RAYTHEON CO. has joined seven U.S. universities to develop new uses for satellite remote sensing data, using the company's "Informart" concept for making the data available to a wider audience. Using technologies originally developed for NASA, and data from the U.S. space agency's Earth Observing System spacecraft, Raytheon and its academic collaborators will conduct a series of projects using the Internet to access and distribute the data.
Elbit Systems Ltd. officially completed its merger with ElOp Electro-Optical Industries Ltd. The fused talents of the Israeli defense technology companies include aircraft, helicopter and combat vehicle upgrades, unmanned aerial vehicles, C4I, helmet mounted systems, thermal imaging systems, space and aerial reconnaissance systems. In fiscal 1999, on a consolidated pro forma basis, the combined entity would have posted revenues of $720 million with a backlog of $1.2 billion. Elbit issued about 12 million shares pursuant to the deal.
Avolo brought two "new-economy visionaries" on board to help guide it through dot-com pitfalls as grows its e-business suite of products and services. The online marketplace provider focused on the aviation industry added two new members to its board of directors -- Tom Hughes, a partner in Cedar Grove Investments Inc. and Glenn Ballman, founder and CEO of Onvia.com. Hughes is the founder and former president of PhotoDisc Inc. and Northshore Publishing.
ITT INDUSTRIES INC. won a $63 million contract from the U.S. Army Communications&Electronics Command to upgrade network control terminals for the Defense Satellite Communications System (DSCS). Under the 10-year contract ITT's Systems Div. will design, develop, integrate and install the terminals, working at Colorado Springs. ITT said it will use capabilities gained in its recent acquisition of Stanford Telecommunications' space communication business to fulfill the contract.
Eaton Corp. has bid out more than $370 million of direct materials on the FreeMarkets Inc. B2B e-marketplace. Eaton claims to have "saved millions on components" by tapping the e-marketplace. Cruising FreeMarkets has achieved a "quick return on investment" and a "high quality level," according to Larry Oman, Eaton's VP for supplier management.
Sen. Mary Landrieu (D-La.) is working on a "potential alternative" to a China weapons proliferation bill offered by Sens. Fred Thompson (R-Tenn.) and Robert Torricelli (D-N.J.), a Landrieu aide told The DAILY yesterday. The aide, Rich Masters, stressed that Landrieu is only exploring an alternative measure and hasn't decided on its form or whether she will ultimately offer it.
NASA's Inspector General has found the agency's Goddard Space Flight Center, Md., had "insufficient justification" in awarding a sole-source contract worth an estimated $500 million over the next five years and $600 million altogether to the nearby Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory (APL).
Representatives of Boeing, Lockheed Martin and the U.S. Army recently received the American Helicopter Society's Grover E. Bell award for the Rotorcraft Pilot's Associate (RPA), an advanced cockpit management system.
Boeing recently pumped in over 1.5 terabytes of data, chiefly engineering drawings for just about all of its commercial jetliners, into its e-business site, myboeingfleet.com. The new data dump is the equivalent of digitizing about 3 million books, at 350 pages each. In addition to the engineering documents, the data load includes searchable parts lists, more than 11,000 component maintenance/overhaul manuals and a fleet status report. Boeing says it is on the way to giving customers a single Internet portal.
Vice Adm. Joseph W. Dyer assumed command of Naval Air Systems Command, Patuxent River, Md., on June 30 following Senate confirmation of his third star. Dyer had been the commander of the Naval Air Warfare Center Aircraft Division and the Naval Air Systems Command assistant commander for research and engineering for the past three years. He replaces Vice Adm. John A. Lockard, who retired from active duty.
The U.S. Navy has formed a missile defense office to be headed by Rear Adm. Rodney P. Rempt, currently deputy assistant secretary of the Navy for Theater Combat Systems.
Aircraft Parts Locator Service (APLS), in business since 1996 as a source for aerospace and defense companies to buy, sell and swap parts, is changing names - it's now Advanced Procurement and Logistics System - and tacking on a .com to reflect its new B2B platform. APLS.COM says it has combined more than 120 million industry records to create a seamless, searchable information database.
A four-hour window opens tonight at 10:00 p.m. EDT for the third intercept test of the national missile defense system. The target is set for launch from Vandenberg AFB, Calif., and the kill vehicle will be launched 20 minutes later from the Kwajalein missile range in the Marshall Islands, 4,300 miles away. Officials hope the Raytheon kill vehicle will intercept the warhead target, using data from the system's radars. A single decoy will accompany the target.
EDS has won a $2.1 billion contract from Rolls-Royce for e-business and supply chain management consulting. The contract, which runs until 2012, extends an existing business relationship that was originally signed in 1996. It is expected to add $1.7 billion of incremental value to EDS, based in Plano, Tex.
TRW Aeronautical Systems won the U.K.'s Council for Electronic Business' (UKCeB) 2000 award for the most "significant implementation of e-business techniques" for its spares Website, www.trwaerospares.com.
STARSEM will launch the first half of the European Space Agency's Cluster II mission July 15 on a Soyuz-Fregat vehicle from the Baikonur Cosmodrome. The six-minute launch window opens at 8:40 a.m. EDT. Two Cluster spacecraft built by Astrium at facilities of the former Dornier Satellitensysteme in Germany will be launched, with the remaining two to be launched on a second Soyuz-Fregat Aug. 9. The original Cluster satellites were lost with the failure of the first Ariane 5 rocket.
Avolo recently made Forbes.com's "Best of the Web" list for the 200 most promising B2B websites. Its Request for Quote (RFQ) service, launched in May, is drawing in commercial airlines and suppliers. As of the end of June, six major airlines had signed on to its system, which is cranking in excess of $600,000, with more than 300 unique users, on a daily basis.
NASA'S AMES Research Center next week will release a proposed redevelopment plan for its Moffett Field property in the heart of California's Silicon Valley, which the center hopes to transform into a "world-class, shared-use educational and R&D campus." Four sites are involved, with proposed increases in floor space for integrating public and private sector research and development efforts. The plans will be released July 10 at the Mountain View, Calif., city council chambers, with follow-on environmental impact public scoping meetings at the Ames U.S.
Gregory R. Dahlberg was sworn in June 29 as the U.S. Army's 26th under secretary. Dahlberg, who replaces Bernard D. Rostker, was the minority staff director on the House defense appropriations subcommittee and acted as the senior Democratic staff adviser an the annual Defense Dept. appropriations bill. As under secretary, he is the principal staff adviser and deputy to Army Secretary Louis Caldera and will serve as the acting secretary when Caldera is absent.
EMS TECHNOLOGIES will supply three combined transmit/receive antenna feeds for the Inmarsat Broadband Global Area Network (B-GAN) program under a $25 million contract with Astrium (formerly Matra Marconi Space). The B-GAN program consists of three satellites, two to be launched in 2003 and a ground spare, that will be capable of producing 200 spot beams generated by the multi-element cup-helix L-band antenna feeds EMS will provide. EMS is headquartered in Atlanta, with facilities there and in Ottawa and Montreal.
Rolls-Royce has won a $49 million contract to power nine Embraer RJ 145 regional jets purchased by Polish airline LOT. The Polish operator is exercising three options under an existing order and buying three new aircraft, increasing the number of firm orders to 15. The Rolls-Royce 7,600 lb. thrust AE 3007 engine is the sole powerplant for the ERJ 145 aircraft, the 44-passenger ERJ 140 and the 37-passenger ERJ 135.
Lockheed Martin and the Dept. of Defense are using e-business strategies to perfect paperless procurement. Lockheed Martin Information Systems continues to streamline its contracting process with the U.S. Army Simulation, Training and Instrumentation Command (STRICOM) using electronic delivery forms to improve accuracy and eliminate delays. The company says it was the first defense contractor to adopt the electronic delivery form with the Pentagon. Lockheed Martin is "stress testing" the system with STRICOM.
CFM International's CFM56-7 engine has been installed on the first Boeing 737-900, rollout of which is scheduled for July 23 at Boeing's Renton, Wash., facility. First flight is scheduled for August. Following a 381-hour flight test program and certification, Alaska Airlines will take first delivery in April 2001. The engine is the exclusive powerplant for the 737-600/700/800/900 and Boeing Business Jet, CFM International said.
ORBITAL SCIENCES CORP. reported it has received roughly $725 million in new orders for space and ground systems during the first six months of this year. As of June 30, that left the company with an expected firm contract backlog of about $2.1 billion and a total contract backlog, with options, of about $5 billion. The figures cover satellites and other space systems, launch vehicles, electronics and sensors and ground sensors.
