U.S. Air Force controllers were scheduled last night to switch off the scrambling software that has degraded the Global Positioning System signal for civilian users, giving everyone in the world access to the same basic signal the U.S. military uses to guide its precision weapons.
Raytheon Co., Tucson, Ariz., is being awarded a $183,043,349 multi-year firm-fixed-price production contract to provide 45 MK 49 guided missile launching systems for the Rolling Airframe Missile program to cover FY 00-04 program requirements. The work will be performed in Louisville, Ky. (50%) and Ottobrunn, Germany (50%). Contract funds will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. This contract was not competitively procured. The Naval Sea Systems Command, Arlington, Va., is the contracting activity. (N00024-00-C-5482)
Lockheed Martin and TRW have each won $6 million system design contracts for the Defense Dept.'s Discoverer-2 space-based radar system. Spectrum Astro was involved in the program, but didn't receive funding to continue its work. The effort, being carried out jointly by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, National Reconnaissance Office and Air Force, simply couldn't afford awarding three contracts, said David Whelan, DARPA's director for tactical technology programs.
Raytheon Co., Naval and Maritime Integrated Systems, Portsmouth, R.I., is being awarded a $26,426,089 cost-plus-inventive-fee contract for the development of the Integrated Combat Weapon System. Work will be performed in Portsmouth, R.I. (61%), and Manassas, Va. (39%), and is expected to be completed by January 2005. Contract funds will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. This contract was not competitively procured. The Naval Sea Systems Command, Arlington, Va., is the contracting activity (N00024-00-C-6303).
EDWARD J. HEFFERNAN, associate NASA administrator for legislative affairs, will take on additional duties as the agency's chief of staff. Administrator Daniel S. Goldin appointed Heffernan to the newly created position, which will involve coordinating "all staff activities in the immediate office of the administrator." Heffernan, who was NASA's White House liaison officer before taking the legislative affairs position, will continue to supervise the agency's legislative affairs operation as well as Goldin's staff.
Sikorsky Aircraft Corp., Stratford, Conn., is being awarded a $59,500,000 ceiling-priced modification to previously awarded contract N00019-99-C-1069 for the conversion of five government furnished SH-60B aircraft into five SH-60R low rate initial production lot 1 aircraft. Work will be performed in Stratford, Conn., and is expected to be completed by December 2002. Contract funds will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. The Naval Air Systems Command, Patuxent River, Md., is the contracting activity.
MISSION TO MIR: Russia's Mir station will continue to compete with the International Space Station for launch resources through 2000, according to MirCorp, the joint venture of RSC Energia and Western investors that last week sent a second Progress capsule to the 14-year-old spacecraft (DAILY, April 26). MirCorp officials say they plan to send a second crew to Mir in the third quarter of this year, and Russian space officials say the present crew's planned 45-day mission may be extended to give them more time to prepare the station for the next visitors.
EXPLORATION PLANS: A panel of the National Research Council's Space Studies Board pans the "roadmap" NASA has developed to guide the robotic exploration of the solar system, saying the plan lacks coherence and fails to state clearly the scientific goals of the exploration program. While "generally positive" about near- and mid-term missions, panel members fault the Space Science roadmap for its presentation of ambitious long-term objectives like the Europa Lander, Titan Explorer and Saturn Ring Observer.
STEVENS' CONCERN: Senate Appropriations Committee Chairman Ted Stevens (R-Alaska), who also heads the defense subcommittee, tells Defense Secretary William Cohen at a subcommittee hearing last week that a way has to be found to bring "increased money into procurement." He says he is worried about "what's going to happen to the Joint Strike Fighter on our own watch." Cohen remarks that the Pentagon is living off the defense buildup in the Reagan years of the early 1980s.
Michael Dugan has been promoted to president and chief operating officer. Soraya Hesabi-Cartwright has been promoted to executive vice president of DISH Network.
Internal policy disputes at NASA and the agency's reliance on industry for future space launch services has hampered planning for development of the technologies the U.S. will need to cut the cost of getting to orbit with reusable launch vehicles (RLVs), the NASA Inspector General has found.
William T. (Will) Powers has been appointed chief financial officer, Rolls-Royce North America. Powers will also retain the position of chief executive of Rolls-Royce Capital.
POSITIVE TREND: U.S. government moves to make the defense industrial base happier and financially healthier are acknowledged by industry executives, but they are looking for more. They give a nod to two initiatives. The first does away with a rule that required a prime contractor to submit a "paid-in-full to suppliers record" on the invoice before getting paid by the government. Now, primes will be able to bill and collect invoice costs that haven't been paid, streamlining the payment process and making cash flows a little easier to manage.
Odie C. Donald has been named president of DIRECTV Enterprises, Inc., effective immediately. Larry Chapman has been appointed president of a new Hughes business unit named DIRECTV Global Digital Media, Inc. Steven J. Cox has been promoted to executive vice president of the new unit. Bradley J. Beale has been named senior vice president of the new unit. Bill Casamo, executive vice president in charge of sales and distribution, marketing and customer service, will assume an additional role as president of DIRECTV Merchandising, Inc.
WIDEBODY BUSINESS: BFGoodrich's commercial aircraft forecast usually tracks with that of Boeing, but it may be departing, for the better, on 747 business. Boeing sees the number of large commercial aircraft declining as a percentage of the total fleet over the next few years, and at this point it sees fewer orders so far this year. But BFG CEO David Burner hopes to see a pickup in 747 business. In fact, his sense right now is that BFG might see 747 orders earlier than expected.
Condoleeza Rice, chief foreign policy adviser to presumptive Republican presidential nominee George W. Bush, said the Clinton Administration's plan for a single-site 100-missile National Missile Defense system in Alaska is "a mistake." Rice, on leave from her position as a senior fellow at the Hoover Institute at Stanford University, told a luncheon meeting of the Overseas Writers in Washington on Thursday that "it's a mistake to set your sights on a single site in Alaska."
James R. Stanley has been appointed senior vice president and chief operating officer. In his new position, Stanley will assume responsibility for Howmet's worldwide sales and manufacturing.
August (Augie) F. DeLuca was promoted to executive vice president and chief financial officer. DeLuca joined the company four months ago as senior vice president/treasurer.
Cary Ludtke has assumed the vice presidency of a new strategic business unit (SBU). Lutke's group will develop and sell products in the commercial marketplace and provide technical/engineering support to Ball's civil, defense and commercial SBU's.
