The U.S. Army wants to reduce the $5 million unit cost of its PAC-3 missiles to about $2 million, and use the savings to buy 500 more of the missiles, an Army officer said. Focused first on the missile itself, and most recently on ground components, the Army is trying to find ways to develop and fund some cost reduction initiatives (CRIs) to increase efficiencies that can serve as the baseline of the program from which the cost of the missiles will decrease as quantities increase, once full production begins.
JOHN HAMRE was named person of the year by the National Defense Industrial Association for his efforts in addressing globalization issues. The former deputy defense secretary is now chairman of the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington.
The FAA announced initiation of electronic air/ground communication services for aircraft operating over the Atlantic Ocean, saying the same system has been operating for more than a year in the Pacific.
The National Reconnaissance Office is moving ahead on a plan to expand its technological base through the use of commercial satellites for tasks requiring low and medium resolution, according to Air Force Maj. Gen. Robert S. Dickman, assigned to NRO as the director of corporate operations. Under the Commercial Imagery Initiative, Dickman said yesterday at a conference here, the NRO is planning on buying satellite images from commercial vendors.
A British Royal Navy Trident ballistic missile submarine, cruising submerged about 50 miles off Cape Canaveral, Fla., launched a Trident II D5 ballistic missile down the U.S. Air Force Eastern Range Apr. 30 as part of a British military exercise. The missile's inert warhead landed in the South Atlantic Ocean off Britain's Ascension Island, 4,000 mi. down range from Cape Canaveral.
The Dornier family wants to put money into the new Fairchild company, Chuck Pieper, newly appointed chairman, said at the Regional Airline Association convention here this week. The family is expected to take up an equity offer to continue as legacy investor, with a share between 5% and 20%.
Stung by suggestions the Wide Area Augmentation System (WAAS) may not be needed in the future now that the Pentagon has switched off selective availability on the Global Positioning System, a business development executive with WAAS contractor Raytheon stressed yesterday the ground-based system will continue to be needed as a backstop and enhancement to the satellite constellation.
A degraded radio frequency data link (RFDL) continues to be the U.S. Army's main concern with the PAC-2 Patriot missile, but some other, relatively minor problems are also being resolved, a top officer said. The RFDL problem, caused by maintaining the missiles on alert status for extended periods, prompted the Army to replace PAC-2s in South Korea and Southwest Asia (DAILY, March 24).
The U.S. government needs to provide defense companies with an "enabling framework" to help them plan for ups and downs over the long term, a Pentagon official said. But, said Jeffrey P. Bialos, deputy under secretary of defense for industrial affairs, reforms will have to cover the entire defense industrial base and not just the primes.
The Tactical High Energy Laser (THEL) completed its final ground test last week at White Sands Missile Range, N.M., and will now be fired at a test rocket, the commander of the U.S. Army Space and Missile Defense Command said here yesterday. THEL, a joint program of the U.S. and Israel designed to develop a laser able to protect Israel from short-range Katyusha rockets, will be ready to hit a moving target within about three weeks.
BFGoodrich Co. hopes to divest its Performance Materials unit by the fourth quarter to help it focus on its core competencies -- the aerospace and engineered industrial products businesses.
A TOP OFFICIAL of Brazil's Embraer reacted angrily to the World Trade Organization's reiteration last week that the Brazilian and Canadian governments must stop subsidizing the export of jet aircraft by Embraer and Bombardier. Henrique Rezinski, Embraer's VP, told reporters Friday in Sao Paulo that the WTO should not intervene in what is basically a market dispute between two private companies.
The commander of U.S. Joint Forces Command puts improved intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) capabilities at the top of the list of what's needed for the U.S. military to predict actions of an adversary and speed up deployments.
FGM Inc., Dulles, Va., is being awarded a $13,861,823 indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract with cost-plus-fixed-fee pricing for research and development of advanced simulation, human-systems interfaces and integration technologies for next generation command, control, communications, computers, intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (C4ISR) systems and command centers. Work will be performed in San Diego, Calif., and is expected to be completed by April 2005. Contract funds will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year.
The FAA has proposed DC-10 thrust reverser modifications that, if mandated, would mean more than $150 million in work to keep nearly 300 U.S.-registered Douglas tri-jets flying. The work involves installation of wiring and/or an additional thrust reverser locking system, as well as changes in the position indicator light system, in all U.S.-registered DC-10s, including KC-10 military versions.
Lockheed Martin Corp., Missiles&Fire Control-Dallas, Grand Prairie, Texas, is being awarded an $11,255,233 increment as part of a $19,409,862 modification to cost-plus-incentive-fee contract DAAH01-95-C-0001, for incorporation of mandatory/incentive value engineering clause (FAR 52.248-1, Alternate II) into the Army Tactical Missile System Block II. Work will be performed in Grand Prairie, Texas, and is expected to be completed by April 30, 2002. Contract funds will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. This is a sole source contract initiated on Oct.
McDonnell Douglas Corp., a wholly owned subsidiary of The Boeing Co., Berkeley, Mo., is being awarded a $5,648,796 modification to a firm-fixed-price contract to provide for incorporation of Pin-Lock Tail Actuator System technology into the production effort for 8,163 Joint Direct Attack Munition (JDAM) kits. JDAM is a strap-on kit with Inertial Navigation System/Global Positioning System capability that will provide an improved aerial delivery capability for existing 1,000 and 2,000 pound bombs.
Bell-Boeing Joint Program Office, Patuxent River, Md., is being awarded a $30,000,000 modification to previously awarded contract N00019-99-C-1090 to provide additional funding for the procurement of long-lead items associated with the manufacture and delivery of one additional FY00 Lot IV MV-22 low-rate-initial production aircraft. Work will be performed in Ridley Park, Pa. (50%); Fort Worth, Texas (35%); and Amarillo, Texas (15%), and is expected to be completed in October 2002. Contract funds will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year.
Sunday's announcement that Emirates Airlines will place the first order for the Airbus A3XX superjumbo airliner gave the program momentum for what is expected to be production approval later this month, but Boeing said it still believes the market is too small to justify the "$15 billion" development program.
Production of Russia's next generation surface-to-air missile, the S-400, will begin in June, says Russian Air Force Commander-in-Chief Anatoly Kornoukov. Field tests by a regiment assigned to the Moscow Joint Air Force and Air Defense Area are slated for early next year. Initially, the S-400 will be equipped with 9M96 or 9M962 missiles of the S-300 system. Later, it will use a longer-range missile, able to reach 400 km.
Computer Sciences Corp., Edwards AFB, Calif., is being awarded a $26,357,464 (estimated) modification to a cost-plus-award-fee contract to provide for additional FY 00 technical and engineering support for the Air Force Flight Test Center, Edwards AFB, Calif., and the Utah Test and Training Range. Expected contract completion date is Sept. 30, 2000. Air Force Flight Test Center, Edwards AFB, Calif., is the contracting activity (F04611-92-C-0045-P00296).
McDonnell Douglas Corp., a wholly owned subsidiary of The Boeing Co., St. Louis, Mo., is being awarded an $8,630,652 other transaction ($5,807,059 government share; $2,823,593 contractor share) to provide for stage one development of the pneumatic weapon ejection system in support of the F-15E aircraft. This system will allow weapons (bombs, missiles, etc.) to be released from the aircraft using a burst of compressed air.
Pyramid Services, Alamogordo, N.M., is being awarded a $9,908,790 fixed-price-award-fee contract to provide for operations and maintenance services from July 2000 through June 2001 for the common areas at Air Force Plant 42, Palmdale, Calif. This effort includes security and law enforcement, aircraft rescue, engineering services, vehicle maintenance, airfield maintenance, aircraft refueling, control tower support, joint administrative services, rubbish collection, water and sewage systems, inventory maintenance, and general maintenance.
Hughes Network Systems plans to offer two-way Internet access via Ku-band satellite links on its "DirecPC" adjunct to the "DirecTV" direct-to-home entertainment service. Company officials said the upgrade would be launched "early in the fourth quarter of this year." With the addition of an antenna and an external device connected to the personal computer, a user can send Internet commands at a rate of between 128 and 256 kilobits per second.
