Raytheon Aircraft Co., Wichita, Kan., is being awarded an $11,262,522 option to a fixed-price-incentive contract, F33657-94-C-0006-P00129, to provide for one Operational Flight Trainer, two Instrument Flight Trainers, and two Unit Training Devices in support of the Joint Primary Aircraft Trainer System (JPATS) Ground Based Training System. Expected contract completion date is August 2001. Aeronautical Systems Center, Wright-Patterson AFB, Ohio, is the contracting activity.
A U.S. Air Force C-5 aircraft equipped with the Traffic Collision Avoidance System (TCAS) flew for the first time this month, Lockheed Martin Aeronautical Systems said yesterday. TCAS identifies other aircraft near a pilot's position and displays a conflict resolution to reduce the threat of in-flight collisions. The equipment marks on of the first steps toward bringing C-5 into navigation and safety compliance as directed by the Dept. of Defense, Lockheed Martin reported.
Raytheon Co., McKinney, Texas, is being awarded a $22,079,113 firm fixed price contract for low rate initial production IV of 61 Improved Bradley Acquisition Subsystem units and associated spares. Work will be performed in McKinney, Texas (70%); Dallas, Texas (18%); Ontario, Canada (9 %); Austin, Texas (1 %); and Richardson, Texas (2%), and is expected to completed by December 31, 2001. Contract funds will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. There were two bids solicited on November 3, 1999 and two bids were received. The U.S.
Lockheed Martin Corp., Fort Worth, Texas, is being awarded a $1,341,438,000 firm-fixed-price contract to provide for 50 F-16D Block 52 aircraft, associated flight test support, mission planning system, and software development facility. This effort supports foreign military sales to Israel. Expected contract completion date is Jan. 31, 2006. Aeronautical Systems Center, Wright-Patterson AFB, Ohio, is the contracting activity (F33657-99-C-2048).
E. MICHAEL CAMPBELL, a former associate director for laser programs at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, has been appointed vice president for laser and inertial confinement fusion programs at General Atomics, San Diego, Calif. Campbell was responsible for all laser and inertial fusion activities at Livermore and headed development of the National Ignition Facility (NIF). The NIF is a billion dollar class facility that would be the largest laser facility ever built and the first capable of achieving thermonuclear fusion ignition in the laboratory.
EXPORT POLICY: The new White House policy lifting restrictions on export of encrypted software and hardware may be good news for the high-tech computer industry, but some lawmakers due back this month may not be happy. Congress counts among its members critics who view relaxing controls as a threat to national security and are opposed to easing such restrictions. One industry source says DOD proponents on the Hill feel betrayed by the White House over the issue.
Northrop Grumman Corp.'s Electronic Sensors and Systems sector has won a $39 million contract to supply the Egyptian Air Force with an electronic countermeasures (ECM) system. Under the agreement, Northrop will provide 39 AN/ALQ0-131 ECM system Block II conversion kits to Egypt, including upgrades, spares and installation and logistics services. The AN/ALQ-131 optimizes jamming techniques to protect the system from surface-to-air and air-to-air radar.
Boeing averted a strike of technical workers and engineers by granting concessions to their union last Thursday, capping a busy day in which the Seattle-based aerospace giant also acquired Hughes' satellite-building operation (DAILY, Jan. 13, 14). In reaching the settlement with the Society of Professional Engineering Employees in Aerospace (SPEEA, its second-largest union, Boeing conceded on four out of five of the major sticking points. SPEEA has called on its members to approve the contract.
Army Under Secretary Bernard Rostker will be nominated by Defense Secretary William Cohen to fill the DOD slot of under secretary for personnel and readiness, expected by be left vacant the recommendation of Under Secretary Rudy de Leon to be deputy secretary of defense, DOD announced. Rostker, has been the Army's number two civilian leader since Oct. 26, 1998, serving as the deputy and senior adviser to the secretary of the Army. Prior to becoming under secretary, Rostker was the assistant secretary of the Navy for Manpower and Reserve Affairs.
The BFGoodrich Company has appealed publicly to its union to begin discussions on plans for the company's Texas landing gear facility. For almost one month, the company has tried to open negotiations with the union to reach an agreement similar to those negotiated at other BFG landing gear facilities. "While we regret the need to reduce the scope of our operations here and the loss of jobs, we are absolutely intent on keeping this facility open," said Roger Wright, president, Landing Gear Systems.
The kill vehicle being used in tonight's national missile defense (NMD) flight test will have twice the ability to find its target than did the kill vehicle in the first NMD intercept test, which came very close to hitting a decoy balloon instead, Pentagon officials told reporters Friday.
MARS EXPRESS: Matra Marconi Space can start building the European Space Agency's Mars Express planetary orbiter, after top ESA science officials approved the spacecraft's final design. Set for launch in June 2003 aboard a Fregat-Soyuz launcher provided by the Starsem consortium, the spacecraft will have a six-month transit to the Red Planet. Once there, it is designed to enter an elliptical near-polar orbit and serve as a platform for a suite of seven instruments.
BLAST OFF: Globalstar (Nasdaq: GSTRF) will host an investor luncheon in New York today as part of the company's recently announced 7 million share offering (DAILY, Jan. 11). Based on the stock's close last Thursday, Globalstar should raise about $252 million in the deal to finance the rollout of its satellite-telephone network. Although some doubt that any low-Earth orbit satellite network can win enough users to support its high investment costs, an investor would have been pleased to own GSTRF in 1999.
DIVVY UP: Sooner or later, someone is going to have to help the U.S. Air Force pay for the Global Positioning System (GPS), says Gen. Richard Myers, en route from his post as commandeer in chief-space to the vice chair on the Joint Chiefs of Staff. Currently the Air Force funds procurement, maintenance and upgrades on the navigation-satellite system, but Myers argues GPS has become not only a national commodity, but an international one.
NO PROBLEMO: DOD continues to deny reports the Y2K rollover problem with a classified DOD satellite-based intelligence system was much more serious than Pentagon officials have conceded.
Raytheon's Cooperative Engagement Capability (CEC) program, with more than $160 million in contracts from last year, has completed major tests leading to Operational Evaluation (OPEVAL) in May 2001, company executives reported this week. CEC, a program under U.S. Navy contract with Raytheon Data Systems, St. Petersburg, Fla., provides real-time integration of sensor data into a single composite data source which can be used by multiple CEC ships and airborne units for direct and remote missile engagements.
TBMD TEST FIRINGS: The Navy needs to develop a target vehicle to use in tests of its theater ballistic missile defense systems, says Rear Adm.-select John M. Kelly, Navy director of Theater Air Warfare. The service already is looking at a number of technologies for the job, he says. Meanwhile, a round of tests on the Standard Missile II Block IVA just wrapped up at Raytheon facilities in Tuscon, Ariz., and live-fire tests will start this year for TBMD, he notes.
FUTURE SONAR: The Navy could have a sonar in two to three years equipped with computer-aided detection and classification, revolutionizing the way the fleet does mine warfare, reports Rear Adm. Jose L. Betancourt, commander of Navy Mine Warfare Command. This sonar exists in prototype form today, he says. The Navy has just completed a study on leveraging new computer and other technologies for this mission, he adds.
SPLIT MISSION: Top NASA Space Shuttle managers will meet again on Thursday to consider splitting the STS-101 mission to the International Space Station in two to accommodate another long delay in launch of Russia's Zvezda Service Module. Problems with its Proton launch vehicle will keep Zvezda on the ground until this summer at the earliest, and NASA may decide to split the logistics mission originally planned to outfit the Russian module so astronauts and cosmonauts can service systems on the two Station modules already in orbit (DAILY, Jan. 3, 6, 11).
'BLUE TOOTH': DOD is developing a technology that will wirelessly connect "virtually everything about us that is connectable," says retired Army Lt. Gen. Patrick Hughes, former head of Defense Intelligence Agency. Known as "Blue Tooth," the technology is intended to simplify the growing interconnectivity of systems among the military services, as in the Navy's expanding Cooperative Engagement Capability (CEC), which networks multiple sensors to form a composite missile tracking picture.
Toronto-based Bombardier Aerospace captured two more orders from Japan last week, extending the company's success selling to Asian markets. The company announced The Fair Inc. of Tokyo ordered two additional Canadair Regional Jet (CRJ) aircraft. The Fair Inc. is expected to launch its regional airline service in mid-2000 and will initially fly two CRJs acquired from a European operator.
Northrop Grumman Corporation's vertical takeoff unmanned aerial vehicle (VTUAV), developed as a candidate for a U.S. Navy contract, successfully completed its first autonomous flight this week, the company announced. The VTUAV, designed to fly from any "air-capable" combat ship for real-time reconnaissance and targeting missions, flew autonomously for 18 minutes at an altitude of about 100 feet at the Naval Air Warfare Center at China Lake, Calif., according to a spokesman for the company.
LOCKHEED MARTIN INTEGRATED SYSTEMS will supply three different undersea systems to the U.S. Navy under separate contracts totaling $172 million announced yesterday. Under a $70 million award the Lockheed Martin unit will start development of the AN/WLD1(V)1 Remote Minehunting System, a diesel powered mini-submersible that can carry sensors into a mined area. A second $70 million contract will cover three AN/SQQ-89(V) sonar and fire control systems for surface warships.
