Rockwell Collins has won a U.S. Air Force award to make the service's fleet of Boeing KC-135 tankers compliant with the new Global Air Traffic Management (GATM) airspace standards.
MCI International Incorporated, 8200 Greensboro Drive, McLean, VA, is being awarded a firm-fixed price contract for a total life cycle cost of $8,848,130.00, for an estimated service life of thirty-six months. This contract award is for a DS-3 circuit from Sacramento, California, to Yongsan, Republic of Korea, in support of the Defense Information Systems Network (DISN) Asynchronous Transfer Mode (ATM) backbone network. This procurement was conducted under full and open competition.
MARK J. ALBRECHT has been named president of International Launch Services (ILS), the Russian/American joint venture company formed by Lockheed Martin, Khrunichev and Energia, Lockheed Martin said yesterday. Albrecht, who had been serving as vice president of business development for Lockheed Martin Space Systems unit since 1997, succeeds Wilbur C. Trafton, who resigned last month to take the helm of the Boeing-led Sea Launch venture, which flies Ukrainian Zenit launch vehicles from an ocean-going platform (DAILY, Sept. 22).
Liberty Media Group of Englewood, Colo., which holds interests in a range of communications businesses, signed a letter of intent to invest $425 million in Astrolink, a wireless broadband venture that is scheduled to become the first global, satellite-based broadband service provider in 2003, Liberty reported yesterday.
Boeing Co. said it has signed a letter of intent to sell most of the assets of its subsidiary Boeing Precision Gear Inc. (BPGI) to Derlan Industries Limited for an undisclosed sum. BPGI, of Beford Park, Ill., makes, assembles, tests, maintains and overhauls aerospace drive systems. The company is actively involved in the AH-64, CH-46 and CH-47 helicopter programs, and the F-22 fighter program. Derlan will operate the Bedford Park facility, which it has agreed to lease for a minimum of 10 years.
The U.S. Air Force awarded a two-year KC-135 Programmed Depot Maintenance (PDM) contract to Pemco Aeroplex, a subsidiary of Precision Standard, Inc., the company announced. The contract for the years 2000 and 2001 also includes drop-in maintenance, such as stripping, painting and structural repair, and is valued at more than $100 million, said Raymond Hauck, president of Pemco Aeroplex.
Veridian Engineering, Inc., Buffalo, N.Y., is being awarded a $15,663,543 time and materials indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract to provide engineering and technical support services for the F/A-18 program. The estimated level of effort for this contract is 336,150 labor hours. Work will be performed in Lexington Park, Md., and is expected to be completed by November 2000. Contract funds will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. This contract was competitively procured with 52 firms solicited and two offers received.
General Electric Co., Aircraft Engine Group, Lynn, Mass., is being awarded a $6,337,800 firm-fixed-price contract for afterburner flameholders. Work is expected to be completed by Sept. 30, 2002. Funds will not expire at the end of the fiscal year. The Defense Supply Center Richmond, Richmond, Va., is the contracting activity (F34601-97-D-0002-XHDX).
Raytheon Systems Company, Falls Church, Va., is being awarded a $40,000,000 indefinite-quantity contract for industrial supplies under the Prime Vendor program. Work is expected to be completed by Oct. 19, 2001. Funds will not expire at the end of the fiscal year. The Defense Supply Center Philadelphia, Philadelphia, Pa., is the contracting activity (SP0500-99-D-BP06).
Synetics Inc., Wakefield, Mass., was awarded a $30,915,276 cost-plus-fixed-fee, indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract for munition support including research, development, test and evaluation, and in-service engineering for a variety of sophisticated Navy weapon systems and components at the Naval Surface Warfare Center, Dahlgren Division. Work will be performed in Dahlgren, Va., and is expected to be completed by October 2004. Contract funds will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year.
A group of lawmakers have urged the White House to increase funding for defense research by at least 2% in the fiscal year 2001 defense budget. The bipartisan group of 76 House members and 20 senators sent President Clinton letters saying the projected levels of spending are insufficient for maintaining a strong technology base.
Major French aerospace manufacturers are taking a $200 million stake in Brazil's Embraer, outbidding out a joint venture of British Aerospace and Sweden's Saab. Dassault Aviation, Aerospatiale Matra, Thomson-CSF and Snecma said in a joint statement from Paris yesterday they plan to buy 20% of the Brazilian regional jet maker. Embraer has an orderbook valued at $7.5 billion. With options, its value $10.5 billion. Embraer sees the deal as a way of strengthening its military business.
Teams from Boeing Co. and the Society of Professional Engineering Employees in Aerospace (SPEEA) began face-to-face negotiations yesterday on new contract agreements, and Machinist Union members at Raytheon Co.'s missile unit in Tucson voted Sunday to reject a proposed new contract and go on strike.
A GROUP of prospective astronauts is meeting at NASA's Johnson Space Center, Houston, for interviews, orientation and medical evaluations, the agency said. The group of 20 is part of a total of 120 chosen from more than 3,000 applicants competing for a chance to be the next class of astronaut candidates. Those selected for the year 2000 class will be announced early next year and will report for duty next summer.
A contract to build a high-power communications satellite for Australia's communications industry and government has been awarded to Space Systems/Loral (SS/L) and Mitsubishi Electric Corp. (MELCO), Loral announced. The satellite, Optus C1, to be launched in 2002, is a third-generation system designed to provide enhanced capabilities and replace an existing satellite in the Optus communications constellation.
Technical and Management Services, Calverton, Md., is being awarded a $75,000,000 indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract, F09603-99-D-0382, to provide for technical order and systems services in support of Warner Robins Air Logistics Center, Robins AFB, Ga., for up to five years. This effort will include digital capture and/or conversion of technical orders, editorial changes and revisions, storage, retrieval, distribution, library services, and related administrative and technical support. Funds will be obligated as individual delivery orders are issued.
Raytheon Systems Company, El Segundo, Calif., is being awarded a $17,349,231 modification to previously awarded contract N00030-98-C-0009 for repair of TRIDENT II MK6 missile guidance system electronic assemblies, and to provide related hardware. Work will be performed in El Segundo, Calif., and is expected to be completed by December 2000. Contract funds in the amount of $9,240,384 will expire at the end of the current fiscal year. The Strategic Systems Programs, Washington, D.C., is the contracting activity.
Data Link Solutions, a limited liability company, Cedar Rapids, Iowa, is being awarded a $39,897,225 firm-fixed-price option exercise for the U.S. Air Force Multifunctional Information Distribution System - Fighter Data Link (MIDS-FDL) program. This option exercise is for the production of 162 active Air Force production terminals, 27 Air National Guard production terminals, and eleven MIDS-FDL production spares terminals and MIDS-FDL pilot production warranty.
Rolls-Royce said yesterday that it will take full control of the BMW Rolls-Royce joint venture, while BMW AG said it will increase its equity investment in Rolls-Royce. The "repositioning of [the] strategic relationship" between the British and German companies also called for cooperation in areas such as research and technology, purchasing and logistics.
Nav Canada revealed a $40 million plan to introduce new radar, computer and communications technology into the nation's air navigation system, and to build a new control tower. The projects include new radars in Yellowknife, Northwest Territories, and Kuujjuaq, Quebec; a new digital voice communications system for towers and flight service stations across the country; new and updated radar data processing hardware and software, and a new tower for Kelowna, B.C.
A triple-junction Spectrolab solar cell fitted with a solar concentrator has generated a conversion efficiency of 32.3%, promising a doubling of the power output available from terrestrial solar cell applications, the Sylmar, Calif.-based company reported.
U.S. military Class A aviation accidents, those that do more than $1 million worth of damage or destroy a plane, are down 25% for the past five years compared to the previous five-year rate, the Defense Dept. reported. "What's remarkable about this is that this rate covers both Operation Allied Force and, of course, all the flying that's been going on in the Gulf in both Northern Watch and Operation Southern Watch," Pentagon spokesman Kenneth Bacon noted in a DOD briefing Thursday.
EMBRAER ANNOUNCEMENT: Embraer today will announce selection of a strategic European partner, according to observers in Sao Paulo. Said to be in the running are a French group comprised of Dassault Aviation, Aerospatiale Matra, Thomson-CSF and Snecma, and an Anglo-Swedish group led by British Aerospace.
The F-22 contractor team at Lockheed Martin Aeronautical Systems in Marietta, Ga., completed engine runs on Raptor 4003, the company reported yesterday. The runs - which included generator checks and environmental control system (ECS) flow checks for both engines - took place on Oct. 6 and lasted for 45 minutes. The testing occurred about two weeks ahead of schedule.
