An Orbital Sciences Corp. Pegasus XL air-launched rocket orbited two satellites in a flight originating from Vandenberg AFB, Calif., yesterday, one for NASA and one for the U.S. Defense Dept.
NASA has named a Nobel Prize-winning medical researcher to head its Astrobiology Institute, a "virtual organization" that brings together scientists from 11 member institutions to study the origin, evolution, distribution and future of life in the Universe.
Raytheon Co. won a $38 million U.S. Navy contract for 35 helicopter infrared laser detecting-ranging-tracking sets. The AN/AAS-44(V) sets will be installed on SH-60B LAMPS Mk. III helicopters as part of an upgrade program. The sets provide surveillance, target acquisition, tracking, range-finding and laser designation for Hellfire and all tri-service/NATO laser-guided munitions, Raytheon said. Deliveries under the Lot 4 award are slated to begin in April 2000.
Subcommittees of the House Armed Services Committee, marking up the panel's fiscal year 2000 defense bill yesterday, increased ballistic missile defense programs with only a slight change from Senate counterparts, providing a nearly $509.3 million increase for BMD efforts, sources said. HASC members, however, did not include a $60 million addition that SASC made to the PAC-2 upgrade effort, a source said.
General Dynamics Ordnance Systems will share a $34.8 million contract for the first year of a five-year demilitarization contract from the U.S. Army Industrial Operations Command. GD said it is the largest contract ever awarded in the U.S. for the demilitarization of conventional ammunition. Ordnance Systems and co-winner PB NAMMO Demil LLC will demilitarize more than 37 million rounds comprising 144 different types of ammunition. About 12 million pounds of bulk propellant also will be demilitarized.
ARINC and the Dutch National Aerospace Laboratory (NLR) recently conducted flights to demonstrate technologies crucial to the future air navigation environment - VHF Digital Link Mode 2 (VDLM2) and satellite communications in a Communications, Navigation, Surveillance/Air Traffic Management (CNS/ATM) environment. The flights, conducted over the Aeronautical Telecommunications Network and two subnetworks - VDLM2 and satcom - were witnessed by the European Commission and Eurocontrol.
Taking over support and service roles for the U.S. Air Force promises to be a growth market for defense companies, according to Brig. Gen. Richard B. Bundy, director of AF manpower, organization and quality.
The Joint Air-to-Surface Missile (JASSM) program will be delayed by one month while Lockheed Martin fixes 10 items on all 11 existing missiles, said Terry Little, director of the program for the U.S. Air Force. Little said in a telephone interview from Eglin AFB, Fla., that the next flight test of the stealthy cruise missile, originally slated for June, will now take place in late July or August to allow more time to fix the missiles and to perform more ground testing.
A test of the PAC-3 missile at White Sands Missile Range, N.M., has been delayed because of concern that forest fires could be touched off by debris falling in the extremely dry target debris zone, according to the Pentagon's Ballistic Missile Defense Organization and the U.S. Army. The test was scheduled for last week. "The intercept flight test will be rescheduled when current weather conditions improve and the fire safety concern is not an issue," the Pentagon said in a statement.
VICE ADM. VERN E. CLARK, director of the Pentagon's Joint Staff, has been nominated for promotion to admiral and assigned to command the U.S. Atlantic Fleet. Marine Lt. Gen. Carlton W. Fulford, Jr., commander of U.S. Marine Forces Pacific, will replace Clark on the Joint Staff.
Airbus Industrie yesterday delivered its 2,000th airliner since establishment of the consortium 30 years ago. The plane, an A340-300, was delivered to Lufthansa. "Airbus Industrie's goal is to maintain half of the market share for commercial airliners in terms of value," said Noel Forgeard, chief executive. He said Airbus delivered less than 1% of commercial jetliners in 1974, but that its share of deliveries grew to 30% in 1998 and will reach 40% in 2000. At current production rates, Airbus will deliver its 3,000th aircraft in less than three years, Foregeard said.
Allegheny Teledyne Inc., Pittsburgh, signed a definitive agreement to sell McCormick Selph Ordnance to J.F. Lehman Equity Investors I, L.P. Terms of the transaction were not announced, and closing of the deal is expected by late summer. McCormick Selph, Hollister, Calif., makes advanced controlled pyrotechnic components and systems for the aerospace industry and automotive safety products.
Lockheed Martin Government Electronics Systems said it has won a contract from the U.S. Navy to develop Baseline 2.2 software and provide systems engineering support for the Navy's Cooperative Engagement Capability (CEC) program. CEC Baseline 2.2, as an element of the Aegis Combat System, will enhance the theater ballistic missile defense capability of Aegis cruisers and destroyers, Lockheed Martin said.
A reusable launch vehicle is being developed by Rocket Technologies of Mexico City, Mexico. A spokesman said the company envisions selling vehicles outright to customers for about $38,000. The initial vehicle which, would launch from a mobile tower, should lift 10-15 kilograms to a target altitude of 300,000 feet. The company hopes to eventually offer orbital services.
Maxim V. Tarasenko, a Russian space expert who served as Aerospace Daily's Moscow correspondent since 1994, died Friday after being struck by a car near his home in the Moscow suburb of Zelenograd. He was 36. During his tenure with The DAILY Tarasenko's wide-ranging coverage included Russia's participation in the International Space Station program; the establishment of ground-breaking commercial joint ventures between Western companies and former Soviet aerospace enterprises, and the decline of the post-Soviet military.
TRW restated its first quarter 1999 earnings, and an $87 million reduction to reflect a valuation of LucasVarity's in-process research and development and a change in the estimated effective tax rate that left TRW with a loss of $28.4 million in the period. In April, TRW reported earnings of $101.1 million before the effects of restructuring charges and the impact of the LucasVarity acquisition reduced earnings of $58.6 million (DAILY, April 21). In the 1998 first quarter, TRW earned $119.7 million.
Precision Castparts agreed to acquire Wyman-Gordon Co. for about $825 million in cash, including the assumption of $104 million of net debt, the companies reported yesterday. Precision, based in Portland, Ore., makes large, complex structural investment castings and airfoil castings for jet engines, and also has gained market share in both industrial gas turbines and structural airframe castings. Wyman-Gordon, of North Grafton, Mass., makes advanced forgings and castings for aerospace, energy and industrial markets.
