Airbus Industrie and Raytheon have signed an agreement to cooperate in development of the aerial refueling version of the Multi Role Tanker Transport (MRTT), to be based on the Airbus A310-300 aircraft, and to jointly pursue MRTT sales, Raytheon said yesterday. The effort follows the two companies' recently completed proposal to the Royal Australian Air Force to provide the Wedegetail airborne early warning and control system on the Airbus A310. The two have submitted a similar proposal to the government of Turkey.
NASA has undertaken its own in-depth analysis of the recent string of U.S. space launch failures to look for any previously undetected problems that might affect its ambitious program of research missions on expendable launch vehicles.
Boeing has named Vladimir Titov, a Mir cosmonaut and two-time crew member on the U.S. Space Shuttle, to be its director, space and communications, in Russia, working out of the company's Moscow office. In his new role Titov will be responsible for coordinating new business development in Russia, along with in-country administration, logistics and liaison with other business areas and local governments.
The National Reconnaissance Office needs more money in its fiscal year 2000 budget for space launches to ensure recommendations are implemented to avoid future failures, NRO Director Keith Hall told lawmakers yesterday. Additional costs to implement recommendations later in the year to improve launch performance will add to NRO's budget, as will slips in the Titan IV program due to mishaps that are increasing in cost, Hall told the House Intelligence Committee's panel on technical and tactical intelligence.
The German government is expected to award Bodenseewerk Geraetetechnik a contract to initiate technology development of the Armiger high-speed anti-radiation missile. BGT has been developing the concept for the Mach 3 missile for several years, and will begin testing hardware in a three-year program once it has the new contract in hand, said Rudolf Meller, BGT's director of business development. The dual-seeker missile is intended to have greater range and accuracy than the Raytheon HARM anti-radiation missile now used by the German air force.
SINGAPORE AIRCRAFT LEASING ENTERPRISE plans to order 23 more A320 family aircraft from Airbus, increasing its commitments to 39. Engine selection, SALE said, will be made later. The $920 million order consists of 20 A320s and three A321s.
Boeing expanded its Joint Strike Fighter industry team, adding 25 top international aerospace companies to the original complement of six. The new companies were added because of "their superior performance during the current Concept Demonstration phase of the program," Boeing said.
Switzerland's Crossair on Monday became the launch customer for two new jets in the growing Embraer family of regional planes, giving the Brazilian airframer a $4.9 billion, 200-aircraft order and striking a second blow in just days at Fairchild Dornier's push for its own line of larger regional jets. Last Thursday, Crossair chose Embraer over Fairchild Dornier for 81 regional jets in a deal worth up to $1.5 billion (DAILY, June 11).
Raytheon Systems Ltd. was chosen by the U.K. as the preferred bidder for the $1.3 billion Airborne Standoff Radar (ASTOR) program. The Ministry of Defense picked the U.K. subsidiary of Raytheon Co. over British-based units of Lockheed Martin and Northrop Grumman for the ASTOR contract, which is expected to be awarded later this year. All three competitors for the big program, for which a winner was to have been picked last year, promised an infusion of technology and jobs.
INTERNATIONAL LEASE FINANCE CORP. plans to order up to 100 next-generation 737s from Boeing. "This commitment for the next-generation 737 will bring to 390 the total [number] of 737 airplanes owned by ILFC," said the company's president, Steven Udvar-Hazy. "It also assures our strong order and delivery positions beyond 2001," he said.
New export controls on supercomputers and encryption systems could hinder technology advances rather than prevent potential U.S. enemies from acquiring dangerous capabilities, according to John J. Hamre, deputy secretary of defense. "I don't oppose the goal, which is to keep the bad guys from getting their hands on something that can hurt you," said Hamre, who spoke yesterday to a luncheon audience at the GovTechNet International Conference in Washington. "What we are talking about is legislating technology."
Pratt&Whitney is developing a new cryogenic upper-stage engine that is intended to double the thrust of its venerable RL10 in a package roughly the same size, the company announced at the Paris Air Show yesterday. Dubbed the RL50, the new engine is to deliver more than 50,000 lbst at the end of a four-year development cycle P&W described as "the first major rocket engine development fully funded by a private engine company" and the first new upper stage engine development program since the early 1960s. It is planned to be available in 2003.
TOM LUEDTKE, acting associate NASA administrator for procurement since August 1998, has been named to the post on a permanent basis, effective immediately, NASA announced Monday. As deputy associate administrator for procurement from February 1994 until he moved into the acting-associate slot, Luedtke drafted many of the new procurement initiatives now in use at NASA.
Lockheed Martin, working through its subsidiary Regulus LLC, has extended until midnight Aug. 31 its offer to buy as much as 49% of the common stock of Comsat Corp., matching a delay in Comsat's annual shareholder meeting where the tender will be considered. Lockheed Martin said yesterday the extended tender offer is for $45.50 per share of common stock, as in the original offer that was scheduled to expire July 2. All other terms of the original offer also remain the same, the company said.
From Commerce Business Daily: Posted in CBDNet on June 7, 1999. Printed Issue Date: June 10, 1999 ... PART: SPECIAL NOTICES; OFFADD: United States Air Force, Air Force Space Command, 50CONS (T-66), 66 Falcon Parkway, Ste 49, Schriever AFB, CO, 80912-6649 ...
Political realities may stall European defense industry consolidation before overcapacity can be shrunk in a meaningful way, corporate debt-watcher Moody's Investors Service warns. In a special comment Moody's staffers say will be published soon, Senior VP Tassos Philippakos says overcapacity "is the real problem facing the industry," adding that "we are concerned that the integration of different product lines is not doing enough" to solve the problem.
From Commerce Business Daily: Posted in CBDNet on June 11, 1999; PART: U.S. GOVERNMENT PROCUREMENTS; SUBPART: SERVICES; CLASSCOD: A-Research and Development; OFFADD: NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center, NASA Headquarters Acquisition Branch, Code 210.H, Greenbelt, MD 20771 ... SOL NRA-99-OES-02; DUE 083099; POC Dr. Nahid Khazenie, Education Program Manager, Phone (202)358-4708, Fax (202)358-2770, Email [email protected]
TRW, Inc., Redondo Beach, Calif., is being awarded a $7,877,898 modification to firm-fixed-price contract SD1O84-92/C-0002, P00059, to provide for development of an uncooled resonator in support of the Space Based Laser program. The resonator focuses and directs a laser beam. An uncooled resonator offers the possibilities of reduced complexity, weight, fabrication time, and cost. Expected contract completion date is December 1999. Contract funds will not expire a the end of the current fiscal year. At this time, $4,681,000 of the contract funds have been obligated.
Lockheed Martin Integrated Systems, Syracuse, N.Y., is being awarded a $7,969,076 modification to previously awarded contract N00024-96-C-6322 for development of the AN/WLD-1(V)1 remote minehunting system (RMS). The RMS consists of a high-endurance, remotely controlled, off-board, low-observable, semi-submersible vehicle that will be used for mine reconnaissance. Work will be performed in Syracuse, N.Y. (70%), and Riviera Beach, Fla. (30%), and is expected to be completed by December 1999. Contract funds will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year.
The flight-weight laser module developed for the U.S. Air Force's Airborne Laser (ABL) program exceeded its peak power requirement in a test last Thursday by between 30% and 40% of what's required to shoot down a target missile, a senior Air Force official reported.
From Commerce Business Daily: Posted in CBDNet on June 4, 1999, Printed Issue Date: June 8, 1999 ... PART: U.S. GOVERNMENT PROCUREMENTS; SUBPART: SERVICES; CLASSCOD: A-Research and Development; OFFADD: National Institute of Standards&Technology, Acquisition&Assistance Div.,100 Bureau Drive Stop 3572, Bldg. 301, Rm B117, Gaithersburg, MD 20899-3572 ... SOL 53SBTK960101; DUE 063099; POC Contracting Officer: Patrick Staines, 301-975-6335; Fax No. 301-963-7732
Analytical Services (ANSER) Inc., Arlington, Va.; Science Applications International Corp (SAIC)., San Diego, Calif.; and TASC Inc., Reading, Mass., are being awarded a $54,000,000 indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract to provide professional support services through May 2004 in support of the Air Force Technical Applications Center, its supporting commands, and other organizations involved with the U.S. Atomic Energy Detection System, treaty monitoring, counterproliferation, and arms control.
TASC, Inc., Reading, Mass.; ARINC Inc., Annapolis, Md.; and Command Technologies, Inc., Warrenton, Va., are being awarded a $93,000,000 indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract to provide engineering and technical services through May 2004 in support of the Air Force Technical Applications Center, its supporting commands, and other organizations involved with the U.S. Atomic Energy Detection System, treaty monitoring, counterproliferation, and arms control. Funds will be obligated as individual delivery orders are issued up to the maximum amount indicated above.
NASA has slipped a total of three satellite launches in the coming months while it works with Pratt&Whitney and Lockheed Martin to determine why the engines in the Centaur upper stage suddenly stopped last month during a communications satellite launch aboard a Boeing Delta III.
