Boeing Co. delivered the third production F/A-18E/F Super Hornet to the U.S. Navy yesterday. The aircraft was flown from St. Louis to NAS Patuxent River, Md. The Navy has ordered 62 of the jets had plans to buy a minimum of 548. The first seven production Super Hornets are slated to enter operational evaluation with Navy test squadron VX-9 at NAS China Lake, Calif., in May. More than 800 flights are slated in a six-month period.
Karel Van Miert and Neil Kinnock, the European Union commissioners in charge of competition and transport, respectively, are expected to stay in office until Dec. 31 despite Monday's en masse resignation of the European Commission because they have strong support in their home countries, here in Belgium and in the U.K. Van Miert and Kinnock both are directly involved in air transport talks with the U.S. In theory, the ongoing dispute between the EU and the U.S. over the ban of hushkitted aircraft should remain unaffected by the latest European crisis.
NASA has honored four of its researchers with invention-of-the-year awards for their roles developing a device that stabilizes small spacecraft in orbit and a high-temperature resin that already has generated about $10 million in commercial business.
U.S. AIR FORCE has chosen three companies to provide desktops, notebooks and servers to the AF and other Defense Dept. agencies. Dell, Gateway and Micron each got contracts earlier this month from the Air Force Standard Systems Group.
Microvision Inc., Seattle, has won a $4.176 million U.S. Army contract for further development of a monochrome green helmet-mounted display (HMD) which it says has unprecedented brightness and resolution. Award of the contract, from the Army's Aircrew Integrated Systems (ACIS) Program Office, followed delivery of the HMD, which marked completion of the company's $4.6 million Phase I contract, announced in Jan. 1998.
JAMES DILORENZO has been appointed president of Signal Technology Corp., Danvers, Mass. George Lombard, Signal's president since June 30, 1998, will remain chairman and chief executive officer. DiLorenzo, 58, has been in the electronics industry for more than 25 years and has served as general manager of Raytheon Microelectronics since January 1996. He was vice president of research and development for Microwave Semiconductor Corp. before joining Raytheon in 1989.
NORTHROP GRUMMAN CORP. said it has won a $15.4 million contract from Alenia Marconi Systems of the U.K. to design, manufacture and test the detection, classification, localization and threat evaluation (DCL/TE) subsystem for the Submarine Acoustic Warfare Control System (SAWCS), the U.K.'s next generation torpedo defense system.
ADM. DAVID JEREMIAH (USN-ret.) was named yesterday by Director of Central Intelligence George J. Tenet to lead of panel of experts in a review of possible harm to U.S. national security as a result of the alleged disclosure of nuclear weapons information to China, the CIA said yesterday.
LAST ACTIVE DUTY FLIGHT of an AH-1F Cobra attack helicopter took place yesterday at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. The helicopter, first fielded in 1967, is being replaced by the OH-58D Kiowa Warrior.
NASA has conducted a second hot-fire test of the Fastrac rocket engine that will power Orbital Sciences Corp.'s X-34 reusable launch vehicle testbed and other small space launcher. In the test last Thursday at Stennis Space Center, the new engine ran for 20 seconds. It will be dismantled for analysis before the 85-test series continues (DAILY, March 4).
March 10, 1999 Boeing Co., Wichita, Kan., is being awarded a $17,500,000 letter-contract to provide for 106 Reduced Vertical Separation Minimums kits applicable to the KC-135 aircraft. These kits provide an enhanced altitude and airspeed measuring capability that will allow aircraft to fly closer to one another. Expected contract completion date is Nov. 30, 1999. Solicitation issue date was Feb. 5, 1999. Aeronautical Systems Center, Wright-Patterson AFB, Ohio, is the contracting activity (F33657-99-C-0024).
Hughes Space and Communications Co. is examining ways to win permission from the U.S. government to proceed with plans to build two communications satellites for a consortium partly owned by Chinese interests. The Clinton Administration last month stated its intention to deny licenses needed to export the satellites, signaling a tougher new policy toward China and possibly endangering the future sale of American satellites to Beijing. That would help European competitors get a stronger position in a potentially huge market.
Lucas Aerospace won five contracts to provide engine controls for the Eurojet EJ200 engine for the Eurofighter Typhoon. The total value of the contracts, including aftermarket sales, is expected to be at least $480 million, LucasVarity plc reported yesterday. Lucas will serve as the prime contractor in three of the deals: providing the afterburner fuel control unit and main engine fuel pump to Rolls-Royce, and the main fuel metering unit to Industria de Turbo Propulsores (ITP) of Spain.
A Boeing spokesman yesterday confirmed a report of additional job cuts at the Commercial Airplane Group, and said the cuts are a sign that the unit "has made the turn" from production problems. "We're seeing significant improvement to where [we] will need fewer people," he said, confirming a story in the Wall Street Journal. "We're getting back to the health they've been working hard to regain." The measure is made in terms of reduced overtime, fewer parts shortages and less out-of-sequence work.
March 11, 1999 Raytheon Systems Company, Greenville, Texas, is being awarded a $6,250,288 firm-fixed-price contract to provide for maintenance, software, spare, and repair support for the reconnaissance equipment used on the German Air Force's Bereqt 1150 aircraft. This effort supports foreign military sales to Germany. Expected contract completion date is Feb. 28, 2002. Negotiation completion date was Feb. 25, 1999. Aeronautical Systems Center, Wright-Patterson AFB, Ohio, is the contracting activity (F33657-99-C-4711).
A Patriot Advanced Capability-3 (PAC-3) missile, during a seeker characterization test yesterday at White Sands Missile Range, N.M., intercepted and destroyed an incoming ballistic missile target, according to the U.S. Army and the Ballistic Missile Defense Organization. Preliminary data indicate the test objectives were met, the Army said.
Franco-Russian launch services provider Starsem yesterday launched four more Globalstar satellites on a Soyuz rocket flying from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan, raising to 16 the number of the satellites now in orbit.
From Commerce Business Daily. 03/05/1999 Agency NASA MSFC Classification CLASS A SPACE SOLAR POWER (SSP) EXPLORATORY RESEARCH AND TECHNOLOGY (SERT) PROGRAM, SOL NRA8-23. Solicitation Number: NRA8-23; NAIS Posted Date: Mar 05, 1999; CBDNet Posted Date: Mar 05, 1999; Response Date: Apr 19, 1999; Classification Code: A - Research&Development; Contracting Office Address: NASA/George C. Marshall Space Flight Center, Procurement Office, Marshall Space Flight Center, AL 35812
From Commerce Business Daily: Posted in CBDNet on March 12, 1999; Printed Issue Date: March 16, 1999; PART: U.S. GOVERNMENT PROCUREMENTS; SUBPART: SERVICES; CLASSCOD: A - Research and Development; OFFADD: Naval Research Laboratory, Attn: Code 3230, 4555 Overlook Avenue, SW, Washington, DC 20375-5326; SUBJECT: A - PLASMA PHYSICS RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT; SOL N00173-99-R-LS04; POC Lisa Fleming, Contract Specialist, Code 3230.LS (202) 767-3739, John W. Adams, Contracting Officer
March 11, 1999 Lockheed Martin Corp., Marietta, Ga., is being awarded a $12,001,334 face value increase to a cost-plus-award-fee contract to provide for Inertial Navigation System Replacement engineering and manufacturing development and 26 Traffic Collision Avoidance System kits applicable to the KC-135 aircraft. Expected contract completion date is October 2005. Aeronautical Systems Center, Wright-Patterson AFB, Ohio, is the contracting activity (F33657-98-C-0006-P00001).
