CPI Aerostructures, Inc. has snagged $1.3 million in contracts thus far in its third quarter, boosting total new awards for the year to about $6.1 million. "These awards, along with our recently announced financial results, demonstrate the Company's strength within its existing customer base," said CEO Arthur August. "We have now received 112 contract awards to date in 2000, compared to 129 for the entire year of 1999."
Boeing Co., continuing its quest to bolster service offerings, said yesterday it will pay $1.5 billion in cash to purchase flight information service provider Jeppesen Sanderson from Tribune Co. "We've made it clear that we are transforming Boeing into a global aerospace solutions provider, and growing our aviation services business is a major part of that transformation," said Phil Condit, Boeing chairman and CEO.
Successes claimed by the RAF in last year's NATO air assault against Serb targets in the Kosovo campaign were somewhat qualified by a Ministry of Defense report leaked to the U.K. press in the past few days. Attributed to Dr. Peter Starkey, director of Scrutiny and Analysis for the Defense Evaluation and Research Agency, the report was said to indicate that overall, only 40% of the 1,011 weapons dropped by the RAF in as many sorties were known to have hit their targets. Some 30% were not seen to have scored hits, and 30% were "unaccounted for."
SpaceDev turned in sales of $865,000 for the second quarter of fiscal 2000, compared to $976,000 for the three-month period in the prior year. It reported a net loss for the period of $125,000 versus $1 million in the second quarter of 1999. For the first six months, net sales of the Poway, Calif., company stood at $1.9 million, compared to $2 million for the first half of last year. Earnings totaled $370,000 versus a loss of $890,000. Net operating loss was $47,000 compared to $1.8 million.
BRITISH AIRWAYS yesterday suspended flights of its Concorde supersonic airliners after French and British authorities said they would withdraw the plane's airworthiness certificate. Their action was based on new information from the investigation into the July 25 crash of an Air France Concorde in Paris in which 114 people were killed. The French transport ministry said concerns were focused on the aircraft's tires. Air France halted its Concorde flights after the accident, but BA continued after a short pause.
Congress must resolve two major differences between House and Senate proposals to create an aerospace commission, and the Aerospace Industries Association prefers the Senate approach on both of those issues, an AIA official said yesterday. "AIA is prepared, however, to work with whatever decisions the House and Senate conferees choose to make on these issues," said Jon Etherton, AIA assistant vice president for legislative affairs.
ENGINEERED SUPPORT SYSTEMS INC., St. Louis, has named Gen. Crosbie E. Saint (USA-ret.) to its board. For the four years before he retired in 1992, Saint was commander in chief, U.S. Army, Europe and Seventh Army, and commander, Central Army Group (NATO).
Alliant Missile Products Co. and Local 261C of the International Chemical Worker's Union Council of the United Food and Commercial Workers Union have ratified a new five-year labor management agreement, Alliant said. The agreement, which was reached Aug. 9 and which became effective Aug. 15, is the first five-year pact between the company and the union, said Alex Priskos, president of Alliant Missile Products Co., Rocket Center, W. Va. Previous agreements were for three-year periods.
ALLIANT TECHSYSTEMS said it has produced the one hundred millionth round of small caliber ammunition at the Lake City Army Ammunition Plant in Independence, Mo., since taking over operations thereon April 3, 2000.
The U.S. Air Force should provide the under secretary of defense for acquisition, technology and logistics with quarterly status reports on production cost reduction plans for the F-22 because achieving those cuts is critical to completing the aircraft's production within a congressional cost cap, the General Accounting Office said in a report released yesterday.
New regulations taking effect Aug. 30 could result in broader limits being placed on space-based commercial hyperspectral and radar remote sensing systems than on optical systems.
Auburn University, Auburn, Ala., is being awarded a $900,000 increment as part of a $13,826,880 cost/level-of-effort contract for research and development to improve the efficiency of current radar electric power systems. This effort is intended to reduce the logistical tail associated with current mobile radars and will place mobile radars in applications and on board platforms not previously contemplated. Work will be performed in Auburn, Ala., and is expected to be completed by Aug. 7, 2006.
Hamilton Sunstrand Corp., Rockford, Ill., is being awarded a $5,259,326 cooperative agreement to provide for development of power generation and distribution technology that will provide increased power supplies to air vehicles. Expected contract completion date is Aug. 7, 2003. Solicitation issue date was June 4, 1999. Negotiation completion date was July 27, 2000.Air Force Research Laboratory, Wright-Patterson AFB, Ohio, is the contracting activity (F33615-00-2-2002).
Comptek Amherst Systems, Inc., Buffalo, NY, is being awarded a $7,500,000 firm-fixed-price contract to provide for logistics services through Aug. 9, 2005 in support of the Electronic Combat Product Group's simulator network, Warner Robins Air Logistics Center, Robins AFB, Ga. Expected contract completion date is Aug. 9, 2005. Solicitation issue date was May 19, 2000. Negotiation completion date was June 13, 2000. Warner Robins Air Logistics Center, Warner Robins AFB, Ga., is the contracting activity (F09603-00-D-0251).
NASA used the Space Shuttle Atlantis Saturday to check out a new $4.8 million hurricane shelter for orbiter stacks caught on the pad in the face of approaching storms. Before starting Atlantis on its nine-hour trip to launch pad 39B, crews at Kennedy Space Center hauled the Shuttle on its tracked crawler from high bay 1 in the east side of the Vehicle Assembly Building around to high bay 2 on the west side, which has been modified as a "safe haven" where Shuttle can retreat to ride out heavy weather.
Lockheed Martin Corp., Missiles&Fire Control Dallas, Grand Prairie, Texas, is being awarded a $2,500,000 increment as part of an $8,698,302 modification to a letter contract modification on cost-plus-fixed-fee contract DAAH01-98-C-R137. Under this effort the contractor will fabricate and test their design for a prototype network fire (NetFires) support system, including a loitering attack munition (LAM), and a container/launcher unit (C/LU). Work will be performed in Grand Prairie, Texas (80%); Baltimore, Md. (16%); and Gainesville, Va.
Thomson-CSF Sextant In-Flight Systems, the Irvine, Calif.-based arm of French defense giant Thomson-CSF, is partnering with Primex Aerospace to bring high-speed aircraft LAN to passengers. Sextant In-Flight - gearing up to offer the next-generation of in-flight entertainment, in-seat broadband communications - will integrate Primex's EMPORT aircraft cabin distribution system with passenger applications, air-to-ground communications and ground-based services.
Raytheon Systems Co., Tucson, Ariz., is being awarded a $2,082,277 increment as part of a $6,410,674 modification to cost-plus-fixed-fee contract DAAH01-98-C-R132. Under this effort the contractor will fabricate and test their design for a prototype network fire (NetFires) support system, including a loitering attack munition (LAM), a precision attack munition (PAM), and a container/launcher unit (C/LU). Work will be performed in Tucson, Ariz., and is expected to be completed by Sept. 30, 2004. Contract funds will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year.
NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center and the State of Alabama have formally established a "National Space Science and Technology Center" in Huntsville, Ala., where government, industry and academic expertise will be pooled for work in such areas as space, materials and Earth science, biotechnology, propulsion and optics.
German software giant SAP AG is restructuring its mySAP.com so it can act more like a dot-com company. SAP is forming six general business units (GBUs), seven industry business sectors and three additional technology-specific GBUs, and aerospace and defense companies are a key focus. Enterprise software provider Baan, which boasts dual homebases in the Netherlands and Virginia, is now under management by the U.K.'s Invensys. The company gained majority control, about 72%, of the ailing software company's stock.
TRW Aeronautical Systems/Lucas Aerospace, Utica, N.Y., is being awarded a $6,912,658 firm-fixed-price contract for 1,306 power transmission shafts used in support of F/A-18 C/D aircraft. Work will be performed in Utica, N.Y., and is expected to be completed by December 2002. Contract funds will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. This contract was not competitively procured. The Naval Inventory Control Point, Philadelphia, Pa., is the contracting activity (N00383-00-C-003D).
Sequa Corp. reported higher second quarter sales, attributing part of the increase to strength in the repair of jet engine components. The New York-based company said sales for the three months ending June 30, 2000, stood at $447 million, up from $433.2 million in the same period of 1999. Operating income for the quarter dropped slightly to $25.7 million from $26.6 million. Net income totaled $5.4 million or 47 cents per share, down from net income of $10.9 million or $1.00 per share in the same 1999 period.
Kenneth E. Gazzola, executive vice president of The McGraw-Hill Companies' Aviation Week Group and publisher of Aviation Week&Space Technology, has been named to the board of the Smithsonian's National Air and Space Museum. Gazzola's responsibilities at McGraw-Hill include the strategic direction and management of Business and Commercial Aviation, A/C Flyer and Overhaul&Maintenance magazines, and Aviation Week Newsletters, including Aerospace Daily.
BAE Systems Applied Technologies, Rockville, Md., is being awarded a $5,849,756 modification to previously awarded contract N00421-97-C-1460 to exercise an option for technical and engineering services for the integration and testing of radio communications systems for shipboard installation. The estimated level of effort for this option is 122,770 man-hours. Work will be performed in California, Md. (80%); St. Inigoes, Md. (10%); Bath, Maine (5%); and Pascagoula, Miss. (5%), and is expected to be completed by August 2002.
No one is sure which aerospace and defense B2B exchanges will survive in the e-world - Wall Street analysts estimate between 50% and 95% of all dot-coms will go down the tubes. Still, e-companies aren't about to throw in the towel. Inventory Locator Service (ILS), touted as the oldest of the aerospace and defense e-markets, is on schedule to complete its full transaction on-line parts management capability, dubbed the next-generation "Contract to Contract" e-commerce platform. But it's still a mixed bag for e-companies.
