Boeing Co. completed its acquisition of Autometric, Inc., a geospatial information company based in Springfield, Va. Terms of the deal were not disclosed. The 500-employee company, with 1999 revenues of about $80 million, becomes part of Boeing Space and Communications Group's Integrated Defense Systems division. Boeing announced its intent to make the acquisition in June (DAILY, June 7).
The MV-22 Osprey has completed eight months of operational evaluation at MCAS New River, N.C., Boeing said yesterday. The tests, to evaluate whether the tilt-rotor aircraft will be effective and suitable for operational use, were wrapped up in July, the company said yesterday.
Embraer will be the dominating manufacturer of regional jets based on number of units produced, according to a market study by Forecast International/DMS. The Newtown, Conn.-based research firm sees the company delivering 30.3% of all regional jets in the next 10 years, followed by Bombardier at 23.1%, and Fairchild Dornier at 20.9%. However, Bombardier takes the lead with a slightly higher share in the overall revenues -- 25.2%, compared with 24% for Embraer.
Problems in a program to develop a lightweight howitzer for the U.S. Army and Marine Corps, detailed in a report by the General Accounting Office (DAILY, Aug. 3), are being addressed and some have already been resolved, according to a spokesman for the Marine Corps, which is developing the weapon.
Strong revenues from fixed satellite and data services weren't enough to keep Loral Space&Communications in the black for the second quarter, as the company posted a $110 million loss, compared with a $50 million loss last year at this time. Part of the loss is attributable to a $102 million charge associated with the Globalstar venture.
Israel Aircraft Industries said it made a net profit of $44.4 million for the first six months of 2000, a 43% increase from the $31 million reported for the first half of last year. IAI President and CEO Moshe Keret also said first half revenues totaled $1.109 billion, up 7% from the $1.03 billion figure reported for the similar period last year. New contracts signed for the first half were worth $1.557 billion, compared to $1.6 billion for the comparable period in 1999. Backlog as of June 30 was $3.76 billion, which IAI said was a new record.
ARIANESPACE is readying an Ariane 44LP for the Aug. 17 launch of Nilesat 102 and Brasilsat B4 on Aug. 17, having transferred the vehicle from the launcher assembly hall to the launch zone aboard its mobile launch table. The satellites have also been fueled and are awaiting transfer to the launch zone for integration on the rocket, the European launch services consortium reported.
Lockheed Martin announced yesterday that it has completed the merger of its global telecommunications subsidiary with COMSAT Corp., but that its search for more "strategic alliances" continues. John Sponyoe, chief executive officer of Lockheed Martin Global Telecommunications, Lockheed Martin's telecommunications services subsidiary, said Lockheed Martin hopes to find a "strategic partner" willing to take a 15% to 20% ownership stake in LMGT.
BSKYB HAS LEASED four more transponders on the Astra 2D satellite operated by Societe Europeennes des Satellites at 28.2 degrees East longitude, boosting the company's ability to serve its SKY Digital subscribers in the U.K. Astra 2D, set to become operational by mid December, will add 16 transponders to the SES fleet co-located at 28.2 East, bringing the total available for the U.K. market to 56.
ORBITAL SCIENCES CORP.'s X-34 reusable launch vehicle testbed was slightly damaged during a tow test at Dryden over the weekend when its nose gear wheels became entangled in the tow cable. Engineers had aborted the test when they noticed excess slack in the cable connecting the winged rocket to a tow truck, and while the wheels became entangled anyway, the vehicle's onboard computer released the cable, disengaged the steering mechanism and braked the vehicle to prevent further damage. One of the tires was cut, but no other damaged was reported.
SPACE SYSTEMS/LORAL has won a contract from Thailand's Shin Satellite PLC to build IPSTAR-1, a high-powered broadband communications platform that will serve Asia, India and Australia. Scheduled to be launched in early 2003, the satellite will carry a hybrid Ka-/Ku-band payload that will provide "direct-to-desktop, last-mile services" to customers, including multimedia and data. Loral will hang the payload on a 14 kilowatt 1300S bus. The deal includes an option for a second satellite.
Space Media Inc. and Russia's RSC Energia have agreed to work together wiring the International Space Station's new Zvezda Service Module for commercial video and digitizing Russian space archives for distribution on the World Wide Web, top executives of Space Media and its parent, Spacehab Inc., told The DAILY yesterday.
Neil A. Armstrong has been elected chairman of the board of EDO Corp., the company announced yesterday. Armstrong, the first man to land on the moon, succeeds Frank Fariello, EDO's chairman and former CEO.
LORAL CYBERSTAR will deliver the broadband Medical Network News service to hospitals under a deal with Medical Satellite Broadcasting Corp., which estimates a market of as many as 20,000 sites worldwide in the next three years. The service is to be introduced on trail basis in the U.K., Spain, Portugal, Norway, Bulgaria, the Netherlands and Germany, using CyberStar's DVB technology to send multimedia content to hospitals in web site format.
In a formal joint presentation in June, MiG Russian Aircraft Corp. teamed with DaimlerChrysler Aerospace to offer an upgraded MiG-29SMT to Austria, to replace its aging Saab 35Oe Draken fighters. The Austrian offer also included an offset program which could result in Austrian production of the new MiG-110 twin-boom, twin Klimov TV7-117S turboprop multi-purpose utility aircraft.
Lockheed Martin Management&Data Systems (M&DS), Goodyear, Ariz., said it has demonstrated its Modular Synthetic Aperture Radar (MODSAR) system on an F-16 aircraft. The demonstration began in June with the integration of MODSAR into an F-16 centerline pod. This was followed by a series of flight tests over a two-week period at Lockheed Martin Tactical Aeronautical Systems in Fort Worth, Tex.
FAA proposed two civil penalties totaling $1.24 million against Boeing yesterday for two separate incidents involving quality control violations and failure to report cracks on 737s.
The Italian Ministry of Defense officially accepted the first three of 22 Lockheed Martin C-130J airlifters it has ordered, and expects deliveries to begin within the next few weeks, according to the maker of aircraft.
Lockheed Martin's High Mobility Artillery Rocket System (HIMARS) has been deployed to a joint training exercise between the U.S. Army and Marine Corps, marking the first upload and deployment of the system from a C-141. The purpose of the exercise is testing the readiness of the air/land suite that includes a platoon of HIMARS, one radar section and cannons, Lockheed Martin said yesterday.
Russian arms exporter Rosvoorouzhenie, faced with increased competition in the world arms market, especially among its traditional customers in Asia, Africa and the Middle East, is concentrating its efforts and improving its methods of operation, according to Director General Aleksey Ogarev.
The Patriot Advanced Capability-3 (PAC-3) missile achieved its second successful intercept in less than a week when it destroyed a target July 28 at White Sands Missile Range, N.M., the U.S. Army said yesterday. The test, conducted by the Army and the Ballistic Missile Defense Organization, marks the seventh straight successful engineering and manufacturing development (EMD) flight test since 1997.
Primex Technologies said its Defense Research Inc. business unit has won a $2.8 million Naval Air Systems Command contract for production of the Sidewinder Mark 1, Mod 2, missile wing assembly. The contract, according to St. Petersburg, Fla.-based Primex, contains two successive options with a potential value of $3.5 million each for quantities ranging from 600 to 3,200 units.
Ten years after Iraq's invasion of Kuwait, on Aug. 2, 1990, doubts remain about the effectiveness of the response by the U.S. and its allies. "Kuwait is free, it's rebuilt, it has a thriving economy, its citizens travel all over the world," said Pentagon Spokesman Ken Bacon. "Iraq is contained, it has a broken economy, it is an isolated state."
CAE Inc. said its Commercial Simulation and Training Div. has received new orders from six customers with a total value of over $85 million. CAE will supply four Full Flight Simulators (FFS) to three new customers - RyanAir, WestJet, and Embraer. The other customers are GE-Capital Simuflite, British Airways and Reflectone. Two new aircraft types for CAE are also included in the new contracts: a convertible Raytheon Hawker 800/800XP business jet and a Sikorsky S-76C Plus helicopter, both for GE-Capital Simuflite.
The Airborne Laser (ABL) 747-400F moved one step closer to becoming an Air Force tool for shooting down theater ballistic missiles when the Boeing modification center in Wichita took delivery of titanium belly skins that will be used for the plane's laser exhaust system. Two 25-foot-by-5.5-foot titanium contour panels, made by AHF Ducommun, Gardena, Calif., will be fastened together and located on the mid-section underside of the aircraft, where the ABL chemicals are carried.
