A manufacturing mishap involving critical composite fuel tanks has forced another delay in the planned first launch of the NASA/Lockheed Martin X-33 reusable launch vehicle testbed, bringing the total slippage in the program to 16 months.
The Dept. of Defense will fund 11 new fiscal year 1999 Advanced Concept Technology Demonstration (ACTD) programs, Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition and Technology Jacques Gansler announced last week. The Pentagon's fiscal year 1999 budget includes $89.83 million for on-going and new ACTD programs. DOD said ACTDs are aimed at fielding new systems within two to four years and are designed to "directly foster an alliance between the technologists and the warfighters." The new programs for FY99, according to DOD, are:
Members of the key congressional defense committees applauded and rose to their feet with President Clinton's pledge in Tuesday night's State of the Union speech to increase defense spending. But their skepticism surfaced almost as soon as the speech ended. Many Republicans expressed concern over what they saw as false promises and meaningless shifting of budget lines to portray what they fear may do little in the long run to reverse a downturn in defense spending.
Boeing will consolidate its Weapons Programs organization at a single site, moving the work done in Duluth, Ga., to other locations within the company. The company will sell the Duluth site and expects the transfer process to be completed in about a year.
Launch of NASA's Chandra Advanced X-ray Astrophysics Facility (AXAF) has been delayed at least five weeks, and possibly "several months" in the worst case, after faulty circuit boards were discovered in the spacecraft just before it was wrapped for shipment to Kennedy Space Center for launch.
RANGE SAFETY OFFICERS at Vandenberg AFB, Calif., ordered another delay in launching the U.S. Air Force's ARGOS science satellite and two piggyback payloads yesterday. Once again, upper-level winds raised concerns debris from a post-launch explosion of the Boeing Delta II launch vehicle could be blown over populated areas (DAILY, Jan. 20). The launch was rescheduled for 5:37 a.m. EST today.
Pentagon leaders yesterday announced sweeping changes in the U.S. ballistic missile defense program, including a delay in the possible deployment of a national missile defense (NMD) system from 2003 to 2005 despite intelligence indications that the potential for an attack on the U.S. is increasing. While the threat appears to warrant deployment of an NMD system, Pentagon leaders said they are not yet convinced the system they are developing will be mature enough to deploy by 2003.
Intersputnik signed a contract for digital television broadcasting over Russia, saying the agreement covers the operating lifetime of the Lockheed Martin Intersputnik LM-1 telecommunications satellite. Terms of the deal were not disclosed, but it calls for Sistema Telecom - an operation of Sistema, Russia's Joint Stock Financial Corporation - to lease eight Ku-band transponders on LM-1 during its 15-year service life.
British Aerospace and General Electric Co. plc said yesterday that BAe has agreed to acquire GEC's Marconi Electronic Systems for about $12.7 billion, an all-British deal that miffed German and French aerospace companies which had been angling for a British connection, but that wasn't expected to keep them from negotiating again.
TRW Inc. has concluded its acquisition of Astro Aerospace Corp., which is now a wholly owned subsidiary of TRW's Space&Electronics Group, TRW reported. Located in Carpinteria, Calif., the former Spar Aerospace unit employs about 100 in the development and manufacturing of custom structures, arrays, robotic systems for mobile platforms and space-deployable subsystems and mechanisms for large space structure assembly.
V-22 OSPREY tiltrotor aircraft flew aboard the USS Saipan Jan. 15, beginning sea trials that are slated to last until the middle of February. Bell Boeing said the aircraft joined up with the LHA-class ship off the coast of Norfolk, Va.
January 13 Boeing Co., St. Louis, Mo., is being awarded a $10,336,000 modification to previously awarded contract (N00019-93-C-0051)to upgrade the government of Finland's F/A-18 C/D weapons tactics trainer under the Foreign Military Sales (FMS) program. Work will be performed in Arlington, Texas (80%), and St. Louis, Mo., (20%), and is expected to be completed by Nov. 2000. Contract funds will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. The Naval Air Systems Command, Patuxent River, Md., is the contracting activity.
The U.S. Dept. of Defense and the Army have decided to slip the next test of the Theater High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) missile from the originally planned date of Feb. 19 to sometime in March, sources told The DAILY yesterday. A Ballistic Missile Defense Organization spokeswoman attributed the slip to a problem with the Hera target, which is also used as a target in the Patriot PAC-3 program.
High upper-level winds over Vandenberg AFB, Calif., forced officials to delay launch of the U.S. Air Force's Advanced Research and Global Observation Satellite (ARGOS) and two piggyback payloads until this morning at the earliest. The launch atop a Boeing Delta II rocket had been scheduled for Friday, but was slipped a day at a time because of wind constraints. Air Force range safety officers were concerned the high-altitude winds had the potential to blow debris from a commanded destruction of the rocket after launch back inland to populated areas.
January 15 The Boeing Company, Seattle, Wash., is being awarded an $8,153,001 face value increase to a firm-fixed-price contract to provide for 135 Global Positioning System Receiver Interface Unit/Precision Retrofit Kits applicable to the Conventional Air Launched Cruise Missile. Expected contract completion date is Oct. 31, 2001. Solicitation issue date was July 23, 1998. Negotiation completion date was Nov. 5, 1998. Oklahoma City Air Logistics Center, Tinker AFB, Okla., is the contracting activity (F34601-95-C-0478-P00080).
U.S. airlines in 1999 will see weak economic conditions, more intense competition, a large capacity increase and lower profits, according to Merrill Lynch. The company expects industry profits to decline 12% in 1999, due largely to a 5% increase in capacity, "which we think will pressure revenues," said analysts Candace Browning and Michael Linenberg.
The U.S. Navy/Boeing Super Hornet program passed the 4,000 flight hour milestone Jan. 12 with a 2.6 hour flight at NAS Patuxent River, Md., of F/A-18E5, a single-seat version of the plane. Boeing said the flight, with company test pilot Phil Pirozzi at the controls, brought to 2,683 the number of the flights made by the seven Super Hornets in the F/A-18E/F engineering and manufacturing development program at Pax River. The flight also brought the total number of hours logged by the planes to 4,006.
