A study by inflightonline.com found travelers have a "strong interest" in onboard e-mail and Internet access and a desire to try out entertainment options, including online shopping. Survey participants claimed they would spend 30 to 60 minutes online during a two-hour flight. The big question remains how much passengers would be willing to pay to surf the Web.
The Center for Strategic and International Studies said that it will help former Sen. Sam Nunn (D-Ga.) study whether a private organization should be formed to try to reduce the threat posed by nuclear weapons. Nunn and media magnate Ted Turner announced their plans for the study last month. The study will examine the impact an organization could have on such issues as stemming the proliferation of nuclear weapons and reducing the chances of intentional or accidental use of nuclear weapons.
Engineers at NASA's Dryden Flight Research Center, Calif., have received or are expecting patents that cover backup aircraft control for emergencies, improved flight performance for helicopters and simplified inertial navigation system programming.
HEICO Corp. said yesterday it has agreed to sell its Trilectron Industries Inc. subsidiary to a unit of Illinois Tool Works Inc., a diversified manufacturing company based in Glenview, Ill., for $52.5 million in cash and assumption of $4.3 million in debt. The deal is expected to close in 90 days.
An effort to allow Australia's F-111 strike aircraft to launch small smart bombs from their internal bomb bays at supersonic speeds is underway by the Royal Australian Air Force and the U.S. Air Force. Bombing tests are slated to be conducted in Australia later this year, according to the USAF.
ITT Night Vision, Roanoke, Va., is being awarded a $13,170,176 firm-fixed-price contract for 2,252 AN/AVS-9 Night Vision Image Intensifier Sets for various Navy platforms. Work will be performed in Roanoke, Va., and is expected to be completed by August 2001. Contract funds will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. This contract was competitively procured via an electronically issued solicitation with eight proposals solicited and two offers received. The Naval Air Systems Command, Patuxent River, Md., is the contracting activity (N00019-00-C-0444).
Alcoa, a key supplier of aluminum for the aerospace industry, inked a deal to use the FreeMarkets B2B e-marketplace after finishing up a pilot program. FreeMarkets recently hosted the first of 12 online auctions for the Defense Energy Support Center (DESC), an arm of the Defense Logistics Agency. Six suppliers vied for a $1.1 million chance to provide natural gas for the DESC Direct Supply Natural Gas Program. DESC received over 20 bids in under 30 minutes, wrapping up the transaction only 15 minutes after the auction closed.
Elta Electronics Industries Ltd., a subsidiary of Israel Aircraft Industries, reported an $11.4 million net profit after taxes for the first half of 2000, a 123% increase over the $5.1 million reported for the first half of 1999. Sales for the first half totaled $269 million, a 30% increase over the $206 million reported for the same period a year ago. Export sales were also up in the first half, reaching $228 million, 42.5% more than the $160 million for the comparable period in 1999.
Members of Congress who support the proposed sale of up to $4 billion worth of military helicopters to Turkey have written to Secretary of State Madeleine Albright to urge the Clinton Administration to approve the deal.
Rockwell Collins Government Systems, Cedar Rapids, Iowa, is being awarded a $6,493,564 modification to previously awarded contract N00019-00-C-0115 to exercise an option for 124 AN/ARC-210(V) Electronic Protection Radio Systems. This option combines the purchases for the U.S. Navy (41 systems; $2,018,856; 31%) the U.S Air Force (45 systems; $2,725,004; 42%) the U.S. Army (12 systems; $587,868; 9%) and the Government of Australia (26 systems; $1,161,836; 18%) under the Foreign Military Sales Program.
Honeywell, hit with a number of financial and operational headaches in its first quarter since the close of the AlliedSignal deal, now faces a class action lawsuit on behalf of shareholders whose investments have dwindled since the deal was announced.
John W. McNair, Jr., director of the program/budget coordinating division at the Office of the Assistant Secretary of the Navy, says e-business initiatives have a definite role in the Navy's future. E-business, he says, can potentially thin the ranks of production planners and decrease acquisition requests by reducing cycle times, giving the service just-in-time procurement by managing the supply chain more efficiently.
The Pentagon last week listed four ways that China could modernize its strategic missile force. "...China has been in the process of modernizing its strategic forces for some time, and long before national missile defense [became] a front-burner issue," said Pentagon Spokesman Ken Bacon. "We would anticipate that whether or not the United States decides to deploy a national missile defense system... that China will continue with its strategic modernization along the pace that makes sense to China."
Bombardier Aerospace tapped Engima Inc., based in Burlington, Mass., to automate its maintenance delivery information with the goal of cutting repair and aircraft downtimes. Engima customized its DynaWeb e-publishing software for the airline industry and will produce the first three full revisions of the technical library for four of Bombardier's fleets, including the Bombardier CRJ100/200/700 and Q400 aircraft.
Alenia Aerospazio, Divisione Aeronautica, Torino, Italy, is being awarded a $6,984,460 ceiling amount letter contract to upgrade AV-8B Radar Flight Control Systems Maintenance Training Device 11H99. Work will be performed in Tampa, Fla., and is expected to be completed by September 2002. Contract funds will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. The contract was not competitively procured. The Naval Air Warfare Center Training Systems Division, Orlando, Fla., is the contracting activity (N61339-00-C-0076).
The feasibility of obtaining and converting Russian SS-N-22 "Sunburn" missiles into supersonic sea-skimming targets will be the subject of a draft request for proposals to be released by U.S. Naval Air Systems Command.
Iraq is trying to rebuild its ballistic missile program by using a secret network of front companies to get materials and technology from European and Russian firms, according to a new report released by the Center for Strategic and International Studies.
EXPORT CONTROLS: Export rules authorized by the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) will continue for another year because Congress hasn't renewed the Export Administration Act. President Clinton says in a statement that he has exercised his powers to extend a national emergency and continue the IEEPA regulations.
Iran is "one of the most active countries" vying to buy weapons of mass destruction and advanced conventional weapons, according to a new, unclassified CIA report covering the last half of 1999. The report, released last week (DAILY, Aug. 10), says Tehran wants to be able to produce its own nuclear, chemical and biological weapons and delivery systems. China, Russia and North Korea transferred most of the ballistic missile-related goods, technology and expertise received by Iran in the June-December period of last year.
WAR FOR IT TALENT: The military and aerospace companies are under siege from dot-coms, with too many "e-incentives" for engineers and technical workers to stay in an environment that moves at the speed of a snail rather than the speed of the Internet. "The war for [information technology] talent, hands down, is the most critical issue facing the Department and the Navy over the next few years," says one panelist at a Washington conference.
AEROSPACE COMMISSION: One issue that needs to be resolved by the House-Senate conference committee on fiscal 2001 defense authorization legislation is who would appoint members to a new commission charged with studying the future of the aerospace industry. The Senate-passed bill would split the commission's 12 appointments between the president and Congress, while the House bill would let the president appoint all 10 to 17 commissioners. Conferees are expected to formally resume their work next month.
Chief of Naval Research Rear Adm. Jay M. Cohen called for "a far broader range of partnerships" between the Navy and industry. This, he said, would help build an all-electric ship, develop missile defense, boost human factors, help the environment and cut the cost of fuel. "As the chief of naval research," he said at a conference in Washington, "I feel like a kid in the candy store with all the things that I've been exposed to just in the last two months."
Senate Governmental Affairs Committee Chairman Fred Thompson (R-Tenn.) said late Wednesday that a new government report on the spread of weapons of mass destruction underscores the need to pass his China anti-proliferation bill. A report released Wednesday by the Central Intelligence Agency said that China increased its missile-related technical assistance to Pakistan in the second half of 1999, and that Chinese firms aided the missile programs of Iran, North Korea and Libya during that period.
During last year's Operation Allied Force, NATO was successful in air-to-air combat, in suppressing the Serbian air force, and in halting operations at Serbian air bases because it had overwhelming superiority in air combat aircraft, sensors and battle management systems, as well as the strike capabilities needed to suppress enemy air bases, according to a new report by the Center for Strategic and International Studies.
