More than 1,000 UH-1 Huey helicopters were given the green light by the U.S. Army Friday to return to flight operations once they have completed a series of inspections. The announcement from the Aviation and Missile Command came three weeks after the helicopters were grounded because of a May 1 accident at Ft. Rucker, Ala., in which the tail boom broke off. Two people were seriously injured in the crash, and one person walked away with minor injures. The aircrew was on its way back from a medevac mission to Birmingham, Ala.
The Pentagon's Operational Test and Evaluation Office may ask for oversight of the U.S. Navy Land Attack Standard Missile (LASM) program and NTACMS, the Navy variant of the Army Tactical Missile System. Tension is brewing between the programs as they face a shoot-off. Jacques Gansler, under secretary of defense for acquisition and technology, reportedly has told the Navy to pursue development of both programs as the service looks for a precise, land attack missile with a range of 200 nautical miles.
Boeing and Derlan Aerospace of Canada signed an agreement to develop components for a new transmission for the AH-64D Apache Longbow. Derlan said the contract is estimated to be worth more than $500 million over 10 years.
Boeing has offered Israel an additional $500 million of industrial cooperation projects with Israeli industry in its effort to win an impending fighter decision, a Boeing spokesman confirmed Friday. The offer was part of ongoing negotiations on the program and is "over and above" an undisclosed amount of industrial cooperation projects in a previously submitted proposal. Boeing is offering Israel 30 F-15s, while Lockheed Martin is offering up to 110 F-16s.
China is far along in preparations to become a spacefaring nation, and may be able to launch an unpiloted version of a human space capsule in time for its 50th birthday Oct. 1, according to state media in Beijing. Li Jianzhong, director of the Chinese Academy of Launch Vehicle technology, is quoted as saying China soon will be able to launch 20-ton payloads, including a "space ship" capable of carrying humans into space and returning them to Earth.
AVIATION WEEK&SPACE TECHNOLOGY's May 31 issue names six companies as the best-managed of the global aerospace industry for 1999. The winning companies are as follows: British Aerospace plc, best-managed large aerospace company; Smiths Industries plc, best-managed medium-sized aerospace company; UMECO plc, best-managed small aerospace company; Delta Air Lines, best-managed major airline; Ryanair Holdings plc, best-managed national airline, and Comair Holdings Inc., best-managed regional airline.
Raytheon Systems Co. has won a competition for the Dept. of Defense's Joint Precision Approach Landing System (JPALS). JPALS, the military version of the Local Area Augmentation System (LAAS), which Raytheon also makes, will replace shipboard and ground precision landing systems, ending their useful life between 2005 and 2010, according to the Pentagon.
Software upgrades in the next three to four months will add GPS guidance to the Tomahawk Block III cruise missile's final stage of flight, says U.S. Navy Capt. Steve Morrow, program manager of the Tomahawk All-Up-Round. The missiles now use GPS and satellite imagery in the first two stages of an attack, and then switch to an inertial guidance system to lock on to their targets.
Program costs of the Integrated Defensive Electronic Countermeasures (IDECM) system being developed for the U.S. Navy F/A-18E/F Super Hornet have increased by $52 million and delayed fielding by 15 months, according to Cdr. Mark Storch, program manager. The AN/ALQ-214, being built by Lockheed Martin's Sanders unit, combines advanced flares, a common missile warning system and, for off- board response to radar-guided missile threats, a fiber optic towed decoy.
The Taipei Economic and Cultural Representative Office in the U.S. plans to buy 240 AGM-114K3 Hellfire II air-to-surface missiles from Lockheed Martin, and the Pentagon said Thursday it has no objection to the sale. The estimated cost of the missiles and support equipment is $23 million. The anti-armor missiles will be used with the country's AH-1W Super Cobra and OH-58D Kiowa Warrior helicopters, according to the Pentagon. Taipei already has Hellfires.
The Senate passed its fiscal year 2000 defense authorization bill Thursday night after approving a number of amendments dealing with ballistic missile defense, space launch and munitions inventories. Senators, in a 92 to 3 vote, passed the bill, which adds $8.3 billion to the president's request for defense. The House is slated to take up its version of the bill in two weeks.
The U.S. Army plans to turn its AH-64 Apache fleet over to Prime Vendor Support (PVS) by Oct. 1, says U.S. Army Col. Howard T. Bramblett, program manager for the attack helicopter. In order to outsource the work, the Army is seeking a waiver to the A-76 process, required by the Office of Management and Budget. Army sources say Congress must have the proposal by July in order to keep the program on schedule. But Army officials refuse to be hurried.
Laser altimeter data collected by NASA's Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) spacecraft has repainted the portrait scientists had made of the Red Planet's surface, reversing previously held ideas about the direction water may once have flowed there and revealing dramatic details about the planet's shape.
Lockheed Martin Air Traffic Management, Harris Information Systems Division and Sensis Corp. have teamed to work with the Cargo Airline Association on the CAA's Automatic Dependent Surveillance-Broadcast (ADS-B) program. The three companies will provide ground-based technologies, including an air traffic management system. The efforts are expected to culminate in an operational evaluation of three ADS-B link technologies by July.
The first avionics flight test package for the F-22 fighter has been delivered ahead of schedule to Lockheed Martin by Boeing. The package, called Block 1.1, "includes 80% of the final F-22 hardware configuration and more than 900,000 lines of code," said Bruce Ammerman, manager of the Boeing F-22 Avionics Laboratories. It includes stores management, a vehicle management system, utilities and subsystems, radar, mission, and inertial reference system, pilot vehicle interface and cockpit display software, Boeing said.
FIFTIETH Boeing C-17 airlifter was accepted by the U.S. Air Force May 21 in a ceremony at the company's Long Beach, Calif., plant. Boeing said the event marked ahead of schedule delivery of the 38th consecutive C-17 by the company's Airlift and Tanker Programs unit.
A $64.5 million option for production of 22 T-6A Texan II trainers was recently exercised by the U.S. Air Force and U.S. Navy, according to Raytheon Co., prime contractor for the aircraft. The action brings the total value under the acquisition contract to $459 million, and gives the AF and Navy 68 production Texan IIs and one manufacturing development aircraft. Target quantity for the production option was 18 planes, but the AF and Navy ordered the maximum quantity by buying for more for a total of 22, Raytheon said.
The Senate yesterday, during debate of the fiscal year 2000 defense authorization bill, thwarted an attempt to place an $8.8 billion total cost cap on the F/A-18E/F Super Hornet.
Northrop Grumman moved back toward the platform market by announcing plans yesterday to acquire Ryan Aeronautical and its unmanned aerial vehicle work from Allegheny Teledyne Inc. for $140 million in cash. Ryan makes high-end UAVs like Global Hawk and the Miniature Air Launched Decoy (MALD) and the Firebee target system. Ryan had 1998 sales of about $100 million in the UAV area.
Boeing will join Team Cormorant, a venture of Italy's Agusta and the U.K.'s GKN Westland, that is providing 15 Cormorant search and rescue helicopters to Canada. Boeing will provide a maritime patrol mission system that integrates sensors, weapons and other systems using commercial-off-the-shelf technology and that is based on open system architecture.
A group led by Aviation Management Systems yesterday signed an agreement to buy Sabreliner's commercial aviation maintenance, repair and overhaul operations. The operations will be combined with AMS' existing business under a newly formed company also to be called Aviation Management Systems and owned by UBS Capital, the management of AMS, and AeroEquity, a private investment firm. The transaction includes commercial airframe maintenance facilities at Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport and the Phoenix Goodyear Airport.
The House Rules Committee delayed floor debate on the fiscal year 2000 defense authorization bill following failure to reach consensus on a controversial Kosovo amendment. The House recently debated and voted on a series of resolutions related to President Clinton's policy on Kosovo, explained House Rules Committee Chairman David Dreier (R-Calif.). He said this was why the president requested that language prohibiting funds for military action in Kosovo after Sept. 30, 1999, be removed from the defense bill.
United Airlines has passed more than 150 milestones for Y2K compliance and expects no service disruption from upgrades and changes. The carrier has tested and validated ground-to-air communications in the Y2K environment, and said the Apollo computer reservations system is operating "trouble-free" to book tickets next year.
