The U.S. Air Force is set to launch satellites for the first time Dec. 7 on a refurbished Minuteman II ICBM, the Space and Missile Systems Center, Los Angeles AFB, Calif., said yesterday. The Minuteman was deactivated as an offensive weapons system by the Strategic Arms Reduction treaty in 1991. The Minuteman satellite launch is a first for the Air Force. More than 350 Minuteman II ICBMs are in storage, and the Air Force is working with Orbital Sciences Corp. to demonstrate a low-cost, dependable way to use them as satellite launchers.
A top-level "Broad Area Review" (BAR) of the recent string of U.S. space launch failures concluded a "going-out-of-business" attitude on existing expendable launch vehicle (ELV) programs contributed to process-engineering and other weakness that actually caused the failures.
Table details SAR programs as of Sept. 30 Selected Acquisition Report (SAR) programs as of Sept. 30, 1999, are listed in the following table, released by the U.S. Dept. of Defense (DAILY, Nov. 29). Dollar figures are in millions. Current Estimate Weapon Base Cost System Year Base Then Quantity Year $ Year $ ARMY:
Orders for new geostationary commercial communications satellites were soft in 1999 with only about a dozen placed worldwide, but a fairly deep order backlog should keep manufacturers busy until broadband demand sparks another upswing in the market, The Teal Group predicted in its first forecast for spacecraft bus orders.
NASA's Mars Polar Lander was "right on target" after a 12.6-second burn Tuesday designed to set it up for Friday's entry into the Martian atmosphere and touchdown near the planet's south pole.
The newly merged Exxon-Mobil has nine months to sell off Exxon's Jet Turbine Oil business as part of the deal reached with U.S. regulators Tuesday that cleared the way for the giant, $81 billion energy company tie-up. The Federal Trade Commission also is forcing the company to sell a refinery in Benecia, Calif., that had been bidding on specialized U.S. Navy aviation fuel work.
BOEING CO., St. Louis, has received a $5.4 million modification of a previously awarded contract from U.S. Naval Air Systems Command for the transition and shutdown of the F/A-18A/B/C/D production lines.
Spain's CASA will join the European Aeronautic Defense and Space company (EADS), according to an agreement to be signed today in Madrid, CASA said. The heads of government of Spain, France and Germany - Jose Maria Aznar, Lionel Jospin and Gerhard Schroeder, respectively - will be in Madrid for the occasion. Sepi, the stated-owned holding company that owns 99.28% of CASA, declined to comment. It would get 6.25% of EADS in exchange for its CASA shares.
The U.S. Air Force will reimburse Northrop Grumman $76 million plus interest for cost overruns in the Joint Surveillance Target Attack Radar System (Joint STARS) program, an AF spokesman confirmed yesterday. The company originally demanded compensation for more than $195 million spent refurbishing and modifying five used Boeing 707-300s to make Joint STARS aircraft. The work exceeded initial cost estimates primarily because of "disruption that occurred in the refurbishment process," the AF said in a written statement.
Boeing, St. Louis, Mo., was awarded a $342.2 million contract option to a contract to provide for fiscal year 2000 operation and maintenance support for the Aircrew Training System supporting the C-17 airlifter, the Pentagon said yesterday. The contract is for one year.
AIR 2000 LIMITED, a charter airline based at London's Gatwick Airport, has placed a $40 million order for CFM56-5B engines for four new Airbus Industrie A320-321 aircraft, CFM International said yesterday. The airline also signed an agreement to lease four additional A320/321s powered by CFM56-5Bs. CFM International said the eight purchased and leased aircraft are slated for delivery between late 2000 and 2002.
BELL BOEING V-22 Joint Program Office will get a new director at NAS Patuxent River, Md., in January. Mike Tkach of Boeing will replace John Buyers of Bell Helicopter Textron, Boeing said, noting that the leadership of the office rotates periodically between the two companies. It said Buyers, who has been JPO director at Patuxent River since May 1997, will return to Bell in Texas for his next assignment as V-22 program director there. Tkach was vice president of F/A-18 Hornet International Programs for Boeing's Military Aircraft and Missile Systems Group in St. Louis.
GENERAL DYNAMICS said that James E. Turner, Jr., 65, will retire as president and chief operating officer on Jan. 15, 2000. Turner was elected to the post in June 1997 and has also been leading the company's Marine Systems Group since October 1995. GD said that it expects to name a leader of the Marine Systems Group in January 2000, but that it does not expect to name a president. This, it said, is in accordance with a realignment of senior management responsibilities for the company's four business groups announced in September.
The new Director of Security and Emergency Operations for the Dept. of Energy, Gen. Eugene Habiger (USAF-ret.), said he is under-staffed and under-equipped. The former chief of U.S. Strategic Command told reporters in Washington yesterday that he asked for a budget of $65 million from Congress, but got only $10 million.
The European Commission yesterday authorized the merger between AlliedSignal and Honeywell. Upon the announcement, the companies moved to complete the merger after the close of trading on the New York Stock Exchange, and launch the new company under the Honeywell name. The new company's stock will begin trading on the New York Stock Exchange on Dec. 2 under the symbol HON.
Spacehab Inc. has scheduled a series of privately sponsored student experiments as its first commercial payload aboard the International Space Station, continuing a program started this summer aboard the U.S. Space Shuttle that the company hopes will be a profitable adjunct to its main businesses.
The third quarter didn't bring a lot of good news for aerospace and defense prime contractors, particularly Lockheed Martin and Raytheon, but second tier companies fared well, especially while facing a slowdown in production of products for the commercial sector, industry analysts said. "For Lockheed Martin and Raytheon there's only one way to go," said Richard Aboulafia, aerospace analyst for The Teal Group of Fairfax, Va. "They're at the bottom of a huge, dark hole. But Boeing is making a nice recovery, and Northrop Grumman is doing well."
GenCorp Aerojet will design and build a propulsion system and provide other support services for NASA's Mars Micromission project, working as a teammate with Ball Aerospace. The Jet Propulsion Laboratory picked Ball to negotiate a contract to build the low-cost Mars probes, with Aerojet as a teammate. Aerojet and Ball did not submit competing bids, as incorrectly reported in The DAILY Nov. 30, but cooperated on a joint proposal.
Pratt&Whitney said its Military Engines unit, which specializes in large powerplants for the U.S. government, has formed a small engine business for the same market. The new unit, called Small Military Engines, or SME, will provide R&D, manufacturing and after-market support to the U.S. military for small turbine engines, the company said yesterday.
Rockwell Collins has won a $113.4 million U.S. Air Force contract to continue a program to retrofit KC-135 tanker aircraft. The award, Rockwell said yesterday, marks its fifth production option under the KC-135 Pacer CRAG (Compass, Radar and Global Positioning System) contract, bringing the total shipset quantity to 505. Deliveries under the program - which provides and open system architecture with growth to future Global Air Traffic Management (GATM) initiatives - are slated to begin in April 2000.
Evans&Sutherland Computer Corp., Salt Lake City, Utah, said it has won a $1.5 million contract from Thomson-CSF Pacific to supply a computer image generator for an Australian AP-3C Orion simulator.
Lockheed Martin signed an agreement to sell a subsidiary, Lockheed Martin Hanford Corp., a U.S. Dept. of Energy environmental management prime contractor. C2HM HILL, the prospective buyer, specializes in environmental technology. Lockheed Martin said the deal is the first in a series of possible divestitures intended to sharpen its focus on core businesses. Details of the transaction weren't disclosed, but Lockheed Martin said that the Dept.
Finalization this week of the merger of British Aerospace and Marconi Electronic Systems into BAE Systems has created a new U.K. group claimed to be the second largest defense contractor and - with the new European Aeronautical Defense and Space company, or EADS - the joint third largest aerospace and defense company in the world.
