Raytheon Co. won a $54 million contract with the U.S. Army for foreign military sales of almost 2,000 TOW 2A and TOW 2B missiles. "TOW remains the world's missile choice for helicopter-borne and ground- based long-range defense," said Steve Ignat, Raytheon Missile business development director for land warfare. The deal covers orders in Europe, the Middle East, Asia and Latin America. Raytheon's Missile Systems unit in Tucson will handle the work. The order is slated to be complete by November 2001.
Sikorsky Aircraft Corp. is partnering with Bombardier Aerospace to offer Sikorsky's S-92 helicopter as the replacement for Canada's Sea King helicopters.
The Senate Wednesday eased a proposed restriction on the sale of Stinger ground-to-air missiles to Persian Gulf countries by approving language allowing the sale of replacement missiles.
NASA's "follow-the-water" approach to Mars exploration has taken a new turn with the discovery of possible evidence of liquid water near the planet's surface, and the technology used in future probes will be adjusted accordingly, top agency officials said yesterday. High-resolution images from the Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) have found more than 200 sites on the planet where it appears liquid water has burst from the sides of steep slopes with enough volume to flow downhill before it freezes or evaporates in the cold, thin atmosphere.
NATIONAL TECHNICAL SYSTEMS, Calabasas, Calif., said it will supply Litton Industries' Guidance and Control Systems Div. with information technology professionals to cover Litton's additional labor needs under a $40 million, three-year contract. NTS said it will be Guidance and Control Systems' preferred provider of Consultant, Contract and Lit-Temps requirements.
INRAD Inc. said it has been awarded a production contract for 400 ultra-violet waveband filter elements for the AN/AAR-47 Missile Warning System from Lockheed Martin's Sanders unit, prime contractor for the system. It didn't disclose the dollar value of the contract.
Following months evaluating alternatives, the Pentagon has decided to stay with its original Joint Strike Fighter acquisition strategy of "winner-take-all," Jacques Gansler, the defense acquisition chief, said yesterday. "The strategy ... will be a winner-take-all, which is what we had planned all along and which we have assessed as seems to make the most sense to us," Gansler said of the competition between Boeing and Lockheed Martin.
The Republican chairmen of the Senate and House committees that authorize NASA programs want the General Accounting Office to review the space agency's management of the proposed U.S. Propulsion Module for the International Space Station. Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) and Rep. F. James Sensenbrenner Jr. (R-Wis.) yesterday released a letter they sent June 13 requesting the review.
L-3 Communications won two contracts with the U.S. Air Force to provide the next-generation of data links for the U-2S high-altitude reconnaissance aircraft.
The creation of a U.S.-Russian Joint Data Exchange Center (JDEC) to warn of missile launches received Senate approval late Tuesday. The measure, approved as part of a group of amendments to the fiscal 2001 defense authorization bill, was offered by Senate Armed Services Committee ranking Democrat Carl Levin (Mich.).
U.S. Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. Michael E. Ryan expressed his concern about the shrinking defense industrial base, noting the nation relies on a healthy defense in maintaining warfare superiority.
Partners in the international Sea Launch Venture have agreed that their Ukrainian/Russian Zenit rocket is ready to fly again, setting a long-running dispute over who was to blame for the March 12 launch failure that cost ICO Global Communications its first satellite. The Long Beach, Calif.-based launch services venture said all participants in a Return to Flight/Systems Readiness Review "signed a certificate of agreement indicating they are completely satisfied that all corrective actions are being implemented satisfactorily."
Worldwide space business revenues totaled $87 billion in 1999, according to the International Space Business Council. ISBC said in a report, "2000 State of the Space Industry," presented in Washington on Monday, that 24 space companies posted stock market gains of 99.5% or better last year. There were over 50 mergers and acquisitions worth over $55 billion, the report said.
U.S. Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. Michael E. Ryan said the service will never have enough lift to support the conduct of two simultaneous major theater wars (MTWs), despite efforts by the service to modernize and replace its aging fleet of airlifters. "The demand for lift is an issue that will always be there," Ryan told a group of defense writers at a breakfast in Washington yesterday. "We will never have enough lift, ever to do two simultaneous major theater wars. We can't afford to go there."
The National Missile Defense program was criticized for its tight schedule by panelists at a Washington conference on Tuesday. "We all agree the Administration's proposed system is ineffective and should not be pursued," James Woolsey, a former Director of Central Intelligence, said at the conference, sponsored by the Carnegie Endowment for Peace.
Computer Sciences Corp. formed an alliance to compete for a deal to upgrade the National Security Agency's information technology infrastructure (ITI).
MTS SYSTEMS CORP., Eden Prairie, Minn., received two contracts from Lockheed Martin for full-scale fatigue test control systems for the P-3 and S-3 aircraft.
NASA's Mars Global Surveyor has spotted "evidence of liquid water on Mars," and NASA will announce the details of the find in a hastily called press conference at agency headquarters this morning. The U.S. space agency had hoped to hold its announcement until next Thursday (DAILY, June 21), but word of the find was reported by the NASA Watch web site and quickly gathered steam in the print and electronic media.
The House Appropriations foreign operations subcommittee has defeated a proposal to cut $250 million in military aid to Israel over that country's planned sale of a Phalcon airborne early warning system radar to China. Subcommittee Chairman Sonny Callahan (R-Ala.) had proposed the aid cut as an amendment to the fiscal 2001 foreign operations spending bill. His amendment failed on a 6-9 vote. The subcommittee approved an amendment by Reps. David Obey (D-Wis.) and Jack Kingston (R-Ga.) to provide for early disbursement of aid to Israel.
Raytheon Co. reported successes with two of its missiles, the Stinger and the AIM-9X. Stingers, it said, scored nine successful launches in nine attempts during recent integration test firings from the AH-64D Apache Longbow helicopter at Yuma Proving Ground, Ariz., Raytheon Co. said. Eight of the missiles hit simulated hovering helicopter targets in a clutter environment during the May 31-June 6 tests, according to Raytheon, which produced the missiles.
In-Flight Network (IFN), jointly owned by News Corp. and Rockwell Collins, is teaming with Globalstar and QUALCOMM to provide commercial airline customers with low-cost broadband Internet and e-mail access on board by early 2001. "IFN's service will enable affiliate airlines to deploy high-speed, full Internet access and e-mail services quickly," said Jeffrey M.
Computer Sciences Corp. formed an alliance to compete for a deal to upgrade the National Security Agency's information technology infrastructure (ITI).
The Dept. of Defense and other federal agencies would have to report to Congress on their efforts to counter information warfare, including the U.S. Space Command's role, under an amendment added to the Senate's pending fiscal 2001 defense authorization bill.
