AN INCORRECT PARAMETER loaded into attitude control software triggered the chain of events that caused a Centaur Upper Stage to leave the U.S. Air Force's latest $800 million Milstar communications satellite in a useless orbit, according to preliminary results of an Air Force investigation into the cause of the launch failure. The board reported Friday it had found the reaction control system on the Centaur upper stage began to fire excessively soon after separation from its Titan IVB first stage in the April 30 launch.
Boeing North American, Inc., Long Beach, Calif., was awarded on June 2, 1999, a $5,150,203 modification to cost-plus-award-fee contract F33657-96-C-2075-P00037 to provide for the Period Four (October 1998-March 1999) Earned Award Fee for performance of the Block E Conventional Mission Upgrade Program in support of the B-1B aircraft. Expected contract completion date is Aug. 1, 2002. Aeronautical Systems Center, Wright-Patterson AFB, Ohio, is the contracting activity.
United Technologies Corp., West Palm Beach, Fla., was awarded on May 28 a $26,097,265 firm-fixed-price contract F34601-98-G-0005-SABU to provide for 19,555 second-stage vanes for F100/200/220 engines applicable to the F-15 and F-16 aircraft. Expected contract completion date is 1,200 each month starting March 31, 2000, until completed for a total of 19,555. Solicitation issue date was April 1, 1999. Negotiation completion date was May 22, 1999. San Antonio Air Logistics Center, Kelly AFB, Texas, is the contracting activity.
FIRST NEW F-15E delivered to the U.S. Air Force since 1994 was turned over to the service yesterday by Boeing in a ceremony at the company's St. Louis plant. The plane, the first of 17 Strike eagles to be delivered through early 2000, will be assigned to the 57th Wing at Nellis AFB, Nev., Boeing said. The company delivered 209 F-15Es between 1987 and 1994.
France blocked Italy's efforts to gain funding for development of the Vega small satellite launcher at last month's European Space Agency ministerial meeting in Brussels because it sees no market for the vehicle, according to the head of the French space agency. Gerard Brachet, director general of the Centre National d'Etudes Spatiales (CNES), told reporters in Washington last Thursday France resisted the Vega development because the low-Earth orbit communications satellite replenishment market it targets has evaporated.
Lockheed Martin Corp., Lockheed Martin Information Systems, Orlando, Fla., is being awarded a $6,635,103 cost-plus-award-fee delivery order against an existing indefinite-quantity contract to establish a special operations forces coordination cell to coordinate configuration and logistics management functions, define and manage design criteria and data baselines, and manage conflicts and work with user and development agencies for the AC-130U aircrew training device test bed. Work will be performed in Orlando, Fla. (95%), and Hurlburt Field, Fla.
LOCKHEED MARTIN won a $138 million contract for 22 Army Tactical Missile Systems (ATACMS) Block II/Brilliant Anti-Armor Submunition (BAT) missile systems, two test missiles, two Tactical BATS and four Instrumented BATS.
Boeing Company, St. Louis, Mo., is being awarded a $11,956,004 firm-fixed-price order, against an existing basic ordering agreement, for the retrofit and tool kits to upgrade the avionics system of 40 F/A-18C/D aircraft. Work will be performed in St. Louis, Mo., and is expected to be completed by May 2001. Contract funds will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. This contract was not competitively procured. The Naval Air Systems Command, Patuxent River, Md., is the contracting activity (N00019-98-G-0035).
The U.S. Navy Vertical Take-Off and Landing (VTOL) Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) program plans to use its scarce developmental dollars to integrate technology rather than fine tune an air vehicle design. "Congressional expectation is that the technology is out there that can be assimilated into a UAV," said Steve Hogan, deputy program manager. "Therefore, in the near term, we should be able to fill that role."
A Hughes HS 601HP satellite for the DirecTV digital entertainment service will be the first commercial payload for the Boeing-led Sea Launch venture, now that the international partnership has demonstrated it can launch a Ukrainian/Russian Zenit rocket from a floating launch platform. Launch of the DirecTV 1-R satellite is set for "late summer of this year," Sea Launch and DirecTV said yesterday. The venture's Sea Launch Odyssey will be positioned on the Equator at 154 degrees West longitude for the launch, near Christmas Island.
From Commerce Business Daily: Posted in CBDNet on June 3, 1999; Printed Issue Date: June 7, 1999; PART: U.S. GOVERNMENT PROCUREMENTS; SUBPART: SERVICES; CLASSCOD: A-Research and Development-Potential Sources Sought; OFFADD: U.S. Department of Commerce/National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration/OFA/AGFS/AMD - OFA51, 1305 East West Highway - Station 7604, Silver Spring, Maryland 20910 ... SOL N/A; POC Edward F. Tennant, Jr., Contracting Officer, 301/713-0823
GTE Government Systems Corp., Communications Systems Division, Taunton, Mass., is being awarded a $10,084,856 modification to firm-fixed-price contract DAAB07-94-C-N853, to exercise options for common hardware/software items for Army Tactical Command and Control System computers and associated peripherals. Work will be performed in Taunton, Mass., and is expected to be completed by April 10, 2005. Of the total contract funds, $594,780 will expire at the end of the current fiscal year. There were 50 bids solicited on April 21, 1994, and three bids were received. The U.S.
AlliedSignal Inc. signed an agreement to pay $13.79 billion in stock for Honeywell Inc., the companies reported yesterday, and at least one analyst saw it as a deal that could set off a wave of mergers in the field of avionics and flight safety products. The transaction, which would eliminate about 4,500 jobs, would close in the fourth quarter and create a Fortune 50 company with revenues of $25 billion and a combined market capitalization of more than $45 billion.
Boeing Defense and Space Group, Helicopter Division, Philadelphia, Pa., is being awarded a $12,025,845 firm-fixed-price with cost-plus-fixed-fee line item contract for the purchase of one CH-47D Chinook helicopter for the U.S. Army Reserve. Work will be performed in Philadelphia, Pa., and is expected to be completed by Feb. 28, 2002. Contract funds will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. This is a sole source contract initiated on June 12, 1998. The U.S.
European Space Agency budgets are tight, with ESA last month receiving only two thirds of the monies it had anticipated just a few years ago. In their May 12 meeting in Brussels, the space ministers of the 14 ESA nations, passed resolutions giving the agency less than it requested and directing it to continue reorganizational efforts.
Strengths of a combined AlliedSignal and Honeywell business in the field of avionics products is broken out by the companies as follows, with "ALD" representing AlliedSignal and "HON" representing Honeywell: ALLIEDSIGNAL, HONEYWELL AVIONICS PRODUCT MIX AIR TRANSPORT BIZJET/REGIONAL MILITARY/SPACE BUYER FURNISHED EQUIP. Radar ALD ALD ALD Comm/Nav ALD HON HON
Lockheed Martin Missiles and Space Corp., Sunnyvale, Calif., was awarded on June 2, 1999, a $7,545,902 modification to cost-plus-award-fee contract F04701-97-C-0024-P00025 to provide for design of a modification for the Defense Meteorological Satellite Program spacecraft to allow it to be launched on the Evolved Expendable Launch Vehicle. Expected contract completion date is Aug. 1, 2001. Negotiation completion date was May 4, 1999. Space and Missile Systems Center, Los Angeles AFB, Calif., is the contracting activity.
6/02/1999 NASA JSC ... SOL 9-BH13-44-9-23P; General Information: Solicitation Number: 9-BH13-44-9-23P; NAIS Posted Date: Jun 02, 1999; CBDNet Posted Date: Jun 02, 1999; Response Date: Jul 30, 1999; Classification Code: 58 - Communication, detection,&coherent radiation equipment. Contracting Office Address: NASA/Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center, Houston Texas, 77058-3696, Mail Code: BH
6/02/1999 NASA GSFC ... SOL AO-99-HEDS-01 ... General Information: Solicitation Number: AO-99-HEDS-01; NAIS Posted Date: Jun 02, 1999; CBDNet Posted Date: Jun 02, 1999; Response Date: Aug 17, 1999; Classification Code: A - Research&Development; Contracting Office Address: NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center, NASA Headquarters Acquisition Branch, Code 210.H, Greenbelt, MD 20771
NASA's Space Shuttle Discovery glided to a safe nighttime landing early Sunday after a busy mission stocking and equipping the International Space Station for the arrival of its first crew next year. Meanwhile, NASA rolled out the Space Shuttle Columbia for its upcoming July 22 launch carrying the Chandra Advanced X-ray Astrophysics Facility (AXAF), despite lingering concerns about the Boeing-built Inertial Upper Stage that will carry the x-ray telescope to its operational orbit.
Competition for a major share in Spain's state-controlled CASA aerospace group, in which several European industry groups, including DaimlerChrysler in Germany and Italy's Alenia, as well as British Aerospace, are interested, intensified last week with reports of a bid from France's newly-created Aerospatiale Matra group.
The National Reconnaissance Office (NRO) is devoting $25 million yearly to seed revolutionary technologies that will improve global reconnaissance. To find those technologies, it is openly inviting participation by companies and organizations outside of the intelligence community through a program called the Director's Innovation Initiative (DII). The relatively new effort is also called the Innovation program, and was originally named Pathfinder during its pilot project phase.
Cordant Technologies, Brigham City, Utah, was awarded on May 28, 1999, a $5,239,253 cost-plus-fixed-fee contract to provide for the Critical Defect Assessment Technology Program. This is an exploratory development effort to enhance service life prediction methods for rocket systems. Expected contract completion date is Feb. 16, 2004. Solicitation issue date was March 24, 1998. Air Force Flight Test Center, Edwards AFB, Calif., is the contracting activity (F04611-99-C-0002).
