The U.S. Navy's chief acquisition officer has given the Marine Corps permission to buy a third lot of Advanced Tactical Air Reconnaissance System (ATARS) for the service's F/A-18 Hornet fleet. The details of the deal are being worked out between the USMC and Lockheed Martin/Fairchild, which makes the internally mounted system. It was used for the first time during the NATO air campaign over Yugoslavia.
Lockheed Martin Astronautics has made a number of management changes in its launch vehicle business driven by the recommendations of an outside team called in to examine its operations in the wake of a string of launch failures over the past year, the company announced yesterday.
The U.S. Air Force will establish its first Aerospace Expeditionary Forces next month, on schedule and in their entirety, said AF Secretary F. Whitten Peters. There will be no holes in the plan until this winter, when the next two wings are established with fewer F-16s than they need.
PANAMSAT has appealed the FCC's approval of Lockheed Martin's purchase of up to 49% of Comsat, claiming that the deal will give Lockheed Martin de facto control of Comsat in violation of the Communications Act, the Communications Satellite Act and the FCC's own rules and policies, PanAmSat said yesterday. In approving the deal, "we believe the FCC disregarded key evidence...," James Cuminale, executive vice president and general counsel for PanAmSat, said in a statement.
The Bell Boeing V-22 Osprey heads into Operational Evaluation Oct. 1 about 99.99% ready for the test, which will determine whether the tiltrotor aircraft is ready to be introduced to the fleet, according to Marine Col. Nolan Schmidt, program manager. "The plane will pass with flying colors," predicted Schmidt, who said the Osprey has already demonstrated capabilities that surpass the requirements it will be judged against during the testing.
House and Senate conferees this afternoon will meet to hash out the differences in their fiscal year 2000 defense bill, including a deal to restore a massive House cut in procurement request for the U.S. Air Force's F-22 fighter program. Appropriators insist the final compromise on the F-22 has not yet been worked out, but seem confident the program won't die. A final bill could be wrapped up by the end of the week.
The U.K. Ministry of Defense asked six consortia to submit outline proposals to design, supply, manage, operate and fund the Future Strategic Tanker Aircraft (FSTA), set to replace the Royal Air Force's existing air tanker fleet, the MOD reported. The project could be worth 9 billion pounds over 20 years through the Private Finance Initiative (PFI).
Hamilton Sundstrand, created by the recent merger of Hamilton Standard and Sundstrand Corp., will cut about 1,500 employees by the end of 2000, the company reported yesterday. The cuts will be part of a restructuring program to lower costs and improve efficiencies "in light of current market downturns and to take advantage of operating redundancies."
SIKORSKY AIRCRAFT CORP. has won a $5.46 million contract from the U.S. Marine Corps to build two Cypher II prototype unmanned aerial vehicles and ground control stations. The UAV, with a removable wing design, can hover like a helicopter or fly as a fixed-wing aircraft. It will be called Dragon Warrior.
BFGoodrich Co., Charlotte, N.C., lowered its 1999 earnings estimates due mainly to lower-than-anticipated results in the third quarter, plus initial dilution and increased interest costs associated with the Coltec merger, BFGoodrich reported yesterday.
Precision Castparts Corp., Portland, Ore., faces "continued softness in its major end markets, which will affect the company's second quarter results," including a larger than expected drop in aerospace sales in the PCC Structurals business, the company reported.
Wilbur Trafton, president of International Launch Services, is leaving the joint venture that markets launches on the Lockheed Martin Atlas and Russian Proton rockets to become president of the Boeing-led Sea Launch venture, which flies Ukrainian Zenit launch vehicles from an ocean-going platform.
Lockheed Martin on Saturday accepted for payment about 26 million shares of Comsat common stock tendered pursuant to its offer to purchase up to 49% of the outstanding shares of the company. Based on information provided by Comsat, that represents the maximum number for which it tendered. The price of $45.50 per share makes the deal worth $1.2 billion.
Henry McDonald, director of NASA's Ames Research Center, will head a government/industry team being set up to review Space Shuttle maintenance and refurbishment practices in the wake of damage to wiring that has grounded the Shuttle fleet for inspections and repairs.
Northrop Grumman Technical Services Inc., Herndon, Va., is exercising an option on a $49,888,010 fixed-price-incentive-firm contract, F41689-96-C-0500-P00073, to provide for FY2000 operation and maintenance support for the T-37, T-38, and T-1A aircraft. Expected contract completion date is Sept. 30, 2000. Air Education and Training Command, Randolph AFB, Texas, is the contracting activity.
Boeing Co. denied press reports that it plans to proceed with development within a couple of years of a larger version of the 747 to answer a challenge by Airbus' planned A3XX. "We are not about to launch a new version of the 747," a spokesman said. "We have designs on the shelf for different, larger versions of the existing 747 and when the market is ready for them, we will be ready to go. We anticipate that will happen some time in the future.
Raytheon Systems Company, Tucson, Ariz., is being awarded a $9,211,615 cost-reimbursable contract for the fabrication of Evolved SEASPARROW Missile Long Lead Material Phase #1 which includes the thrust vector control and warhead components. This contract is a Royal Australian Navy (83%) and Royal Danish Navy (17%) requirement, as both nations are participants in the NATO SEASPARROW Consortium. Funding obligated at contract award will be $6,690,000 for Australia and Denmark. Work will be performed in Adelaide, Austalia (68.5%); Schrobenhausen, Germany (14%); Tucson, Ariz.
Bell Helicopter Textron, Inc., Fort Worth, Texas, is being awarded a $5,269,446 modification to a previously awarded delivery order against an existing basic order agreement (N00019-96-G-0211) for the procurement of 102 retrofit kits, and associated weapons replacement assemblies and peculiar support equipment for tail rotor driveshaft system engineering change proposal for the UH/UH-1N helicopter. Work will be performed in Fort Worth, Texas, and is expected to be completed by June 2001. Contract funds will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year.
Dyncorp, Aerospace Technology, Fort Worth, Texas, is exercising an option to a $26,200,062 fixed-price-incentive contract, F41689-98-C0500-A00017, to provide for FY2000 aircraft maintenance support for the T-37, T-38, AT-38, and T-1A aircraft. Expected contract completion date is Sept. 30, 2000. The 14th Contracting Squadron, Columbus AFB, Mo., is the contracting activity.
Arianespace and the two big U.S. space launch providers are heading for a "price war" in the geostationary launch marketplace as the supply of launchers outstrips the number of payloads for them to carry, according to a top executive of the European launch consortium.
Flightlease, the aircraft leasing arm of Swissair's parent, SAir Group, and its U.S.-based venture partner, GATX Capital Corp., placed an order for 38 Airbus aircraft valued at $1.62 billion to "secure Swissair and its Qualiflyer Group partners key delivery positions" on Airbus production lines between now and 2006. The order includes 12 A318s, 10 A320s, 10 A321s and six A330-200s. Deliveries are to begin next year to GATX Flightlease, the joint-venture company.
TRW Tactical Systems, Systems&Information Technology, San Diego, Calif., is being awarded an increment as part of a $9,002,087 modification to contract DAAH01-99-C-0003, for deployed Hunter Unmanned Aerial Vehicle repairs and spare parts, in support of the mission in Kosovo. Work will be performed in Sierra Vista, Ariz. (60%); and in Macedonia (40%), and is expected to be completed by Dec. 31, 2000. Of the total contract funds, $8,850,406 will expire at the end of the current fiscal year. This is a sole source contract initiated on March 25, 1999. The U.S.
Computer Sciences Corp. signed a definitive agreement under which Nichols Research Corp. would merge into CSC in a $391 million deal that would boost CSC's position in several information technology fields, including defense and intelligence, the companies said yesterday.
