Pratt&Whitney Military Engines said it has completed a series of development tests on its fifth-generation F100 fighter engine, the F100-PW-232. The tests, at the company's West Palm Beach, Fla., facility, were the last in a series to acquire data necessary to finish production component designs. Hardware continues to be received to support the final engine validation and production transition phase, P&W said.
Raytheon went live with a new business-to-business (B2B) Website, EverythingAircraft.com, for aviation buyers and suppliers, offering customers online shopping, tracking and management for general aviation aircraft parts. "This is the latest step in Raytheon's global move into e-business and is aligned with our strategy as a company to embrace the dot-com channel," said Eric Singleton, director of global e-business and strategy for the company.
Boeing said it is using a high-fidelity, full-scale aircraft model to validate the radar, antenna and stealth performance of its Joint Strike Fighter design. Testing of the Supportable Electromagnetics Test Aircraft is underway at the Boeing Compact Radar Cross Section Test Range in Seattle. The model will also allow for validation of proprietary technologies for stealth maintainability and supportability. It completes Boeing's JSF family of test vehicles, which also includes a 737 avionics flying lab, and its X-32A and B concept demonstrator aircraft.
BAE Systems turned over the first revamped Hawk aircraft to the Royal Air Force five months ahead of schedule. The Hawk was put through a major airframe refurbishment as part of the four-year Fuselage Replacement Program (FRP) worth over $158 million. The plan to extend the fleet's life span, and meet the new Hawk out-of-service date of 2010, includes replacing the center and rear fuselage with a "new-build item" on 80 of the RAF's 140 Hawks.
The U.S. government is considering the sale of as many as four USAF standard Lot XII Boeing C-17A Globemaster III cargo planes to Britain, the Pentagon said yesterday. The proposed $210 million package includes one spare engine, spare and repair parts, support equipment, modification kits, publication and technical data and logistical support. Given the inability to rapidly deploy European troops in the Bosnia and Kosovo campaigns, the U.K. believes the C-17s are needed to enhance defense capabilities, specifically strategic airlift, the Pentagon said.
The U.S. Navy ordered more Mod 4 upgrade kits for the Mk. 105 Airborne Mine Countermeasures Systems (ACMS) from EDO Corp., New York, N.Y. "The Mk. 105 Airborne Mine Countermeasures System is the primary airborne magnetic minesweeping system for the U.S. and Japanese navies, said Frank A. Fariello, EDO's chairman and CEO. "The Mod 4 upgrade will reduce maintenance requirements and significantly improve systems reliability and performance." EDO's Marine&Aircraft Systems facility will begin shipping the kits in 2002.
Daniel P. Burnham, chairman and CEO of Raytheon, said the U.S. defense industry needs some help from the government. "A consensus is emerging that certain steps need to be taken in Washington to support the defense industrial base to protect the financial health of the industry," Burnham said Wednesday during a press conference on his company's first quarter financial results (DAILY, April 20). "We believe the pendulum has swung too far and now it's time to swing back to restore the necessary balance in the industry."
Textron Inc. recorded double-digit earnings and revenue growth for the first quarter of 2000. Revenues increased 18.5% to $3.2 billion and diluted earnings per share from continuing operations came in at $1.06, up 14% year-over-year. "Our strategy of investing for growth combined with delivering strong operating improvements through our company-wide Textron Quality management and e-business initiatives has positioned us to deliver another year of strong results and further enhance shareholder value," said Lewis B. Campbell, Textron Chairman and CEO.
ITT INDUSTRIES, looking to grow B2B, has established a new position, director, e-business. The company selected Mark Goetze, formerly in charge of e-commerce opportunities at the company's Canon divison, to fill the new role.
An April 14 test of a system to help improve the safety of aircraft on the ground was successful, according to Orincon Corp. of San Diego, developer of the Ground Safety Tracking and Reporting System, or GSTARS.
HONEYWELL'S executive vice president, Robert Johnson, said finding an airline partner for MyAircraft.com, the Honeywell-United Technologies portal joint venture, is an "important priority." Speaking at the MRO 2000 conference in Nashville, Johnson said the company was in talks with several airlines. MyAircraft.com is on track for the targeted second quarter launch, said Johnson, though functionality will be added "monthly" to the e-market.
Lockheed Martin F-16 fighters at Shaw AFB, S.C., will be the first in the U.S. Air Force to field the Joint Standoff Weapon, and pilots and maintainers at Shaw began training with the system April 5. "We are getting this technology five or six months earlier than we planned," says Maj. David Hlatky, weapons officer of the 20th Fighter Wing. "Test squadrons across the United States have picked up the workload to finish testing in about a month's time."
FLIR Systems Inc. boosted its infrared imaging sales with a follow-on order from the U.S. Marine Corps and a new international win worth, in aggregate, about $29.7 million to the company. The Marines tapped the Portland, Ore., company for Star SAFIRE upgrades on the UH-1N helicopter fleet. FLIR Systems will also provide six SAFIRE systems for Sikorsky's UH-60Q Medivac helicopters operated by the U.S. Army. The two government orders, scheduled for delivery in 2000, are valued at $8 million.
Terra, NASA's Earth Observing System Satellite, has completed on-orbit checkout and verification, and first images from the satellite were presented at a press briefing yesterday. NASA said Terra is the first satellite to monitor daily, and on a global scale, the interaction of the atmosphere, lands, oceans, solar radiation and life. Its measurements will allow a comprehensive evaluation of the Earth as a system and will establish a new basis for long-term monitoring of climate changes.
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit has validated a Comsat contract with the U.S. Navy worth up to $111.9 million. An earlier ruling had effectively blocked implementation of the contract beyond January 2001. The earlier ruling was in response to a challenge by Stratos Mobile Networks USA, LLC. The five-year contract was awarded in June 1999. The contract will provide the Navy with satellite services via the Inmarsat system for high-speed data, voice and multimedia services.
Efforts to reach consensus on a new Stage 4 standard for civil aircraft noise could be affected by the European Union's rule on hush-kitted aircraft, which goes into effect May 4, and by the protest against the rule filed by the U.S with International Civil Aviation Organization, an FAA official said yesterday.
Northrop Grumman's E-2C, originally built in the early 1970s, continues to be upgraded to include the latest technological enhancements, appealing to the U.S. Navy's future structure as well as international customers, a company spokesman said yesterday. The latest version, called the Hawkeye 2000, had its production turn-on last year, and delivery slated to begin in November 2001, Ken Tripp, a Northrop Grumman program spokesman, said in a briefing at the Navy League's annual conference in Washington.
MAXAGER TECHNOLOGY, a B2B company based in San Rafael, Calif., tapped Lou Hughes, soon-to-be president and COO of Lockheed Martin, to advise on e-commerce initiatives. Hughes will sit on Maxager's Technology Advisory Board, working with the software developer to tackle suppliers evolving concerns and needs in e-markets.
Wrestling with restructuring and other non-recurring charges, lower volumes, a changing product mix and general market dynamics, Raytheon Co. suffered a first quarter loss of $181 million, or $0.54 per share, versus earnings of $205 million, or $0.60 a share, in the comparable period a year ago.
FUELQUEST INC. received financial backing from Wall Street investment giant Lehman Brothers to create FuelQuest.com, a new e-market for petroleum products, including aviation fuels. FuelQuest.com will link up with online aviation procurement portals to streamline the supply chain process -- integrating the 10,000 independent petroleum marketers, who distribute 50% to 70% of the domestic petroleum products, with refiners, suppliers and end-users.
Orbital Sciences Corp., Dulles, Va., last year suffered a net earnings loss of $121.9 million, compared with a loss of $56.6 million in 1998. Revenues in 1999 totaled $916.4 million, up 21%. The company posted an earnings loss of $30.1 million in the fourth quarter, compared with a loss of $25.6 million in the year-earlier period. Fourth-quarter revenues were $228.4 million, up 22%.
Spot Image will launch a constellation of small remote-sensing satellites as its follow-on system after the Spot 5 satellite is launched next year. The company is also studying revamping its network of ground stations.
The Joint Strike Fighter program office director now says the first flights of the conventional takeoff and landing (CTOL) variants of the JSF demonstrators being developed by Boeing and Lockheed Martin will fly for the first time in July, not as early as June as he has suggested previously.
LITTON ELECTRON DEVICES, a unit of Litton Industries, picked eTime Capital's Web-based application, BusinessNow Service, to slim down its financial supply chain. With Sunnyvale-based eTime Capital's secure application, companies can evaluate detailed aspects -- sales, distribution, accounts receivable -- of transactions in real time. Litton pegs cash flow improvement from receivables at over $2 million in the first six month of implementation.
