Messier-Dowty Ltd., Gloucester, England, said it has chosen three subsystem suppliers to join its Boeing Joint Strike Fighter landing gear system integrated product team (IPT). Landing gear team responsibilities include gear structures, nose wheel steering, wheels, brakes, tires and gear actuation. The landing gear system IPT members include Aircraft Braking Systems Corp. (ABSC), Akron, Ohio; Eaton Aerospace-Sterer Engineering, Los Angeles, and Parker Aerospace, Irvine, Calif., partnered with Honeywell's Normalair Garrett, Yeovil, England.
Lockheed Martin's deal with the United Arab Emirates for 80 F-16 aircraft includes a $2 billion performance guarantee -- a fairly normal practice, the company said yesterday. "Performance bonds are both reasonable and standard for contracts with the UAE," a Lockheed Martin spokesman said. "We are confident the bond provision has no unusual risk associated with performance."
Northrop Grumman has told the Pentagon it must have at least 20% of the multi-billion dollar Joint Strike Fighter (JSF) production program to maintain prime contractor status, and viability. "We feel strongly that we need to be a part of the JSF industrial base equation and need to be factored into any solution the government comes up with," a Northrop Grumman spokesperson said yesterday. "From a business perspective, we could work with whoever the government chooses -- we would just adjust accordingly."
RAYTHEON CO., Tucson, Ariz., yesterday won a $125 million U.S. Naval Air Systems Command contract for engineering and technical services to support Standard missile RDT&E programs, the Pentagon announced. Most of the work under the contract, 95%, will be performed in Tucson, with the remainder in Andover and Tewksbury, Mass., and Santa Barbara, Calif. The work is expected to be completed by September 2004.
BAE Systems Regional announced launch of its Avro RJX. First deliveries are planned by September 2001. BAE Systems Regional has no customers yet for the aircraft, an improved version of the Avro RJ. It is offered in two versions, the RJX-85 and the RJX-100, with between 70 and 110 seats. Compared to the Avro RJ, it is promised to have 17% more range, 15% lower fuel consumption, 5% more thrust in climb and 20% lower maintenance costs.
The Hunter unmanned aerial vehicle now features a chemical threat detection capability, according to TRW, which maintains the UAV for the U.S. Army. The payload, called Safeguard, gives the UAV the ability to detect and quantify chemical threat clouds on an active battlefield or in peacekeeping missions, TRW said. Commanders would thus be able to keep ground troops and pilots out of harm's way. The UAV also carries payloads for intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance.
NASA'S GLENN RESEARCH CENTER is looking for potential contractors to conduct system studies for the space agency's Aero-Space Propulsion and Airframe Technologies efforts, including the Ultra-Efficient Engine Technology (UEET) program. The proposed contract would be worth about $5 million, on an indefinite delivery/indefinite quantity task order with a duration of 60 months. The contractor would be expected to duplicate a "robust" design simulation system at NASA sites, and train NASA personnel how to use it.
Honeywell, Inc., Clearwater, Fla., is being awarded a $7,254,000 option to a firm-fixed-price contract to provide for 102 Embedded Global Positioning System/Inertial Navigation System (EGI) units applicable to the C/KC-135 aircraft. Expected contract completion date is May 31, 2001. Aeronautical Systems Center, Wright-Patterson AFB, Ohio, is the contracting activity (F33657-99-C-2040-P00013).
XM SATELLITE RADIO HOLDINGS has completed a $325 million high-yield offering to generate funds for the continued development and buildout of the XM Radio system. The offering consists of 14% senior secured notes due in 2010, with attached warrants to purchase about 2.6 million shares of XM Radio's common stock. Part of the proceeds will be reserved for the first six interest payments on the notes, the company reported.
HONEYWELL's Space Systems business has won a subcontract from International Space Station prime contractor Boeing to upgrade multiplexers/demultiplexers (MDMs) for the orbiting laboratory. The Phoenix, Ariz.-based Honeywell unit will apply a new flash memory technology that boosts storage capacity while speeding storage and retrieval of data. Under the $9.4 million deal, Honeywell will deliver 20 solid state mass memory units (SSMMUs) to Boeing in 2001. Replacement of current mass storage devices will be handled on orbit by Station crews, Honeywell said.
The Franco-Russian Starsem joint venture launched its second Soyuz rocket with a restartable Fregat upper stage in a test flight to prepare the configuration for launching the European Space Agency's Cluster II spacecraft.
Lockheed Martin Aeronautics Co., Fort Worth, Texas, is being awarded a $114,009,747 modification to a cost-plus-incentive-fee contract to provide for Phase III development, test, support, and fielding of the Tape 3 (M3/M3+) Operational Flight Program for the Modular Mission Computer on the F-16 aircraft. Approximately 47 percent of this effort supports foreign military sales to Belgium, Denmark, Norway, and the Netherlands. Expected contract completion date is Dec. 31, 2004. Negotiation completion date was Feb. 25, 2000.
BOEING is set to launch NASA's Imager for Magnetopause-to-Aurora global Exploration (IMAGE) satellite Saturday aboard a Delta II rocket flying from Space Launch Complex 2 at Vandenberg AFB, Calif. Launch of the spacecraft was delayed pending the outcome of agency-wide reviews following loss of the Mars Polar Lander last year, according to Southwest Research Institute of San Antontio, Tex., which was selected in 1996 to supply the probe. Designed to image the Earth's magnetosphere, it will be the first launched under NASA's Medium-class Explorer (MIDEX) program.
CPU Technology Inc., Pleasanton, Calif., is being awarded a $6,000,000 other-transaction-agreement to provide for development of a prototype modernization kit for the array processor on the APG68 fire control radar applicable to the F-16 aircraft. An other-transaction-agreement is a unique contracting authority that permits greater flexibility to negotiate contract terms under special circumstances such as this program. Expected contract completion date is October 2001. Solicitation issue date was June 1, 1999. Negotiation completion date was Feb. 23, 2000.
Lockheed Martin Missiles&Space, Sunnyvale, Calif., is being awarded a $19,200,000 cost-plus-incentive-fee contract to provide for long lead material required for the FY 01 follow-on production of the Trident II (D5) missile system. Work will be performed in Sunnyvale, Calif., and is expected to be completed by September 2003. Contract funds will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. This contract was not competitively procured. The Navy's Strategic Systems Programs, Washington, D.C., is the contracting activity (N00030-00-C-0100).
Sikorsky Aircraft Corp., Stratford, Conn., was awarded on March 14, 2000, a $94,742,692 modification to firm-fixed-price contract DAAJ09-97-C-0005, for 14 Black Hawk Helicopters (UH-60L). Work will be performed in Stratford, Conn., and is expected to be completed by Nov. 30, 2001. Contract funds will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. This is a sole source contract initiated on Jan. 13, 2000. The U.S. Army Aviation&Missile Command, Redstone Arsenal, Ala., is the contracting activity.
Raytheon Company has received approval from the U.S. Army Aviation and Missile Command to move into Milestone III production of the Air Traffic Navigation, Integration and Coordination System (ATNAVICS), the company reported. Included in the approval is a $3.3 million contract for the first production unit of the system, a self-contained mobile unit that provides air traffic control services at Army airfields and tactical landing sites.
Lockheed Martin Naval Electronics and Surveillance Systems, Syracuse, N.Y., is being awarded a $7,498,895 cost-plus-fixed-fee contract for AN/TPS-59(V)3 radar life cycle system acquisition and support. Work will be performed in Syracuse, N.Y., and is expected to be completed by March 2001. Contract funds will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. This contract was not competitively procured. The Marine Corps Systems Command, Quantico, Va., is the contracting activity (M67854-00-C-2008).
DIRECTV INC. has raised the price it charges new subscribers to its digital satellite broadcast television service by $2 a month. The system's 8.2 million existing subscribers will continue to pay the same fees for high-power DirecTv service and medium-power PrimeStar by DirecTv service. The company said higher programming costs and investments in service expansion and upgrades drove the price hike.
Thousands of striking workers returned to their jobs at Boeing Co. yesterday after a vote Sunday ratifying the company's offer and ending a 40-day walkout. A spokesman for the Society for Professional Engineering Employees in Aerospace (SPEEA) said workers were surprised at the backlog of work that has accumulated since the action began on Feb. 9.
General Electric Aircraft Engines, Cincinnati, Ohio, is being awarded a $13,981,000 modification to previously awarded contract N00019-96-C-0176 for the Phase II risk reduction efforts associated with the F120 Joint Strike Fighter Alternate Engine development. Work will be performed in Cincinnati, Ohio, and is expected to be completed by November 2001. 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.
Boeing Co. is being awarded a $41 million contract modification to provide economic order quantity funding on its current contract to preserve 7.4% savings for a multi-year procurement of 222 F/A-18E/F aircraft, the Pentagon announced yesterday.
Raytheon Co. reported it has won a $162 million contract for continued production of the AIM-120 Advanced Medium Range Air-to-Air Missile (AMRAAM). The contract is for Lot 14 production of 439 AMRAAMs, supporting missile deliveries and program engineering and logistics services through July 2002. Of those missiles, 161 are for the Air Force and 90 are for the Navy, with the remaining going to Bahrain and South Korea.
Science Applications International Corp. (SAIC), San Diego, Calif., is being awarded a $6,997,856 cost-plus-fixed-fee contract to provide for system engineering and integration support for Synthetic Aperture Radar/Electronic Counter-Countermeasures technologies and analysis and evaluation of Electronic Protection techniques. Expected contract completion date is March 7, 2005. Solicitation issue date was Nov. 19, 1998. Negotiation completion date was March 1, 2000. Air Force Research Laboratory, Rome, N.Y., is the contracting activity (F30602-00-C-0030).
