Speaking via video to an audience at the Economic Strategy Institute's Global Forum in Washington, South Korean President Kim Dae-jung pledged to create an "electronic government" and "electronic democracy" to encourage more direct participation by the general population. The spread of the Internet in South Korea, he said, has been reported as the fastest in the world.
Lockheed Martin's Integrated Solutions Company (IBS) joined forces with Auctionfares.com to participate in the "next-generation" travel exchange. As part of the deal, IBS will take a minority stake in Auctionfares.com, help design the site and provide Web hosting.
In final preparations before a sixth-month deployment to the Mediterranean and Arabian Gulf, the battle group built around this aircraft carrier is putting personnel, aircraft, ships, systems and resources through a two-week, 24-hour-a-day unscripted battle simulation in the Atlantic Ocean to make sure they are combat-ready. "It's the final step before an overseas deployment. After we have all the components, we need to integrate it all," Capt. William J.
Russia plans to abandon the Mir orbital station again next month, bringing home from their extended mission the two cosmonauts aboard but leaving the 14-year-old spacecraft in orbit against the chance the MirCorp venture will be able to generate enough revenue to fund another crew. To that end MirCorp, a private joint venture of Western investors and Russia's aerospace giant RSC Energia, announced it was in discussions with an Italian firm apparently formed to send a "guest cosmonaut" to Mir later this year as a commercial venture.
Boeing's latest site, myboeingfleet.com, is one-stop shopping for online maintenance, engineering and flight operations data. The site, managed by Boeing's Commercial Airplanes Group, pulls in the company's other online products to provide a total airplane support platform. Myboeingfleet.com will eventually fold into the mega e-marketplace planned by Boeing, BAe Systems, Lockheed Martin and Raytheon. One advantage of myboeingfleet.com: customization tools that allow users to personalize data tracked and received to meet professional responsibilities.
DATRON Inc., Intercontinental Manufacturing Division, Garland, Texas, is being awarded a $13,601,438 modification to firm-fixed-price contract DAAA09-98-C-0074, for 7,640 BDU-45 paint bomb bodies (component of BDU-45 500 lb. Navy practice bomb), and 30,245 BDU-50 bomb bodies (component of BDU-50 500 lb. Air Force practice bomb). Work will be performed in Garland, Texas, and is expected to be completed by Nov. 30, 2000. Contract funds will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. This is a sole source contract initiated on March 20, 2000. The U.S.
The Boeing Company, Maui, Hawaii, is being awarded an $86,500,000 (maximum) indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract to provide for operation and maintenance and research and development services through September 2005 for the Maui Space Surveillance System, Mount Haleakala, Maui, Hawaii. Funds will be obligated as individual delivery orders are issued. The Air Force may issue delivery orders totaling up to the maximum amount indicated above, though actual requirements may necessitate less than that amount. Expected contract completion date is Sept. 30, 2005.
The U.S. Air Force, which consumes more than 80% of the money the Pentagon spends on space systems, may not be able to afford its $177 billion long-term space plan because funding for the orbiting sensors and weapons depends on fiscal conditions that are unlikely to materialize, the congressional General Accounting Office has found.
The defense authorization bill passed by the House on May 18 includes several provisions to increase funding in the arena of electronic warfare. Rep. Joe Pitts (R-Pa), co-chair of the Electronic Warfare Working Group, said Friday that "Maintaining the lead in EW is critical to maintaining tactical superiority in future engagements." H.R. 4205 includes the following provisions:
NASA tapped MindLeaders to join its Consolidated Contracting Initiative (CCI). As part of the program, NASA field offices will be able to buy access to MindLeaders' interactive, online courses.
Dr. Kenneth J. Oscar, deputy secretary of the Army for procurement was briefed on the benefits of reverse auctioning by the Army's Communications-Electronics Command (CECOM) Acquisition Center. Reverse auctioning, in which the government posts a purchase wishlist online, allows sellers to see competing prices and adjust accordingly -- only the offers are revealed, not the seller's identity.
BFGoodrich Aerostructures Division's spare parts Website -- launched last year -- is getting "overwhelmingly" positive feedback from customers. The site, http://parts.bfg.com, accounts for 20% of the unit's orders and has 125 registered users. Customers, said BFG's business manager are "thrilled with the level of detail." BFG plans to extend the site's functionality, adding real-time shipment tracking, part configuration information, technical publications and an airline message board.
PartsBase.com, a provider of e-commerce services to the aviation industry, outgrew its digs in Boca Raton, Fla., and will move operations to a huge facility there next month. The company said growth has been "constrained" by the size of the old facility. PartsBase.com Chief Operating Officer Andy Plyler, newly arrived from Honeywell, said the company will "significantly" expand its salesforce.
Adexa and Western Data Systems are teaming up to make supply chain planning and e-business a little easier for aerospace and defense companies -- and the U.S. Navy is one of the first customers on board. The partners will sell and implement "A&D specific" supply chain and e-business solutions to help manufacturers and maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO) firms to lower costs, improve responsiveness and return on net assets.
Raytheon Corp., McKinney, Texas, is being awarded a $6,575,500 firm-fixed-price contract to provide for 435 Common Large Area Display Sets (CLADS) applicable to the E-3 Airborne Warning and Control System (AWACS) aircraft. The CLADS is a digital monitor that displays AWACS data and associated interface equipment. Delivery will begin with 45 each per month beginning 120 days after exercise of option, 30 each in final month. Solicitation issue date was Dec. 28, 1998. Negotiation completion date was Aug. 19, 1999.
The six astronauts and a cosmonaut aboard the Space Shuttle Atlantis were well into their planned five-day maintenance and repair shift aboard the International Space Station yesterday, having completed a tricky spacewalk outside the 18-month old orbiting facility and setting up to begin working inside the two Station modules.
McDonnell Douglas Corp., Berkeley, Mo., is being awarded an $8,339,000 firm-fixed-price contract to provide for development of a kit to integrate the Joint Direct Attack Munition (JDAM) onto the F-16 aircraft. JDAM is a strap-on kit with Inertial Navigation System/Global Positioning System capability that will provide an improved aerial delivery capability for existing 1000 and 2000-pound bombs. This effort supports foreign military sales to Israel. Expected contract completion date is August 2002. Negotiation completion date was May 3, 2000.
Boeing Defense and Space Group, Seal Beach, Calif., is being awarded a $27,400,000 modification to a firm-fixed-price contract to provide for 33 Payload Adapters which will facilitate integration of the Global Positioning System Block IIF space vehicle onto the Evolved Expendable Launch Vehicle (EELV). Expected contract completion date is Fiscal Year 2009. Solicitation issue date was Jan. 12, 2000. Negotiation completion date was March 3, 2000. Space and Missile Systems Center, Los Angeles AFB, Calif., is the contracting activity (F04701-96-C-0025).
Honeywell Technology Solutions, Inc., Columbia, Md., is being awarded a $39,680,982 cost-plus-fixed-fee contract to perform engineering tasks in the development, test and integration of naval space systems such as space vehicles, launch vehicles and aerospace ground equipment. Work will be performed in Washington, D.C., and is expected to be completed by May 2001. Contract funds in the amount of $845,076 will expire at the end of the current fiscal year. This contract was competitively procured under a request for proposals via the internet and one offer was received.
Europe's EH101 multi-role, medium-lift helicopter is making its first tour of the U.S., with its British and Italian makers hoping to generate some interest among the military services as a replacement for various helicopters.
Russia is planning to launch five satellites from the Baikonur and Plesetsk cosmodromes in June, including an unprecedented four Protons, according to an official of Rosaviakosmos.
Declaring their options in contract negotiations with Bell Helicopter Textron, members of United Auto Workers Local 218, Hurst, Tex., cast a near-unanimous vote Sunday to authorize a strike if necessary. The UAW's three-year contract with Bell Helicopter expires June 11. Paul Martinez, vice president, Local 218, said the strike authorization vote - a standard UAW procedure - was a show of solidarity as well as support for union negotiators.
Elta Electronics Inc., a unit of Israel Aircraft Industries Ltd., boosted net after tax profits by 161%, to $7.3 million from $2.8 million, for the first quarter, ending April 30. Elta, specializing in military intelligence, radar systems, electronic warfare and communication system for airborne, maritime and ground defense applications, posted first quarter sales of $166.3 million compared to $117 million in the prior year. Exports, which account for about 76% of total sales, grew 30% year-over-year.
