NATO aircraft may have mistakenly attacked civilians in a convoy last week in Kosovo, the commander of the allied air wing at Aviano, Italy, said yesterday. U.S. Air Force Brig. Gen. Daniel Leaf, commander of the 3rd Air Expeditionary Wing at the Italian base, detailed the April 14 incident that took place southeast of the town of Djakovica. He said "NATO forces may have inadvertently attacked civilian vehicles and civilian persons in a large convoy."
Argentina's flag carrier, citing ETOPS restrictions, yesterday ordered 12 ultra-long-range Airbus A340 aircraft, making it the first carrier in Latin America to select the four-engine aircraft for intercontinental routes. The contract of Aerolineas Argentinas with Airbus Industrie includes six newly launched A340-600s and a mix of A340-200s/300s. The latter will be phased into service beginning this summer, while the A340-600s will be delivered beginning in 2002.
Senate hearings will likely be held on the Commercial Space Transportation Cost Reduction Act (HR 469) introduced by Sen. John Breaux (D-La.) by the end of May, Washington sources have told SBT.
The strong business jet market turned into a record quarter for Gulfstream Aerospace Corp., the company reported yesterday. Gulfstream earned $58.5 million in the 1999 first quarter on sales of $625.1 million, up from earnings of $40.5 million on sales of $503.4 million in the first three months of 1998. Operating earnings increased 41% during the period to $97.3 million. Gulfstream delivered 17 aircraft during the 1999 first quarter, 10 IV-SPs and seven Vs, up from 13 deliveries in the 1998 first quarter, which consisted of six IV-SPs and seven Vs.
Russia has lost its last data relay satellite capable of communicating with the Mir space station, leaving ground controllers only the limited coverage provided by Russia's ground-based tracking network.
April 12, 1999 Boeing North American, Inc., Long Beach, Calif., is being awarded a $9,769,000 firm-fixed-price contract to provide for the acquisition of 500 horizontal stabilizer spars in support of the B-1B Horizontal Stabilizer Replacement Program. There was one firm solicited and one proposal received. Expected contract completion date is November 2001. Solicitation issue date was Dec. 23, 1998. Negotiation completion date was April 6, 1999. Oklahoma City Air Logistics Center, Tinker AFB, Okla., is the contracting activity (F34601-99-C-0129).
From Commerce Business Daily: Posted in CBDNet on April 13, 1999 PART: U.S. GOVERNMENT PROCUREMENTS; SUBPART: SERVICES; CLASSCOD: A-Research and Development; OFFADD: NASA/Ames Research Center, JA:M/S 241-1, Moffett Field, CA 94035-1000 ... SOL RFP2-36885-DRAFT; POC Rachel R. Khattab, Contract Specialist, Phone (650) 604-5237, Fax (650) 604-4646, Email [email protected] - Dee Morrison, Contracting Officer, Phone (650) 604-3012, Fax (650) 604-4646, Email [email protected]
The Joint Strike Fighter Program Office has asked prime contractors Boeing and Lockheed Martin to submit a "replan" on how they will finish their work without cost overruns, according to a spokesperson with the U.S. Dept. of Defense. "We've advised both companies to submit replans detailing how they propose to remain on budget, on schedule through the concept demonstration phase to downselect in 2001," the spokesperson said.
The Congressional Budget Office estimates the U.S. costs for the Kosovo operation could run as high as $4 billion by September 2000. While CBO reported it does not have enough information to estimate the cost of the operation precisely, it pegs the cost for the first 12 months - through March 2000 - at $3 billion. assuming that the current air campaign continues into early May and is followed by a peacekeeping effort.
NASA has taken steps to tighten its compliance with U.S. export control laws, both on its own and in reaction to an inspector general's report on agency weaknesses (DAILY, March 29, April 6). But Administrator Goldin notes rising "tension" over the issue with foreign partners and particularly with partners who are also members of the NATO military alliance. "Obeying the rules of export control doesn't mean you should treat your partners improperly," he tells reporters.
The bad news for Northrop Grumman has passed, and the company now holds "considerably more potential than anticipated by the market," according to aerospace analyst Paul Nisbet, head of JSA Research. Northrop Grumman's stock lost 56% of its value since its all-time high in March 1998, but in a report Nisbet says that while Northrop Grumman's top-line growth will be flat over the next two years, operating margins should improve over the next five, with both sales and earnings accelerating in the out years.
The U.S. government continues its outsourcing push with a five-year service award to Ball Aerospace&Technologies Corp. The $350 million Flight Instrument and Subsystems Tasks contract will have Ball supporting NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory by designing, building and testing hardware. The work is equal to about 100 JPL jobs.
A BOEING F/A-18E Super Hornet has refueled another Super Hornet, a Lockheed Martin S-3 Viking and a Northrop Grumman F-14 Tomcat in the skies over Patuxent River, Md., Boeing reported. A Super Hornet can carry more than 29,000 pounds of fuel when configured as a tanker with four 480-gallon external tanks and a 330-gallon aerial refueling system (ARS). Also known as a buddy store, the ARS consists of a centerline external tank and a hose reel.
Government and academic researchers may soon see a dramatic cut in their space launch costs under an agreement by NASA, the U.S. Air Force and the U.S. National Reconnaissance Office.
Senate Commerce Committee Chair John McCain (R-Ariz.) this week will move as early as this week to forward his bill providing liability protection for companies unable to prepare their computers in time for the expected Year 2000 glitches. Republicans and Democrats had been deadlocked on provisions in the bill, but brokered a compromise last week.
The White House is expected to send Congress a $6 billion supplemental request early this week to pay for the Kosovo operation. Lawmakers seem to be receptive to the supplemental request, which will fund military and humanitarian efforts, with a quick passage expected. However, several lawmakers have warned the Pentagon not to raid it's fiscal year 2000 budget procurement accounts to pay for Kosovo.
Arianespace signed a launch contract for the BSAT-2a and -2b satellites for Japan's B-SAT Corp., Arianespace reported Thursday. The launches are set for 2000 and 2001. The digital direct-to-home TV satellites will be built by Orbital Sciences Corp. at its Dulles, Va., facility. Based on Orbital's STAR platform, the satellites will provide up to 2 kilowatts of power and have a 12-year design life.
Gen. Charles E. Wilhelm, commander in chief of U.S. Southern Command, wants a new defense budget line to cover the missionary work his troops do with military professionals from Latin America. In a letter to Defense Secretary William Cohen and Army Gen. Hugh Shelton, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Wilhelm recommends that an account designated "shape," in the sense of using joint exercises and training to forge friendly relations with foreign militaries, be added to the budget.
The U.S. Dept. of Defense has awarded a $6.5 million contract to accelerate Raytheon's production of AN/ALE-50 towed decoys "in support of Operation Allied Force," according to a Pentagon announcement. The order announced Thursday for more than 1,500 decoys is an effort to increase survivability of U.S. aircraft. The Air Force would not confirm whether the systems will be shipped to Europe or serve as a backfill for systems already being used in NATO air strikes.
Freshman Rep. Rush Holt (D-N.J.), an upset winner last year, hastwo former Republican holders of the seat already eager to take it back. One of them is former Rep. Dick Zimmer, who represented the district for three terms until he lost a close Senate race in 1996. Zimmer served on the House Science Committee. The other Republican candidate is former Rep. Michael Pappas, who replaced Zimmer in the House and served on the House Armed Services Committee for one term.
Two spacewalking crewmen from Russia's Mir orbital station were unable to test tools designed to patch the leaking Spektr module Friday because a tube of coating material could not be opened. During a sortie that lasted six hours, 19 minutes, Russia's Viktor Afanasyev and Jean-Pierre Haignere of France were able to launch a small satellite built by French and Russian schoolchildren and retrieve a French experiment designed to trap meteorites.
