Lockheed Martin Space Operations has awarded Wang Global of McLean, Va., a 10-year contract worth $453 million to provide wide area network data distribution services on Lockheed Martin's $3.4 billion Consolidated Space Operations Contract (CSOC) with NASA, Wang reported. Under the CSOC subcontract Wang will consolidate NASA wide area networks for the agency's Space Science, Human Exploration and Development of Space, Mission to Planet Earth and Aeronautics and Space Transportation "enterprises."
NASA's Mars Polar Lander has been on its way to the south pole of the Red Planet for only a little more than two weeks, but it already has taught the next U.S. space probe a lesson or two. Joseph Vellinga, Lockheed Martin Astronautics program manager on the Stardust probe set for a Feb. 6 launch, says his engineers already have loaded software patches into the spacecraft to prevent a repeat of fuel-guzzling transitions the Mars probe suffered early in its flight (DAILY, Dec. 14).
Dassault Aviation has received an order from the French government for 28 Rafale fighters and an option for 20 more. All 48 jets would cost about 17 billion francs (about $3 billion). The latest order, announced Thursday, is the second for the Rafale, and brings the total to 61. The first order for 13 Rafales was placed in May 1997.
The first two of 300 Boeing CH-47D Chinook helicopters to be updated for the U.S. Army in the CH-47F Improved Cargo Helicopter program entered the company's modernization line at Ridley Park, Pa., on Jan. 14. Boeing and the Dept. of Defense signed a $76 million contract last May to begin upgrading the Army's CH-47D fleet (DAILY, May 19, 1998). The first production ICH will be delivered in 2003. Once full production is reached, 26 modernized CH-47Ds will be completed each year through 2013, the company said.
Pratt&Whitney's self-funded F100-PW-229A - a re-fanned F100 fighter engine that can produce as much as 37,150 lbst. - is edging close to 500 total hours of run time, and the latest round of sea-level tests has just gotten under way at P&W's West Palm Beach, Fla., facility. The testing follows completion of altitude runs at the Wilgoos test facility in Connecticut last month, F100 program chief Dennis Enos tells AP.
Lockheed Martin Government Electronic Systems (GES) won U.S. Navy contracts worth a total of about $283 million for Aegis Combat Systems and Vertical Launching Systems. GES, Moorestown, N.J., an element of Lockheed Martin Naval Electronics&Surveillance Systems, won a $180.7 million contract from Naval Sea Systems Command for 1999 production of three Aegis combat systems and support services. The work is part of a multi-year contract awarded last year to provide 13 Aegis Combat Systems.
Vancouver-based Reg Technologies worked out a license deal to let Global Aircraft Corp. develop and commercialize an aviation version of Reg's Rand Cam diesel engine as part of Global's work for NASA on 21st century general aviation aircraft. The U.S. agency is looking for engines to power GA aircraft at cruising speeds of some 250 miles per hour and altitudes up to 25,000 feet.
RAYTHEON CO. won a five-year, $15.8 million contract from the U.S. Army for life cycle contractor support services for the family of Battlefield Mobility/Target Acquisition (BM/TA) training devices for the Simulation Training and Instrumentation Command (STRICOM) at various sites around the world. The company will provide maintenance, operations and logistics support to include synthetic flight training systems and the synthetic flight research systems, aviation and transportation occupational skills training devices and non-systems training devices.
The Pentagon is reviewing a request from Turkey for a Patriot missile defense capability, Pentagon spokesman Capt. Mike Doubleday told reporters yesterday. Turkey has not requested a specific number of Patriots, but rather a capability, he said. The country has not been specific about where the systems would be based, although Doubleday agreed it would likely be near the air base at Incirlik, from which U.S. aircraft fly operation Northern Watch missions over Iraq.
Britain's General Electric Co. plc warned British Aerospace that it must decide this week if it wants to buy GEC's Marconi unit. Talk among French and German aerospace companies to about similar links prompted the warning, according to press reports. The Financial Times said the development should refocus attention on attempts to form a large and powerful European aerospace and defense company to compete with the American giants.
Canadian enginemaker Orenda Recip won a contract from Turkish Aerospace Industries to supply a complete firewall-forward propulsion package - engine, mounting structure, accessories, propeller and cowling - for a new agricultural/firefighting aircraft still in development, Orenda reports. The power package will be built around Orenda's OE600 V-8 piston engine, and the company says the deal could lead to sales of as many as 300 engines for this application - business worth as much as US$45 million.
Russia's Foreign Ministry yesterday warned that any U.S. restrictions on commercial space launches on its vehicles over missile and nuclear proliferation issues will harm U.S. companies as well as the Russian firms that profit from them.
MI TECHNOLOGIES, Atlanta, won a contract from the U.S. Air Force to provide a Precision Radome Integrated System of Measurement (PRISM) at Robins AFB, Ga. The system will be used to perform microwave qualification on F-15 radomes to analyze their performance on transmission and reception of radar signals. Completion is scheduled for March 2000.
NASA engineers already are studying alternatives to the Liquid Fly Back Booster (LFBB) as an upgrade to the solid-fuel boosters used by the Space Shuttle fleet, but the work should have a broader focus on reusable first stage technology that isn't limited to the Shuttle, according to the astronaut who oversees the Shuttle program at agency headquarters.
HEICO CORP. said the Lufthansa Technik subsidiary of Lufthansa German Airlines has invested an additional $3 million in HEICO Aerospace Holdings Corp., the company's Flight Support Group. The move brings to $38 million the total cash commitment made by Lufthansa. Lufthansa agreed in 1997 to invest about$26 million in the group over a three year period in return for a 20% interest in the group. In September 1998, Lufthansa invested $9 million more for its share of the purchase price of McCain International.
Prompted by the potentially disastrous Year 2000 computer problem, the Clinton Administration is sending a delegation to Russia next week to accelerate plans to put in place an apparatus to share early warning missile attack data, and thus to help ensure that Russia's nuclear weaponry is in check, senior Pentagon officials reported yesterday. "My sense is that Russia is not as aware that this is a problem and doesn't have the same level of urgency," Deputy Defense Secretary John Hamre said.
LOCKHEED MARTIN has won a five-year, $88.5 million U.S. Navy contract for operation and maintenance of systems, equipment and facilities at the Fallon, Nev., and Yuma, Ariz., Tactical Training Ranges.
RAYTHEON CO., Lexington, Mass., will supply its fiber optic network for the Triband Tactical Terminal (T-3) program, a mobile communications systems being built for the U.S. Army by Raytheon. The fiber optic multiplexer will allow personnel to remotely control and monitor the T-3 system from several kilometers away and reduce interference for both secured and non-secured communications.
Raytheon Co.'s $134 million contract from the U.S. Navy for full-rate production of the AGM-154A Joint Standoff Weapon and low-rate initial production (LRIP) of the AGM-154B variant (DAILY, Jan. 6) includes provisions for more than $600 million of follow-on production options over the next three years, the company said yesterday.
The info-tech joint venture set up last summer by GE Engine Services and electronics giant Harris hopes a novel, no-acquisition-cost marketing strategy will help launch its whole range of real-time airline data-gathering and analysis products soon.
EDO CORP., New York, won a $12 million contract from the U.S. Navy to supply Mod 4 Upgrade Kits for the Mk. 105 Airborne Mine Countermeasures (AMCM) Systems. The option exercise is a follow-on to the basic contract of about $9 million announced in July 1998. EDO's Marine and Aircraft Systems unit will produce the kits at its North Amityville, N.Y., facility. Deliveries are set to begin in 2000. Installation into the systems will be under a separate contract to be awarded to EDO, with deliveries extending into 2002.
Raytheon Aerospace has won a contract potentially worth $47.7 million to provide aircraft maintenance in support of the U.S. Customs Service's Air Interdiction Maintenance Program. Raytheon said the contract, which has nine one-year options, calls for full maintenance and logistics support, program management and electronic data processing support services for more than 120 fixed-wing and rotary aircraft and associated equipment.
NASA's Stardust probe is on schedule for a Feb. 6 launch to the comet Wild-2, where it is to fly as close as 93 miles from the comet's icy core to collect tiny particles from its coma in an aluminum paddle packed with "frozen smoke."
United Airlines recently introduced flight-planning technology called Skypath and early results show the system is helping the airline cut costs, achieve better on-time performance and avoid tough weather.
