TRANSHAB TALKS: NASA seems to be getting close to a decision on whether to proceed with a commercial laboratory module for the International Space Station. The space agency has been holding closed-door meetings with potential backers of a "Comlab" based on the Transhab inflatable module developed at Johnson Space Center, and the word is out that an announcement is likely next month and possible before the end of the year. Dan Tam, Administrator Daniel S.
Northrop Grumman said it will upgrade the E-2C Hawkeye aircraft operated by the Egyptian Air Force under a $138 million U.S. Navy Foreign Military Sales contract. The work will be carried out at Bethpage, N.Y., and in Egypt by the company's Integrated Systems and Aerostructures sector. The contract funds non-recurring design and development work and the procurement of aircraft retrofit kits and initial spares, the company said. The upgrade project, it said, will include replacing the Egyptian aircraft's APS-138 radar with the U.S.
Signal Technology Corp. said its Keltec Div. has formed a strategic alliance with Lockheed Martin's Sanders unit to develop a power supply for missile warning sensors. The Danvers, Mass., company said the move is part of an initiative to cut production cost of the Advanced Tactical Infrared Countermeasures (ATIRCM) system for the AH-64D Apache Longbow and other rotary and fixed wing aircraft.
UPPER TIER TALKS: High level talks in the Pentagon on the future of the two key theater missile defense systems are expected to continue this week, industry and Army officials say. The discussions are centering specifically on where the Theater High Altitude Area Defense system and Navy Theater Wide will fit in the new budget submission. THAAD is slated to move into the engineering and manufacturing development phase.
Honeywell named three executives to lead the $4 billion avionics unit of its aerospace business, and will keep all other former AlliedSignal Aerospace executives in their current roles. Honeywell is the name of the newly merged AlliedSignal and Honeywell. The deal went through Thursday and trading on the New York Stock Exchange began Friday.
Bombardier said its CL-237 Guardian unmanned air vehicle landed successfully on the U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Thetis on Nov. 22. Bombardier Services of America Corp. (BSAC), Lawton, Okla., together with Sierra Nevada Corp. of Sparks, Nev., and MacDonald-Dettwiler Associates of Vancouver, B.C., accomplished approaches and stable hovering over Thetis' flight deck off the coast of Key West, Fla., the company said.
Scientists at the University of Maryland and NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center have found sea ice in the Arctic has been shrinking over the past two decades, possibly as a result of human-induced climate change. Using satellite and ground data to measure the extent of sea ice retreat, a team headed by Maryland's Konstantin Vinnikov has found an average shrinkage of 37,000 square kilometers (about 23,000 square miles) a year. Over the satellite-data period from November 1987 through March 1998, the Arctic sea ice lost an area the size of Texas.
The U.S. Army announced release of a request for proposals for its Tube-Launched Optically-Tracked Wire-Guided (TOW) Fire and Forget (F&F) missile system. The RFP is for the engineering and manufacturing development (EMD) phase of the next generation system for the current Army TOW Improved Target Acquisition System (ITAS) platform. A new missile system along with the modification to existing ITAS training devices will comprise the TOW F&F, Army Aviation and Missile Command said in a Nov. 29 Commerce Business Daily notice.
BOEING has received a $20.8 million U.S. Navy contract modification option to integrate, install and test a multi-function display system into 16 E-6B production aircraft.
Spain's CASA formally joined the French-German European Aeronautic Defense and Space Company (EADS) yesterday in Madrid. The agreement was signed by the chairmen of both EADS partners, DaimlerChrysler Aerospace's Manfred Bischoff and Aerospatiale Matra's Jean-Luc Lagardere, and by Pedro Ferreras, chairman of Sepi, the Spanish state holding company which owns 99.28% of CASA.
In order to remain a remain a vital contributor to future U.S. combat operations, the U.S. Navy and Marine Corps must increase the number of their platforms, according to a new study by the Lexington Institute, Arlington, Va. "Naval strike is executed by a variety of sea-based, air, surface and submarine platforms - a third of which are forward-deployed," the study said. "But increasingly, there are not enough platforms. No matter how capable the submarine, aircraft carrier, destroyer or plane, they cannot be in two places at once."
The U.S. Army is contracting with two companies to retrofit an unguided rocket with a guidance section to meet its requirement for a low-cost surgical strikes against soft point targets. The weapon, being developed by the Army Aviation and Missile Command (AMCOM), is designed to fill a gap between the Army's 2.75-inch rocket and the Hellfire anti-armor missile.
NASA managers decided yesterday to slip by another two days the upcoming launch of the Space Shuttle Discovery on a mission to repair the ailing Hubble Space Telescope. The move will give crews at Kennedy Space Center, Fla., more time to change out a leaky quick-disconnect fixture on the No. 2 auxiliary power unit and to inspect wiring in the orbiter's aft compartment, according to a KSC spokesperson.
The European Commission, at a Dec. 1 meeting, advanced a set of 23 technical, operational and institutional proposals aiming at relieving the air traffic problems in Europe. "The situation is very serious and even catastrophic in some cases," said EU Transport Commissioner Loyola de Palacio. Every third flight is delayed in Europe. The average waiting time is 20 minutes, but it can be as long as several hours at peak time, said the Commission. The EU estimates that half of the delays are due to ATC problems.
Inmarsat Limited will issue requests for proposals later this month for three new satellites to support a $1.4 billion "personal multimedia communications" (PMC) system to be in place by the end of 2004. The London-based company's board of directors approved development of the "Inmarsat-4" system this week. The L-band satellite-based system will offer users multimedia communications at 144-432 kbps/s, primarily with a notebook computer linked to the satellites.
BFGoodrich Co., having acquired the ejection seat business of Boeing Co. last month, said yesterday that it is moving to buy another ejection seat operation, The IBP Aerospace Group of East Hartford, Conn,. IBP, with the Russian ejection seat company Zvezda, has adapted the K-36/3.5A ejection seat for the U.S. market.
CORRECTION: Because of a misunderstanding that arose during an interview with Sergei Jiltsov, chief of the Department of Public Relations at the Khrunichev Space Center, an article in The DAILY of Nov. 24 incorrectly stated that Khrunichev had made a preliminary decision to suspend work on the new Proton-M and Angara rockets. According to Jiltsov, work on those two launch vehicles is continuing on schedule.
Controllers in Moscow reboosted the International Space Station almost 11 miles late Wednesday to set up a March 2000 rendezvous with the Zvezda Service Module, awaiting launch from Baikonur Cosmodrome on the troubled Proton rocket.
BOEING reported used of a new wing assembly tool to load an F-22 wing skin panel. It said the tool will cut the time it takes to build a set of wings by about 370 hours and will cut cycle time by 12%. Wing quality will also be improved, Boeing said. The tool, with a built-in overhead handling system, allows more rapid and even application of pressure as the upper and lower wing skins are attached to the substructure.
BOEING said testing completed last week at Palmdale, Calif., verified that the fuel system for the X-32A Joint Strike Fighter concept demonstrator is fully operational, leak-free and ready for flight testing. The tests, Boeing said, validated the ability of the fuel system to refuel and defuel the jet, to transfer fuel between tanks for center-of-gravity and thermal management, and to deliver fuel to the engine at all power settings. Engineers calibrated the tanks, including the gauging system, Boeing said.
Boeing has selected Lockheed Martin Missiles and Fire Control, Orlando, Fla., to provide a new hard-target warhead configuration to the company's Conventional Air-Launched Cruise Missile (CALCM), Boeing announced yesterday. Lockheed Martin's Advanced Unitary Penetrator (AUP), a 1,200-pound kinetic energy warhead, was chosen over the Europe's Team BROACH's Multiple Warhead System, Boeing reported.
The U.S.-Israeli team building the Tactical High Energy Laser doesn't have enough funding to make needed hardware fixes on the system or deploy it to Israel after testing wraps up in April, program officials said on Wednesday. "I don't have the money to do anything beyond testing," Richard Bradshaw, Army Space and Missile Defense Command's THEL program manager, told reporters visiting the High Energy Laser Systems Test Facility (HELSTF) here.
BOEING CO. said it has named James C. Restelli president of Military Aerospace Support, part of the company's Military Aircraft and Missile Systems unit. Restelli had been vice president and general manager of the Aerospace Support business. Boeing said his new position signifies the growing importance to defense customers of the rapidly expanding Aerospace Support business. The Aerospace Support organization integrates the competencies of maintenance and modification, logistics support services, and training and support, and offers life-cycle support solutions to U.S.
The Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory (APL) has established a commercial spinoff company to market advanced spacecraft oscillators based on technology the secretive lab has developed under U.S. government contract. Maryland-based Syntonics LLC will be a stand-alone independent company that will develop, build and sell ultrastable oscillators using Johns Hopkins technology licensed to it. The university will have a minority equity interest in the new company.
