U.S. ARMY will spend $45 million to garner modeling and simulation expertise from the University of Southern California, Army Secretary Louis Caldera announced. The money will fund improvements in the realism and quality of training simulations, wargames and future weapons designs for soldiers.
The U.S. State Department has decided to continue the suspension of Loral Space&Communications' license to export and provide technical support for the SAT-8 satellite. According to a Loral spokesman, the satellite would be launched on a Chinese Long March rocket and would provide communications and meteorological data for an agency of the Chinese government.
Iridium LLC, in an Aug. 17 filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission, outlined its proposal for reorganization that, if accepted, would extend the dates of loans held by its banks from 2000 to 2001. The proposal would also modify covenants on sales and revenues requirements, and Motorola would defer payments due under its contract to operate the system.
JOINT VENTURE between Raytheon Co. and Spain's Indra Sistemas won a $23 million contract from the German air traffic control authority to develop and implement the Very Advanced Flight Data Processing Operational Requirements Implementation (VAFORIT) System, Raytheon reported. A team of Lockheed Martin and Airsys ATM also competed for the contract.
The Russian Air Force is conducting flight evaluations of a new laser designation pod, paralleling trials by the manufacturer, Ural Optical and Mechanical Plant (UOMZ) of Yekaterinburg. The as-yet-unnamed system was first shown earlier this year at the Paris Air Show in mockup form.
FAA tests of the feasibility of integrating a ground component into the Local Area Augmentation System that would give the navigation system an apparent extra GPS satellite were successful, an agency official said. The tests, conducted last weekend at the FAA's Technical Center in Atlantic City, N.J., studied the benefits of integrating a "pseudolite" into the LAAS. The component could allow aircraft to approach a runway and land under nearly all weather conditions.
Northrop Grumman delivered the fifth Joint Surveillance Target Attack Radar System (Joint STARS) aircraft to the U.S. Air Force Friday, two months ahead of schedule. Program officials in the Air Force boasted that Joint STARS Production Model-5 (P-5), the first aircraft to be delivered under the new baseline agreement signed last year, was completed ahead of schedule and stayed within budgetary restrictions.
PATRICK P. CARUANA, a retired U.S. Air Force lieutenant general, took over as head of TRW's Space-Based Infrared System (SBIRS) Low program, the company announced Tuesday. TRW and teammate Raytheon won a $275 million contract this week for a 38-month risk reduction effort. Caruana, former vice commander of AF Space Command, has been with TRW since November 1997.
NASA's Office of Life and Microgravity Science has awarded some $6.5 million in grants for research into "biology-inspired technology" that could be used in solar system exploration. Fourteen proposals were picked for the four-year program, part of a larger $12 million effort. The agency plans to issue a cooperative agreement notice to set up a "virtual center" that will pull together advanced biotechnology work and ensure that it is distributed among researchers in the field.
Boeing Co., the National Missile Defense (NMD) lead system integrator (LSI), passed a preliminary design review of the system in July, the company reported yesterday. The review determined that the architecture meets all requirements, Boeing said. "Additionally, the design is robust enough to meet or adapt to an increased level of potential threats and challenges," Boeing said.
Cubic Defense Systems Inc. won a four-year contract from the U.S. Air Force's Warner Robins Air Logistics Center for an indefinite quantity of its Personnel Locator System (PLS), which helps rescue operations by allowing localization and authentication of survivors. The first delivery order for 10 units for the Air National Guard was concurrently awarded under this contract. The Air National Guard holds options to buy to 28 units, which could bring the total value of the contract to $2.6 million.
Unmanned combat aerial vehicles (UCAVs) and their manned fighter counterparts may fly without oil, at cooler temperatures and with less fuel, thanks to advanced turbine engine work underway at the U.S. Air Force Research Laboratory Propulsion Directorate, Wright-Patterson AFB, Ohio. The Joint Expendable Turbine Engine Group at the lab is developing a suite of technologies for a 50-hour engine that may also be applicable to F-15 and F-16 engines, said Lance Chrisinger, who leads the group.
Pilots this month are beginning to flight test systems developed by Boeing, NASA and the U.S. Air Force to send a steady stream of updated weather data to the cockpit as part of a larger U.S. government effort to take a bite out of the billions of dollars lost and dozens of accidents blamed on weather.
The Cassini spacecraft, launched two years ago, swung by Earth Aug. 18 in slingshot maneuver that puts it on course to arrive at Saturn in 2004. The $1 billion spacecraft came within about 727 miles of Earth as planned at about 8:28 p.m. PDT, passing over the South Pacific. "Everything worked just perfectly and we're very happy," said Jean-Pierre Lebreton, the European Space Agency's project scientist for Cassini's Huygens probe, which will separate and parachute to the surface of Titan, one of Saturn's moons.
Raytheon has taken its dissatisfaction with the Medium Extended Air Defense System (MEADS) contract to a higher authority, and is doing so without the support of its international partners.
The U.S. Army postponed a test flight of the Patriot Advanced Capability-3 (PAC-3) missile yesterday after finding a problem with the Hera target's flight termination system, the U.S. Army and the Ballistic Missile Defense Organization said. The anomaly was detected during the pre-flight checkout at White Sands Missile Range, N.M., an Army spokeswoman said. Coleman Research of Orlando, Fla., which builds the Hera, has delivered a new part, and the test is slated for as early as Thursday, the spokeswoman said.
Tecstar Demo Systems Div., Moorpark, Calif., signed a multi-year contract extension through 2006 with Boeing to continue providing portable maintenance access terminals (PMAT) for the 777, Tecstar reported yesterday. The PMAT serves as a high-speed computer to provide workers access to the onboard maintenance system. Fault reports and bus traffic from over 80 avionics systems are accessible from the PMAT. It also loads operational programs and databases.
The Army Air Force Exchange Service (AAFES) has renewed its contract with Hughes Network Systems to provide very small aperture terminal satellite network management services for five years. AAFES uses the Hughes system for primary communication services and back-up systems throughout the U.S. for inventory control, credit card authorization and video broadcast training.
Boeing and its International Association of Machinists have entered a two-week stretch of contract negotiations in Seattle, and both sides say they are determined to come out with an agreement that members can ratify. The two sides remain at odds on job security, health care benefits, pension and Boeing's proposal for a non-traditional work week. Boeing wants to operate its work week seven days, 24 hours a day, which IAM members oppose because they say it would cut into their quality of life and eliminate overtime.
The European Commission extended the deadline for its review of AlliedSignal's acquisition of Honeywell until Aug. 30, AlliedSignal said yesterday. An AlliedSignal spokesman said the EC had called for an examination of some markets where the combined companies would have a strong position. He added that the reviews were on a "limited number of aerospace products," and said that AlliedSignal was working with the EC to resolve the issues. The U.S. Dept. of Justice also requested additional information from the companies (DAILY, July 28).
An omission in documents dating back to 1978 caused the April 9 failure of a Titan IVB rocket's Inertial Upper Stage, sending a Defense Support Program (DSP) satellite into a useless orbit following launch from Cape Canaveral Air Station, Fla., the U.S. Air Force Space Command said in its accident investigation report released yesterday.
NORTHROP GRUMMAN's Electronic Sensors and Systems Sector, Baltimore, said it has completed the critical design review of the FAA's Airport Surveillance Radar-Weather Systems Processor program. The contract was awarded in September 1998. Five limited production units will be produced during the design test and evaluation (DT&E) phase. The first is scheduled for delivery to the FAA's Technical Center at Atlantic City, N.J. in December 1999.
The U.S. Air Force has demonstrated a ground penetrating radar that can detect buried munitions below 40 feet and is attempting to transfer the technology to a U.S. Marine Corps acquisition program, according to Joe Jenus, program manager for the AF explosive hazards reduction office. The system shows promise for use from helicopters in design analysis, but has demonstrated accuracy from an altitude of only three feet, Jenus said in a telephone interview with The DAILY.
