HALL-EFFECT TEST: NASA plans to launch its first "Future-X" advanced space transportation fight test on a Russian Proton rocket next February, using the Russian Express A3 satellite as a test platform for the most powerful Hall-effect thruster ever orbited. The five kilowatt solar electric propulsion system was one of seven additional flight experiments selected when Boeing was picked to build the Future-X flying testbed last year (DAILY, Dec. 9, 1999).
ROEMER REDUX: Rep. Tim Roemer (D-Ind.) may have moved on to the House Intelligence Committee, but the cudgel he wielded against the International Space Station has been picked up by a few members of the House Science Committee he left behind. Third-term Rep. Marshall Sanford (R-S.C.), promises to offer a Station-killing amendment on the House floor this year after withdrawing the legislation in the Science panel's NASA authorization markup.
The Senate Armed Services Committee Thursday night completed marking up its fiscal year 2000 defense budget, boosting the White House request by $8.3 billion, but also adding restrictive language on a number of big ticket procurement programs. The SASC bill recommends $288.8 billion, representing a 2.2% increase in real terms for defense spending.
HONEYWELL'S Sensor and Guidance Products Div., Minneapolis, said it is continuing deliveries for the initial phase of the Standard Missile-2 Block IV EMD program. It said it is on schedule to deliver over 40 IMUs on schedule.
The Boeing B-1B Lancer bomber was "shot at and targeted very precisely by SA-6 surface-to-air missiles" during the first night of airstrikes on Yugoslavia, but its electronic countermeasures system "worked remarkably well," said Gen. John P. Jumper, commander of the U.S. Air Forces Europe.
AIR-LAUNCHED TARGET: The Army has developed an air-launched target to simulate theater ballistic missiles at the Kwajalein range in the Pacific, where islands for basing ground-launched targets are in short supply. If the Theater High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) missile can get through its current difficulty achieving a hit-to-kill intercept over White Sands Missile Range, N.M., plans call for longer-range testing with the new "Short-Range Air-Launched Target" at Kwajalein.
FIRST FLIGHT: Russia's MAPO Military Industrial Complex plans the first flight of a new fighter before the end of May. The so-called "Article 1.44" is a prototype developed by MAPO as a Multifunctional Front-line Fighter (MFI). The aircraft was first demonstrated in January in an apparent attempt to press the Russian government for more money. At that time it was announced that the first flight of MFI could occur as early as February.
Litton Industries' Amecom Div. has been chosen by Lockheed Martin and Sanders as a technology partner on the Joint Strike Fighter program. Sanders, a Lockheed Martin company, is the electronic warfare prime integrating contractor for the Lockheed Martin JSF, and Litton Amecom is the electronic support measures systems engineering lead on the Sanders/Litton Amecom supplier team.
Fairchild Corp., Dulles, Va., posted earnings from continuing operations of $20.4 million on sales of $146.4 million in its fiscal 1999 third quarter, compared to earnings of $50.4 million on sales of $164.2 million in the same period a year ago, the company reported.
R&D FUNDING NEEDS: The U.S. aerospace industry needs a $50 billion federal investment, matched by at least $25 billion in private funds, to bring research and development spending back to needed levels, says John Douglass, head of the Washington-based Aerospace Industries Association. Without that kind of help, he says, "we could see some serious downstream problems." Douglass says concerns include air traffic control and the perception that the "bottom [is] falling out of" engine technology.
Raytheon agreed to pay $3 million to AGES Group of Boca Raton, Fla., and buy $13 million in aircraft parts to settle allegations that Raytheon eavesdropped on AGES while the companies were competing for C-12 and U-21 aircraft support contracts. AGES alleged that Raytheon hired a security firm, Wackenhut Corp., to conduct surveillance on an AGES subcontractor, The Libertatia Associates (TLA), of Slocomb, Ala., where the AGES bid was being prepared.
HASC MARKUP: The House Armed Services Committee this week will take its shot at the fiscal year 2000 defense budget, a week after its Senate counterpart completed work on its version. SASC spared tactical aircraft programs, but some sources say this could be a different issue in the House. The House authorizers also are expected to weigh in heavily on the issue of espionage and satellite launches in China. Meanwhile, the Senate version of the FY '00 intelligence authorization could also move to the floor.
Alliant Techsystems said it has been chosen by Boeing North American Inc. to produce Selective Availability Anti-Spoofing Module (SAASM) Global Positioning System (GPS) receiver modules for use in the Combat Survivor/Evader Locator (CSEL) system, which allows rescue teams to operate without revealing their positions. Alliant said the contract calls for its Defense Systems Group, Minneapolis, to produce CSEL SAASM GPS modules for testing and evaluation to qualify the design for production.
NASA and Lockheed Martin have completed negotiations for $625.6 million worth of material that will go into 60 new external tanks for the Space Shuttle fleet, the sixth lot of the tanks NASA has purchased.
Failure of the AC generator assembly and faulty logic within the digital engine control caused a Lockheed Martin F-16CJ to crash last Nov. 19 at Shaw AFB, S.C., according to the accident investigation report released last week by the U.S. Air Force's Air Combat Command (ACC). The report stated that seconds after takeoff, the AC generator assembly began sending erroneous signals to the digital engine control. The signals caused the digital engine control to supply more fuel to the engine, which was already running at 100%.
About 10 Boeing AH-64D Apache Longbow helicopters are grounded, waiting for installation of multifunction cockpit displays. AlliedSignal, manufacturer of the liquid crystal displays, won't be able to make any more until June when it receives the next shipment of glass for the units.
The Global Express business jet has won type approval from the European Joint Aviation Authorities, Bombardier Aerospace announced. The certification, awarded May 7, is "the last major milestone in the Global Express development program before aircraft are delivered to customers...," said John Holding, Bombardier Aerospace's executive vice president, engineering and product development. The JAA consists of 29 member countries, and Bombardier said approval "virtually assures acceptance" of the plane in these countries.
NASA managers yesterday postponed the upcoming flight of the Space Shuttle Discovery on the second mission to the International Space Station until no earlier than May 27 to give crews time to roll the Shuttle back to the Vehicle Assembly Building for repairs after a hailstorm damaged the foam insulation on the vehicle's external tank.
The Aerojet segment of GenCorp named Terry L. Hall as chief financial officer. Hall, who joins Aerojet from U.S. Airways, will serve as CFO of GenCorp after the company completes the planned spinoff late this year of its Performance Chemicals and Decorative&Building Products businesses. Michael E. Hicks, now senior VP and CFO of GenCorp, will be senior VP and CFO of the new spin-off. At U.S. Airways, Hall was senior VP, finance and CFO.
ALLIEDSIGNAL INC. will make a new color multi-function display, the Bendix/King KMD 150, for piston and light turbine aircraft. The company said it is the third in a series of new color display products for general aviation aircraft.
AlliedSignal has won a five-year, $30 million contract to provide maintenance, repair and overhaul services for all AlliedSignal Aerospace auxiliary power units in the SwissAir and Sabena fleets and third-party fleets covered under SR Technics/Sabena Technics service agreements. SR Technics and Sabena Technics are part of the SAir Group, an aircraft maintenance provider.
A Tomahawk cruise missile completed a Year 2000 date logic problem test in a launch from a submarine off the coast of southern California. The USS San Francisco launched the Tomahawk, which flew a 575-mile land attack profile to China Lake, Calif.
Members of the House Science Committee yesterday adopted a $13.626 million NASA authorization bill that would halt work on the inflatable Transhab alternative to the U.S. Habitation Module for the International Space Station, and kill the Triana satellite proposed by Vice President Gore to collect a running image of the whole sunlit side of Earth from the L1 point.
