Driven by record performance in the information technology and defense electronics, Northrop Grumman's second quarter earnings rocketed 42% to $2.50 per share from $1.78 per share in the comparable period a year ago, easily outpacing Wall Street expectations. "We have significantly improved our operating performance, and have one of the strongest balance sheets in the industry," said Kent Kresa, chairman, president and CEO.
L-3 Communications Corp.'s Interstate Electronics division was tapped by MacDonald Dettwiler, the Canadian subsidiary of Orbital Sciences Corp., to supply its Warrior Vision flat panel displays for the Robotic Workstation (RWS) aboard the International Space Station.
Lockheed Martin reported better than expected numbers for the second quarter of 2000 and boosted investor confidence by raising free cash flow estimates by $400 million for the year.
General Dynamics posted net earnings of $204 million, or $1.01 per share for the second quarter of fiscal 2000 - beating Wall Street consensus of $0.98 - on sales of $2.6 billion. "This was another excellent quarter, showing superb performance and steady, dependable, organic growth," said General Dynamics Chairman and CEO Nicholas D. Chabraja. "We are generating high quality earnings, backed by strong free cash flow from operations, and our backlog is growing."
The U.S. military is "in the midst of a massive train wreck" because of "mismatches" between defense needs and resources, and the next Quadrennial Defense Review shouldn't gloss over this problem, House Armed Services R&D Subcommittee Chairman Curt Weldon (R-Pa.) said yesterday. "I don't want another QDR that puts a glossy picture on where we are," Weldon told the Lexington Institute Capitol Hill conference. "I want a hard-hitting document that tells it like it is."
Globalstar continued to plug away in the second quarter of fiscal 2000, doubling minutes-per-use and cutting operating costs, including interest payments, below the $125 million burn rate of prior quarters. While Bernard Schwartz, Globalstar's chairman and CEO, declined to comment on just how the satellite communications company cleaned up its financial house during the quarter, he did say the reductions would be "persistent." He also said during the company's earnings call on Wednesday that he didn't "hold out much hope" for further substantial cuts.
BRAZIL'S EMBRAER plans on Sunday to reveal its entry into the corporate jet market, sources said. On the eve of the Farnborough air show in London, they said, the company also plans to announce its first firm order for such aircraft from a major U.S. corporation. Embraer is said to be forming a corporate jet division to handle this new line of products. At least three models of Embraer regional jets will be configured as executive aircraft, sources said - the 37-seat ERJ-135, the 44-seat ERJ-140 and the 98-seat ERJ-190.
GENERAL DYNAMICS LAND SYSTEMS won a $34.4 million contract for 10 Wolverine Heavy Assault Bridge (HAB) vehicles. One vehicle per month is slated to be delivered, beginning June 2001. The contract, representing incremental funding, restarts the Abrams (Wolverine) multi-year contract which covers a potential for 162 vehicles through 2006.
The U.S. space program under a Gore Administration would proceed pretty much along the path set out under President Clinton, while a Bush Administration probably would put greater emphasis on getting the private sector involved in commercial space activities, surrogates for the two presidential candidates told a Washington audience yesterday.
Raytheon's second quarter profits took a nosedive, but the company still surpassed Wall Street estimates and delivered a relatively upbeat forecast. Income from continuing operations was $95 million, or $0.28 a share - a penny better than the Street consensus of $0.27 - versus $277 million, or $0.81 a share, in the same quarter a year ago.
MirCorp's board of directors has approved a plan to send two crews of two cosmonauts each on commercial missions to the Mir orbital station next year, with space tourist Dennis Tito scheduled to visit Mir for 10 days during the mid-year crew changeover. The board, headed by RSC Energia chief Yuri P. Semyonov, also authorized an unpiloted supply flight this fall to set the stage for the human missions in 2001.
Lockheed Martin's Integrated Business Solutions Co., elaborating on its information technology alliance with Toshiba Information and Industrial Systems&Services Co., said the team will tailor data center resources and e-business solutions for global customers. The agreement represents the precursor of a potential joint venture, Lockheed Martin said.
House Armed Services Committee Chairman Floyd Spence (R-S.C.) said yesterday that China is conducting an "impressive" modernization of its military, and several experts told the panel that the United States should field new weapons to defend its interests in East Asia. A report released by Spence's committee cited China's plans to increase the number of short-range ballistic missiles based opposite Taiwan from 200 to 650 by 2005. The report also noted that China is developing two new intercontinental ballistic missiles, the DF-31 and the DF-41.
Russia's Zvezda Service Module continues to check out on orbit as controllers get ready for its planned July 25 automatic docking with the International Space Station, NASA said yesterday, describing as minor a problem with one of the critical module's visual docking targets.
The sixth test of a PAC-3 missile, scheduled for yesterday, was postponed because of the failure of a non-tactical piece of equipment associated with the test, according to a spokesman for the U.S. Army Air and Missile Defense program executive office in Huntsville, Ala. The Ballistic Missile Defense Organization (BMDO) and the Army had planned for the PAC-3 system to engage and destroy an MQM-17 Streaker drone, acting as low altitude cruise missile, at White Sands Missile Range, N.M.
CPI AEROSTRUCTURES INC. said it won about $3.1 million in new contracts during the second quarter, including an additional $1.2 million on a deal to make engine mounts for the Lear 60 and Astra Galaxy businessjets. CPI also won a follow-on contract to build exhaust ducts for the F/A-18 fighter, and contracts to provide cowlings for C-130 airlifters and skins for the E-3B electronic surveillance aircraft. The company named Timothy J. Stone as president of the precision machining facility in Ithaca, N.Y., replacing Dan Liguori.
It will take "considerable" backing from the federal government to get a commercial reusable launch vehicle (RLV) off the ground in the present launch services market, the head of the Lockheed Martin/Khrunichev International Launch Services venture predicted yesterday.
Thailand has requested a possible buy of two UH-60L Black Hawk helicopters with T700 engines for the Royal Thai Army at an estimated cost of $90 million, the Pentagon said. The potential sale would include two additional T700 engine spares, M130 chaff dispenser, external stores support systems, non-MDE guns, ammunition, 2.75 rocket pods, gun pods and various support equipment.
Global defense and aerospace mergers and acquisitions are in style so far this year - 5 of the top 25 deals in the first six months of fiscal 2000 were transatlantic. According to a new report from Defense Mergers&Acquisitions of Centreville, Va., worldwide defense and aerospace companies have announced or put the finishing touches on M&A deals worth about $23 billion in the first half of the year.
Integral Systems Inc. of Lanham, Md., won a contract from Cable&Wireless Optus to supply EPOCH 2000, the first commercial-off-the-shelf satellite command and control software, as the primary and backup control software for the Optus C1 satellite.
Lockheed Martin Naval Electronics&Surveillance Systems, Akron, Ohio, said it has received a $50 million, seven-year contract to provide the United Arab Emirates with an F-16 Block 60 Training System. The country is buying 80 new F-16s. Lockheed Martin got the green light to begin production earlier this month (DAILY, July 11).
The Republic of Korea is seeking a possible buy of 110 SM-2 Block IIIA Standard missiles, 110 Mk 13 Mod 0 canisters, containers, spare/repair parts and support, for an estimated cost of $159 million, the Pentagon announced. Korea plans to use the missiles as the primary defensive system aboard the KDX-II Destroyer for anti-missile ship protection. Raytheon Systems Co. Tucson, Ariz., would be the prime contractor.
Boeing Co. said it has installed the propulsion system for its X-32B short takeoff and vertical landing (STOVL) Joint Strike Fighter demonstrator aircraft, and that the job was done in less than four hours. In April, it installed the engine of its other JSF demonstrator, the X-32A, in four hours. The X-32A will demonstrate conventional and aircraft carrier approach flight characteristics. Installation of the STOVL system went "quickly and without incident," Boeing said yesterday.
NASA has licensed a Warren, Mich., firm - SPX Service Solutions - to develop an autonomous roadside vehicle emission testing system that uses satellite sensor technology originally designed to monitor greenhouse gases and ozone from space.
The House swiftly endorsed the fiscal 2001 defense appropriations conference report yesterday, approving it by a 367-58 vote after debate was cut short due because few lawmakers wanted to speak on it. Voting for the bill were 207 Republicans, 159 Democrats and one independent, while 10 Republicans, 47 Democrats and one independent were opposed.
