ECC INTERNATIONAL CORP., Orlando, Fla., won a $7.5 million contract from Lockheed Martin Information Systems for components for Close Combat Tactical Trainer (CCTT) systems for the U.S. Army. The current production effort is an extension of a Low Rate Initial Production contract. Most of the production is expected to be finished within the next year. ECC has been a primary participant in the program since the initial award in 1992.
K&F Industries Inc., New York, set records for sales, operating income, earnings and orders for 1998. The company earned $39.4 million on sales of $345.4 million for the full year, rebounding from a loss of $13.8 million on sales of $304.3 million in 1997. It recorded a non-recurring charge in 1997.
NATO launched airstrikes on Serbian targets in Kosovo yesterday. President Clinton said shortly after the strikes began at 2 p.m. EST (8 p.m. in the theater) that strikes had begun on military targets. U.S. Defense Secretary William Cohen and Gen. Henry H. Shelton, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said the primary targets were air defense units and command and control systems, and that cruise missiles from ships and aircraft were used.
THE U.K. EXPECTS all its front-line units to be Y2K compliant by late summer, according to Defense Secretary George Robertson. "Over 60% of the [Ministry of Defense's] critical systems have already been fixed, 95% are on track to be corrected by the autumn and the remainder by the end of the year," Robertson told Parliament last week. "I have no doubt that our defense capability will be sustained over the millennium period and beyond." The MOD has more than 30,000 systems and the largest Y2K program in the U.K. central government.
ALLIEDSIGNAL, Phoenix, Ariz., has installed the first RE220[RJ] auxiliary power unit in Bombardier's new CRJ700 regional jet. The company said it expects the FAA to grant Technical Standard Order (TSO), or design and production, approval for the RE220[RJ] in mid-May.
RAYTHEON SYSTEMS LTD., London, will set up a software house in Northern Ireland. Discussions have taken place with the Industrial Development Board for Northern Ireland, and the house could bring up to 150 jobs for software engineers. Raytheon said that if it wins the ASTOR program with partner Short Brothers plc of Northern Ireland, another 830 jobs could be created.
EVANS&SUTHERLAND COMPUTER CORP., Salt Lake City, will supply complete visual systems for two AH-1W helicopter training simulators for Taiwan. The contract, worth about $7 million, is from prime contractor J.F. Taylor Inc. The new units will be the 16th and 17th E&S visual systems to be integrated into military simulators for Taiwan.
BVR SYSTEMS LTD., Givatayim, Israel, has withdrawn from participation in a tender to supply an unnamed NATO country with EHUD rangeless ACMI systems due to the customer's "determination to request a further price reduction." Israel Aircraft Industries had requested a review of the contract shortly after it was announced (DAILY, March 12). BVR said it will receive $2 million in royalty payments based on a previous cooperation agreement with IAI, and also is in negotiations with IAI to resolve all commercial disputes and related litigation between the parties (DAILY, Feb.
All Boeing 737s in airline service, even the next-generation models, have a rudder system "that could lead to a loss of control," the National Transportation Safety Board said yesterday.
United Defense won a $102.3 million Foreign Military Sales contract from the U.S. Army for the co-production of 50 M88A2 Hercules Heavy Recovery Vehicles for Egypt. The company said it will supply hardware, kits and hull welding in the U.S. and machining, welding and final assembly of the vehicles in the Egyptian Tank Plant in Cairo. Deliveries are slated to begin in April 1999 and continue through August 2001.
Restructuring and other one-time charges left Wyman-Gordon Co. with a $525,000 loss in its 1999 third quarter, the company reported yesterday. Sales during the period climbed 16% to $211.2 million. The North Grafton, Mass., company said its third quarter performance was consistent with a previous statement that it would take a $5.2 million restructuring charge and a $5.8 million one-time charge related to major cost reduction initiatives (DAILY, Feb. 18).
EFW INC., Fort Worth, Tex., a subsidiary of Israel's Elbit Systems Ltd., signed a letter of intent to acquire the assets of International Enterprises Inc (IEI). IEI, a privately held company based in Talladega, Ala., provides repair, maintenance and logistics support for various military electronics systems. IEI will operate as a subsidiary of EFW, retaining its management team and workforce.
Gencorp earned $17.2 million in the 1999 first quarter as sales climbed 20% to $439.6 million, the company reported. In the same period a year ago, the company earned $12.8 million on sales of $365.5 million.
Northrop Grumman Corp. won a contract from the German Ministry of Defense for in-flight demonstrations of its AN/AAR-54 passive missile approach warning system on the German C-160 Transall transport aircraft. The company said its Electronic Sensors and Systems Sector will install and supply test performance evaluation data using the production warning system.
Boeing Friday rolled out the first FedEx MD-10 freighter at its Long Beach, Calif., facility. The aircraft's instrument panel is identical to that of the Boeing MD-11 and pilots can receive a single certificate to operate both.
RICHARD G. TENNANT has joined Orbcomm Global L.P. as senior vice president and chief financial officer. Orbcomm, Dulles, Va., uses a low-Earth orbit (LEO) satellite constellation to provide two-way monitoring, tracking and messaging services. Tennant comes to the company from Information Resource Engineering Inc. of Baltimore, where he held the post of senior vice president and chief financial officer starting in 1997.
PRC Inc. won a five-year, $30 million follow-on contract for Intelligence Systems Support (ISS) from the North American Aerospace Defense Command/U.S. Space Command, Litton Industries, PRC's parent, reported yesterday. PRC has been performing support services since August 1994. The recompeted contract allows it to continue to provide life-cycle support for computer systems for NORAD along with the Air Force and Army Space agencies in Colorado Springs, Colo. The contract includes a five-year renewal option.
The AIM-9X Sidewinder short range air-to-air missile completed its first air launch at the Naval Air Warfare Center, China Lake, Calif. The March 18 launch, from an F/A-18C/D Hornet, was the first in a series for the Raytheon-developed missile. More tests are scheduled throughout 1999 from U.S. Navy F/A-18 and U.S. Air Force F-15 aircraft.
United Technologies' Hamilton Standard unit has agreed to acquire IMI Marston's Aerospace Heat Transfer and Fluids Management business, Wolverhampton, England, for about $26 million, Hamilton Standard reported yesterday. The acquired businesses will be operated as HS Marston Aerospace Ltd., a business unit of Hamilton Standard. Steve Hiscox, IMI Marston's director, will serve as managing director of the new entity. The current management team and about 260 current employees will remain.
The seventh F-22 Raptor mid-fuselage has been shipped on schedule from Lockheed Martin Tactical Aircraft Systems, Fort Worth, Tex., to mate with the rest of the aircraft at Lockheed Martin Aeronautical Systems in Marietta, Ga. The midsection is the central portion of the second F-22 to be equipped with a full complement of avionics and will be the fifth flying F-22. The midsection for the first full-up avionics F-22 was delivered last December.
ORBITAL SCIENCES CORP. and Japan's Broadcasting Satellite System Corp. (B-SAT) have signed a contract under which the U.S. company will build and launch two geosynchronous direct-to-home television broadcast satellites that will deliver digital TV to Japan. The signing finalizes a deal announced last year (DAILY, Nov. 17, 1998).
The Pentagon's new Defense Threat Reduction Agency has begun training a space launch technology cadre to enforce restrictions of U.S. export licenses for launch of U.S. satellites on foreign boosters, DTRA Director Jay Davis told senators yesterday.
Boeing's decision to drop out of its joint effort with NASA to develop a high speed civil transport (HSCT) is a troublesome harbinger for the future of long-term research and development in the U.S., Administrator Daniel S. Goldin warned yesterday.
Air traffic on commercial air carriers is expected to continue growing briskly over the next decade on both U.S. and international routes but commuter airlines will grow even more briskly, according to the FAA. The agency said at its annual forecast conference that it expects the number of air travelers in the U.S. to increase by 2.4% this year over 1998, and an increase of 3.4% a year from 1998 through 2010, when 828 million passengers will be carried by U.S. commercial airlines each year.
