GLOBALSTAR was given the green light by the U.S. General Service Administration to sell its mobile satellite phones and services to all federal agencies. Globalstar inked a Basic Order Agreement (BOA) with the GSA after months of negotiations.
ARIANESPACE signed a contract with the European Space Agency worth an estimated $1 billion to launch nine big Ariane 5 rockets to the International Space Station. The deal, announced yesterday at the Berlin air show, was billed as "the largest launch services contract in the history of Europe's space industry." Beginning late in 2003 and running through 2014, the agreement calls for Arianespace to send Automated Transfer Vehicles (ATVs) to the International Station carrying fuel, water and other supplies. The ATV weighs about 20 metric tons.
FLIGHT TESTING of one of the U.S. Air Force's two F-22 Raptors resumed after a four-week delay because of tiny cracks found in the jets' canopies. An F-22 tiger team had found hairline surface cracks less than an inch long under a lower area where 140 bolts attach a 190-lb. transparency to the canopy frame. But the team determined the existing canopy had enough residual strength for continued flight testing, which is being staged at Edwards AFB, Calif. The team suspects the cracking is from higher-than-expected stresses during manufacturing, assembly and installation.
DaimlerChrysler Aerospace GmbH (DASA) and Northrop Grumman Corp. are joining forces on a weather and navigation radar for the Airbus A400M European transport aircraft program. "This planned cooperation brings together two of the world's foremost suppliers of military radar systems," said Wallace J. Hoff, VP and general manager of Northrop Grumman's Aerospace Systems Division.
AVTEC SYSTEMS INC. has won a contract from Bristol Aerospace to supply high-speed telemetry processing systems for the Canadian Space Agency's SCISAT-1 program, on which Bristol - a Magellan Aerospace subsidiary - is prime contractor. Avtec, of Fairfax, Va., will supply commercial-off-the-shelf Programmable Telemetry Processor (PTP) systems for the Canadian satellite, which will be launched in 2002 on an Orbital Sciences Corp. Pegasus XL rocket.
A Clinton Administration official yesterday urged Congress to return export licensing jurisdiction for commercial communications satellites back to the Commerce Dept. In a hearing of the Senate Foreign Relations trade subcommittee, Commerce Undersecretary William Reinsch said that U.S. satellite exports have fallen 40%, from $1.06 billion in 1998 to $637 million in 1999, since Congress transferred license responsibilities to the State Dept. in 1999.
The House met into the evening yesterday to consider an amendment to the fiscal 2001 defense appropriations bill that would cut $930 million from F-22 procurement accounts. Rep. Peter DeFazio (D-Ore.), who offered the amendment, said the plane's procurement should be slowed to resolve testing problems. The bill, which the House Appropriations Committee approved last month, fully funds President Clinton's $4 billion request for development and procurement of the Air Force F-22.
Members of the full House Appropriations Committee yesterday narrowly rejected an effort to restore $321.7 million cut from the NASA budget in subcommittee, leaving the reduction in place as the measure heads for the House floor. Committee members voted 23-22 against an amendment to the VA, HUD and Independent Agencies spending bill offered by Rep. Alan Mollohan (D-W.Va.) that would have restored the cut.
The U.S. Marine Corps resumed the operational evaluation (OPEVAL) of its MV-22 tilt-rotor aircraft Tuesday at the Naval Air Warfare Center Weapons Division, China Lake, Calif., following a pause of nearly two months in the process after an April 8 crash near Tucson, Ariz., that killed all 19 onboard. The OPEVAL program, originally begun last November, is intended to validate the aircraft's tactical application in support of Marine Corps missions. The current timeline puts completion in mid-July.
Boeing CEO Phil Condit paid his first visit to BAE Systems in Rochester, England, to talk about cooperative initiatives and to accept the 1,000th Primary Flight Computer for the 777 aircraft program. BAE Chairman Sir Richard Evans and Jonathan Flint, managing director for avionics systems, hosted Condit. The Boeing chief met with BAE employees working on Boeing civil and military aircraft, including the Apache helicopter, the C-17 transporter, the T-45 trainer and the Joint Strike Fighter, as well as the 777 and in-service 737 airliners.
Europe got a much later start than the United States in debating the U.S.-proposed national missile defense system and has not yet formed a unified position, a German general said yesterday. "The discussion in Europe has just started," Brig. Gen. Peter Goebel, defense attache at the German embassy in Washington, said at a Capitol Hill seminar. "We do not have a coherent European perspective."
Senators yesterday were considering offering an amendment to the fiscal 2001 defense authorization bill that would modernize U.S. export controls. The amendment, which would be offered by Sens. Tim Johnson (D-S.D.), Paul Sarbanes (D-Md.), Phil Gramm (R-Tex.) and Mike Enzi (R-Wyo.), would consist of the proposed Export Administration Act, which has stalled since the Senate Banking Committee approved it last year, and an unspecified manager's package. The EAA would rewrite many of the existing export control laws.
TURKEY has signed a contract worth an estimated $350 million with Sikorsky Aircraft Corp. for eight S-80E heavy-lift helicopters. The contract, signed in Anakara on June 6, will be effective after financing is arranged. The S-80E is the commercial designation of Sikorsky's CH-53E Super Stallion and MH-53E Sea Dragon heavy-lift helicopters.
Boeing Co. inked new deals with two Russian companies, Ilyushin Aviation Complex and titanium manufacturer Vekhnaya Salda Metallurgical Production Association (VSMPO) to create a legal and business infrastructure to support current partnerships and allow further cooperation. "Boeing has been working with Ilyushin and VSMPO since 1994," said Harry Stonecipher, president and COO of Boeing. "Our Russian partners and associates have proven their professional and technical capabilities and we look forward to more successes."
JOHN MILLIS, staff director of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, was found dead Sunday night in a Fairfax City, Va., motel of an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound, a police spokesman said. Director of Central Intelligence George J. Tenet said in a statement that Millis' death is "a tragic loss" and that Millis "was a tenacious advocate for a strong national intelligence capability."
PANAMSAT will use its PAS-8 Pacific Ocean Region satellite to deliver the first all-Chinese direct-to-home television service in Australia. Beginning in July, the service offered by Hong Kong-based TVB (Australia) Pty. Ltd. will beam several channels of digital programming 24 hours a day across Australia. TVB (Australia) will use a full 36 MHz transponder on the PAS-8 Ku-band beam, which can carry as many as a dozen channels to subscribers using a 60-centimeter rooftop antenna. The service will be PanAmSat's sixth direct-to-home delivery worldwide.
International Lease Finance Corp. signed up on the A3XX interest list, hinting that it wants to be a launch customer the Airbus super-jumbo airliner. "We believe that the A3XX will become the flagship of the 21st century and will introduce new standards in operational efficiency, passenger comfort, range, and environmental friendliness, thus becoming extremely attractive in terms of high return on investment," said Steve Hazy, ILFC's CEO.
GE Capital Aviation Services (GECAS) placed 50 firm orders for Fairchild Dornier 728JET Regional Jets for an estimated $1.4 billion, and took options on up to 100 additional jets. "GECAS is excited about the fast growing regional jet market and looks forward to having the Fairchild Dornier 728JET aircraft to offer our customers," said Henry Hubschman, president and CEO of GECAS.
Editorial Correction: An article in The DAILY of June 7 (page 370) incorrectly stated that the Briz-M upper stage on the Proton rocket launched Monday was built by RSC Energia. The Briz-M was developed and built by Khrunichev Space Center to increase the Proton's payload capability.
SIRIUS SATELLITE RADIO's first satellite, Sirius-1, has arrived at the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan for launch on a Proton rocket as early as June 28. The first of three Space Systems/Loral-built platforms in the Sirius constellation, Sirius-1 will be placed in an inclined elliptical orbit that will provide elevation angles of 60 to 90 degrees over the U.S. Sirius-2 is scheduled for launch in September, with Sirius-3 to follow in October. The S-band satellites will deliver digital audio content, backed by a network of 105 terrestrial transmitters in 46 major U.S.
ALCATEL SPACE will develop and build the aeronautical communications payload for Japan's MTSAT-1R satellite, which Space Systems/Loral is building for the Japanese Ministry of Transport. The payload will operate in the L-, Ku- and Ka-bands to support voice and data communications between the spacecraft and its ground crew; satellite navigation as a geostationary complement to the Global Positioning System, and air traffic surveillance based on the Automatic Dependent Surveillance positioning reporting system.
An air-launched Pegasus rocket orbited the Air Force's Tri-Service Experiments Mission 5 (TSX-5) satellite yesterday in an all-Orbital Sciences mission staging out of Vandenberg AFB, Calif.
U.S. and Russian leaders signed an official agreement at the presidential summit in Moscow this week to build a Joint Data Exchange Center (JDEC) that will operate around the clock, seven days a week, to warn of missile launches.
The U.S. Army's Tactical High Energy Laser (THEL) tracked and shot down a Katyusha rocket in flight for the first time Tuesday in a test at White Sands Missile Range, N.M. The successful interception of the rocket, armed with a live warhead, marked the climax of a four-year demonstration program. The THEL effort is being conducted by the Army's Space and Missile Defense Command and Israel to develop and test a defensive weapon that Israel hopes to deploy soon along its northern border. The system is made by a TRW-led team of U.S. and Israel contractors.
