JIM ADAMSON, who has been chief operating officer of United Space Alliance since November 1995, is leaving the Shuttle operations prime contractor to become president of AlliedSignal Technical Services Corp. in Columbia, Md. He replaces Ivan Stern, who retired. A former U.S. Army officer and two-time Shuttle astronaut, Adamson has also held executive positions in Lockheed Martin Engineering and Science Services and its pre-merger Lockheed antecedents. AlliedSignal Technical Services handles telemetry data process and flight and ground operations for space missions.
Lockheed Martin Federal Systems, Owego, N.Y., is being awarded a letter contract with a ceiling amount of $54,000,000. This contract is for the procurement of six Spanish SH-60B Block I aircraft and for six each Spanish Block I and Armed Helo kits for existing Spanish SH-60B aircraft for the government of Spain under the Foreign Military Sales Program. Work will be performed in Owego, N.Y., and is expected to be completed by November 2003. Contract funds will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. The contract was not competitively procured.
Rolls-Royce plc reached an agreement to buy Vickers plc for 576 million pounds ($933 million), creating what Rolls-Royce said would be a global leader in marine power systems. The deal also includes the assumption of about 125 million pounds of debt. The proposed deal "is consistent with the strategies Rolls-Royce is pursuing to establish leading positions in the growing aerospace, marine and energy markets," the company said. The marine activities of Rolls-Royce generated sales of 310 million pounds and operating profit of 32 million pounds in 1998.
Comsat Laboratories received a $30 million contract from Ericsson to develop and implement resource management and network control software for the Astrolink satellite system, a $3.6 billion venture to provide wireless broadband service for Internet users as well as corporate data transmissions.
Lockheed Martin is preparing for two space launches this week, with the delayed EchoStar 5 set to go on an Atlas IIAS Thursday from Cape Canaveral and the Ikonos commercial remote sensing platform still on track for a Friday launch from Vandenberg AFB, Calif., aboard an Athena II.
United Technologies Corp., West Palm Beach, Fla., is being awarded a $10,000,130 firm-fixed-price contract to provide for 7,508 Second Stage Vanes applicable to the F100-PW-220 engine on the F-15 and F-16 aircraft. There was one firm solicited and one proposal received. Expected contract completion date is Oct. 30, 2000 for the first 2300; Nov. 30, 2000 for the next 2300; Dec. 30, 2000 for the next 2300; and Jan. 30, 2001 for the last 608. Solicitation issue date was Aug. 10, 1999. Negotiation completion date was Sept. 7, 1999.
Raytheon E-Systems Company, Greenville, Texas, is exercising an option on a $43,600,000 firm-fixed-price contract, F09603-94-C-0850-P00092, to provide for FY2000 contractor logistics support for the Joint Surveillance Target Attack Radar System (Joint STARS) aircraft. Expected contract completion date is 208 days from contract award date. Solicitation issue date was June 30, 1999. Negotiation completion date was Sept. 13, 1999. Warner Robins Air Logistics Center, Robins AFB, Ga., is the contracting activity.
Lockheed Martin Federal Systems, Inc., is being awarded a $5,784,350 modification to a firm-fixed-price contract, F19628-95-C-0012-P00043, to provide for 31 digital multiplexer units, 15 monolithic memory units, and 11 circuit card assemblies in support of the CC-2E mainframe computer on the E-3 Airborne Warning and Control System (AWACS) aircraft. Expected contract completion date is June 29, 2001. Solicitation issue date was March 22, 1999. Negotiation completion date was Sept. 10, 1999. Electronic Systems Center, Hanscom AFB, Mass., is the contracting activity.
Wall Streeters high for years on a bullish defense outlook got two reality checks recently with lawmakers' moves to cut F-22 fighter funding and to find federal money to fund a Republican-sponsored tax cut. Now, contends investment house Merrill Lynch, a third issue is set to emerge that should temper expectations further - revised inflation estimates that could trim outyear spending plans.
The U.S. Intelligence Community (IC) expanded its scope and approach to considering possible ballistic missile threats when drafting the latest national intelligence estimate (NIE) provided to Congress this month, a senior CIA official told senators on Thursday.
Sikorsky Aircraft Corp., Stratford, Conn., is being awarded a $67,400,622 modification to contract DAAJ09-97-C-0005, for the conversion of five UH-60L aircraft to the Navy CH-60S aircraft. This effort also encompasses tooling, training, support management and technical publications in support of the aircraft. Work will be performed in Stratford, Conn., and is expected to be completed by Aug. 31, 2000. Contract funds will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. This is a sole source contract initiated on Oct. 6, 1998. The U.S.
RAD HARD: Gen. Lester Lyles, USAF Vice Chief of Staff, wants discussions with the U.S. satellite industry on how to harden commercial spacecraft against radiation and other hazards that could render them useless to the military in a conflict. Like other top brass, Lyles sees commercial space assets playing an ever-greater role in military space (DAILY, Sept. 17).
LESSON NO. 2: Another lesson from Kosovo is the need for the U.S. and its allies to improve computer security against hackers. The Kosovo operation triggered a "tremendous amount of hacking efforts," according to Richard Weiland, chair of the Government Electronics and Information Technology Association (GEIA) Ten-Year Forecast Committee. While most of the lessons learned on computer security are still classified, the hacking efforts showed that there are some weaknesses that need to be addressed, Weiland said.
Boeing Commercial Airplanes Group has realigned its Customer Services business unit and changed its name to Commercial Aviation Services. The unit's Boeing Airplane Services, which specializes in modification and engineering services, will combine with Airline Logistics Support, which offers a spare parts distribution system, the company said. The new, larger organization will use the Boeing Airplane Services name.
The total electronic content in the Research&Development, Procurement and Operations&Maintenance defense budget accounts will grow from $47.7 billion in fiscal 2000 to $48.7 billion in FY '09, the Government Electronics and Information Technology Association (GEIA) is forecasting. Procurement will grow from $22.6 billion to $24.9 billion, while O&M content will increase from $6.5 billion to $7.1 billion. R&D funding is expected to fall by about $1.8 billion over the period.
THE HOUSE THURSDAY voted unanimously to approve legislation authorizing federal aviation research programs for the next two years. The Civil Aviation Research and Development Act of 1999 authorizes $431.3 million over fiscal years 2000 and 2001, including a 3% increase next year over fiscal 1999. The legislation funds FAA aging aircraft research and development, including non-structural components.
ARNOLD R. WELCH has been promoted to vice president of Electro-Optical and Infrared Products for Northrop Grumman's Defensive Systems Div., Rolling Meadows, Ill., the company announced. Welch had been DSD director of EO/IR products.
TILTROTOR TRANSPORT: Bell Helicopter is pitching a Quad-Tiltrotor aircraft to replace the C-130. The plane would use the CV-22 propulsion system and cockpit avionics with a C-130-30 sized fuselage to carry 140,000 pounds in traditional flight at 280 knots. It could carry about 100,000 pounds at hover, with a range of 2,000 miles. Production could begin within a decade, if a demonstrator is flown by 2004.
The U.S. Army's new RAH-66 Comanche helicopter is a technical risk that will exceed its program budget of $4.4 billion by $150 million, the General Accounting Office reported last week. The congressional watchdog agency lambasted the Comanche program in a report prepared for Rep. Peter DeFazio (D-Ore.), saying the program "contains significant cost overruns, schedule delays and degraded performance."
JDAM INVENTORY GROWS: The Joint Direct Attack Munitions inventory is growing at a rapid rate and has put the U.S. in a better position than it was at the outset of Operation Allied Force in April, says U.S Air Force Secretary F. Whitten Peters. The munitions inventory is growing by 300 missiles a month, and a little more than 650 were used up during the air campaign. The weapon has been cleared for use on the B-1, B-2, F-15E and F-16 Block 40s and 50s.
BIGGER MAY NOT BE BETTER: One of the lessons of Kosovo may be the need for a small smart bomb, according to George Muellner, vice president and general manager of Boeing's Phantom Works. "Our precision weapons are so good we need smaller ones that do less collateral damage," he tells the DAILY.
The House, in a 375-45 vote, passed the fiscal year 2000 defense authorization conference report on Wednesday, leaving intact a controversial provision reorganizing the Dept. of Energy. The White House has threatened to veto the bill because of the DOE language. However, the House support of the conference bill yesterday indicates the GOP House leadership might have the two-thirds majority it would need to overturn a veto should that be the case. Some Hill aides said one option for President Clinton is to simply not sign the bill.
DODGED ONE: Those sighs of relief as Hurricane Floyd veered away from Kennedy Space Center extended far above NASA Administrator Daniel S. Goldin's pay grade. Both President Clinton and Vice President Gore were on the phone to Goldin as the storm's 155 mph winds approached KSC, where the bulk of the extant hardware for the International Space Station hardware lay vulnerable in a building designed to withstand at most 125 mph. Nearby the grounded Space Shuttle fleet was equally exposed, at a replacement cost calculated by the Senate Appropriations Committee at $12 billion.
CONFERENCE KICK OFF: Senate and House appropriations conferees are slated to start resolving the differences between their fiscal year 2000 defense spending bills on Wednesday. One of the biggest sticking issues is the House proposal to cut funds for the F-22, which the Pentagon says essentially kills the program. Senate Appropriations Committee Chairman Ted Stevens (R-Alaska) vows to get that money restored. Appropriations staff members started meetings on the detail in the bill last week.$end 435
