Israel Aircraft Industries' MLM Div. and BVR Systems (1998) Ltd. agreed to end all commercial disputes and litigation, the companies reported yesterday. Under the agreement, BVR and IAI\MLM will both market EHUD ACMI products in various territories. They will work together to maintain interoperability between their communication protocols in order to enable users of either of the systems to communicate with each other.
The U.S. Air Force is conducting a shoot-off of two warheads at Eglin AFB, Fla., for the new AGM-86D penetrator variant of the Conventional Air Launched Cruise Missile (CALCM). The tests, to gather performance and cost-benefit data, are comparing the Advanced Unitary Penetrator (AUP) 3M from Lockheed Martin and the Multiple Warhead System (MWS) from British Aerospace and Matra of France.
DeCrane Aircraft Holdings Inc., a maker of avionics components and cabin management products, and a systems integrator for the commercial and corporate aircraft industry, acquired Custom Woodwork&Plastics Inc. (CWP). Details of the cash transaction were not released. CWP, headquartered in Savannah, Ga., makes interior furniture components for corporate aircraft. One of its biggest customers is Gulfstream. CWP has furnished interior components for about 200 Gulfstream jets over a 12-year period.
Globalstar and its service provider in North America, Vodafone AirTouch Plc, are talking with the FBI about the technology that could be used to enable wire-tapping and how that technology would work between the U.S. and Canada. Spokesmen from both companies denied reports that a license that AirTouch needs from the Federal Communications Commission to offer Globalstar services in the U.S. is being held up by the FBI pending resolution of the wire-tapping issue. The AirTouch spokesman confirmed that AirTouch's U.S. license had not been granted.
The NATO agency responsible for the Medium Extended Air Defense System (MEADS) has rejected a Raytheon Co. protest that was filed after Lockheed Martin was selected as the U.S. participant in an international team to develop the system.
Raytheon Systems Co., El Segundo, Calif., is being awarded a $30,460,348 cost-plus-fixed-fee contract to design, fabricate, test and deliver a 2048-element low-band multifunction receiver system for integration into the advanced multifunction radio frequency (RF) system testbed. This multifunction system, for use on ships and aircraft, will provide greater combat effectiveness, improved platform survivability, and reduced acquisition and life-cycle costs through hardware commonality and sharing.
GULFSTREAM AEROSPACE'S Appleton, Wis., facility has won approval from the Federal Aviation Administration as a Designated Alteration Station, allowing it to grant FAA Supplemental Type Certificate (STC) approvals for engineering designs and installations to aircraft. This, Gulfstream said, greatly enhances ability to provide modifications and completions for Gulfstream planes, as well Challenger, Falcon, and Hawker aircraft.
A U.S. Air Force proposal to bar two plants of Howmet International's Cercast subsidiary from doing business with the government has been terminated, Howmet reported yesterday. The agreement permits the facilities - in Montreal and Bethlehem, Pa. - to resume accepting new U.S. government contracts and subcontracts. The Air Force moved prohibit Cercast from doing any business with the U.S. after Howmet discovered testing and non-compliance issues at Cercast last year (DAILY, March 5).
The U.S. Army and the U.K. Royal Air Force grounded their fleets of Boeing CH-47 Chinook helicopters late Friday, following discovery of cracked transmission gears in a RAF Chinook. The RAF CH-47D was being overhauled at a depot when workers discovered cracks in the gear that passes turbine engine power through the drive train from the combining transmission to the rotors. Failure of the gear could cause the rotor blades to come out of phase and mesh with each other or lock the transmission.
Raytheon Co., Goleta, Calif., is being awarded a $41,225,194 modification to a firm-fixed-price contract, F33657-96-C-0036-P00024, to provide for the following components applicable to the AN/ALE50(V) countermeasures system in support of the F-16 aircraft: 1,596 towed decoys; 39 spare launcher/controllers; 62 spare magazines; and 39 isolation racks. Expected contract completion date is Feb. 28, 2001. Solicitation issue date was July 6, 1999. Negotiation completion date was Aug. 4, 1999.
A congressional compromise is said to be in the works to take the edge off provisions in a bill giving sharply increased protection to frequencies used by the Pentagon at the expense of commercial satellite companies and civil agencies.
Raytheon Systems Co., Tucson, Ariz., is being awarded a $16,080,740 firm-fixed-price contract to provide for 65 AGM-65G Maverick missiles, 22 TGM-65G Maverick missiles, 10 Maverick guidance control sections, and one Guidance Missile Trainer. This effort supports foreign military sales to Canada, Bahrain, Italy and Turkey. There was one firm solicited and one proposal received. Expected contract completion date is 22 months after receipt of contract. Solicitation issue date was Aug. 8, 1997. Negotiation completion date was July 26, 1999.
DHL International's board has approved a $1.3 billion purchase of 40 to 45 aircraft for its Europe and Africa network, and the investment of more than $200 million for several global infrastructure improvements. DHL is evaluating which aircraft to chose and expects to make a decision within two months. The new planes will replace Boeing 727s.
The Lockheed Martin-led partnership set up to build the X-33-derived VentureStar reusable launch vehicle will begin hammering out the financial details of the $5 billion development program this fall, with ceramic/composite linear aerospike engines the principal technology challenge to be met.
Kellstrom Industries' Solair unit entered a service and supply agreement with Bedek Aviation Group's Component Div., Kellstrom said yesterday. Bedek is part of Israel Aircraft Industries, and the agreement names Kellstrom as IAI's sole source for the Component Div.'s inventory provisioning, management and purchasing of new and surplus aircraft rotables, expendables and piece parts. Kellstrom also will administer all repair services outsourced by IAI to its U.S.-based repair and overhaul vendors.
Lockheed Martin Missiles and Space, Sunnyvale, Calif., is being awarded a $10,722,434 modification to a fixed-price-incentive-fee contract, F04701-96-C-0023-P00046, to provide for Phase C of the effort to integrate Defense Meteorological Satellite Program spacecraft A3 and B6 onto the Evolved Expendable Launch Vehicle. Expected contract completion date is June 30, 2003. Space and Missile Systems Center, Los Angeles AFB, Calif., is the contracting activity.
From Commerce Business Daily: Posted in CBDNet on August 3, 1999; PART: SPECIAL NOTICES; OFFADD: Department of the Air Force, Air Force Space Command, 45CONS (Bldg 989), 1030 S. Highway A1A MS 1000, Patrick AFB, FL, 32925-3002 ...
Though the congressional defense authorization conferees support the Administration's fiscal 2000 request for the F-22 fighter program, they have included provisions in defense bill requiring the U.S. Air Force to certify the plane's operational effectiveness before it enters low rate initial production (LRIP). House and Senate authorization conferees wrapped up work on their FY 2000 defense bill before Congress left last week for a month-long recess.
The Aerospace Industries Association wants to expand the membership of its Supplier Management Council. AIA Chief John Douglass told reporters in Washington last week that in Europe, 95% of aerospace companies belong to associations, and with trade wars brewing between the U.S. and European Union, "we see a need to get small and medium companies organized." While smaller companies like to be independent, he said, "My prediction is that is going to change as order books reflect the global economy. ...
SPACEHAB INC. has bought an option from the Canadian Space Agency (CSA) to use one of the Canadian experiment lockers onboard the International Space Station for commercial purposes. Canada granted Spacehab the option in exchange for protein crystal growth services aboard an upcoming Space Shuttle mission, using equipment built by the University of Alabama/Birmingham that Spacehab flies in its pressurized Shuttle augmentation modules.
NASA'S CHANDRA advanced x-ray astrophysics facility (AXAF) reached its final orbit early Saturday, and ground controllers at the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory in Cambridge, Mass., turned to the task of setting the big x-ray telescope up for its science mission. The TRW-built spacecraft's Integral Propulsion System, which placed the Shuttle-launched spacecraft in a 5,999-by-86,487-mile orbit, was deactivated after the spacecraft was determined to be "right where it needs to be," in the words of Craig Staresinich, TRW program manager.
Raytheon Systems Co., Mukilteo, Wash., is being awarded a $15,229,054 firm-fixed-price contract for 111 Mk.48 ADCAP Mods torpedo kits including first article units, proofing support, turnaround kits, engineering services, provisioning item orders, and engineering change proposals as necessary. Work will be performed in Mukilteo, Wash., and is expected to be completed by February 2001. Contract funds will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. This contract was competitively procured with two proposals solicited and two offers received.
Boeing Co., St. Louis, Mo., is being awarded a $10,069,744 cost-plus-award-fee contract to provide for development of software for the Operational Flight Program, Suite 5, Phase I, in support of the F-15 aircraft. Expected contract completion date is Jan. 31, 2001. Solicitation issue date was Dec. 24, 1998. Negotiation completion date was July 14, 1999. Aeronautical Systems Center, Wright-Patterson AFB, Ohio, is the contracting activity (F33657-99-C-0013).
LOCKHEED MARTIN's Ocean, Radar&Sensor Systems unit, Syracuse, N.Y., is proceeding with work on a next-generation towed array sensor systems contract it received in December. A bid protest on procedural issues shortly after the award prompted the Navy to put the contract on hold. A compromise was presented to the Navy in April and details were worked out over the next several months, Lockheed Martin said. The company received word July 30 from the Navy that it could go ahead. The $31.7 million contract was awarded Dec. 18.
The congressional defense authorization conferees have given the Pentagon a green light to accelerate the engineering and manufacturing development phase of the Theater High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) program. If the secretary of defense "determines, after a second successful test of the interceptor missile of the THAAD system, that the THAAD program has achieved a sufficient level of technical maturity," it can proceed with EMD, according to the conference report of the fiscal year 2000 defense authorization bill.
