Space Shuttle managers yesterday decided to slip the upcoming launch of the Shuttle Discovery three days to Dec. 9 to give ground crews more time to complete "minor" repairs to a cable linking the orbiter and its external tank. The decision was delayed over the weekend as crews worked to seal leaks on the orbiter's No. 3 main engine, which was replaced just before Discovery was rolled to the launch pad. A spokesperson at Kennedy Space Center said retesting yesterday morning demonstrated the engine leaks had been fixed.
BOEING yesterday delivered to the U.S. Air Force the first six Conventional Air Launched Cruise Missiles (CALCMs) produced at its plant in St. Charles, Mo. The company is converting 322 nuclear Air Launched Cruise Missiles (ALCMs) to the non-nuclear CALCM AGM-86C Block 1 and Block 1A configurations. The last of the 322 CALCMs will be delivered in mid-2001. The conversions are being made in St. Charles alongside production of the Navy's Harpoon and SLAM ER missiles and the multi-service JDAM precision weapon.
ECC International Corp., Orlando, Fla., is being awarded a $486,000,000 indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract, F33657-00-D-2040. The contractor will participate in a program to design, develop, test, produce, modify, upgrade, deliver and sustain complex aircrew, maintenance and system specific training systems through June 2006. This effort will include training devices, courseware, student training, software, hardware, visual/sensor systems and databases, and contractor logistics support. The program includes four other companies already awarded contracts.
Electric Boat, Groton, Conn., is being awarded a $44,450,435 modification to previously awarded contract N00024-99-C-2900 to provide consolidated design agent services, planning, engineering and technical support for nuclear submarines. Work will be performed in Groton, Conn. (60%); Bangor, Wash. (13%); Kings Bay, Ga. (11%); Quonset, R.I. (6%); Newport, (5%); and Arlington, Va. (5%), and is expected to be completed by September 2000. Contract funds will expire at the end of the current fiscal year.
Saab and British Aerospace have responded to requests for information on the JAS 39 Gripen from the Czech Republic and Poland, prior to issuance by the countries next year of formal requests for proposals for new combat aircraft.
McDonnell Douglas Corp., St. Louis, Mo., is being awarded a $59,889,683 modification to previously awarded contract N00019-97-C-0009 to exercise an option for the fabrication, integration, and test phase of six advanced targeting forward looking infrared engineering development models for the F/A-18C/D/E/F aircraft. Work will be performed in El Segundo, Calif. (65%); and St. Louis, Mo. (35%), and is expected to be completed by May 2002. Contract funds will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year.
McDonnell Douglas Corp., Long Beach, Calif., is being awarded a $326,137,822 modification to a cost-plus-award-fee contract, F33657-97-C-0008-P00078, to provide for the FY2000 flexible sustainment including investment spares, engine handling equipment repair material, and Air Mobility Command propulsion contractor logistics support for the C-17 aircraft. Expected contract completion date is Sept. 30, 2000. Aeronautical Systems Center, Wright-Patterson AFB, Ohio, is the contracting activity.
The National Transportation Safety Board, saying it has learned that the FAA is considering allowing new high-speed, low-level operations by passenger jets, is recommending that FAA take action to reduce the hazards posed by bird strikes before permitting such operations.
Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition Jaques Gansler has signed off on a Joint Requirements Oversight Council (JROC) recommendation naming the U.S. Army as the lead service for national missile defense (NMD). "I support the JROC decision to assign the Army as the user representative for the land-based NMD system," Gansler said in a Nov. 15 memo to the service secretaries.
The end is near, according to David Almond, Y2K program manager for AlliedSignal Aerospace. Almond isn't preaching that midnight Dec. 31 signals the end of the world, but he is telling companies that even if they haven't done any planning for the Year 2000 date logic problem, it's not too late.
MICHAEL GRAFF, president and COO of Bombardier Aerospace, will speak to the Aero Club of Washington today, Nov. 23, at the Capital Hilton hotel at noon. His topic will be the future of regional and business aviation. Please call 703/327-7082 for reservations.
The omnibus spending bill passed by the Senate late Friday included House-passed legislation directing the U.S. State Dept. to streamline approvals of satellite exports to friendly nations. The legislation, introduced last summer by Rep. Dana Rohrabacher (R-Calif.), orders the secretary of state to give "expedited processing" to satellite-related exports going to NATO and "major non-NATO allies" as defined by law.
International Space Station controllers resumed cycling the batteries aboard the Russian-built Zarya control module Sunday after tests demonstrated a problem encountered last week with one of the batteries apparently was confined to that unit.
AlliedSignal said yesterday that the Hart-Scott-Rodino waiting period has expired with no request for additional information from the government on its offer to acquire TriStar Aerospace. The two companies said the conditions related to the tender offer have been satisfied and that they expect to complete the acquisition next month.
Lockheed Martin Corp., Fort Worth, Texas, is being awarded a $65,367,959 option to a firm-fixed-price contract, F33657-98-C-0035-P00004, to provide for 50 Common Configuration Implementation Program retrofit kits for the F-16C (40 kits) and F-16D (10 kits) aircraft. These kits will modify the aircraft's avionics, mission computers, and cockpit functions so that those parts of the aircraft share a common configuration. Expected contract completion date is March 30, 2003. Aeronautical Systems Center, Wright-Patterson AFB, Ohio, is the contracting activity.
China's leaders yesterday signaled they are developing technology that could be used to counter a U.S. National Missile Defense, using a state-run newspaper to make the connection between Saturday's successful test of a Soyuz-based human space capsule and maneuvering reentry vehicles for nuclear warheads.
CPU Technology, Inc., Pleasanton, Calif., is being awarded a $45,000,000 indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity, firm-fixed-price contract for the study, development and fabrication of prototype replacement computer processors under the compatible processor upgrade program (CPUP). The mission of CPUP is to provide a solution for computer processor obsolescence which is found across many of the Navy's weapons system hardware platforms. Work will be performed in Pleasanton, Calif, and is expected to be completed by September 2005.
The Franco-Russian Starsem venture launched four more Globalstar low-Earth orbit satellites from this sprawling Soviet-era launch site yesterday, completing the 48-satellite operational constellation of the Loral-led "Big LEO" network. Liftoff came at 9:20 p.m. local time (11:20 a.m. EST), with the venerable Soyuz rocket heading into slightly overcast skies to the northeast from the same pad used for the first Sputnik launch and Cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin's historic first human spaceflight.
Lockheed Martin Air Traffic Management said it has completed installation at 20 FAA facilities of the Display System Replacement, a new air traffic control computer system. The Indianapolis Air Route Traffic Control Center, the final site to receive the system, completed the acceptance milestone on Nov. 9, more than seven weeks ahead of schedule. All 20 ARTCCs have accepted the new DSR at least 30 days before deadline, Lockheed Martin said.
Aerojet said it has received the highest possible rating from the U.S. Air Force for "excellent" performance on the ground-based Central Theater Processing Program (CTPP) for the period April-September, 1999. The company provides ground systems and data processing expertise for CTPP, which analyzes missile-tracking data from the Defense Support Program and future satellite sensor systems, then delivers real-time warning and cueing.
A-12 COST CONCERNS: The U.S. Navy's ongoing fight with contractors over the cancelled A-12 aircraft program could hurt other budget areas, says a top Navy official. "We need to settle it," says Vice Adm. Conrad Lautenbacher, deputy chief of naval operations for warfare requirements and resources. Launtenbacher says he's "always concerned when things take away from Navy resources," adding that the Navy "will need some relief or funding mechanisms to maker sure we don't suffer" if the service is forced to pay for the A-12.
NO MERGERS: Don't look for Germany's DaimlerChrysler Aerospace to merge with a U.S. defense firm anytime soon. Manfred Bischoff, the DASA management board member responsible for aerospace and industrial non-automotive business, tells a Frankfurt audience mergers won't be possible as long as the U.S. market is closed to European weapons and other defense products. "The most important conditions for that are still missing, namely a transatlantic defense market," Bischoff stated.
Atlas Air hosted a conference last week in Denver to allow major freight carriers to provide input into the design for the freighter version of the Airbus' proposed A3XX. More than 30 industry leaders including Air France, Lufthansa and Cargolux attended the meeting of the "Freight and Combi Working Group. Atlas Chairman Michael Chowdry said it is "critical that cargo carriers stay one step ahead of the market and anticipate future trends."
THE TRUTH IS OUT THERE: Tom Burbage, president of Lockheed Martin Aeronautical Systems, answers e-mail questions from people who write to him through the company's Web page, and says he tries to answer all the questions he gets. Sometimes, however, he finds his answers posted in their entirety on Internet chatrooms.
AEROSPIKE TESTING: NASA's Stennis Space Center is quietly pushing the envelope on the linear aerospike engine developed for the X-33 prototype reusable launch vehicle, even as engineers gather at Marshall Space Flight Center to figure out what is wrong with the tank that will carry the engine's fuel. A 10-second hot-fire test last Thursday went well, and a longer-duration test is planned as early as this week.
