Space Imaging will launch its first one-meter commercial remote sensing satellite, Ikonos 1, on April 27 from Vandenberg AFB, Calif., the Denver-based company reported. The satellite will be launched aboard a Lockheed Martin Athena II rocket at 2:21 p.m. EDT. It was delivered to the California polar launch site Monday, Space Imaging said.
U.S. airlift assets may not be adequate to cover two major wars, the commanders-in-chief told the Senate Armed Services Committee Wednesday. Marine Corps. Gen. Anthony C. Zinni, head of U.S. Central Command, and Marine Gen. Charles E. Wilhelm, chief of U.S. Southern Command, said their mission readiness has not been affected by NATO's Operation Allied Force in Yugoslavia, but they have doubts about the long-term ability of U.S. airlift assets to answer demands in more than one theater of war.
ALLIEDSIGNAL INC., South Bend, Ind., won a contract from Korean Air to provide wheels and brakes for the airline's future fleet of 737-next generation aircraft. Korean Air has ordered 27 new 737s, with the first scheduled to enter service in early 2000.
The Pentagon's Ballistic Missile Defense Organization has asked lawmakers to approve a $60 million reprogramming request for the Patriot Advanced Capability-3 (PAC-3) missile program to cover unexpected cost growth, BMDO Director Lt. Gen. Lester Lyles said yesterday. The reprogramming addresses a shortfall in fiscal year 1999 funds, Lyles told the Senate Appropriations Committee's defense panel.
An Atlas IIAS rocket lifted the W3 telecommunications satellite to geosynchronous transfer orbit Monday evening from Cape Canaveral Air Station, Fla., maintaining the Atlas II series' 100% operational success rating. The rocket lifted off at 6:50 p.m. EDT and boosted the 7,000-pound payload for about 28 minutes until it reached its initial orbit and separated.
The Ballistic Missile Defense Organization has slipped the first scheduled intercept test in the national missile defense (NMD) program from mid-June until mid-to-late August to allow for additional ground tests, BMDO officials said yesterday.
Systems integration by Lockheed Martin ASIC of the Tomahawk Land Attack Missile (TLAM) for the Royal Navy's three Swiftsure and Trafalgar Class submarines, plus provision of complete modification kits for four more, has gained the Portsmouth, England-based company the Defense Ministry's Procurement Executive 1999 Project of the Year award. All 10 RN attack submarines will eventually be equipped to launch Tomahawks, according to the 1998 U.K. Strategic Defense Review.
U.S. Defense Secretary William S. Cohen said yesterday that the Dept. of Defense does not support General Dynamics Corp.'s proposed acquisition of Newport News Shipbuilding. Cohen said the proposed merger posed "management and competitive challenges" that offset potential savings offered by the combination of the only two U.S. builders of nuclear submarines.
AlliedSignal Inc. has realigned its aerospace business into three segments in a move that the company said yesterday will yield savings of up to $50 million annually. The $7.5 billion business will consist of Engines&Systems, which includes the engines, components and accessories businesses; Avionics&Lighting, which includes the avionics, defense and space and aircraft lighting businesses; and Aerospace Services, which includes aftermarket, logistics, technical services and consulting.
The latest round of International Space Station technical meetings produced no surprises or new requests for U.S. funding from the cash-strapped Russians, setting up a launch of the critical Service Module later this year and the first full-time crew early in 2000, Administrator Daniel S. Goldin said yesterday.
As additional aircraft arrive in Europe to increase the number of NATO aircraft to about 1,000, the alliance will soon be able to conduct continuous operations over Yugoslavia, NATO spokesman Jamie Shea said yesterday. NATO has about 600 planes in the theater now, and 300 additional U.S. aircraft - ground attack types, defense suppression jets and tankers - are on the way.
Wyman-Gordon Co., North Grafton, Mass., will take a $13.8 million pre-tax charge to settle claims related to a December 1996 industrial accident at its Houston facility, the company reported. Wyman-Gordon restated its third quarter earnings to include the charge, leaving the company with a $9.4 million loss in the period.
Dr. J.P. (Jack) London, chairman and chief executive officer of CACI International Inc., says he is often asked where the company will be in five years, but he tries not to look that far ahead "because it's really everything you can do to try to visualize your corporate position in the next couple" of years. London said in an interview with The DAILY at the company's headquarters in Arlington, Va., that information technology has been one of its main productivity drivers for the last 10 years.
The Dept. of Defense plans to sell 11 excess F-111 aircraft to Australia for $500 million. The proposed sale includes ALR-621 radar warning receiver systems and 130 F-111 TF30 engines. It "will provide Australia the ability to safely and economically maintain and operate their F-111s," according to a Pentagon written statement. Australia already has F-111 aircraft in its inventory.
Boeing has moved up by a week the release date of its quarterly financial results. Debby Hopkins, chief financial officer, said Monday that the move reflects increased emphasis on efficiency and urgency. The release date is being moved up from April 22, the third week of the quarter, to April 15. "Obviously, the sooner we can get the books closed each quarter, the faster we can act on the results," Hopkins said.
The U.S. Navy is using a "cyclic readiness" approach to keep the maximum number of EA-6B Prowler electronic jamming aircraft in operation, congressional staffers were told last week. The Pentagon has established 104 as the best number of operational Prowlers, and about 90 are now in the fleet. Northrop Grumman is overhauling about 20 under the ICAP-III contract and has delivered the first two. Nearly 30 years after the EA-6B was introduced, it is the sole U.S. tactical jammer, since the U.S. Air Force retired its EF-111s in 1994.
Contract aircraft have flown a total of 14 missions to date in support of the humanitarian airlift of food and supplies from the U.S. to refugees in Albania. To date the airlift contract has cost the U.S. military $2.6 million, and that number is expected to climb. Five additional missions are slated and more are possible, said Air Force Capt. Jeff Glenn, Air Mobility Command spokesman.
Pratt&Whitney, Boeing and FAA are working out a test and inspection program for high-cycle PW4000 engines with 94-inch fans to identify which ones have enough high-power stability to be at low risk for surges, P&W confirmed. FAA officials are close to putting out an airworthiness directive making the testing regime mandatory and requiring overhauls for engines that do not pass. The work is part of a continuing program to address compressor surges on engines with 1,200 or more cycles.
The proportion of support sorties to strike sorties in the NATO air campaign against Serb forces in Yugoslavia is greater than in any previous air campaign, Gen. Wesley Clark, Supreme Allied Commander Europe, said yesterday on the 21st day of the effort.
Hawker Pacific Aerospace said it has signed a five-year, $6.5 million landing gear service contract with EVA Airways, Taiwan, Republic of China. Hawker will provide landing gear overhaul services for EVA's 747-400 fleet. All work will be performed at Hawker's Sun Valley, Calif., facility. In October 1998, Hawker and EVA signed a contract for landing gear overhaul services for the airline's 767 fleet.
NAVY REAR ADM. THOMAS R. WILSON, director of intelligence for the Joint Staff, has been nominated for promotion to vice admiral and assignment as director of the Defense Intelligence Agency. The current DIA Director, Army Lt. Gen. Patrick Hughes, is retiring.
The U.S. Air Force, Raytheon and the FAA this week began the third and final increment of system acceptance testing (SAT) for the Standard Terminal Automation Replacement System (STARS), including the Full Service and Emergency Service elements (DAILY, April 7). Previous SAT increments were successfully tested last September and January at Raytheon's Marlborough, Mass., facility.
The most likely end to the crisis in Kosovo probably leaves the U.S. aerospace/defense industry where it is today, but alternate resolutions could create changes in the marketplace for tactical combat aircraft, ballistic missiles, naval force modernization and Army and Marine forces, according to Merrill Lynch aerospace analyst Byron Callan.
