TEXTRON INC., Providence, R.I., received regulatory approvals required for the sale of its Avco Financial Services unit to Associates First Capital Corp., which is expected to close early this month. In August, Textron agreed to sell Avco for $3.9 billion in cash, with 40% of proceeds going to repurchase stock and 60% to fund future acquisitions.
Elbit Systems Ltd., Haifa, Israel, yesterday reported first test flights with the Joint Helmet Mounted Cueing System (JHMCS) on a U.S. Air Force F-15 and a U.S. Navy F/A-18. It said the system was praised by both pilots. JHMCS, according to Elbit, allows pilots to lock on and fire at enemy aircraft without having to maneuver into position. It said the pilot only needs to point his head at the target, and weapons will be directed where the pilot is looking. Targeting cues are displayed on the pilot's visor.
The correct spelling of the name of the new House Speaker-elect is J. Dennis Hastert. The last name of the Illinois Republican was misspelled in the Dec. 22 issue of The DAILY.
NASA has licensed an Everett, Wash., company that specializes in aircraft upgrades to commercialize a technology developed at Langley Research Center that improves single-rotor helicopter performance by using the downflow of air from the rotor to counter torque. Boundary Layer Research Inc. (BLR) will market a system of tailboom strakes that has already attracted interest in the U.S. Army and the helicopter forces of Australia and New Zealand.
CURTISS-WRIGHT FLIGHT SYSTEMS, a subsidiary of Curtiss-Wright Corp., Lyndhurst, N.J., completed the acquisition of the shares of SIG-Antriebstechnik, a unit of SIG Swiss Industrial Co. Group. The unit, which will be renamed CW Antriebstechnik GmbH (CW Drive Technology Ltd.), provides drive technology equipment for commercial marine propulsion, high-speed rail trains and military tracked and wheeled vehicles. The purchase price was not disclosed, and the transaction is expected to be accretive to CW's earnings in 1999.
BANNER AEROSPACE, Dulles, Va., closed the previously announced sale of its Solair Inc. subsidiary to Kellstrom Industries Inc. for about $57 million in cash and a warrant to buy 300,000 shares of Kellstrom common stock at $27.50 per share. Banner will use the proceeds to reduce its debt by $52 million and increase cash and marketable securities by $8 million. Solair is a distributor of aircraft rotables. Banner said its remaining rotables and engine groups will have estimated sales of $140 million in 1999.
FAA Administrator Jane Garvey said yesterday that the agency is delaying the original July 1999 commissioning date for the $3 billion Wide Area Augmentation System until September 2000 because a critical software module will not be ready. The program had a difficult start several years ago but had been running smoothly, with prime contractor Raytheon hitting all seven milestones to date. Sources told The DAILY that Raytheon tried to convince FAA that it could make the July milestone, but was told by the agency that it wanted a "zero risk" schedule.
ORBITAL SCIENCES CORP., Dulles, Va., completed the purchase of Raytheon Co.'s Transportation Management Solutions business unit for about $21 million in cash. Orbital will combine the entity with its Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS) Division. The new division, Transportation Management Systems (TMS), will be the leading U.S. supplier of automatic vehicle location (AVL) systems.
L-3 COMMUNICATIONS, New York, acquired Electrodynamics Inc. from Carpenter Technology Corp., Reading, Pa. Terms were not disclosed. Electrodynamics, based in Rolling Meadows, Ill., makes data recorders, display-related components, electronic safe arm and fire devices and other electronic products.
Maintenance of all engines on an airplane at the same time or by the same team "presents the potential for error and the possible loss of thrust from all engines," according to two Boeing engineers. If possible, scheduled maintenance should be staggered to avoid multi-engine maintenance by the same personnel during a single shop visit, say Thomas Murray, a safety engineering analyst, and Vince Robel, manager of 777 engine programs.
The Pentagon has plans "on the shelf" to take out Iraqi airfields and aircraft if such action is deemed necessary by President Clinton, Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Henry H. Shelton said during a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing yesterday. Prodded by Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), who asked why such action is not under consideration given the recent air threats from Iraq, Shelton said, "We're trying to enforce the UN [no fly] zone with minimum force." But other plans could be put into effect if the president sees fit, Shelton added.
RUSSIA'S KAMOV KA-60 multi-role lightweight helicopter flew for the first time Dec. 24 with test pilot Vladimir Lavrov at the controls. Tests of the Ka-60, or "Killer Whale," will be completed within a year, according to Marshal Yevgeny Shaposhnikov, adviser to Russian President Boris Yeltsin. Series production will be defined after analysis of Kamov's proposals and studies of the world market. About 330 of the helicopters will be supplied to flight schools and the Russian Air Force.
Raytheon Co. last week won a $133.9 million contract to begin full-rate production of the AGM-154A Joint Standoff Weapon, and low-rate production of the AGM-154B variant. Under the terms of the contract, the Navy will buy 328 AGM-154As, each of which carries 145 bomblets. The Air Force will buy 75 of these missiles. The Navy will also buy three AGM-154Bs with the BLU-108 smart, anti-armor submunition. The Air Force will buy 21. The Navy has the lead on JSOW, but the AF runs the portion to develop and buy the BLU-108 submunition.
NASA's Near Earth Asteroid Rendezvous (NEAR) spacecraft executed a 24-minute burn with its large bipropellant engine Sunday, reassuring engineers that the engine will work after it aborted a critical burn last month and setting up the spacecraft for a February 2000 rendezvous with the asteroid 433 Eros.
NASA's Mars Polar Lander was operating well yesterday after a Sunday launch to the Red Planet's south pole, with a balky star tracker giving controllers at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory their main concern a day after liftoff. Engineers did not expect the problem with the guidance device to threaten the mission, according to a JPL spokesperson.
Fairchild Corp. has signed a definitive agreement to acquire Kaynar Technologies Inc., a maker of aerospace and industrial fasteners based in Orange, Calif. Fairchild, of Dulles, Va., said the purchase price is about $267 million, or $28.75 per common share, plus assumption of $98 million in debt. Most Kaynar stock holders have voted in favor of the deal, but the transaction is subject to financing and regulatory approval.
EUROPE'S conversion to the euro has prompted no particular concern from members of the Washington-based Aerospace Industries Association, according to AIA President John Douglass. He said the association of U.S. companies sees "no substantive advantage shifting to the euro at this time." The euro was introduced Jan. 1 in 11 European countries, including such big U.S. aerospace customers as France and Germany.
The U.S. and Pakistan have agreed on a solution regarding 28 F-16 aircraft that Pakistan purchased but never received due to sanctions imposed by a congressional amendment. But now, nearly ten years after the deal was halted, according to the White House, "Pakistan will withdraw and release its $463.7 million claim in connection with the F-16s in return for a payment by the U.S. of $324.6 million...." It said the money comes "from the Judgment Fund of the U.S. Treasury," which is "used to settle legal disputes that involve the U.S. government."
BOEING CO. was named winner of a competition for the U.S. Air Force's KC-10 Aircrew Training System contract. Boeing said yesterday the 10-year contract has an initial value of $80 million. Under the contract, which begins in April, Boeing will provide crewmembers of the KC-10 tanker-cargo aircraft with instructor-, computer- and simulator-based training for cockpit procedures, boom operations and cargo loading.
Long-term Royal Air Force proposals for a major upgrade of about 140 Hawk T-1/1A trainers to rectify fuselage fatigue problems and extend service life to 2010 finally resulted in an initial $167 million Ministry of Defense contract in late December with British Aerospace Military and Aircraft Aerostructures Division (MA&AD). BAe will now begin design, development and manufacture of 80 center- and rear-fuselage sections for fatigue-limited RAF Hawks to maintain at least 120 in service to the new retirement date.
