The FAA will propose requiring airlines to install flight data recorders with more information-gathering capability by August 2000 in newer Boeing 737s, and by August 2001 in older 737s.
SkyWest airlines ordered 10 more 50-seat Canadair Regional Jets valued at $230 million, Bombardier Aerospace announced Friday. The transaction brings the airline's firm CRJ orders to 45, 10 of which have been delivered. It also has 35 options. The airline plans to place the regional jets with codesharing partner Delta on its Salt Lake City hub. Ron Reber, executive VP, said that "as Delta continues to refine its operation at Sale Lake City, the Canadair Regional Jet will provide for improved schedule and equipment utilization."
Raytheon's Control-By-Light business segment delivered the first Distributed Flight Data Acquisition Unit (DFDAU) to Raytheon Aircraft's facility in Wichita Friday to prepare to test the system on Raytheon's Beech 1900D, Raytheon executives told The DAILY. The DFDAU is a next-generation flight data recording system that uses fiber optic technology and remote sensors to gather and record data on passenger aircraft. The system already has undergone a bench test, with certification expected by the end of the year (DAILY, March 19).
Lockheed Martin has mated the forward and mid-fuselage sections of the first of two X-35 Joint Strike Fighter concept demonstrator aircraft, a step that it said signifies the beginning of the final assembly process. The April 15 mating at Palmdale, Calif., "came off without a hitch, thanks to the overall product quality now available with computer-based, solid-model design tools," said Gary Ervin, X-35 program manager for Lockheed Martin's Skunk Works.
The U.S. Army has released a request for proposals for a new Joint Tactical Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (J-TUAV) to replace the canceled TRW/Israel Aircraft Industries Hunter. The $325 million program extends out more than five years and includes plans to buy 42 complete systems, John C. Sundberg, deputy program director, said in a telephone interview yesterday from Redstone Arsenal, Ala. Each system will have at least three air vehicles and a Humvee-mounted ground control system.
VIRNELL A. BRUCE has been named vice president for communications in Boeing's Government Relations organization in Washington, where she will report to Senior Vice President-Government Relations Christopher Hansen. Bruce has been vice president, communications, for Lockheed Martin Space&Strategic Missiles Sector in Bethesda, Md.
SUNDSTRAND's board of directors called a special stockholders meeting June 10 to approve the announced merger with Hamilton Standard. The board also declared a quarterly cash dividend of 17 cents per common share payable June 15.
Members of Congress and the Israeli Knesset have planned a meeting next Wednesday to discuss bilateral missile defense issues. The meeting is a precursor to a full gathering of the U.S-Israeli Inter-Parliamentary Commission on National Security to be held in Jerusalem later this summer. Uzi Landau, chairman of the Knesset foreign and defense affairs committee, said Wednesday that Israeli Defense Minister Moshe Arens and Ambassador Zalman Shoval will meet with Sen. Jon Kyl (R-Ariz.) and some other members of Congress next week.
Boeing's new Delta IV plant in an industrial park on the outskirts of this riverside city won't be completed until December, but work on the first article of Boeing's version of the Pentagon's Evolved Expendable Launch Vehicle (EELV) is already underway inside.
The Senate Commerce Committee today is slated to mark up legislation to privatize Intelsat, the international body that controls much of the satellite industry. The bill - Open-market Reorganization for the Betterment of International Telecommunications (ORBIT) - was introduced earlier this year by Communications Subcommittee Chairman Conrad Burns (R-Mont.). It requires Intelsat to privatize by Jan. 1, 2002.
Japan, South Korea and Taiwan could be protected from specific theater ballistic missile threats with a mixture of systems like Patriot PAC-3, Theater High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) and Navy Theater Wide (TWD), according to a Dept. of Defense report released yesterday. The report, entitled "Theater Missile Defense Architecture Options for the Asia-Pacific Region," quantifies the mix of systems needed to protect the countries from specific threats.
Lockheed Martin said yesterday it is assembling a special panel to review program management, engineering, manufacturing and quality control at its space launch vehicle business units after a string of launch failures over the past eight months. Meanwhile, U.S. Air Force accident investigators have started work at Cape Canaveral Air Station, Fla., to learn what caused a Lockheed Martin Titan IVB/Centaur launch vehicle to leave an $800 million Milstar communications satellite stranded in a useless orbit.
The first 757-200 airliner with new avionics was delivered by Boeing to Icelandair on April 20. Boeing said all future 757s will have the upgrades, which include: -- Enhanced Ground Proximity Warning System, which depicts terrain ahead. -- Predictive Windshear System, which looks for downbursts of air that indicate windshear conditions that could be encountered on takeoff or landing. -- Flight Management Computer, which allows airlines to select options for advanced air traffic management, navigation and communications.
BOEING is developing an electronic turret for the AH-64D Apache Longbow to make the helicopter's 30mm gun more accurate. Boeing's ordnance division, Mesa, Ariz., won a $5 million contract to build a lighter, more compact turret that is expected to become standard equipment on the Longbow by 2003. "The goal is to take the turret from hydraulic to electric operation, a change that will significantly improve pointing accuracy of the gun," said Tom Johnston, Boeing's integrated program leader.
The Joint Strike Fighter (JSF) program will continue on its current schedule and budget by reducing some technology efforts in the concept demonstrator phase, the JSF Program Office said yesterday. The office, in a statement that had been anticipated by competitors Boeing and Lockheed Martin in the wake of challenges in recent months, as well as by Congress, said problems have been solved and schedules are tight but can still be met.
CUBIC DEFENSE SYSTEMS, San Diego, has won a $28 million U.S. Air Force contract to provide an upgrade for the tethered Air Combat Manuvering Instrumentation (ACMI) system in Taiwan. Using GPS data to improve training accuracy, Cubic said, the Taiwan ACMI will support pilot training in several types of aircraft, including the F-5 and F-16.
General Electric Co., Lynn, Mass., is being awarded a $31,011,072 delivery order amount for firm-fixed-price contract DAAJ09-97-D-0196, for fifty 701C engine installs (complete) and two 701C spares (complete with hydro-mechanical unit and digital electronic control). Work will be performed in Lynn, Mass., and is expected to be completed by Dec. 31, 2000. Contract funds will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. This is a sole source contract initiated on June 20, 1997. The U.S.
EATON CORP. said that Neil A. Armstrong, having reached retirement age for non-employee directors, is retiring from the company's board of directors. Armstrong, 68, was elected to the board in 1981. He is chairman of the board of AIL Technologies.
An $800 million Milstar military communications satellite is stranded in a useless orbit after the Centaur upper stage that took over from the satellite's Titan IVB launch vehicle apparently failed. Air Force officials said late Friday that the Centaur fired three times as planned, but over a period of only 90 minutes instead of six and a half hours. The satellite also was released early, officials said, leaving in an elliptical orbit with an apogee of 3,100 miles and a perigee of 460 miles instead of the required geostationary orbit.
Worldspace Corp., locked in a dispute with the U.S. government over frequencies that one of its satellites will use, says it is willing to work out a spectrum arrangement that might include some combination of technical modifications to the satellite, repointing the satellite, or paying for any changes the Dept. of Defense has to make to its systems.
Raytheon Aerospace Company, Madison, Miss., is being awarded a $32,469,372 firm-fixed-price contract to provide for FY 2000 contractor logistics support for the T-1A aircraft. Expected contract completion date is Sept. 30, 2001. Solicitation issue date was Dec. 21, 1998. Aeronautical Systems Center, Wright-Patterson AFB, Ohio, is the contracting activity (F33657-99-C-0016).
From Commerce Business Daily: Posted in CBDNet on April 28, 1999; Printed Issue Date: April 30, 1999; PART: U.S. GOVERNMENT PROCUREMENTS (MODIFICATION); SUBPART: SERVICES; CLASSCOD: A-Research and Development; OFFADD: R&D Contracting Directorate, Bldg 7, 2530 C Street, WPAFB, OH 45433-7607 ... SOL BAA No. 99-13-MLK, Amendment 1 DUE 070699; POC Contact Susan Palmer, Contract Negotiator, (937) 255-7143, or Timothy L. Jones, Contracting Officer, (937) 255-7143
A FEDERAL JUDGE in Indiana on Friday blocked the merger BFGoodrich and Coltec Industries Inc. until July. Terrence Linnert, senior vice president and general counsel for BFGoodrich, said, "This ruling gives the judge the opportunity to consider the merits of the case at a hearing beginning July 12. While disappointed, we remain confident that we will complete the merger, particularly given the fact that the Federal Trade Commission has cleared the transaction." The merger has received clearance from the FTC, the Dept.
Sikorsky Aircraft Corporation, Stratford, Conn., is being awarded a $37,350,000 modification to a firm-fixed-price contract (cumulative total $861,376,897) for award at a not to exceed ceiling price for the conversion of four production UH-60L Black Hawk aircraft into the HH-60L configuration, for obligating 50% of the not to exceed ceiling price for modification of five UH-60 helicopters to a Search and Rescue (SAR) configuration, and for modification of six UH-60L aircraft into a unique configuration for the State Department in support of Colombian National Police.
