Beal Aerospace, a Frisco, Tex.-based launch services startup, has ground-tested a liquid-fuel rocket engine it said will generate 810,000 pounds of thrust in vacuum on the second stage of its proposed BA-2 heavy lift commercial launch vehicle. The BA-810 engine fired for 21 seconds Saturday in a horizontal setup at the company's engine test facility in McGregor, Tex., Beal reported. It was the third time the engine had been fired, adding to 30 seconds of earlier testing with a different thrust chamber.
Raytheon Co., Marlborough, Mass., is being awarded an $11,235,000 (estimated) modification to a cost-plus-fixed-fee contract, F19628-99-C-0078, to provide for system test support, depot and depot field support for engineering developmental terminals, and maintenance and distribution of databases for terminals through August 2002 in support of the Milstar satellite communication system. This effort also includes transfer of two factory engineering development models to Peterson AFB, Colo. Expected contract completion date is Aug. 31, 2002. Solicitation issue date was Sept.
Bell-Boeing Joint Program Office, Patuxent River, Md., is being awarded a $137,428,278 modification to previously awarded contract N00019-93-C-0006 for the design, development, fabrication, and testing of the CV-22 pre-planned product improvements for the Air Force Special Operations. Work will be performed in Ridley Park, Pa. (50%); Fort Worth, Texas (35%); and Amarillo, Texas (15%); and is expected to be completed by February 2004. Contract funds will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year.
Lockheed Martin Corp., Marietta, Ga., is being awarded a $10,974,288 modification to a cost-plus-award-fee contract, F33657-98-C-0006-F00012, to provide for 68 Traffic Collision Avoidance System (TCAS) kits applicable to the C-5 aircraft. Expected contract completion date is May 2001. Aeronautical Systems Center, Wright-Patterson AFB, Ohio, is the contracting activity.
Robertson Aviation, Tempe, Ariz., is being awarded a $7,124,176 firm-fixed-price, indefinite delivery, indefinite quantity contract for a minimum quantity of one each and a maximum quantity of seventy (70) each 200-gallon internal auxiliary fuel tank systems for MH-60 aircraft. The contract performance period is for five years and individual delivery orders will be issued against the contract during this period. The acquisition was conducted in accordance with FAR 6.401(b), sealed bidding and competitive proposals.
A major European contract announced yesterday by BAE Systems was the first to be received for production of its Knighthelm binocular integrated helmet sight/display system. While BAE did not identify the customer, it confirmed that Knighthelm has been specifically designed to meet the requirements of European helicopter mission profiles.
General Dynamics Corp., Government Systems, Taunton, Mass., is being awarded a $24,500,993 modification to firm-fixed-price contract DAAB07-94-C-N853, to exercise options for common hardware/software items for the Project Manager, Army Tactical Command and Control systems computers and associated peripherals for battlefield commanders. Work will be performed in Taunton, Mass., and is expected to be completed by April 10, 2005. Of the total contract funds, $235,193 will expire at the end of the current fiscal year.
GERMANY has requested 250 Raytheon HARM missiles and related equipment, the Pentagon said. The sale, which must be approved by Congress, would be for $50 million if AGM-88Bs are chosen, and $200 million if AGM-88Cs are chosen. The missiles will replenish Germany's inventory, depleted during the Kosovo campaign.
Lockheed Martin named the members of the management team that will lead the new Lockheed Martin Aeronautics Co. Dain M. Hancock, president of LM Aeronautics, named four Lockheed Martin veterans to key executive vice president positions. They are C.T. (Tom) Burbage - Customer Requirements; Robert T. Elrod - Programs; John C. McCarthy - Finance; and Ralph D. Heath - Operations. A number of other senior-level positions were also filled, and the company expects to announce other staff assignments in coming months.
Members of the Senate Armed Services Committee are worried that the Air Force will make a habit of trying to waive a rule requiring 50% of its depot maintenance work to be performed in a public depot. Air Force Secretary F. Whitten Peters recently issued a national security waiver for the rule that requires the 50% split. He told the SASC readiness subcommittee on Friday that the waiver is a "one time situation."
CRASH LANDING: NASA's Galileo Jupiter probe may be deliberately crashed into the gas giant after its extended mission ends next year, to avoid contamination of the moon Europa. Imagery and other data returned by Galileo has suggested Europa may have a liquid-water ocean beneath its icy surface, where life could exist or take hold. Although NASA has developed procedures for decontaminating spacecraft to protect alien environments from earthly microbes, Galileo never got such a treatment before its 1989 launch.
Iran may now pose the greatest long-term threat to U.S. interests in the Persian Gulf, according to testimony to Congress by Marine Corps Gen. Anthony C. Zinni, Commander in Chief of U.S. Central Command. Despite recent elections, Iranian military schemes have not been altered, according to Ken Bacon, spokesman for the Defense Dept. "I am not aware that the election results have changed their military program in any way," he said Thursday.
Boeing and Thiokol Propulsion have proposed a solid-fuel air-launched rocket for space missions ranging from quick-response military actions to replenishing commercial communications constellations in low-Earth orbit.
House Armed Services Committee Chairman Floyd Spence (R-S.C.) has appointed a new special oversight panel to assess the nature of the terrorist threat facing U.S. armed forces and national security interests. The panel will be chaired by Rep. Jim Saxton (R-N.J.). Rep. Vic Snyder (D-Ark.) will serve as ranking Democrat.
The U.S. - Japan Tax Treaty is "badly outdated" and deters U.S. investment in Japan, according to Howard P. Charnas, legislative tax counsel for IBM Corp.
Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman John Warner (R-Va.) has asked the Senate Budget Committee to raise the topline for defense spending in 2001 to correct shortfalls identified by the military service chiefs. "At a minimum, I believe the defense totals for fiscal year 2001 must be $308.6 billion for budget authority, with an appropriate outlay funding level," Warner said in a Feb. 25 letter to Budget Committee Chairman Pete Domenici (R-N.M.).
Lockheed Martin's Joint Air-to-Surface Stand-off Missile (JASSM) will be fitted with a new Global Positioning System anti-jam application starting in 2001, according to company officials.
Rolls-Royce has joined a European consortium in a four-year effort to develop technology for an Efficient and Environmentally Friendly Aero Engine (EEFAE), described as "the European Commission's largest aero engine research project, worth more than 100 euros." EEFAE will complement the long-running integrated High Performance Turbine Engine Technology (IHPTET) program in the U.S.
ACCLERATED APPROPRIATIONS: House Appropriations Committee Chairman C.W. "Bill" Young (R-Fla.) says things will be different this year. Having met with the House leadership, Young vows the fiscal year defense appropriations bill will move to the House floor much earlier this time around. The fact that lawmakers will want to get home for campaigning also might play a role.
Northrop Grumman's Integrated Systems and Aerostructures unit won a one-year contract with an estimated value of $1.5 million from Spain's Construcctiones Aeronauticas SA (CASA) awarded a to design and manufacture tooling and production of eight launch vehicle composite cones.
Prime Minister Blair could be preparing the U.S. for a disappointment in Britain's upcoming selection of a contractor for the $1.4 billion program to build its next-generation Beyond Visual Range Air-to-Air Missile (BVRAAM). The choice, expected in the next few weeks, will be between Matra BAE Dynamics, which is offering the Meteor missile, or Raytheon, which is offering the Extended Range Air-to-Air Missile (ERAAM).
NO PICK-UP GAME: Lt. Gen. Michael C. Short, commander of Allied Air Forces Southern Europe, says that because the technologies and capabilities of the U.S. are clear to allies, particularly in the wake of Operation Allied Force, the U.S. "will be expected to lead any coalition that we join." But, he says, the U.S. needs to fully understand coalition operations.
OUTSIDE ADVISORS: Use of commercial-off-the-shelf technologies in weapon systems has become so much of an "everyday" practice that the Pentagon even looks to soda and car companies for the latest innovations, says Jacques Gansler, under secretary of defense for acquisition and technology. He says one of the newest technology demonstration programs, the Miniature Air Launched Decoy (MALD), has flight control cards made from Coke machine boards, a GPS receiver from Lincoln Town Car suppliers and a fuel screen from NAPA auto parts, all to bring cost down.
SCI SYSTEMS INC., Huntsville, Ala., intends to sell about $400 million worth of convertible subordinated notes due 2007. Salomon Smith Barney and Banc of America Securities LLC will underwrite the deal, not including the over-allotment option. SCI plans to use the proceeds to repay debt.
