As talks get underway to finalize the unique leasing arrangement that will put four Boeing C-17 airlifters on Royal Air Force ramps by the middle of next year, top C-17 executives think the deal could open the door for the first time to setting up leases for the U.S. military. Moreover, if the deal succeeds, it could set a precedent for leases to support U.S. military hardware exports -- a move that could widen the world market for the C-17.
Engineers at NASA's Stennis Space Center shut down a hot-fire test of the Rocketdyne XRS-2200 linear aerospike engine 35 seconds on Friday when a critical seal began to erode, but not before the engine ran for a record 290 seconds. Inspections after the test revealed no other damage to the engine or related hardware. NASA Stennis said the flexible seal that began to fail was designed to prevent hot exhaust gas from circulating into the engine cavity.
Despite a 9.1% year-over-year increase in sales for the first quarter of 2000, from $13.5 million to $14.8 million, LMI Aerospace Inc. posted a net loss of $181,000 or $0.02 per diluted share for the period. LMI recorded net income of $815,000, of $0.10 a share in the first quarter of 1999.
NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center will host the second "Turning Goals Into Reality" conference today and Friday, covering recent developments in space flight research and forecasting "revolutionary" advances that will shape aeronautics and space flight in the dawning century. The event is being held at the Alabama field center and the Huntsville Marriott.
The House began debate yesterday on the $309.9 billion fiscal year 2001 defense authorization bill and approved a rule allowing for consideration of 35 amendments, including a proposal to trim spending. The Rules Committee was scheduled to meet again yesterday to approve another rule for considering more amendments to the bill. House members submitted a total of 101 amendments for the committee's consideration.
The House Armed Services Committee "remains deeply concerned about the pace and direction" of ballistic missile defense (BMD) programs "on a number of grounds," the panel said in a report released this week to accompany the fiscal year 2001 defense authorization bill.
Seven German MiG-29 Fulcrum fighters will participate in the second and third periods of this year's Maple Flag exercise in Canada, the first appearance of this former-Soviet-bloc aircraft at the annual event. The Fulcrums will be part of the opposing force. Maple Flag XXXIII is a six-week international air-combat exercise underway at 4 Wing, Cold Lake, Alberta. Eight participating nations are conducting realistic large-scale combat air operations on the Cold Lake Weapons Range.
ROLLS-ROYCE received an order valued at $120 million from International Lease Finance Corp. for Trent 500 engines to power three Airbus A3240-600 aircraft.
Sen. Jon Kyl (R-Ariz.) said "there is a huge downside" in President Clinton negotiating a modification of the ABM Treaty or a START III agreement with the Russians, expressing concern that the president, intent on embellishing his international record, would make too many concessions to the Russians.
"New ICO" -- the reincarnation of ICO Global Communications that declared bankruptcy last August -- yesterday secured the remaining $700 million of the $1.2 billion needed to officially emerge from Chapter 11 protection. With the latest tranche of exit financing, part of the $1.2 bailout strategy spearheaded by telecommunications mogul Craig McCaw, New ICO should be able to "get down to business" and concentrate on building its space and terrestrial networks.
The FAA has completed a major milestone in the modernization of the national airspace system with deployment of the final Air Route Surveillance Radar, which provides aircraft position information and weather data. The program consists of 43 operational systems around the periphery of the continental U.S. and in Guam. The 44th system is to support work at the FAA Academy at the agency's Aeronautical Center in Oklahoma. The program began with a contract award to Northrop Grumman in 1988. Total program cost was $800 million, half of it paid by the Dept.
A senior Boeing executive said yesterday that it's time to start thinking of Boeing Commercial Airplanes as not just an aircraft manufacturer, but as a "total customer solutions" provider.
Alliant Missile Products Company has conducted the first of two planned hot-fire tests of a solid rocket motor for the Oriole suborbital launch system, Alliant Techsystems reported. The Oriole motor met all of its design and performance objectives in the test, which lasted 32 seconds. It was conducted at missile product unit's production and test facility at the Allegany Ballistics Laboratory.
The Ballistic Missile Defense Organization's National Missile Defense program is carrying out testing at Sunnyvale, Calif., and Huntsville, Ala., as part of an incremental approach to the next large-scale hit-to-kill test scheduled for "no sooner than June 26," according to a program officials. "You know, we are doing tests incrementally," Air Force Lt. Gen. Ronald T. Kadish, BMDO director, told reporters May 9 in Washington.
HELIKOPTER SERVICE AS of Norway is teaming up with Sweden's Saab AB and Finland's Patria Finavitec Oy to provide service to systems and training markets for military helicopters. Saab and Patria Finavitec signed a cooperative agreement earlier this year to establish a jointly owned venture to provide one-stop-shopping for helicopter systems and training needs for suppliers and end-users. The group is looking to leverage the company to developing opportunities, such as the helicopter purchase projects in Nordic countries.
U.S. Navy Adm. Vernon Clark told the Senate Armed Services Committee yesterday that he "most definitely would support" the Joint Strike Fighter program if he is confirmed as chief of naval operations. "For us to be the preeminent navy in the world, without question we have to introduce the kind of technology that the Joint Strike Fighter brings to us," Clark said during his confirmation hearing in response to a question from ranking Democrat Carl Levin (Mich.).
Australia's defense department appropriations, excluding capital use charges, stand at $12.2 billion for the 2000-2001 with total funding from all sources at $19.4 billion for the period. Funding, maintained in real terms over the 2001-04 forward estimates, is up over $3 billion versus estimated actual expenditures in 1999-2000, said Defense Minister John Moore. The budget includes a "significant" boost to capital expenditures, with $3.3 billion earmarked for equipment and facilities versus $2.9 billion the prior year, he said.
There may be benefits to sharing commercial satellite imagery and technology with allies and even enemies, government and industry officials said at a conference. John Copple, chairman and CEO of Space Imaging, said this "mutual assured information" offers "symmetrical transparency" that could improve chances for global peace (DAILY, May 15).
Proposals to cut funding for ballistic missile defense and the F-22 program and to create a commission to study the future of the U.S. aerospace industry are among the more than 100 amendments that House members have submitted for the fiscal year 2001 defense authorization bill, according to a summary released yesterday by the House Rules Committee. The committee was expected to decide late yesterday on a rule for debating the bill, which is tentatively scheduled for consideration in the full House today.
Germany's Astrium GmbH and Russia's Khrunichev State Research and Production Space Center yesterday demonstrated the Rockot space launch vehicle developed by their German-based joint venture Eurockot Launch Services GmbH, clearing the way for commercial service.
FAA PLANS to increase the security of about 1,000 of its sites across the U.S., including headquarters in Washington, the Aeronautical Center in Oklahoma and the Technical Center in New Jersey. The agency yesterday issued requests for industry to review and comment by June 5 on a draft of the proposed effort. FAA said it may pick multiple contractors for the program, estimated to take up to five years and cost between $5 million and $10 million a year. Contract award is scheduled for August or September.
Airbus Industrie yesterday appeared close to landing Singapore Airlines, the Asia-Pacific's showcase carrier, as an A3XX customer. An order from the airline could prove influential in the consortium's attempts to line up enough customers to launch the aircraft. Airbus said it is talking with Singapore for an initial purchase of up to 16 aircraft, including 10 firm orders, for delivery beginning late in 2005.
The inaugural launch of Lockheed Martin's new Russian-powered Atlas IIIA was scrubbed for the second day in a row yesterday, this time because of upper level winds over the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Fla., launch site. The delay will push back one day the launch of Space Shuttle Atlantis on the STS-101 maintenance and repair mission to the International Space Station, according to a Kennedy Space Center spokesperson.
