PRESTON GROUP, a Boeing subsidiary, said it delivered Total Airspace&Airport Modeller (TAAM) licenses for the DFS Deutsche Flugsicherung (German Air Navigation Services). TAAM is a fast-time gate-to-gate simulation tool used by civil aviation authorities, airlines and airports to analyze operations, redesign airspace, optimize use of existing facilities and plan for the future. The addition of the third and fourth TAAM licenses will give DFS increased simulation capability to conduct more in-depth studies in Germany and elsewhere.
Raytheon 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 for the Navy, with the remaining going to Bahrain and South Korea, the company reported.
TWO PLACES AT ONCE: The C-17 is hailed by the Air Force as its most flexible cargo lift aircraft, because of its ability to carry large or heavy outsize cargo. But, there is another side to replacing 270 retiring C-141s with 134 replacement C-17s, as is the AF's plan by 2005-2006. While the C-17 brings the benefits of carrying capacity, reliability and throughput to austere airfields, it is still a one-for-two replacement. "The problem is...a very simple mathematical concept," says Air Mobility Commander Gen. Charles T. Robertson, Jr.
'LUDDITES': NASA Administrator Daniel S. Goldin evokes the Luddites, 19th century workers who destroyed factory equipment out of fear for their jobs, in responding to a Virginia congressman worried that rocket technology developed under the agency's Space Launch Initiative (DAILY, March 17) might fall into unfriendly hands.
CAN THE SECDEF JUST SIGN HERE PLEASE?: The new Block 3.0 avionics software for the F-22 combines data fused from on-board and off-board sensors, giving the pilot a 360 degree view of the battlespace to increase situational awareness while decreasing pilot workload. Darlene Druyun, Air Force principal deputy assistant secretary for acquisition, tells reporters "every single one" of the milestones laid out for the various avionics increments has been met on time or ahead of schedule.
Iridium has bidders for its foundering satellite phone system, a spokesman for Motorola said yesterday, but it's uncertain if one will be judged qualified to save the company. Iridium has been operating under bankruptcy protection since last summer. Unless a "qualified buyer" is named by Friday, the company faces the prospect of deorbiting the 66 low-Earth satellites in its $5 billion system (DAILY, March 16.
The "winner-take-all" strategy for choosing between Lockheed Martin and Boeing for the multi-billion-dollar, multi-thousand-aircraft Joint Strike Fighter contract has not changed, a senior Air Force official said yesterday.
TRW Inc. has received a four-year contract, worth up to $20 million, to upgrade the U.S. Air Force's Ground-based Electro-Optical Deep Space Surveillance System (GEODSS) satellite tracking system, the company announced. An initial award of $5 million from the AF's Electronic Systems Center will fund design, development and demonstration of a prototype of the upgraded system, known as Deep STARE (Deep Space Surveillance Technology Advancement&Replacement for Ebsicons), according to TRW.
The Italian Ministry of Defense will buy Raytheon air-to-air Stinger missiles, under a contract that could total as much as $10 million, for its A129 Mangusta attack helicopter, the company said this week. Raytheon Electronic Systems' Missile Systems, Tucson, Ariz., said it will deliver to Italy Stinger air-to-air launchers (ATAL) and Stinger Block I missiles under a foreign military sales contract for the first phase integration and air safety testing for the A129 helicopter program.
French aerospace equipment manufacturers enjoyed a robust year of growth in 1999, posting total orders of $5.7 billion. Olivier Gorge, General Secretary of the Groupement des Industries Francaise Aeronautiques et Spatiales (GIFAS), said here yesterday that the 21.6% increase in total orders was "something to be proud of." "All indicators are positive, and we have a large number of winnings for new programs, increasing demand in space and a good exchange rate," Gorge said.
The Boeing strike could result in a slip of the first flight of F-22 avionics software if it continues for another 30 days from now, Air Force leaders told members of the House Armed Services Committee yesterday.
House Speaker Dennis Hastert (R-Ill.) has tapped House Policy Committee Chairman Christopher Cox (R-Calif.) to head a new wide-ranging inquiry into U.S. policy toward Russia. The Cox Russia Policy Review Team will advise the House leadership on Russia and review every facet of the Administration's policy on Russia, including national security, economic and law-enforcement issues.
NASA is developing a plan to help startup space launch companies get into the commercial marketplace by allowing them to launch low-cost government payloads, use NASA facilities and sell rocket components as they build their businesses, Administrator Daniel S. Goldin told Congress Wednesday.
Fairchild Aerospace is looking for a new chief executive officer. Clayton, Dubilier&Rice and Allianz Capital Partners are about to finalize paperwork for a deal in which they take over more than 90% of the company. When the formal ownership transfer takes place in coming weeks, Carl Albert will step down as chairman and CEO to become a member of the supervisory board. Chuck Pieper, one of the partners of CD&R, will step in as an interim CEO.
The chairman of Chicago-based McCook Metals said Alcoa's proposed merger with Reynolds Metals is called into question by actions this week of the European Union. EU concerns over anti-competitive impact prompted France's Pechiney to temporarily withdraw from its proposed merger with Canada's Alcan, but it approved a merger of Alcan and Switzerland's Alusuisse.
SPACE SHUTTLE MANAGERS have decided to replace one of the engines on the Space Shuttle Atlantis, scheduled to visit the International Space Station next month, out of concern faulty tip seals were installed in its fuel pump. Managers yesterday slipped the target launch date from April 13 to April 17 as a result. It will take crews about three days to install an engine from the Shuttle Discovery, next up in the launch lineup, in Atlantis, according to Kennedy Space Center.
Iridium has won an additional two days to scramble for a buyer to rescue its satellite-based telephone service. Yesterday, at U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York, the company was either supposed to name a qualified buyer or face the deorbiting of the 66 low-Earth satellites in its $5 billion system. But a court clerk said the case is adjourned until Friday because Judge Cornelius Blackshear has a personal emergency.
Raytheon Co. has won a contract from NASA's Ames Research center worth up to $150 million for research, development and analysis of advanced air transportation management technologies and concepts. The Air Traffic Management System Development and Integration (ATMSDI) contract calls for Raytheon to continue development of new tools for collaborative decision-making, airspace modeling and design, flight deck systems, human factors, complex airspace management, airline operations center systems and air/ground air traffic control automation.
NASA Administrator Daniel S. Goldin yesterday defended the "faster-better-cheaper" approach to spacecraft development he has preached since arriving at the space agency almost eight years ago, but conceded that its execution has sometimes been faulty -- as in the case of the two failed Mars missions last year.
U.S. forces overseas need more tiers of ballistic missile defense sooner in several theaters of operation, military regional commanders told the House Armed Services Committee yesterday. Not only is Patriot Advanced Capability-3 needed sooner, but other theater missile defense systems like Aegis-based systems, the Theater High Altitude Area Defense system and Medium Extended Air Defense system are also needed, Commander-in-Chief of U.S. Forces Korea Gen. Thomas A. Schwartz told HASC.
FORMER FAA ADMINISTRATOR David Hinson will discuss "New Aviation Challenges for the New Millennium" at an Aero Club luncheon on Tuesday, March 21, at 12 noon at the Capital Hilton Hotel in Washington, D.C. Tickets are $35. For reservations, call 1-703-327-7082.
A new Congressional Budget Office report outlines a number of options for altering the Pentagon's modernization program, including boosting the buys of existing fighter planes and other weapons. The report, "Budget Options for National Defense," has been provided to the Senate Budget Committee, which is responsible for setting the topline for defense spending that the appropriators will be forced to work within as they craft the fiscal year 2001 defense budget.
The U.S. filed a complaint with the International Civil Aviation Organization in Montreal following failed efforts to resolve its dispute with the European Union over the European Commission's rule that would, by April 2002, ban hushkitted aircraft that are not registered in Europe by May 4. European environmentalists, concerned about noise around airports, have pushed for the ban.
Orbital Sciences Corp., Dulles, Va., announced it is using its space technology for $13 million in contracts to provide atmosphere monitoring equipment for U.S. and British Navy submarines.
