MirCorp plans to spend some $150 million upgrading Russia's aging Mir orbital station, provided its first-to-market strategy produces the needed revenue from Internet content sales, commercial research fees and even megabuck fares from wealthy space tourists.
ROCKETDYNE'S LINEAR aerospike rocket engine fired for 175 seconds Wednesday in its latest test at NASA's Stennis Space Center, a new record for the hardware. A Stennis spokesman said the test used different mix ratios and power levels and continued to exercise the engine's unique thrust vectoring capability. With Wednesday's firing, the single-engine test program completed 64% of its planned activities.
NATO allies have not accelerated the pace of weapons modernization plans and their planned procurement of U.S. Joint STARS aircraft remains on hold, Gen. Wesley K. Clark, commander in chief of U.S. European Command, said yesterday. NATO forces have claimed Joint STARS is their highest procurement priority for five years but still there is no buy, Clark told the House Armed Services Committee.
The Netherlands wants to modify and upgrade 10 P-3C aircraft at an estimated cost of $200 million. The U.S. Dept. of Defense announced the request, which Congress must approve. The upgrade would include installation of satellite communication systems, secure communications systems, missile warning systems, countermeasures dispensing systems, aircraft cockpit enhancements, data management systems and support equipment and training.
NEGOTIATIONS between Boeing and the company's technical workers and engineers may be on hold, but the company managed to get one aircraft into the hands of a customer yesterday. The strike by the Society of Professional Engineering Employees in Aerospace prompted FAA last week to revoke Boeing's certification authority, and "well in excess of six aircraft" have not delivered as a result, a company spokesman said. Yesterday however, Boeing did deliver one aircraft. The customer wasn't identified. "We do anticipate making deliveries," said the spokesman.
The problems NATO encountered in last year's Kosovo operation make it unlikely that the alliance will attempt similar forays in the future, according to retired Adm. Leighton W. Smith, Jr., former commander in chief of allied forces in Southern Europe. "Deterrence is capability times will," he said at a conference here. "We all know that anything multiplied by zero is zero. If you have all the capability in the world and zero will to employ it, you have no deterrence."
Aerojet, Sacramento, Calif., announced award of a contract from Boeing for gyro stabilization platforms, which house gyroscopes used for missile guidance. Aerojet said the initial contract is for $1.9 million to deliver one unit, which the company will begin making this month. An additional award for nine more units is expected in April of this year, and all ten units are expected to be completed by October 2002.
Ballistic Missile Defense Organization Director Lt. Gen. Ronald Kadish would use any congressionally added funding to beef up testing and explore newer interceptor technologies. Kadish told a joint meeting of the House Armed Services Committee's panels on research and development and procurement that he could use money in addition to this year's budget request for missile defense programs to reduce risk. He declined to name any specific dollar figures.
NASA Administrator Daniel S. Goldin, pressed by congressional critics of Russia's "critical-path" role in the International Space Station, yesterday accused the RSC Energia aerospace concern and its director general, Soviet-era holdover Yuri Semyonov, of "double bookkeeping" in setting prices for space hardware needed to complete the Station.
Pacific Aerospace&Electronics was tapped by Litton Marine Systems to furnish hydraulic tooling assemblies for the steering systems for the U.S Navy's DDG class Aegis guided missile destroyers with award of a new contract estimated at $1.2 million.
Lockheed Martin said its C-130J Hercules transport aircraft set two new world aeronautical records on a Feb. 12 transatlantic flight. The production-standard, unmodified aircraft, with company pilots at the controls, flew non-stop from Pope AFB, N.C., to Cambridge, England, carrying a 34,000-pound payload. Lockheed Martin said it set new marks in the Unlimited and Class C-1N, Turboprop (aircraft weighing between 132,276 and 176,368 pounds) categories, which were both unclaimed and are for speed over a recognized course.
Lucas Aerospace, a subsidiary of TRW Aeronautical Systems, won a contract to supply the power takeoff (PTO) shaft for the Honeywell F124 turbofan engine on Boeing Unmanned Combat Air Vehicle (UCAV) demonstrator program. Lucas Aerospace will supply three PTO shafts, which transmit power from the engine to the accessory drive gearbox on the UCAV. The amount of the contract was not disclosed.
Surrey Satellite Technology Ltd. (SSTL), based at the U.K.'s Surrey Space Center, has been selected by RapidEye AG to build a constellation of four advanced Earth-observation mini-satellites. Under a $100 million deal, the 380-kg. RapidEye spacecraft will be based on Surrey's small satellite platform, which was demonstrated on the SSTL UoSAT-12 mission last April. Surrey also plans to make an equity investment in RapidEye, a German company established to provide multispectral imagery tailored for agriculture and cartography applications.
Simulator time will not take the place of time in the cockpit for U.S. Navy pilots, Rear Adm. Mark Gemmill, head of U.S. Navy aviation manpower and training, said yesterday. "Men and women are not getting enough flight hours as it is," he said. The goal is for Navy pilots to continue to fly 24-25 hours a month, he said, "but we will augment that heavily with hours in the sim."
U.S. MILITARY COMPUTER MANAGERS are nearly through sweeping thousands of personal computers for hacker tools that might have been used in last week's rash of high-profile cyber-attacks, and a Defense Dept. spokesman says that so far they haven't found any denial-of-service tools on military machines. "Now, the work is not done...and it won't be until Thursday," says Rear Adm. Craig Quigley.
FAA Administrator Jane Garvey yesterday pressed a skeptical Air Transport Association for support of the Wide Area Augmentation System (WAAS). The FAA has said the satellite-based WAAS, which will aid aircraft landings, may not meet its planned initial operating date of this September following technical problems that appeared in stability tests earlier this year.
United Technologies Corp., Honeywell and Dallas-based i2 Technologies Inc. are planning to launch MyAircraft.com, a joint venture that the companies say is designed to revolutionize the way the aerospace industry does business.
U.S. AIR FORCE exercised a production option under a contract with St. Louis-based Engineered Support Systems Inc. to produce 48 Tunner 60-K Cargo Loader/Transporters. "The Tunner's efficiency is integral to the U.S. Air Mobility Command's mission to support the rapid deployment of U.S. forces and equipment to multiple locations anywhere in the world," said Michael F. Shanahan Sr., the company's chairman and CEO. According to the company, backlog including options stands at $365 million.
The Dept. of Transportation budget submitted to Congress this month includes a request of $47 million to recapitalize the Loran-C navigation system which the department had, over protests from several companies, planned to phase out this year. Transportation Secretary Rodney Slater, in a turnaround for the Administration, said DOT has decided to operate and maintain Loran-C in the short term while continuing to evaluate the long-term need for the system. The budget requests $27 million in Loran funding for the Coast Guard and $20 million for the FAA.
BAE SYSTEMS will be the prime contractor on a communication infrastructure project for the Balkans, the U.K. Ministry of Defense announced. Under an Urgent Operational Requirement to commercialize in-theater communications equipment, BAE Systems will supply an integrated suite of communication systems, including a Management Information System (MIS), related commercial-off-the shelf-technology (COTS) systems and mobile communication radio facilities.
Gen. Henry H. Shelton, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said yesterday that while the schedule for deciding whether to deploy a national missile defense (NMD) system is challenging, "we do not consider it rushing." He said he was "comfortable" with the June deadline.
Boeing's Rocketdyne Propulsion&Power sector, Canoga Park, Calif., and Japan's Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Ltd. announced a long-term joint effort to design and develop a new liquid oxygen/liquid hydrogen upper-stage rocket engine for the next-generation of expendable launch vehicles.
