A Lockheed Martin Titan IVB lifted off safely from Cape Canaveral Air Station, Fla., Friday, bearing a U.S. Air Force Defense Support Program (DSP) early warning satellite aloft almost eight months after an earlier version of the big rocket exploded with a $1 billion National Reconnaissance Office satellite.
The F-22 Raptor returned to test flight last Wednesday over Edwards AFB, Calif., after three months of ground tests and scheduled system updates. A Lockheed Martin test pilot flew Raptor 02 on a two-hour mission at altitudes reaching 50,000 feet. He performed both flutter and flying quality maneuvers.
Coltec Industries and BFGoodrich shareholders on Friday approved the merger of the two companies in separate meetings in Charlotte, N.C., and New York. About 96% of the shareholders of both companies approved the combination.
At the other end of the scale from the big Ariane 5, France's Aerospatiale and Fiat Avio of Italy are forming a joint venture to develop and market the proposed Vega smallsat launcher. Aerospatiale's Couillard says four-year total development cost for the solid-fuel rocket will be about 380 million euros. Launches are expected to sell for about $20 million each, with the system capable of supporting four or five launches a year, according to Couillard.
A declassified version of the Cox Committee's report may be available as early as this week. Republicans have charged the White House with stalling release of the report, which is expected to be damaging to the Clinton Administration's policy on overseas launch of U.S. satellites and other areas of technology transfer. The bipartisan committee, headed by Rep. Christopher Cox (R-Calif.), reported late last year, without being specific, that a range of sensitive U.S.
Congress has been in recess since the day after NATO airstrikes on Yugoslavia began March 24, so when lawmakers return today they will be debating the conflict, and how to pay for it. House and Senate appropriators are slated to address a supplemental that contains no money for operations in Yugoslavia. Some lawmakers will propose waiting to pass the supplemental until such funds can be added. But it may be weeks or months before there is a clear idea of the cost, which some say will be at least $500 million.
SIGNAL TECHNOLOGY CORP. will provide shipboard wideband satellite communication amplifiers to the U.S. Navy under a $600,000 contract awarded its Keltec Div. The Danvers, Mass., company said the amplifiers will be used across the Navy's 200-ship fleet. Keltec is located in Fort Walton Beach, Fla.
Russia has announced it will roll out the long-awaited Service Module for the International Space Station at RSC Energia in Moscow on April 26, but a target launch date for the critical component won't be set until today when U.S. and Russian managers meet for a joint program review. Also on today's agenda in Moscow is setting the date when the Service Module will actually be shipped to the Baikonur Cosmodrome, and a discussion of Russia's suggestion that a two-person crew be sent to the Station this year instead of next (DAILY, March 12).
GE Engine Services' Corporate Aviation, Inc. - which operates the acquired Garrett Aviation Services unit - bought 41-year-old avionics sales and installation specialist ElectroSonics, Inc. Terms weren't disclosed, but GE says it hopes to boost Corporate Aviation's avionics offerings with the acquisition. ElectroSonics has operations in Columbus, Ohio, and McKinney, Texas.
Responding to a U.S. Navy report that engineering problems in the Standard Missile-2 Block IVA have contributed to a $537 million cost growth in the service's lower tier theater missile defense (TMD) program, Raytheon officials defended their portion of the program. The Navy late last month briefed congressional staffs on cost growth in its Navy Area Wide lower tier TMD program that shows a research, development, test and engineering shortfall of $41.8 million in fiscal year 2000 and $537 million over the future years defense plan (DAILY, April 8).
Boeing said it has demonstrated a 27mm cannon proposed for its Joint Strike Fighter. The medium caliber automatic cannon fired 40 rounds in four 10-round bursts in 1.3 seconds during the first public firing at the Arizona National Guard range in Floronco, Ariz. It can fire 1,800 shots per minute.
Russia plans to beef up army combat units and may increase defense spending in response to NATO's attacks on Yugoslavia, according to Marshall Igor Sergeyev, the defense minister. Sergeyev told Russian peacekeepers in Tajikistan Wednesday that "NATO is assuming the role of world policeman," and termed the alliance's decision to use force without U.N. Security Council approval "a matter of concern not only for me as defense minister, but also for the president of the Russian Federation," according to Russia's Itar-Tass news agency.
Engines- and components-reseller Kellstrom Industries hopes to close at the end of this month on a $16 million deal to acquire Fort Lauderdale's Certified Aircraft Parts, Inc., which specializes in parts, aftermarket support and logistics for the Lockheed Martin C-130/L-100 transport.
LUFTHANSA TECHNIK has awarded Rockwell Collins Aviation Services of Cedar Rapids, Iowa, a five-year contract to maintain the avionics aboard a fleet of Canadair Regional Jets. Under the deal, Collins will service the planes at facilities in Heusenstamm, Germany. Collins Aviation Services recently expanded its services for commercial, regional, business and military aircraft operators.
Russia's military plans to launch an orbiting x-ray telescope for Germany this month from the strategic missile force training site at Kapustin Yar aboard a Cosmos-3B booster, the Itar-Tass news agency reported.
Intense competitive pressures between two of the Federal Aviation Administration's biggest contractors, Raytheon and Lockheed Martin, prompted the agency yesterday to come to the defense of one of them. The two companies are competing for a contract to supply color displays for the Standard Terminal Automation Replacement System (STARS), for which Raytheon is the prime contractor, and announcement of the winner could come as early as next week.
With parts distributor Aviall in play as a takeover candidate (AP, Feb. 29) and a $15.50 a share merger offer on the table from Texas-based Nolan Investment Partners, an aerospace industry heavy-hitter has joined the fray - former GE Aircraft Engines chief Brian Rowe. Nolan, a group that includes former top Aviall executives and Eugene Conese, Jr., who helped build the Miami-based Greenwich Air Services empire, agreed to a deal with Rowe's investment company - called AeroEquity - to work together on issues involving their shareholdings in Aviall.
Engineers with Pratt&Whitney, Boeing and the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration 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, the enginemaker says. FAA officials are close to putting out an airworthiness directive covering the testing regime and making it mandatory; engines that fail would have to be overhauled.
The FAA approved a floor modification kit for PEMCO and AEI converted 727-200 aircraft operated by Kitty Hawk, the cargo carrier said. Tom Christopher, Kitty Hawk chairman, said the kit terminates the airworthiness directive related to cargo floor strength on the converted aircraft, and upgrades the average weight to 6,000 pounds per cargo position.
Inter-National Research Institute (INRI), a subsidiary of Northrop Grumman's Logicon Inc., has been awarded a three-year contract worth up to $47.5 million from the Pentagon's Defense Information Systems Agency to provide technical support for current and future versions of the Defense Information Infrastructure (DII) Common Operating Environment (COE). DII COE is part of the software infrastructure providing interoperable computer software systems and applications for the Dept. of Defense.
The Intelligence Community has taken steps to improve its operations since last year's release of the Rumsfeld Commission report on ballistic missile development and proliferation, the head of the commission said yesterday. Former Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said the commission last year reported severe flaws in the IC approach to proliferation monitoring, and warned that the U.S. could suffer a ballistic missile attack with little or no warning.
All the key players from Boeing, Congress and the U.S. Navy are apparently in favor of a multi-year procurement for the F/A-18E/F Super Hornet, a move that Boeing figures will save $706 million, and that the Navy says is the most cost effective way to buy 222 of the jets between fiscal years 2000 and 2004. If the multi-year procurement is approved, the total program cost will be $46.1 billion with the average Super Hornet costing $54.4 million.
Aeroquip-Vickers Inc. shareholders approved the company's merger with Eaton Industries Inc. yesterday, Aeroquip-Vickers reported. The deal is expected to close today. The shareholders' vote follows the approval of the deal by the European Commission (DAILY, April 8). Shareholders representing 23.6 million shares, or 85.2% of the shares outstanding, voted in favor of the deal.
