Boeing opened a virtual reality lab that allows designers and maintainers to evaluate and test supportability of the Joint Strike Fighter with the same three-dimensional modeling data used to design the aircraft. In the lab, developers can "walk" around the aircraft and simulate a maintenance task, allowing them to see whether the task is feasible without building a hardware mockup.
U.S. ARMY is preparing to send to Albania troops who are trained in bringing space-based capabilities to the field, Lt. Gen. John Costello, commander of the service's Space and Missile Defense Command, told reporters in Huntsville, Ala., last week. He said the Army's space troops weren't included with the soldiers sent to support the deployment of Apache attack helicopters to the Balkans, with that role initially taken by the National Imaging and Mapping Agency (NIMA).
The U.S. Army Apache helicopters in Albania are prepared to work with fixed wing aircraft of the NATO fleet striking Yugoslavia, an Army officer said. Col. Michael W. Hackerson, chief of the Army war plans division, said Friday that they could be used to mark targets for laser guided munitions dropped by other aircraft. He said an Apache could add all-weather capability to such munitions. The helicopter carries its own complement of 16 Hellfire missiles.
RAYTHEON CO. has won a $31.5 million U.S. Navy contract to modify two additional E-6A aircraft to the E-6B configuration and produce two additional aircraft modification kits. The company said the effort will continue work under current contracts valued at $214 million, with options worth $70 million, to incorporate operational capabilities of U.S. Strategic Command's EC-135 Airborne Command Post and the E-6A TACAMO (Take Charge and Move Out) mission into one aircraft.
The 10 additional Boeing B-52s en route to Europe for Operational Allied Force will be armed with AGM-142 Have Nap missiles. According to a senior Dept. of Defense official, the B-52s were chosen over the B-1s for the mission because they can more effectively use the optically-guided missiles, built by a partnership of Lockheed Martin and Israel's Rafael, from a standoff range of 50 miles.
Congressional sources said Friday that the Navy plans to deploy the carrier John F. Kennedy to the Adriatic Sea later this month instead of in September as had been planned. This will mean that the U.S. will have two carriers close to Yugoslavia, since the Theodore Roosevelt is currently on station in the Adriatic and is supposed to complete its six-month deployment by the end of September.
The Joint Strike Fighter Program Office will announce its replan effort early this month. Boeing and Lockheed Martin both turned in their respective proposals last week. The Dept. of Defense gave them two directives - keep the program on budget, and keep it on time. Both companies say their proposals meet those requirements.
THE U.K. PLANS to buy 30 conventionally armed Tomahawk Block IIIC land attack missiles (TLAMs) and related equipment and services from the U.S. for an estimated $100 million, the Pentagon said Friday. If the sale is approved by Congress, the prime contractor will be Raytheon Missile Systems Co., Tucson, Ariz. The U.K. "needs these missiles to augment its present operational inventory and to enhance it submarine launched capability," according to the Dept. of Defense. "The missiles will enhance United Kingdom operational effectiveness in support of NATO."
U.S. and European Union officials came under fire from industry groups who, for very different reasons, oppose the compromise reached last week on hushkitted airplanes (DAILY, April 29).
The U.S. Air Force needs more Lockheed Martin AC-130H gunships and Boeing RC-135 Rivet Joints for Operation Allied Force. Eight of the 10 Rivet Joints are currently deployed, says Gen. Richard Hawley, commander of Air Combat Command. Two are slated for deployment later this year.
The U.S. Dept. of Defense has accelerated production of the Joint Direct Attack Munition (JDAM) for the Navy and Air Force. Boeing will being delivering the second lot of the bomb kits in May, rather than July as previously planned. "We are making every effort to push JDAMs out the door," said Lt. Col. Richard Walley, deputy JDAM program director. "The first delivery will come before the end of May. We will be delivering more and more each month."
Greece will buy 50 Lockheed Martin F-16s and 15 Dassault Mirage 2000s, and upgrade 10 more Mirage 2000s the country already flies, the two companies reported Friday. Lockheed Martin said the total program, including the F-16 Block 50+, mission equipment and a support package, is worth about $2 billion to various suppliers. The value to Lockheed Martin will be about $1.4 billion in current-year dollars. Deliveries of the F-16s will begin about two years after the contract is signed. That is expected later this year after congressional approval.
BOEING CO. said the Republic of China has ordered three CH-47SD Chinook helicopters, and the "Super D" helos are slated to arrive in Taiwan in 2002. The company said the Republic of China recently signed an initial letter of agreement for three CH-47SDs, a material order for production of six more of the helicopters, and related support services. Taiwan now has three Boeing 234 Commercial Chinooks, flown by the Republic of China Army, primarily for disaster relief, search and rescue and VIP transport.
The House Armed Services Committee will delay even longer than expected its markup of the FY '00 defense budget. HASC is pushing back the schedule until work on the Kosovo supplemental is completed, says Chairman Floyd Spence (R-S.C.). The delays make it unlikely that the authorization bill will make it through the House before the Memorial Day recess. The Senate authorizers, who also wanted to get their bill markup this month, are dealing with a similar delay.
The U.S. Army is preparing to send to Albania troops who are trained in bringing space-based capabilities to the field, according to Lt. Gen. John Costello, commander of the service's Space and Missile Defense Command. The Army's space troops weren't included with the soldiers sent to support the deployment of Apache gunships to the Balkans, Costello says, with that role initially taken by the National Imaging and Mapping Agency (NIMA) instead.
The third Milstar military communications satellite was launched Friday at 12:30 p.m. EDT from Cape Canaveral Air Station, Fla., by a Titan IVB rocket, the U.S. Air Force reported. This Milstar is the first to include the medium data rate (MDR) payload. The first two, launched in February 1994 and November 1995, provided low data rate communications. Three more Milstars are planned for launch in fiscal years 2000, 2001 and 2002.
Daniel Burnham will succeed Dennis Picard as chairman of Raytheon Co. when Picard, 66, retires on July 31. Burnham, 52, the current president and chief executive officer, will assume the additional role of chairman on Aug. 1.
The U.S. Air Force is taxing its munitions and combat aircraft inventory to support current missions, and in some cases the supply may not be enough to meet the demands of the commanders-in-chief, according to Gen. Richard E. Hawley, head of the AF's Air Combat Command. NATO air strikes on Yugoslavia are draining the AF arsenal of flyable aircraft, precision munitions and experienced flight crews, Hawley at a Washington press breakfast yesterday.
The Aviant plant in Kiev has suspended assembly of a second Tu-334 airliner slated for certification testing because a Russian partner in the project is $3 million in debt.
Ten additional Boeing B-52H bombers were ordered to Europe yesterday by U.S. Defense Secretary William S. Cohen. Cohen also signed off on plans to send two more Boeing E-3 AWACS and one more Lockheed Martin EC-130 Airborne Battlefield Command and Control Center (ABCCC) to participate in the strikes on Yugoslavia. The aircraft, part of the new group of 300 requested by Supreme Allied Commander U.S. Army Gen. Wesley Clark, will leave the U.S. early next week.
The multinational Medium Extended Area Defense System (MEADS) program plans a downselect next month to a single contractor team, which will embark on a three-year "risk reduction program" to try to get costs under control and build a prototype capable of firing the U.S.-built PAC-3 missile.
House Intelligence Committee has approved the fiscal year 2000 intelligence authorization after increasing the request by less than 1%. No figures were released on the closed session markup. Underlying themes of the authorization are recapitalizing sigint capabilities, integrating commercial capabilities and boosting processing in imagery intelligence programs, rebuilding human intelligence capabilities, focusing all-source analysis toward global coverage, developing innovative covert action tools, and strengthening airborne reconnaissance programs.
The U.S. Army's Space and Missile Defense Battle Lab plans to use about 40 Iridium satellite pagers in the Roving Sands '99 exercise coming up in late June to help determine if they can alert isolated troops to a ballistic missile attack.
The air strikes in Yugoslavia are costing the U.S. Dept. of Defense about $37 million a day, according to figures released by Ken Bacon, the Pentagon spokesman. He said U.S. forces, as of April 19, had used more than $698 million worth of munitions and incurred about $287 million of operational costs in 24 days of air strikes. President Clinton, in his supplemental budget request to Congress,is asking $698 million for munitions replenishment and $850 million for readiness and munitions reserve.
