Curtiss-Wright Corp. said it has established a new line of credit for $100 million, replacing existing lines totaling $45 million. The Lyndhurst, N.J., company said the credit line will be used for "working capital purposes, internal growth initiatives, funding of possible future acquisitions and other general corporate purposes."
Northrop Grumman Corp. received a $5.5 million, four-year contract from the U.S. Air Force Research Laboratory, Wright Patterson AFB, Ohio, as part of its reconfigurable tool initiative. The project, called Reconfigurable Tooling for Advanced Overhaul and Repair Capability of Aging Subsystems (AORCAS), is a follow-on to an earlier effort by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency and Office of Naval Research.
POLAR AIR CARGO is leasing five new 747-400 freighters from General Electric Aircraft Leasing, making it the "first U.s.-scheduled flag carrier to operate" the latest 747. Polar's fleet of 747 freighters now numbers 19, said Louis Valerio, chief executive. The first three aircraft are to be delivered in the fourth quarter of next year and two more in 2001 and 2002. Polar Air recently signed an alliance with Air New Zealand for South Pacific service.
An electrical problem compounded by poor installation of equipment near the flight termination system on the NASA/Aurora Flight Sciences Perseus B unpiloted vehicle brought the prototype atmospheric testbed down on Interstate 40 near Edwards AFB, Calif., this fall, a failure review team has found.
Hughes Space and Communications and the Jet Propulsion Laboratory will work together on advanced guidance, navigation and control equipment under an agreement signed last week, Hughes reported. The satellite-builder and the NASA lab will work on "dual technology" that can be applied both to Hughes' commercial communications satellites and to JPL's scientific spacecraft. Technologies to be addressed early on include microgyroscopes, active pixel sensors for star trackers, chip-mounted systems and autonomous systems.
Enhancements in British army battlefield communications equipment are expected ahead of schedule from new Bowman tactical combat radios as a result of Smart Procurement principles. Smart Procurement, one of the main recommendations of last year's U.K. Strategic Defense Review, has been applied by the Ministry of Defense since last June in its work with Archer Communications Systems Ltd. (ASCL), preferred supplier for Bowman, to complete an extended risk-reduction contract.
Orbital Sciences Corp. used its ground-launched Taurus solid-fuel rocket to orbit two scientific satellites from Vandenberg AFB, Calif., early yesterday, one for South Korea and one for NASA.
The Aerospace Industries Association said it supports the Clinton Administration's recent decision to file a complaint with the International Civil Aviation Organization against the European Union's rule barring hush-kitted aircraft. "If the rule were implemented, all hushkitted and certain re-engined aircraft that have not previously operated within the EU would be barred from operating in European Union member nations as of May 1, 2000," the Washington-based AIA said.
Engineers at NASA's Stennis Space Center ran the Rocketdyne XRS-2000 linear aerospike engine built for the NASA/Lockheed Martin X-33 reusable launch vehicle prototype to full power for the first time Saturday, hitting 100% thrust in an 18-second hot-fire test at the center's A-1 test facility.
Orbcomm Global plans to put the seven new low-Earth orbit satellites it launched Dec. 4 in service by the end of January 2000, roughly cutting in half the startup schedule anticipated at launch. "The satellites are exhibiting excellent on-orbit performance and moving through the test and evaluation process ahead of schedule," Scott L. Webster, Orbcomm chairman and CEO, stated in a press release, noting that once the new satellites are on line customers will have increased coverage in the Americas, Europe, Asia and South Africa.
AeroAstro, Inc., of Herndon, Va., reported development of a new global satellite tracking and messaging service. The Sensor Enabled Notification System (SENS), it said, would allow companies and individuals to use a constellation of satellites via the Internet for a variety of tasks, including tracking and monitoring of nearly anything, including kidnapped or missing children; precision farming; environmental monitoring and national defense.
The U.S. Navy has selected two companies to develop an Electromagnetic Aircraft Launch System (EMALS), which would replace existing aircraft carrier steam catapults.
PEMCO AEROPLEX, Birmingham, Ala., agreed to a five-year contract with Local No. 1155 of the UAW, representing 1,100 of the company's employees. The agreement begins Feb. 1, 2000 and runs until March 21, 2005, the company said. Pemco Aeroplex, a unit of Precision Standard Inc., provides KC-135 programmed depot maintenance, and has performed heavy maintenance on more than 5,000 of the U.S. Air Force's C-130 and KC-135 aircraft.
BFGoodrich said it has completed consolidation of its landing gear equipment business following the merger last July with Coltec Industries. The structure of the combined entity will focus on the major market segments - commercial transport, regional and business, and military. Major manufacturing sites will continue at Oakville, Ontario, Cleveland, Ohio, and Tullahoma, Tenn., where recently renegotiated labor contracts "will reduce costs and raise productivity substantially," the company said.
Northrop Grumman's vertical takeoff unmanned aerial vehicle (VTUAV) contender for a pending U.S. Navy and Marine Corps contract has begun autonomous testing in San Diego, a spokesman for the company said. Northrop Grumman's Ryan Aeronautical Center has teamed with Schweizer Aircraft Corp. and Lockheed Martin Federal Systems to produce a rotary wing VTUAV to fly from any "air capable" combat ship for real-time reconnaissance and targeting missions, the company reported.
Deputy Defense Secretary John Hamre has signed off on a plan transferring responsibility for development and procurement funding for the lower tier theater missile defense (TMD) programs from the Ballistic Missile Defense Organization (BMDO) to the individual U.S. military services.
The U.S. military needs a joint deployment process and joint rapid response forces, according to U.S. Army Vice Chief of Staff Gen. John Keane. "Most importantly, we need a very rapid offensive combat power that is truly integrated," Keane said at a symposium in Washington last week. "Some things should be born joint," he said.
CargoLifter Inc. said it has selected a site near Elizabeth City, N.C., for its first airship assembly and maintenance facility in North America. A formal announcement is expected next spring. CargoLifter is the North American subsidiary of Germany's CargoLifter AB, which is developing airships that are more than 850 feet long and capable of carrying 160 metric tons up to 6,000 miles. The facility will have a 30-story airship hangar and office complex. Construction is expected to begin in 2002 with airship production scheduled to begin in 2004.
U.S. Air Force investigators are trying to determine why a C-130E airlifter struck the ground more than a half a mile short of the runway at a base in Kuwait on Dec. 10, killing three of the 86 people aboard and injuring 17 more.
AVIALL INC., Dallas, said that Paul E. Fulchino has been named chairman, president and chief executive officer, replacing Eric E.Anderson effective Jan. 1, 2000. Fulchino is the former president and chief operating officer of BE Aerospace Inc. Before joining BE Aerospace in 1996, Fulchino was president and vice chairman of Mercer Management Consulting Inc., and international management consulting firm.
Raytheon Co. said it recently received its first award fee, valued at $1.4 million, for the Rolling Airframe Missile (RAM) Guided Missile Weapon System helicopter, aircraft and surface (HAS) mode development contract. Under the contract, the RAM shipboard self-defense missile system will be given a software upgrade and the recently developed RAM Block 1 autonomous infrared seeker to engage threats such as helicopters, low-flying small aircraft and surface craft.
Raytheon Technical Services Co., Vienna, Va., is being awarded a $16,754,903 increment as part of an $83,770,175 cost-plus-award-fee contract, for Cooperative Threat Reduction Logistics Support III. Work will be performed in the former Soviet Union, and is expected to be completed by Feb. 16, 2005. Contract funds will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. There were 200 bids solicited on Sept. 18, 1997, and two bids were received. The Defense Threat Reduction Agency, Dulles Airport, Va., is the contracting activity (DTRA01-00-C-0007).
Sikorsky Aircraft Corp., Stratford, Conn., is being awarded a $51,160,583 modification to firm-fixed-price contract DAAJ09-97-C-0005, for 5 Black Hawk helicopters (UH-60L/S70A-41 for the Columbian Air Force, with associated technical publications and training. Work will be performed in Stratford, Conn., and is expected to be completed by Jan. 31, 2001. Contract funds will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. This is a sole source contract initiated on Dec. 3, 1999. The U.S.
