Taiwan's first laboratory designed to read and interpret information in flight data and cockpit voice recorders is nearing completion and will be inaugurated before the end of July, according to an official of the cabinet-level Flight Safety Commission (FSA). One of the first projects undertaken by the FSA, following its formation in May 1998, was a program to set up the lab. With assistance of experts from Australia, Canada and the U.S., the facility is now ready for final checks, the official said.
Thomson Training and Simulation of France, a subsidiary of Thomson-CSF, has secured flight simulator deals with Gulf Air and China Eastern Airlines. The contract with Gulf Air calls for modification of its Airbus Full Flight Simulator to allow it to be converted to an A330-200, paving the way for the airline to maximize it for training. The contract includes installation of Crew Resource Management Systems on the airline's A320, B767 and A340/A330 simulators.
The U.S. Navy and the Pentagon's Ballistic Missile Defense Organization face potentially larger cost woes and schedule slips in the Navy Area Wide theater missile defense (TMD) program if Congress doesn't restore some proposed funding cuts, officials say. In particular, cuts in the Navy's budget for the Standard Missile II Block IVA program could delay fielding of the missiles and set back the program.
ALAIN BENSOUSSAN, president of France's Centre National d'Etudes Spatiales (CNES), was elected to a two-year term as chairman of the European Space Agency Council, beginning July 1. He will take over the chair of ESA's guiding body from Norway's Hugo Parr.
U.S. Army AH-64A Apache pilots, dispatched to Albania for Operation Allied Force, lacked the flight experience and necessary equipment to fight in Kosovo, according to Brig. Gen. Richard A. Cody, assistant division commander of the 4th Infantry Division at Ft. Hood, Tex.
Russia's plans to deorbit the old Mir space station next winter shouldn't interfere with NASA's plans to assemble the new International Space Station, unless problems arise on both jobs that require "contingency" Russian crews to fly to Mir and ISS in Soyuz capsules, according to the head of NASA's International Station effort.
A 16-ton solid-fuel second stage for Europe's proposed Vega small satellite launch vehicle has been fired for a second time in a test the European Space Agency described as successful. The four-meter-long stage was test fired June 17 at the Salto di Quirra launch range in Sardinia. The stage was also tested on June 18, 1998.
Bonds for spaceports would get the same tax treatment as bonds for airports and seaports under a new bill introduced in Congress. The Spaceport Investment Act (H.R. 2289), introduced by Rep. Dave Weldon (R-Fla.), would amend section 142 of the Internal Revenue code to enable spaceports to sell bonds exempt from federal taxes. Edward Ellegood, Director of policy and programs at the Spaceport Florida Authority, told Spacebusiness TODAY that "we currently don't have a tax-exempt status, which airports and seaports currently enjoy."
From Commerce Business Daily: Posted in CBDNet on June 22, 1999; Printed Issue Date: June 25, 1999 ... PART: U.S. GOVERNMENT PROCUREMENTS SUBPART: SERVICES; CLASSCOD: A-Research and Development; OFFADD: United States Air Force, Air Force Materiel Command, AFRL - Phillips Research Site, 2251 Maxwell Ave, Kirtland AFB, NM, 87177 ... SOL 99-DE02; DUE 072699; POC Sanae Yata, Contracting Officer, Phone 505/846-5119, Fax 505 843 3398, Email [email protected]
Northrop Grumman Corp., Melbourne, Fla., is being awarded a $7,938,695 modification to fixed-price-incentive contract F19628-97-C-0001-P00015 to provide for modification of Joint Surveillance Target Attack Radar System (Joint STARS) aircraft P11 to incorporate commercial technology upgrades as part of the Joint STARS Computer Replacement Program. Expected contract completion date is Aug. 31, 2001. Solicitation issue date was Dec. 31, 1996. Negotiation completion date was June 3, 1999. Electronic Systems Center, Hanscom AFB, Mass., is the contracting activity.
Rotary Rocket Co. has successfully completed a tie-down test firing of its Roton Atmospheric Test Vehicle (ATV) and is within days of a first flight, according to CEO Gary Hudson. The Redwood City, Calif., company, however, is facing difficult financial times and recently laid off nearly half its staff. Financing is extremely difficult, Hudson told Spacebusiness TODAY, noting that all of the entrepreneurial launch companies are struggling.
Northrop Grumman Corp., Electronic Sensors and Systems Sector, Defensive Systems Division, Rolling Meadows, Ill., is being awarded a $20,799,997 firm-fixed-price contract for the procurement of 14 consolidated, automated support system electro-optics full-rate production units and associated support. Work will be performed in Rolling Meadows, Ill., and is expected to be completed by December 2002. Contract funds will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. This contract was not competitively procured.
TRW, Inc., Redondo Beach, Calif., is being awarded a $6,427,382 cooperative agreement ($3,123,691 - government share; $3,123,691 - contractor share) to provide for the Flexible Space Vehicle Production Line program. This effort will develop new processes and affordability improvements to be utilized by Air Force and commercial space system manufacturing enterprises. This was a Broad Agency announcement. There were 22 proposals received. Expected contract completion date is Jan. 21, 2003. Solicitation issue date was May 18, 1998.
Northrop Grumman Corp., Electronic Sensors Co., Baltimore, Md., is being awarded a $4,500,000 increment as part of a $9,442,961 cost-plus-fixed-fee contract for the development of three-dimensional electronic packaging technology and demonstration of an accelerator module. Work will be performed in Baltimore, Md. (43.19%); Northboro, Mass. (29.61%); and Fayetteville, Ark. (27.20%), and is expected to be completed by June 24, 2001. Contract funds will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. This is a sole source contract.
Heico Corp. has acquired substantially all of the assets and certain liabilities of Turbine Kinetics Inc. and AeroKinetics, Inc. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed. Turbine Kinetics and AeroKinetics, based in Glastonbury, Conn., design and make jet engine replacement parts for sale directly to airlines, airmotives and FAA-approved repair stations. The companies' employees have agreed to remain following the acquisition, and the acquired companies will operate as a subsidiary of Heico's Flight Support Group.
Huck Fasteners, a subsidiary of Cordant Technologies Inc., will close its aerospace fastener plant at Lakewood, Calif., on Sept. 1 and move operations to its nearby Carson, Calif., plant, Huck reported. The move is expected to save about $6 million in pre-tax expenses per year; about 115 jobs will be cut.
Lockheed Martin Tactical Systems Co., Akron, Ohio, is being awarded a $2,000,000 increment as part of a $7,924,985 cost-plus-fixed-fee contract with an estimated not-to-exceed cumulative total of $9,664,148 if all options are exercised. The contractor shall design and develop a passive thermal Longwave Infrared Hyperspectral Sensor (LWIR HSS) system to support broad area detection and queuing of camouflaged military targets and other targets that are difficult to detect. The LWIR HSS design will be a 90-day research and development effort for a quantity of one.
Lockheed Corp., Lockheed Martin Tactical Defense Systems, St. Paul, Minn., is being awarded a $21,188,222 modification to previously awarded contract N00019-98-C-0013 to exercise the FY 99 low-rate initial production option to procure five P-3C block modification upgrade kits, and one pre-production P-3C block modification upgrade kit. Work will be performed in Eagan, Minn. (65%); Manassas, Va. (25%); and Greenville, S.C. (10%), and is expected to be completed by April 2002. Contract funds will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year.
The U.S. Air Force is ready to move forward with a second contract award next month in its Wind Corrected Munitions Dispenser (WCMD) program, following completion last week of the first successful supersonic release of the area attack weapon.
Upcoming space launches using the Pratt&Whitney RL10 engine may be delayed longer than expected in the wake of Boeing's finding that the "probable cause" of last month's Delta III launch failure was an explosion that shattered the combustion chamber in the upper stage's RL10. Boeing's failure investigation team is still searching for the root cause of what Russell Reck, investigation team chairman, termed "an explosive-type event" in the engine, and until that is found the engine probably will remain grounded, according to a P&W spokesman.
From Commerce Business Daily: Posted in CBDNet on June 22, 1999; Printed Issue Date: June 24, 1999; PART: U.S. GOVERNMENT PROCUREMENTS SUBPART: SERVICES; CLASSCOD: A-Research and Development; OFFADD: NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center, Code 219, Greenbelt, MD 20771 ... SOL RFP5-14203-257 POC Mary Petkoff, Contracting Officer, Phone (301)614-5587, Fax (301)614-5619,Email [email protected] - Julie A. Janus, Contract Specialist, Phone (301) 614-5615, Fax (301) 614-5619, Email [email protected]
Flight operations resumed Friday for 84 U.S. Marine Corps AV-8B Harriers powered by the Rolls-Royce F402-RR-408A engine. A team of experts concluded that two mishaps, which prompted a stand-down of the fleet on June 17, were not caused by the engine. The stand-down, ordered by Naval Air Systems Command, was a precautionary measure taken after two Harriers lost power in separate incidents earlier this month. The engine was thought to be the common link between the two crashes. Investigations are continuing.
The European Commission yesterday approved British Aerospace's $12.7 billion acquisition of GEC's Marconi Electronic Systems, with most of the business of both companies, which involves defense, escaping the EC's scrutiny. The U.K. government's instructions not to notify the EC of the military aspects of the deal, announced in January, were "acceptable in this case," said the spokesman for European Competition Minister Karl Van Miert.
