married a concept for maneuvering reentry vehicles (MARVs) with an advanced "retinal computer" chip that can perform targeting and discrimination functions right at the focal plane of a seeker to propose a new type of missile defense kinetic kill vehicle that could be cheaper and faster than existing systems because it is much simpler.
The Boeing Company, Seal Beach, Calif., is being awarded a $9,433,000 (not-to-exceed) modification to a cost-plus-fixed-fee contract to provide for engineering efforts through January 2001 in support of development of an upgrade to the Crosslink Transponder Data Unit on the Global Positioning System (GPS) Block IIF satellite. Expected contract completion date is January 2001. Space and Missile Systems Center, Los Angeles AFB, Calif., is the contracting activity (F04701-96-C-0025-P00096).
Longbow LLC, Commercial and Government Entity, Orlando, Fla., is being awarded a $6,578,262 delivery order amount as part of firm-fixed-price contract DAAH23-99-G-0012, for FY99 war reserve spares to support deployment for the Fire Control Radar System for the AH-64D Apache Helicopter. Work will be performed in Baltimore, Md. (50%); and Orlando, Fla. (50%), and is expected to be completed by Nov. 10, 2002. Contract funds will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. This is a sole source contract initiated on April 25, 2000. The U.S.
AEROJET won a $15.1 million Boeing contract for Lot 1 advance buy production of forward booms for the aft fuselage of the U.S. Air Force's F-22 fighter.
The Defense Dept. hasn't effectively implemented requirements to monitor the use of U.S. weapons sold to foreign countries, the General Accounting Office said in a new report, which prompted DOD to say it will make several changes in its end-use monitoring program.
Four companies will study alternate ways for NASA to resupply the International Space Station under separate 90-day contracts awarded by the U.S. space agency. The companies, all small businesses, will study "emerging launch systems" as emergency backup to the primary means NASA and its international partners have planned to send supplies to the orbiting Station. The "Alternate Access Project" is managed by Marshall Space Flight Center.
ANDREWS AFB, Md. - The 121st Fighter Squadron, one of the units of the 113th Wing, District of Columbia Air National Guard, keeps a busy schedule supporting missions of the active duty Air Force despite the challenges of outdated or absent equipment.
BFGoodrich Aerospace, Aircraft Integrated Systems, Vergennes, Vt., is being awarded a $6,447,231 modification to previously executed 845 Other Transaction Agreement N00019-97-9-0152 for the Integrated Mechanical Diagnostics (IMD) for Navy, and Marine Corps, H-53, H-60B/F/H, and AH-1 helicopters. The IMD system monitors the usage and status of critical parts in flight and records data for use in determining required maintenance. Work will be performed in Vergennes, Vt., and is expected to be completed by July 2002.
The Air Force plans to choose a contractor next month to implement a modernization program for the Defense Dept.'s strategic command, control, communications and computer (C4) capabilities for ballistic missile warning, space control and air sovereignty/defense missions, the General Accounting Office said in a report released yesterday.
Kaman Aerospace Corp. won a three-year, follow-on contract worth up to $98 million to supply structural parts for Boeing's commercial airplanes. "To be a Boeing supplier you must be cost-efficient manufacturer able to deliver high quality parts on time all the time," said Walter R. Kozlow, president. "In addition, supporting Boeing's continuous cost reduction initiatives and our Lean Enterprise operations brings added Kaman value to the relationship."
About 3,000 members of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW) Local 1505 passed on what Raytheon Co. called a "terrific deal" and voted to strike on Sunday. Raytheon facilities hit by the strike - predominantly in Andover, Mass., and responsible for programs like the Navy's Aegis extended-range missile, Patriot missiles, Ground-Based Radar (GBR) and the Hawk air defense system - were still "fully operational" yesterday, said company spokesman David Polk.
Russia launched the Globus-1 military communications satellite on a Proton rocket yesterday, two days after a technical glitch pushed back the flight of an SS-18 modified as a space launch vehicle until next month. The Proton carrying the military satellite lifted off from Baikonur Cosmodrome at 4:08 p.m. EDT, and the satellite separated with the upper stage that will put it into its final orbit as scheduled nine minutes later, according to the Russian Itar-Tass news agency.
L-3 Communications' Link Simulation and Training unit won a $13 million, 20-month U.S. Air Force contract for B-2 simulation program concurrency upgrades. "This important contract award now makes Link responsible for all aspects of B-2 training support, and expands upon Link's twenty years of providing B-2 training devices and services to the Air Force," said Jim Dunn, president of Link Simulation and Training.
Northrop Grumman Corp., Field Support Services, Inc., Jacksonville, Fla., is being awarded a $7,177,992 modification to previously awarded firm-fixed-price contract N00019-99-C-1333 for the installation of 47 embedded global positioning systems; 50 digital flight control systems; 25 global positioning systems (miniaturized airborne GPS receivers); 6 low altitude navigation and targeting infrared night systems; 4 night vision imaging systems; 9 fast tactical imaging systems; 42 flap/slats; 42 flight control backup modules; 3 soft mild detonation cord replacements; 8 wing le
EDO CORP. said it has finalized a $69 million long-term credit facility with a consortium of banks co-led by Mellon and EAB. "This financing strengthens EDO's capital structure to accommodate internal growth and, coupled with our $17 million cash balance, positions us to pursue strategic acquisitions," said Darrell L. Reed, CFO of the New York company.
Litton Guidance and Control Systems, Northridge, Calif., is being awarded a $6,711,307 modification to previously awarded contract N00019-99-C-1128, for communications control group upgrade modifications for the S-3B Viking aircraft. Work will be performed in Northridge, Calif., and is expected to be completed by July 2002. Contract funds will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. The Naval Air Systems Command, Patuxent River, Md., is the contracting activity.
Satmex's Solidaridad I satellite failed over the weekend, leaving 107 communications customers scrambling for alternative service. Failure of the Hughes HS-601 platform interrupted banking, Internet, radio and communication services in a service area that stretches from Canada to Central America. Loral and Satmex immediately began switching customers to other satellites including the Mexican company's Satmex V and Solidaridad II and Loral's Telstar 5, 6 and 7 satellites. Loral Space and Communications owns 49% of Satmex.
