The Progress M1-1 cargo capsule sent to the Mir orbital station this week is projected to become a workhorse for the International Space Station program, with doubled fuel-handling capacity for Station reboost. Valery Lyndin, a spokesman for the Space Flight Control Center (TsUP), noted Tuesday that "today's launch could be treated as a validation test of a recently improved version of the Progress M1."
THOMSON-CSF has completed its buy of Bombardier's 50% share of Shorts Missile Systems Ltd., Bombardier said Tuesday. Bombardier and Thomson-CSF have jointly owned Shorts since 1993. They announced the sale agreement in December.
BFGOODRICH said Tuesday it has completed its acquisition of the Barnes Engineering unit of EDO Corp. and that the Shelton, Conn., operation will be added to its position as a measurement and control subsystems supplier to the space industry. Barnes will become part of BFGoodrich's Data Systems Div. in Albuquerque, N.M. Barnes is a designer and manufacturer of earth and sun sensors for attitude determination and control subsystems.
FAIRCHILD AEROSPACE said SolAir of Naples, Italy, signed a letter of intent to purchase two 328JETs and two 728JETs. SolAir, a new carrier, plans to begin operations next year from Naples' Capodichino Airport.
International Launch Services expects to launch as many as nine commercial payloads on its Russian-built Proton booster this year, beginning next Friday with the AceS/Garuda 1 satellite delayed by a Proton launch failure last October, ILS President Mark J. Albrecht told reporters Tuesday.
The first production CH-60S helicopter, built for the U.S. Navy, completed its first flight Jan. 27 at the Sikorsky Aircraft Corp.'s Stratford, Conn., facility, the company announced. The aircraft hovered, completed basic airworthiness checks, then completed a short flight demonstrating basic aircraft maneuverability and handling qualities, Sikorsky said. Following additional tests, the aircraft will head to NAS Patuxent River, Md., this spring to complete Navy development and operational testing.
Competitive outsourcing may provide the profitability and predictability the defense industry lacks, according to a senior executive. "One of the problems we have is predictability of earnings, sustaining companies in the business at a time when there are few very large contractors and contracts," Philip Odeen, executive vice president and general manager of TRW said at a conference in Washington last week.
The U.S. more than ever risks a "substantial surprise" of a nuclear, chemical or biological missile attack, Director of Central Intelligence George J. Tenet told the Senate Intelligence Committee yesterday. "This is not for lack of effort on the part of the Intelligence Community," Tenet said. "It results from significant effort on the part of proliferators."
The fiscal year 2001 budget the Pentagon sends to Capitol Hill next week likely will fall short of the $60 billion-plus procurement goal the Administration planned to hit this year, the head of an independent research institute said yesterday.
Thiokol Propulsion, a division of Cordant Technologies, inked a five-year contract with General Dynamics Ordnance Systems to provide flares on the Hydra-70 rocket system.
Geostationary satellite operators in the U.S. and Europe, already operating at or approaching full capacity in traditional service markets accommodated by their narrowband transponders, see Internet delivery as the next big growth area for their industry.
PanAmSat has signed an agreement with the Boeing-led Sea Launch venture for launch of its Galaxy IIIC satellite from the venture's ocean-going launch pad, with options for four more launches after that, the two companies reported yesterday. Under the agreement, Sea Launch will orbit the Hughes-built Galaxy IIIC, an HS 702, during the second quarter of 2001. The satellite, with 24 C-band and 52 Ku-band transponders, will be positioned at 95 degrees West longitude to provide video, Internet and telecommunications services across the Americas.
The U.S., by filing a complaint with the International Civil Aviation Organization over the European Commission's hushkit rule, is "not trying to punish or drive [the EC] out" of the world body, David Aaron, under secretary of commerce for international trade, told reporters yesterday.
NATIONAL RECONNAISSANCE OFFICE Director Ketih Hall said yesterday that the fiscal year 2001 budget remains intact for the Discoverer II program. "Overall, space activities in the national security arena fared well, they held their own, if you will," Hall told reporters in a session at the Pentagon, adding that some new initiatives also were financed. Hall said that all dollar amounts for the NRO are classified.
INITIAL OPERATING CAPABILITY has been achieved on the FAA's second Standard Terminal Automation Replacement Systems, this one at the Syracuse, N.Y., Terminal radar Approach facility, the agency reported. The equipment is to be installed at 372 civil and military radar approach and departure facilities over the next several years. STARS features large color displays, which replace current monochrome screens. Open computer and display architecture will be able to host future data-processing enhancements and other new technologies including real-time weather displays.
SPEEA, the Society of Professional Engineering Employees in Aerospace, said it will strike Boeing today if its members reject a contract offer. Charles Bofferding, executive director, said that "if the membership votes this contract offer down, there will be a strike." The votes were scheduled to be counted last night. Bofferding said that as the strike deadline neared, more Boeing employees joined the union. He said more than 4,000 have joined since August.
Globecomm Systems Inc. reported second quarter revenues last week of $17.4 million, up 46.2%, from $11.9 million in the comparable period a year ago. "We are very pleased with our fiscal 2000 second quarter performance, both operationally and financially," said David Hershberg, chairman and CEO of the Hauppage, N.Y., company. "Our 46.2% revenue growth reflects our ability to win significant new contracts."
The U.S. Coast Guard is anticipating release of an interagency report that will outline its future roles. The report, to be presented to President Clinton, will be "a roadmap for the future mission demands of the Coast Guard," Lt. Cdr. Michael Anderson said in an interview at Coast Guard headquarters in Washington.
The over-budget and behind schedule Wide Area Augmentation System is likely to fall farther behind following a failure in recent tests, FAA's top research official said. The system, a series of ground stations to upgrade the signal of Global Positioning System satellites to allow precision landing approaches, met and exceeded accuracy requirements but failed to meet reliability goals by a "not insignificant amount," said Steve Zaidman, associate administrator for research and acquisition.
Russia launched a Progress supply capsule to the deserted Mir orbital station yesterday, loaded with supplies and equipment to support a two-man crew expected to reinhabit the station late next month. Progress M1-1 lifted off on a Soyuz rocket from the Baikonur Cosmodrome at 1:47 a.m. EST Tuesday, setting up an automatic docking with Mir tomorrow at 3 a.m. EST. The capsule carries fuel, water and pressurization gear to restore atmosphere lost to a slow leak since Mir was abandoned last summer (DAILY, Aug. 31, 1999).
International Launch Services has set a late March/early April launch date for the first of its new Atlas III, with Eutelsat's W4 telecommunications satellite aboard, the company announced yesterday. Integration work has been underway since late November 1999, ILS said. The first Atlas III was to have been launched last June, but the flight was delayed after an RL-10 engine like the one in the vehicle's Centaur upper stage was implicated in the failure of a Boeing Delta III.
BAE Systems has joined the team of Lockheed Martin Sanders and Litton that is competing for the electronic warfare portion of the Joint Strike Fighter program. As an electronic warfare/countermeasures subcontractor on the team, the British company will provide electronic modules, as well as modeling and simulation capability, in support of the engineering and manufacturing development (EMD) and production phases of the JSF EW program, Sanders said.
Space Shuttle managers decided early yesterday to replace a balky Enhanced Master Events Controller (EMEC) on the Space Shuttle Endeavour, delaying its planned launch on an 11-day mission to map the earth's surface with synthetic aperture radar for eight to 10 days. The earliest Endeavour would now be able to lift off from Kennedy Space Center, Fla., on the STS-99 Shuttle Radar Topography Mission is Feb. 9. However, that conflicts with a planned Delta II launch from Cape Canaveral Air Station, Fla., and the launch may be pushed back later in the week.
The House, in a 341-70 vote, passed a bill yesterday to increase U.S. military assistance to Taiwan. The White House has threatened to veto the legislation that requires the secretary of defense to establish direct military contact with forces in Taiwan. The Taiwan Security Enhancement Act (H.R. 1838) also requires the Dept. of Defense to prepare detailed threat reports on the status of Taiwan's security. In addition, it increases the number of Taiwanese military officials to be trained in the U.S.
