Kellstrom Industries has signed a definitive agreement to acquire Certified Aircraft Parts Inc., which provides parts, after-market support and logistics for the C-130, for $16 million in cash. Certified, which began concentrating on the C-130 in 1971, operates out of facilities near Fort Lauderdale International Airport. Sales in its most recent fiscal year were $25 million, with 90% coming from parts sales and 10% form specialized aircraft components testing, calibration, authentication and parts certification.
The first group of AH-64A pilots from the Royal Netherlands Air Force (RNLAF) completed training at Boeing's Mesa, Ariz., facility, the company reported. Pilots now will begin advanced combat training with U.S. Army units at Fort Hood, Tex. The Netherlands became the first international customer to take delivery of the AH-64D in May 1998. Five of the 30 ordered have been delivered.
Crane Co., Stamford, Conn., field a second lawsuit against the BFGoodrich-Coltec merger. The company, which filed the suit in Federal District Court for the Northern District of Indiana, wants to consolidate the suit with one previously filed by AlliedSignal in the same court. At the same time, Crane said it was withdrawing its previously announced offer to acquire Coltec.
The U.S. Air Force's Global Hawk unmanned aerial vehicle program suffered a setback Monday when one of the UAVs crashed during a test flight at the China Lake Naval Air Weapons Station's South Range. Air Vehicle No. 1 was flying at 145 knots and 41,000 feet over the range on an avionics developmental flight test when it "departed its normal flight pattern and went into a flat spin," said an Air Force spokesman at Edwards AFB, Calif. The vehicle, which has a wingspan of 116 feet, had been airborne for 20 minutes. The crash occurred at 10:14 a.m. PST.
Boeing Business Jet No. 1 flew from Boeing Field in Seattle to a Raytheon facility in Waco, Tex., where its interior will be installed over the next few months. The aircraft earlier this month was fitted with Aviation Partners blended winglets, and flight tested in Arizona. API winglets are now part of the baseline configuration. When the interior is completed this October, the aircraft will begin an 18-month assignment as a sales demonstrator with its first public appearance expected at the 1999 National Business Aviation Association convention in Atlanta.
Lockheed Martin Tactical Aircraft Systems selected the team of Sanders/Litton Amecom to be the electronic warfare equipment supplier for its Joint Strike Fighter aircraft.
Northrop Grumman's Integrated Systems and Aerostructures (ISA) Sector will transfer its composites manufacturing and repair operation for the B-2 bomber to the composites repair and overhaul facility at Hill AFB, Utah, Northrop Grumman reported. The transfer comes under a partnership agreement with the Air Force, and "is essential for the Air Force's long-term support of the B-2," the company said. The move will provide the capability to handle all composite spares and repairs on the B-2 fleet for up to 30 years.
A decision by the U.K. Ministry of Defense to allow Royal Air Force pilots to participate in the NATO Flying Training in Canada (NFTC) program will lead to orders for two more Hawk jet trainers, the MOD reported. Bombardier Inc. will be the prime contractor for NFTC. British Aerospace received a $571.4 million contract for 18 trainers in May 1998, and the contract included an immediate option on eight more Hawk 100s (DAILY, May 15, 1998).
Controllers at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory deployed the high-gain antenna on NASA's Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) spacecraft early Monday, making it possible for the orbiter to collect data and communicate with Earth at the same time. Previously the spacecraft had been transmitting data with the antenna stowed in its launch position, which required shutting down data collection and turning the entire spacecraft so the antenna faced Earth. Now that it is deployed, the antenna can track Earth while the spacecraft camera and other instruments collect data.
U.S. aerospace export, import and trade surplus numbers hit record highs last year, according to the Washington-based Aerospace Industries Association.
A system linking strike aircraft flying over Yugloslavia to intelligence assets is in place but glitches are still being worked out, Pentagon spokesman Ken Bacon said yesterday. Asked yesterday during a briefing for reporters if such a system is being used for missions over Yugoslavia, Bacon said "considerable emphasis" has been placed on the idea since about 1984, and that problems in Bosnia in late 1994 and early 1995 prompted work leading to the current system.
Denmark's Naval Materiel Command will buy the Boeing Advanced Harpoon Weapon Control System (AHWCS), and has committed to upgrade its Harpoon Block IC missiles to the Block II configuration, Boeing said. Denmark is one of 25 countries with the Harpoon. The NMC is one of the first countries to buy the new AHWCS. The combination of the Block II missile and AHWCS will give Danish naval forces the latest anti-ship capability and the most modern Harpoon weapon system available, Boeing said.
The Miniature Air-Launched Decoy (MALD) performed well in a flight test March 23 at Edwards AFB, Calif., validating the aerodynamic design, navigation accuracy and performance, according to prime contractor Teledyne Ryan Aeronautical. The unmanned vehicle, designed to help achieve air superiority by confusing and deceiving an enemy's integrated air defense system, separated from an F-16 flying at 20,000 feet and Mach 0.9. It flew for 19 minutes and 18 seconds, reaching a speed of Mach 0.8 in level flight at 18,000 feet. The flight covered 142 n.m.
The European Union's Transport Ministers yesterday postponed their decision on the phasing out of hushkitted aircraft by one month. "It is clear" that the proposed legislation "will be adopted unchanged on 29 April," said German Minister for Traffic, Construction and Infrastructure Franz Muenterferring, who chaired the EU meeting. EU and U.S. officials will resume talks in the meantime. "The extra contacts will provide a good opportunity to take account of the U.S. concerns," said EU Transport Commissioner Neil Kinnock.
A Dnepr launch vehicle, built from a converted Russian SS-18 Intercontinental Ballistic Missile, will be launched for the first time between April 21 and 25. Onboard for the launch from Baikonur will be the UoSAT-12 satellite, built by Surrey Satellite Technology Ltd. (SSTL) of Surrey, England. Unaided, the Dnepr can place up 1,000 kilograms into low Earth orbit and four metric tons with a booster stage; it can reach higher orbits or lift larger payloads if an upper stage is added.
INTERNATIONAL LAUNCH SERVICES partners have named Wilbur C. Trafton president of the joint venture, which markets space launches on Russia's Proton and Lockheed Martin's Atlas rockets. Trafton, a former associate NASA administrator for space flight, had served as acting president since December. Russia's Khrunichev State Research and Production Space Center and RSC Energia are Lockheed Martin's Russian partners in the venture.
Clayton Mowry, executive director of the Satellite Industry Association (SIA), responded carefully to sharp criticism aimed at his organization and others over their efforts to wrest the newly transferred control of satellite export regulation from the U.S. State Dept. and return it to the Commerce Dept. Mowry said the worldwide $51.2-billion commercial satellite industry is concerned that its ability to compete will be hurt if license applications get bogged down at State.
From Commerce Business Daily: Posted in CBDNet on March 26, 1999; Printed Issue Date: March 30, 1999; PART: U.S. GOVERNMENT PROCUREMENTS; SUBPART: SUPPLIES, EQUIPMENT AND MATERIAL; CLASSCOD: 18-Space Vehicles; OFFADD: SMC/TEKL, Space Test Program, 3550 Aberdeen Ave, SE, Kirtland AFB, NM 87117; SOL F04701-99-R0200; DUE 050399; POC Maj. Michael T. Luft, Contracting Officer (505)846-5062, Miranda K. Firth, Contract Specialist, (505)853-4267.
Surrey Satellite Technology Ltd. of Surrey England has established a joint venture with Tsinghua University in Beijing as part of a contract to help build the Tsinghua-1 microsatellite. The joint venture, named the Tsinghua-Surrey Small Satellite Company (T-SSSC), will seek to capture part of an anticipated market of some 100 Chinese small satellites that Surrey believes will be worth over 300 million pounds Sterling ($489 million) over the next five to eight years.
