The Pentagon is working on an Unmanned Aerial Vehicle Master Plan to be released in the October timeframe, and the Joint Staff has been updating a UAV Payload Priority list that should be released in coming weeks, a Defense Dept. official said at a conference here.
AEROSPACE INDUSTRIES ASSOCIATION yesterday urged the Senate to vote before the August congressional recess on a bill to establish permanent normal trade relations with China. AIA President and CEO John W. Douglass said the Senate shouldn't hold up the PNTR vote while senators try to reach agreement on a bill that would impose sanctions on China if it contributes to weapons proliferation. Douglass said the proliferation bill "would seriously undermine" efforts to improve China's behavior, while PNTR is "critical to the continued good health" of the U.S. aerospace industry.
Israel Aircraft Industries this month will begin the first upgrade phase the Spanish Air Force's SF-5B fleet avionics, for a cost of $20 million. "The award of this program, in the increasingly competitive field of aircraft upgrading, is evidence of IAI's Lahav position as the world leader in combat and training aircraft upgrades," said Menahem Shmul, VP and general manager of IAI's Military Aircraft Group.
Three top Senate Democrats yesterday urged President Clinton not to move ahead this year with construction of a National Missile Defense system, saying the technology is unproven and the international environment too uncertain.
The U.S. is considering a $27 million foreign military sale of 16 SM-2 Block III Standard missiles, as well as related materials and support, to help Japan update older missiles in its Self Defense Force fleet. The prime contractor would be Raytheon Missile Systems Co., Tucson, Ariz. Japan already has Standard missiles in its inventory, and the proposed FMS will not affect the basic military balance in the region, the Pentagon said. There are no offset agreements proposed in connection with this potential sale, it said.
ESCO TECHNOLOGIES INC., St. Louis, bought the stock of Holaday Industries Inc., an Eden Prairie, Minn., supplier of measurement probes to the electromagnetic compatibility test, health&safety, and microwave markets, from Spirent plc. ESCO paid $4.3 million in cash. Dennis J. Moore, chairman and CEO of ESCO, said the acquisition will be folded into ESCO's EMC Test Systems subsidiary in Austin, Tex., and is expected to be immediately accretive to earnings.
PCC SPECIALTY PRODUCTS, a unit of Precision Castparts, has opened a marketing office in Shanghai to serve customers in the region and tap into new growth opportunities. Precision Castparts Chairman and CEO William C. McCormick said the new initiative supports the company search for "profitable international growth." He noted the new office will fit well with growing industries in China, including aerospace.
The U.S. Army's Tactical High Energy Laser (THEL) will attempt to shoot down multiple Katyusha rockets in a test today or early next week, a spokeswoman for the Army Space and Missile Defense Command (SMDC) said yesterday. She confirmed comments of SMDC Commander Lt. Gen. John Costello, who said at a breakfast in Arlington, Va., that "With any luck, we're going to have multiple rocket shootdown - knock on wood."
The U.S. government is considering a $385 million foreign military sale to Australia for phase two of the F/A-18 Hornet Upgrade (HUG) program. It will consist of 73 ALR-67(V)3 radar warning receivers, 42 ALQ-165 Airborne Self-protection Jammers (ASPJ) or 42 ALQ-214(V)4 radar frequency countermeasure systems, 73 Joint Helmet Mounted Cueing Systems (JHMCS), 72 Multifunctional Information Distribution System (MIDS)/Low Volume Terminal(LVT), and related parts and support.
After completing a number of key tests, Lockheed Martin Naval Electronics&Surveillance Systems (NE&SS) is slated to turn over remaining Airborne Mine Neutralization System (AMNS) equipment by mid-July for the U.S. Navy's technical evaluation later this summer. "AMNS performed successfully in 20 out of 20 at-sea test runs in challenging shallow water," said Frank DeBritz, president of Undersea Systems. "The system exceeded the expectations of all members of the Navy and industry team that participated."
GE Aircraft Engines posted $609 million in profit for the second quarter, an increase of 20% over last year's numbers. The jump is even more impressive when viewed in the light of revenue growth of only 4%, up $99 million to $2.7 billion. For the first half of this year, profits rose 18% to $1.1 billion on 2% revenue growth of $5.2 billion.
Computer Sciences Corp., capping a six month transition phase, said it is now responsible for software sustainment of the U.S. Army's Wholesale Logistics Management Program (WLMP). "This is a win-win situation for both parties and demonstrates the positive effects of federal government outsourcing to the private sector," said Jeff Plotnick, VP and WLMP program manager for CSC.
Aeroflot, Russia's national airline, announced a plan to buy up to 20 Tupolev Tu-334-200 short-to-medium range 100-seat twin-turbofan airliners powered by BMW Rolls-Royce BR715 engines. The planes would be purchased over the next five years. The basic version of the aircraft - designed by Tupolev in early '90s and planned for series production at MiG Corp. facilities in Moscow and Lukhovitsy - features the Ukrainian Progress D436-T1 turbofan, and should be certified by late 2002.
Lockheed Martin is using a product from Linux NetworX Inc. that links multiple computers through a high-speed network to create a single system to analyze U.S. Navy aircraft. "We are seeing a 40 times greater price-to-performance ratio over our past system and can now test and model four times as many analyses in the same amount of time," said Jeff Layton, senior engineer at Lockheed Martin.
Reliance Steel&Aluminum Co., Los Angeles, plans to purchase United Alloys Inc.'s aircraft division, located in Vernon, Calif., and fold the "high-margin, niche business" into its existing aerospace operations. The two companies reached an agreement in principle covering the terms of the transaction. According to a statement from Reliance, the assets and business of the United Alloys unit will be bought by a new company operating as a subsidiary of Service Steel Aerospace Corp. of Tacoma, Wash.
The United States needs to radically increase its investment in science and overhaul the defense industrial base to keep its military's technological edge, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich (R-Ga.) said yesterday.
The Senate late Tuesday approved an amendment to the fiscal 2001 defense authorization bill authorizing up to $50 million for research and development of directed energy technology, systems and weapons. Similar language was added last month to the Senate's defense appropriations bill. The Senate late yesterday was planning to resume consideration of the defense authorization bill, including a proposed amendment by Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) that he said would ensure the proposed National Missile Defense system is tested against "realistic" countermeasures.
The U.S. Air Force gave the official go-ahead for Boeing to begin production of the first Evolved Expendable Launch Vehicle, a Delta IV, for the Defense Satellite Communications Systems (DSCS) program. "This is an important milestone for our Delta IV program," said Mike Kennedy, EELV/Delta IV vice president. The first launch of the EELV is slated for May 2002 from Cape Canaveral, Fla. The Air Force plans to launch a DSCS satellite into geosynchronous transfer orbit on a Boeing Delta IV Medium.
The future of unmanned vehicles may include maneuvering platforms in space, miniature robots linked by a sort of "group-think" swarm behavior, and combat vehicles that perform many of the difficult missions now carried out by piloted aircraft. Most of the budget of the Defense Advanced Research Project Agency (DARPA) goes toward operations dominance, which includes these efforts. "DARPA's job is to look out a ways," said Frank Fernandez, director of the Pentagon agency. He described its main purpose as "radical innovation."
Israel has nixed its $250 million sale of Phalcon early-warning radar aircraft to China, a potential blow to Israel Aircraft Industries and another thorn in U.S.-China relations. Israel also said, however, that it would continue to search for a way to close the deal.
Rep. Sonny Callahan (R-Ala.), who chairs the House Appropriations Committee's foreign operations panel and led a congressional effort to pressure Israel to drop the Phalcon sale, welcomed Israel's announcement that it canceled the transaction. "Israel made the right decision," Callahan said. "For the sake of U.S. national security interests and ... the national security interests of all our allies, such as Israel, I am glad this matter has been resolved."
Live air traffic control operations using two new Raytheon systems, the Standard Terminal Automation Replacement System (STARS) and ASR-11 Digital Airport Surveillance Radar (DASR), are underway at Eglin AFB, Fla., the company reported.
NASA is preparing to mark the 25th anniversary on Saturday of the launch of the Apollo Soyuz Test Project (ASTP), designed to test rendezvous and docking systems compatibility for American and Soviet spacecraft and open the way for future joint flights. The nine-day mission began on July 15, 1975.
AEROSPACE CORP. announced that William F. Ballhaus Jr. has been named president, effective Sept. 11. The El Segundo, Calif., organization said E.C. "Pete" Aldridge Jr. will remain CEO. Aldridge and Ballhaus, it said, will share responsibility for operations until Aldridge retires in late 2001. Ballhaus comes to Aerospace Corp. after an 11-year career at Lockheed Martin, where he was most recently corporate VP, engineering and technology.
Lockheed Martin Integrated Systems' AN/SLY-2(V) Advanced Integrated Electronic Warfare System (AIEWS) has passed its critical design review (CDR), the company said. "AN/SLY-2 is a revolutionary approach to an EW system that provides situational awareness, counter targeting and anti-ship missile defense," said Peter Costello, director ship electronic warfare systems for the Syracuse, N.Y.-based unit of Lockheed Martin.
