Continental Express has confirmed orders for another 100 Embraer ERJ 135 and 145 regional jet airliners, raising to 200 the number of jet aircraft the carrier has ordered from the Brazilian airframer since l996. The new orders consist of 75 45-seat ERJ 145s and 25 of the smaller, 35-seat ERJ 135s, and include a previously undisclosed order for 25 ERJ 145s that was placed in December. All the aircraft covered in the new order are due to be delivered by 2003, by the second or third quarter of which Continental Express will be operating an all-jet fleet.
Upgrades to the Plesetsk Cosmodrome in northern Russian will cut Russia's reliance on the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan for space launches, saving more than $30 million a year in launch fees after 2006, according to military officials who spoke to reporters at the facility last month.
Boeing Chairman Phil Condit and General Electric Chairman Jack Welch today are expected to announce a go-ahead on the 777X program. GE is the sole supplier of the engine for the long-range jet, and its aircraft leasing company is expected to be a launch customer.
ROCKWELL SCIENCE CENTER has developed the largest infrared image sensor in the world for astronomical applications. The 2048-by-2048 device carries some 4.2 million mercury cadmium telluride picture elements and more than 13 million transistors. Developed for a consortium headed by the University of Hawaii, the sensor's high resolution and electrical properties will enable astronomers to detect heat images below one-billionth the level of typical room lighting.
DROP TEST of NASA's X-38 Space Station lifeboat prototype has been slipped twice in recent days, making tomorrow the earliest possible date for the test. NASA said high winds at Edwards AFB, Calif., forced cancellation of the test on Friday, and problems with two electrical connector in the X-38 forced a slip in a retry planned for Saturday.
LORAL SPACE&COMMUNICATIONS has leased space to two new customers on the Satmex 5 telecommunications satellite, one of 10 spacecraft in the "Loral Global Alliance." Hughes Network Systems (HNS) Broadcast and Services Div. will use a total of 10 Ku-band transponders to deliver its DirecPC Internet access service throughout the Americas.
Lockheed Martin Corp., Missiles&Fire Control-Dallas, Grand Prairie, Tex., is being awarded a $102,450,000 modification to firm-fixed-price missile system/firm-fixed-price ancillary hardware contract DAAH01-99-C-0121. The contractor shall provide 45 Army Tactical Missile System (Army TACMS) Block II/BAT Missile Systems (Brilliant Anti-armor Submunition); 3 Block II/BAT Test Missiles; 2 Tactical BATS and 4 instrumented BATS, material fielding team support and auxiliary hardware.
CONSTRUCCIONES AERONAUTICAS S.A. (CASA) has delivered the first conical interstage adapter for Lockheed Martin's new Atlas 5 space launch vehicle to the rocket's launch site at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Fla. The new flight hardware, built at CASA's facilities in Madrid, provides the structural transition between the Atlas 5 "Common Core Booster" and its Centaur upper stage. CASA won a contract from Lockheed Martin in July 1998 to supply the composite adapters for the Atlas 5 400 series vehicles through 2003.
EFW Inc., Fort Worth, Tex., is being awarded a $14,024,509 firm-fixed-price contract to provide for repair of 38 electronic components on the F-16 aircraft in quantities to be determined. Funds will be obligated as individual delivery orders are issued. Expected contract completion date is February 2005. Solicitation issue date was Sept. 16, 1999. Negotiation completion date was Jan. 20, 2000. Ogden Air Logistics Center, Hill AFB, Utah, is the contracting activity (F42620-00-D-0020).
MICROCRAFT INC. has tested the X-43A hypersonic air-breathing testbed it built for NASA's Hyper-X program in the Benefield Anechoic Facility at Edwards AFB, Calif. The tests measured S-band telemetry transmitter and C-band transponder antennas on the aircraft, one of three that will be boosted to the appropriate speed for free flight with a scramjet engine. Because the vehicles are throwaways, telemetry is of particular importance in capturing the test results.
Northrop Grumman Corp., Bethpage, N.Y., is being awarded a $15,164,239 firm-fixed-price contract for the procurement of 15 kits to modify/upgrade EA-6B aircraft from the Block 82 to the Block 89A configuration and 8 kits to modify/upgrade EA-6B aircraft from the Block 89 to 89A configuration. Work will be performed in St. Augustine, Fla. (40%); Bethpage, N.Y. (33%); and Melbourne, Fla. (27%), 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.
Boeing North American Inc., Long Beach, Calif., is being awarded a $25,902,959 not-to-exceed modification to a cost-plus-award-fee contract, F33657-96-C-2075-P00053, to provide for software modification and sustainment for the B-1 aircraft through Jan. 15, 2001. Aeronautical Systems Center, Wright-Patterson AFB, Ohio, is the contracting activity.
Concerns that the trajectory of its Taurus launch vehicle may take it over inhabited Pacific islands have delayed yesterday's planned launch of a U.S. Energy Dept. satellite until Saturday at the earliest. The Multispectral Thermal Imager (MTI) satellite was to have been launched aboard the Orbital Sciences Corp. rocket from Vandenberg AFB, Calif. (DAILY, Feb. 25). However, concerns that the rocket's third stage would return to Earth near a populated island in the territory of French Tahiti forced the delay.
The U.K. Ministry of Defense (MOD) awarded Racal two contracts to upgrade the Royal Navy's Lynx HMA Mk8 helicopter fleet and the Royal Air Force's HC Mk2/2A Chinook helicopters. The two new awards, estimated in aggregate at $59.6 million for the communications and navigation upgrade work, include additional options valued at about $39.7 million over the next five years.
ICO Global Communications, freshly bailed out of Chapter 11 bankruptcy by cellular pioneer Craig McCaw, plans to launch its first satellite March 12 aboard a Sea Launch Zenit rocket flying from mid-Pacific.
Kaiser Electronics, San Jose, Calif., is being awarded a $9,031,016 ceiling priced order against basic ordering agreement for seven optical displays and 22 display units as interim spares in support of F/A-18E/F aircraft. Price is subject to downward negotiation. Work will be performed in San Jose, Calif., and work is expected to be completed by May 2002. Contract funds will not expire before the end of the current fiscal year. This contract was not competitively procured.
SPEEA members are expecting big-name support in their strike against Boeing -- John Sweeney, president of the AFL-CIO, is scheduled to appear at a SPEEA rally today in Renton, Wash. Yesterday, following the breakdown of negotiations with Boeing on Saturday, SPEEA sent the company a certified letter asking whether it will continue paying health insurance benefits to union members after March 1, a union spokesman said. He also said the Society for Professional Engineering Employees in Aerospace has a strike fund of $107,000.
INTEGRAL SYSTEMS has introduced a new high-performance, low-cost satellite ground terminal that couples a high-precision four-meter antenna with an advanced digital receiver that can be reprogrammed over a wide range of frequencies, and proprietary software for synchronization of high-rate data. The "TNX/4" ground terminal is designed to track, receive and process data from direct broadcast low-Earth orbit scientific and environmental satellites, according to the Lanham, Md.-based company.
United Defense L.P., Armament Systems Div., Minneapolis, Minn., is being awarded a $102,372,434 modification to previously awarded contract N00024-99-C-5206 for procurement of 10 5"/62 MK 45 Mod 4 gun mounts. The 5"/62 caliber MK 45 Mod 4 is a fully automatic naval gun capable of supporting anti-surface, strike, fire support and anti-air warfare missions. Work will be performed in Minneapolis, Minn. (60%) and Louisville, Ky. (40%), and is expected to be completed by August 2003. Contract funds will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year.
Sikorsky Aircraft Corp., Stratford, Conn., was awarded an $11,073,685 modification to firm-fixed-price multi-year contract DAAJ09-97-C-0005, on Feb. 22, 2000. This contract is to definitize the conversion of four production UH-60L Black Hawk helicopters into the updated HH-60L configuration; modification of five UH-60 helicopters to a Search and Rescue configuration, and modification of six UH-60L helicopters into a unique configuration for the State Department in support of Colombian National Police.
ITT Industries, Colorado Springs, Colo., is being awarded a $7,850,000 (Not-to-Exceed) indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract to provide for research and development support for the Air Force Research Laboratory High Power Microwave effects program. This project will investigate the lethality of high power microwave devices and the vulnerability of United States systems to such threats. Expected contract completion date is Feb. 25, 2005. Solicitation issue date was Sept. 7, 1999. Negotiation completion date was Feb. 9, 2000.
Boeing Co., Long Beach, Calif., is being awarded an $11,586,947 option to a cost-plus-fixed-fee contract, F33657-97-C-0008-P00091, to provide for various quantities of five retrofit kits and associated installation support for the cargo bay, electronic engine control, and cabin pressurization on the C-17 aircraft. Expected contract completion date is Dec. 31, 2001. Solicitation issue date was July 19, 1999. Negotiation completion date was Feb. 4, 2000. Aeronautical Systems Center, Wright-Patterson AFB, Ohio, is the contracting activity.
ION OPTICS has won a small Business Innovation Research Phase II contract from the U.S. Air force to develop a compact, high-resolution hyperspectral long wave infrared imager, which holds promise as a detector for toxic gases in military and industrial applications. The company's initial design incorporates an electronically tunable, solid-state interferometric Fabry-Perot liquid-crystal filled etalon filter developed by Scientific Solutions, Inc., and an infrared camera.
A sea-based missile defense system would make a good adjunct to the ground based national missile defense (NMD) program now in development, Ballistic Missile Defense Organization Director Lt. Gen. Ronald Kadish told senators yesterday. BMDO for the past five months has been working closely with the Navy on an architecture study for a maritime NMD adjunct, Kadish said. That study will be provided to Congress, he noted.
