Titan Corp. announced fourth quarter earnings of $0.18 a share, up 38% year-over-year, and slightly ahead of consensus estimates of $0.15 per share. Titan reported $132.5 million in revenues for the fourth quarter of 1999 versus $84.8 million in 1998, an increase of 56%. For fiscal 1999, Titan reported net income from continuing operation of $21.2 million, or $0.46 a share on revenues of $407 million. Year-end earnings results were a penny above consensus estimates
GUARDRAIL 2000, the latest version of the Guardrail airborne intelligence system, is slated to be rolled out Wednesday at Moffett Field, Calif., near the Sunnyvale facility of the system's prime contractor, TRW Inc. Guardrail 2000 will be a key component of the Army's Aerial Common Sensor system. TRW said it will provide advanced and precise information on enemy location for battlefield commanders.
A Lockheed Martin-led team was selected by Newport News Shipbuilding over a team led by Raytheon to be the warfare systems integrator for the U.S. Navy's CVN77 aircraft carrier. Lockheed Martin Naval Electronics Surveillance Systems (NE&SS), Moorestown, N.J., heads a team that includes Northrop Grumman, Solipsys and the Navy's Space and Naval Warfare Systems Command (SPAWAR). The competition took nine months, according to Newport News.
Boeing Space and Communications has joined SpaceDev Inc. in an agreement to study business opportunities in deep-space exploration, SpaceDev reported yesterday. Under the agreement technical and business experts from both companies will investigate the commercial potential of missions proposed by SpaceDev to the moon, Mars and near-Earth asteroids, using spacecraft weighing on the order of 250 kilograms (550 pounds).
Raytheon Co. said it has demonstrated remote launch capabilities of the Patriot air and missile defense system. In a test last month, a Patriot missile was fired from a launcher that was displaced from the radar and engagement control station and intercepted its target. The company didn't say how far the launcher was from the other components, but did say the distance made the test a first.
Republican lawmakers blasted President Clinton for his State of the Union remarks on national security policy and promise to adequately fund defense needs and support the national missile defense program. Several top defense committee lawmakers said they are skeptical that Clinton's pledges on defense spending and policy will match what he is slated to send to the Hill in the fiscal year 2001 defense budget request on Feb. 7. Many blame him for making promises on defense only to support Vice President Al Gore's run for the presidency.
Raytheon Systems Co., McKinney, Texas, is being issued a $16,594,461 firm-fixed-price order for manufacture of 65 spare parts for the AN/APS-137B(v)5 radar system used on P-3C aircraft. The spares include power supply sets, receiver processors, and antennae. Work will be performed in McKinney, Texas, and is expected to be completed by December 2001. Contract funds will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. This contract was not competitively procured.
TWO NEW COMPLAINTS have been filed against Boeing by the Society of Professional Engineering Employees in Aerospace, just days before union members are scheduled to vote on a contract offer. SPEEA officials had been relatively optimistic on a positive vote for the revised contract offer negotiated with the company only weeks ago. According to union representatives, however, "membership bristled at changes" in the second offer, such as co-pays for medical coverage, lower life insurance benefits and lack of a guaranteed raises or cash bonuses.
Raytheon Systems Co., McKinney, Texas, is being awarded an $8,112,320 modification to previously awarded contract N00019-95-C-0198 to exercise an option for non-recurring support associated with the installation of the AN/APS-137(V5) radar on 5 P-3 aircraft, including engineering, data prototyping, functional/physical configuration audits, technical manuals, source data development, data collection, contractor engineering/technical support, integrated logistics support, spare and repair parts, support equipment and auxiliary equipment.
L-3 Communications has been picked by the U.S. National Security Agency in a competition to build an advanced extremely high frequency communications security and transmission security system for the new Advanced Extremely High Frequency (AEHF) military satellite network. The Maryland Procurement Office contract, known by the acronym ACTS, has an initial value of $28.7 million, the New York-based supplier of secure communications systems stated yesterday.
Boeing Co., St. Louis, Mo., is being awarded a $16,532,146 firm-fixed-price contract for post production support for the F/A-18C/D aircraft for the U.S. Navy (63.2%), and the governments of Canada (10.2%); Spain (7.9%); Australia (6.1%); Finland (4.5%); Kuwait (3.7%); Switzerland (3.2%); Malaysia (1.2%); and under the Foreign Military Sales Program. Work will be performed in St. Louis, Mo., and is expected to be completed by September 2000. Contract funds in the amount of $1,971,005 will expire at the end of the current fiscal year.
TRW Tactical Systems Division, TRW Systems&Information Technology Group, Carson, Calif., was awarded $41,000,000 on Jan. 25, 2000, as part of a $56,400,000 (base year total) firm-fixed-incentive-fee/firm-fixed-price/time and material contract, with an estimated cumulative total of $210,000,000, if all options are exercised. This contract is to acquire Force XXI Battle Command Brigade and Below (FBCB2) Systems to meet the Army's requirement for the First Digitized Division.
The House today is slated to vote on a bill that increases U.S. military assistance to Taiwan through the sale of a variety of weapons. The House Rules Committee met last night to outline the rules of debate for the legislation, which has faced significant opposition in previous months from Democrats and the White House. However, House Majority Whip Tom Delay (R-Tex.) said yesterday he believes there are enough votes to pass the bill and that a significant number of Democrats also are now supporters.
Southwest Research Institute, San Antonio, Texas, is being awarded a $6,621,847 firm-fixed-price, indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract for AN/SSQ-120 transportable radio direction finding systems and antenna subsystems and spare parts. The antenna subsystem for the AN/SSQ-120 includes AS-4489/SSQ high frequency, AS-4490/SSQ very high frequency/ultra high frequency, and AS-4490/SSQ with TACAN antenna mount antennas and equipment. This contract includes options which, if exercised, would bring the cumulative value of this contract to $28,540,990.
GTE Government Systems Corp., El Segundo, Calif., is being awarded a $5,684,727 (Estimated) modification to a firm-fixed-price contract, F09603-97-D-0008-0102-03, to provide for Contractor Logistics Support through June 2000 for Intelligence and Information Processing and Production Equipment. Expected contract completion date is June 30, 2000. Warner Robins Air Logistics Center, Robins AFB, Ga., is the contracting activity.
Lockheed Martin Federal Systems, Manassas, Va., is being awarded a $63,553,782 modification to previously awarded contract N00024-98-C-6201 to manufacture five acoustic rapid commercial-off-the-shelf (COTS) insertion (A-RCI) Phase II kits; provide labor and material necessary to upgrade four A-RCI Phase II kits to Phase III, three Phase III kits to Phase IV, and six Phase II kits to Phase IV; procure associated spares, and provide engineering services.
IATA DIRECTOR GENERAL Pierre Jeanniot, alarmed by the telecom industry's "voracious economic interest," yesterday called for a "battle" to retain aviation radio frequencies when the World Radio Conference meets next May in Istanbul. "We must win the battle of radio frequency spectrum during the next four months," he said. Aviation increasingly relies on satellites and uses specific bands in the spectrum. They fall within what is classified as a "safety of life" spectrum.
Radio engineers at Stanford University have not detected a repeat of the UHF signal they had hoped originated on NASA's lost Mars Polar Lander, and the U.S. space agency has enlisted three radio telescopes in Europe to listen for the signal in response to a second round of commands to be sent today and tomorrow.
Raytheon E-Systems, Inc., Waco, Texas, is being awarded a $30,101,269 modification to previously awarded contract N00019-98-C-0022 to exercise an option for Fiscal Year 2000 integration, installation, and test of the Airborne Command Post aircraft modifications for two E-6B production aircraft. This modification includes the installation of high power transmit sets and retrofit kits, as well as spare and repair parts, integrated logistics support, and required data. Work will be performed in Waco, Texas, and is expected to be completed by September 2000.
Stratos Mobile Networks USA, LLC, Bethesda, Md., is being awarded a not-to-exceed $48,041,910 competitive indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract for up to 3,150 channel months (consisting of up to 75 channels per month for up to 42 months) of INMARSAT-B High Speed Data Channel leases. This contract will provide INMARSAT-B 64Kbps service to the U.S. Navy's battlegroups (Carl Vinson, Constellation, Enterprise, George Washington, John F. Kennedy, John C. Stennis, Kitty Hawk, Abraham Lincoln, Nimitz, Theodore Roosevelt, and Harry S.
Gulfstream Aerospace Corp., Savannah, Ga., is being awarded a $74,300,753 (Not-to-Exceed) firm-fixed-price contract to provide for two GIV-SP aircraft. This effort supports foreign military sales to Egypt. Expected contract completion date is Sept. 30, 2001. Oklahoma City Air Logistics Center, Tinker AFB, Okla., is the contracting activity (F34601-00-C-0100).
Development of an effective European defense identity is "on track" but "European strategic independence is simply not feasible," NATO Secretary General George Robertson said yesterday. Europe must work with the U.S. to use American military strengths to best possible advantage, and Europe must not become "decoupled," Robertson said at a conference in Brussels.
Teledyne Technologies reported strong fourth quarter and year-end operating results for the company's first solo quarter following its spin-off from Allegheny Teledyne Inc. "The fourth quarter of 1999 marked our emergence as an independent publicly traded company," said Dr. Robert Mehrabian, Teledyne Technologies' president and CEO.
Cold, rainy weather compounded by a computer software glitch blocked launch of the Space Shuttle Endeavour yesterday on a mission to map most of the earth's surface with a high-resolution synthetic aperture radar (SAR).
