Orbital Sciences Corp. posted a preliminary third-quarter loss of $32,647,000 loss, which could change as it revises previously published financial data that has been questioned by its auditors. The Dulles, Va.-based commercial space company cited start-up losses in its satellite services businesses and a one-time non-cash special charge of $19,774,000 on its investment in Constellation Communications Inc. "in response to bankruptcy filings of two of its competitors and continuing difficult financial markets."
RAYTHEON CO. said it has won a U.S. Army contract with a potential value of $414 million to provide life cycle contractor support for tactical engagement, instrumentation and range training devices and systems for the Live Training Program. The eight-year award, from the U.S. Army Simulation and Training Command (STRICOM), calls for Raytheon to provide operation and maintenance, logistics and engineering and software support of instrumentation, scoring systems and other equipment.
NOT OVER TIL IT'S OVER: Congress still plans to adjourn at the end of this week. Last week, lawmakers passed another continuing resolution to keep the government going until Wednesday, Nov. 10, but some Hill aides say there's a lot to do and it won't be over until it's over. President Clinton vetoed the Labor and HHS appropriations bill as expected last week because it contained a 1% across-the-board cut in all federal agency appropriations for fiscal year 2000.
Workers at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center will build scaffolding around the X-33 liquid hydrogen tank that failed last week to get a closer look at the damage before deciding how to proceed with its repair, a spokesman for the center said Friday.
Companies looking to profit in the commercial remote sensing market must find new ways to sell to their products and services to a new audience, industry executives and observers said.
Astrotech Space Operations Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Spacehab Inc., plans to enlarge its Titusville, Fla., site with the addition of a new satellite preparation facility to accommodate new support contracts with Boeing and Lockheed Martin. Spacehab said last week the new facility will be sized to support Boeing's Delta IV and Lockheed Martin's Atlas V entrants in the U.S. Air Force Evolved Expendable Launch Vehicle (EELV) program. The company won separate contracts to support satellite launches for both companies.
INTELSAT 'LIFELINE': Intelsat customers with no other telecommunications link to the outside world probably will be offered 12-year service guarantees if the intergovernmental organization (IGO) goes private. Intelsat's Board has proposed that solution to the special working group studying ways to keep "lifeline" customers connected as part of a larger examination of taking the big satellite operator private (DAILY, Nov. 2, 5).
SATELLITE LEGISLATION: A number of satellite telecommunications legislation roadblocks are expected to be resolved before Congress leaves town. Expected to wrap up this week is one conference debate on a bill that might include a loan guarantee to finance development of satellites that could be used to provide television programming to rural areas. Congress, meanwhile, still must put finishing touches on legislation to privatize Intelsat, which is tied to Lockheed Martin's planned acquisition of Comsat.
MORE BILLS: The U.S. Air Force already has taken the red pen to its fiscal year 2001 budget estimate submission (BES), but may have to go back to the drawing board again. The BES recently given to the Office of the Secretary of Defense took money from a number of programs, including $258 million from the Airborne Laser program. However, Air Force sources say there will be a new $418 million shortfall in outyear F-22 funding if the money isn't taken from other efforts.
Ontic Engineering and Manufacturing Inc., North Hollywood, Calif., announced a licensing agreement with the Acuator and Controls Div. of Eaton Corp.'s Aerospace Operations.
A privatized Intelsat would move rapidly into worldwide broadband services with an initial fleet of six Ka-band satellites, and would expand its wholesaler's role by using its existing and projected fleet of C- and Ku-band spacecraft to provide value-added services as well, the organization's chief said yesterday.
An upcoming test of the Patriot Advanced Capability-3 (PAC-3) missile defense system has been delayed because of another problem with Hera target's software.
A series of flight tests with one of FedEx's new MD-10s have proven that the Local Area Augmentation System (LAAS) will provide more than enough accuracy for Category III approach and landings, officials said yesterday. The tests, conducted at Memphis International Airport between Saturday and Wednesday, involved Honeywell, Raytheon, Collins, Boeing's space division, FedEx and the FAA. The FAA's Oklahoma City unit developed some LAAS profiles for the Memphis evaluations that were described as the first of their kind.
British Aerospace, set to complete its $12.7 billion acquisition of GEC's Marconi Electronic Systems on Nov. 30, yesterday announced what it said was "a strong programs-led organization" that would focus on the customer and deliver savings. The new organization, BAe said, reflects predicted growth in the defense business fields of systems, systems integration, service and service-related areas. It also "will create a single, seamless company philosophy through ownership of common processes by function leaders."
Gyrodyne Co. of America, St. James, N.Y., said it will sell its defunct aerospace division to Aviodyne, a California company. The sale, along with disposal of oil investments in September, will give Gyrodyne about $400,000.
The Bell Boeing MV-22 has begun operational evaluation by a U.S. Marine Corps and Air Force team. The evaluations, to be carried out at a variety of locations, will conclude next spring. If the evaluations are successful, the tilt-rotor aircraft will get the green light for full-rate production.
The next millennium holds the potential to be the "space millennium," NASA Administrator Dan Goldin said yesterday, but unless space companies learn to keep pace with their terrestrial counterparts in technology advancement, space won't be as prominent as the industry would like.
There is an urgent need to close gaps in technological capability between U.S., European and Canadian allies, a former top NATO official told the Senate Armed Services Committee yesterday. One area that needs instant attention in command, control, communications, computers and intelligence (C4I), said retired German Army Gen. Klaus Naumann, chairman of the NATO Military Committee during the Kosovo operation. There is a "technological gap in the field of C4I and the capability gap caused by the lack of investment in modern equipment," Naumann said.
The waiting period for Sphere Corp.'s acquisition of Cade Industries was terminated by the Federal Trade Commission Tuesday, United Technologies Corp. reported yesterday. Sphere is a wholly-owned subsidiary of UTC. UTC entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Cade, and Sphere began a tender offer to acquire outstanding Cade shares for $5.05, on Oct. 21. The purchase price will be $129 million in cash and assumed debt. The tender offer will expire at midnight EST on Friday, Nov. 19 unless extended.
Signal Technology Corp., Danvers, Mass., said its Keltec Operation at Fort Walton Beach, Fla., has received a $1.3 million contract for production quantities of power supplies for the AN/AAQ-24(V) Directed Infrared Countermeasures (DIRCM) system. The system is slated for use on U.S. Air Force C-130 and AC-130U gunships. STC said the business potential of the effort over the next five years could exceed $12 million.
AEGIS guided missile destroyer DDG-82 will be christened "Lassen" at a ceremony Nov. 6 at Litton Ingalls Shipbuilding yard in Pascagoula, Miss. In naming the ship, the U.S. Navy honors Cdr. Clyde Everett Lassen, USN (1942-1994), who earned the Congressional Medal of Honor for rescuing two downed aviators while commander of a search and rescue helicopter in Vietnam.
The starboard fuel tank for the NASA/Lockheed Martin X-33 reusable launch vehicle prototype apparently failed late Wednesday after it was filled with liquid hydrogen and subjected to some of the dynamic loads it will face in flight, NASA said yesterday. "Some damage to the tank was discovered," one agency spokesman said, and others echoed his words.
MicroCraft Inc. has delivered the first of three hypersonic test drones to NASA's Dryden Flight Research Center, Calif., where it will be prepared for a flight test off the Pacific Coast in May 2000. The 12-foot "Hyper-X" vehicle - one of three scheduled to be built and tested - is designed to demonstrate scramjet operation at Mach 7 and Mach 10. The X-43s will be boosted to hypersonic speeds aboard Orbital Sciences Pegasus solid-fuel rockets before separating for test flight.
BVR Systems Ltd. and Israel Aircraft Industries Ltd. won a contract from the Israel Air Force to supply EHUD rangeless ACMI systems through a one-year lease, the companies reported yesterday. The contract includes delivery of airborne instrumentation pods, which can be equipped with real-time datalink, and a ground debriefing station. Delivery of the systems must be within 45 days from contract award, which is expected within two weeks. BVR will act as the prime contractor, while the MLM Div. of IAI will act as subcontractor.
