GE Aircraft Engines said the GE90-90B-powered 777-200 IGW (increased gross weight) aircraft has been certified by the FAA and the European Joint Airworthiness Authorities. In addition, FAA granted GE90- powered aircraft 180-minute extended range, twin-engine operations (ETOPS) type design approval. British Airways took delivery of the first -200 IGW aircraft Friday and is scheduled to receive two more by the end of the month.
Diagnostic/Retrieval Systems Inc., Parsippany, N.J., won a contract from Lockheed Martin Tactical Defense Systems, Eagan, Minn., to develop and manufacture the Replacement Data Storage System (RDSS) for the Royal Norwegian Air Force P-3C Upgrade Improvement Program, DRS said yesterday. The RDSS will collect and format mission event data, will be used to load the aircraft's tactical computer and signal processor mission programs, and initialize the signal processor.
Boeing Defense and Space Group, Seattle, Wash., is being awarded an $8,154,809 face value increase to a cost-plus-fixed- fee contract to provide for restructure of Phase One of the Extended Airborne Global Launch Evaluator (EAGLE) Prototype Program to meet the revised funding profile. Contract is expected to be completed July 1998. Contract funds will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. Electronic Systems Center, Hanscom Air Force Base, Mass. is the contracting activity (F19628-95/C- 0180, P00009).
Aero Systems Engineering Inc., St. Paul, Minn., won four contracts from international customers worth a total of about $6.9 million. ASE, a member of the Celsius Group of Stockholm, described the awards this way: -- Design and turnkey supply of an ultra high temperature heat exchanger for Central Italian Research Aerospace's plasma wind tunnel facility to be used for development of space vehicles. "This is a major win for ASE and clearly establishes ASE as a dominant force in the high temperature facility business."
Light Helicopter Turbine Engine Co., St. Louis, Mo., is being awarded an $8,669,000 modification to a cost-plus-fixed-fee contract for T800-LHT-800 Engine and Air Vehicle support for the RAH-66 Comanche. Work will be performed in Indianapolis, Ind. (50%); and Phoenix, Ariz. (50%) and is expected to be completed by March 30, 1999. Contract funds will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. This is a sole source contract initiated on May 23, 1995. The contracting activity is the U.S. Army Aviation and Troop Command, St. Louis, Mo. (DAAJ09-92-C- 0453).
Alliant Techsystems Inc., Magna, Utah, is being awarded a $7,169,419 cost- plus-fixed-fee contract to support the Intermediate Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty for the Fleet Ballistic Missile Program to provide program management, maintenance for government facilities, training, and supplies to support the On- site Inspection Agency. This contract includes options which, if exercised, would bring the cumulative value of this contract to $14,299,489. Work will be performed in Magna, Utah, and is expected to be completed by January 1998.
Longbow LLC, Martin Marietta Millimeter Technologies Inc. and Northrop Grumman Corp., Orlando, Fla., is being awarded a $233,711,092 firm-fixed- price contract for low rate initial production (LRIP II) and launchers for the Longbow Weapon System; 1,056 missiles and 203 launchers. Work will be performed in Orlando, Fla. (50%) and Baltimore, Md. (50%), and is expected to be completed by May 30, 1999. Contract funds will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. This is a sole source contract initiated on April 3, 1996. The contracting activity is the U.S.
Lockheed Martin Federal Systems, Inc., Owego, N.Y., was awarded on January 31, a $30,728,097 face value increase to a firm fixed price contract to provide for production of mainframe memory upgrades for thirteen E-3A Airborne Warning and Control System (AWACS) aircraft. Contract is expected to be completed March 2000. Contract funds will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. Electronic Systems Center, Hanscom AFB, Mass., is the contracting activity (F19628-95/C-0012, P00011).
Lockheed Martin Corp.'s Sanders unit has the green light to begin building engineering development models of the Integrated Defense Electronic Countermeasures (IDECM) radio frequency countermeasures (RFCM) subsystem following a successful critical design review. U.S. Navy and Air Force officials said following the mid-December review that the system meets design requirements, Lockheed Martin reported. Functional demonstrations of hardware components were performed by Lockheed Martin and its main subcontractor, ITT.
Rockwell Science Center, Thousand Oaks, Calif., is being awarded a $6,078,864 cost- plus-fixed-fee contract to provide for Development of Advanced Very Long Wavelength Infrared Detectors (DAVID). Contract is expected to be completed February 2001. Contract funds will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. There were four firms solicited and three proposals received. Solicitation began October 1996; negotiations were completed December 1996. Phillips Laboratory, Kirtland Air Force Base, N.M., is the contracting activity (F29601-97/C-0043).
Shorts Missile Systems of Belfast, Ireland, has received a $12.9 million contract from the U.S. Army for continued evaluation of the Starstreak missile as an air-to-air weapon for the Apache helicopter. Shorts is working with Lockheed Martin in the effort. The contract for the two-year program was awarded in mid-December. It calls for integration of the Starstreak laser beam guidance system into the Apache's Target Acquisition Designation Sight (TADS) and fire control system for fully automatic missile firing.
Rep. Owen Pickett (D-Va.), whose congressional district includes Norfolk Naval Base, the U.S. Navy's largest, will become ranking Democrat on the House National Security R&D subcommittee, according to Democratic congressional sources. Defense is important to Pickett's district as well as to three surrounding districts in the Norfolk, Newport News and Virginia Beach area, and his record reflects that. He supported the Strategic Defense Initiative and opposed early efforts to trim B-2 bomber production.
U.S. AIR FORCE F-15Es from the 4th Wing, Seymour Johnson AFB, N.C., and F- 16s from the 169th Figher Wing, McEntire Air National Guard Base, S.C., the 27th Fighter Wing, Cannon AFB, N.M., and 20th Fighter Wing, Shaw AFB, S.C., will be in the USAF's next Air Expeditionary Force to Qatar.
Early passage of a commercial space bill tops the 1997 agenda of House Science Committee Chairman F. James Sensenbrenner (R- Wis.). While the bill wasn't supported in the Senate last year, he says he believes staff changes due to appointment of Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) as chairman of the Science Committee will give the bill a better shot this time around. Sensenbrenner also intends to push for earlier passage of authorizations for NASA and the National Science Foundation.
BOEING CO. received a contract from British Aerospace, prime contractor for the U.K.'s Nimrod Maritime Patrol Aircraft upgrade program, to supply mission hardware and software to upgrade 21 of the planes. Boeing said Friday that the $639 million contract includes development, production, post-delivery support and full training capability through 2008. As part of the contract, Boeing agreed to a 100% offset commitment to the U.K. over the next 10 years, with the majority of the work performed at BAe's Warton facility.
Administration intelligence officials contend a ballistic missile threat to the U.S. is about 15 years away, but they may not see how "fluid" this can be, says Sen. Robert Smith (R-N.H.), new chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee's panel on strategic forces. "I think they are characterizing the threat as it is today, but the threat changes," Smith said told The DAILY in an interview in his Senate office Friday. "My point is the intelligence on this is very fluid."
Peay says that although theater missile defense is his command's top modernization priority, "it's still being kicked out to the right." Contrary to the prevailing trend, Peay says those systems "really need immediate work."
The $6.7 billion U.S. Army procurement request for fiscal 1998 maintains critical procurement programs but doesn't allow the service to buy its systems at efficient rates, Army acquisition chief Gilbert Decker says. "We would very much like to have seen more efficient procurement rates in the nearer term," Decker told The DAILY during an interview at the Pentagon Friday. "We squeezed pretty hard trying to keep the critical procurement programs intact."
The U.S. Air Force continues to work on the long-range plan that is supposed to guide implementation of the "Global Engagement" vision. The plan was the main topic of a conference of four star generals the first weekend in February in Washington. A final product isn't expected until the summer.
The Pentagon's $250.7 billion fiscal 1998 budget request includes more than $450 million for unmanned aerial vehicles, according to Defense Dept. budget documents. The biggest UAV procurement program is the Predator UAV. The U.S. Air Force is requesting about $116.5 million for 15 Predator air vehicles in FY '98 and $79.3 million for 11 in FY '99. The AF plans to buy a total of 44 Predator air vehicles.
Different of branches of the Pentagon appear to assess developments in Iran and Iraq differently. While the National Defense University in its "Strategic Assessment 1997" says the threat is diminishing, Gen. Binford Peay, head of U.S. Central Command, tells the Association of the U.S. Army that the same countries "are becoming greater challenges."
Sensenbrenner and Dana Rohrabacher (R-Calif), new chairman of the House Science Committee's panel on space and aeronautics, will travel to Russia this coming weekend to further investigate work there on the Service Module for the International Space Station. They say they intend to see just exactly what's being done on the factory floor. "We've been getting assurances from the Russian government for over a year that the money is coming, that the check is in the mail," Sensenbrenner remarks.
NASA's fiscal year 1998 budget request Following is a breakout of NASA's fiscal year 1998 budget request, released Thursday (DAILY, Feb. 7). Dollar amounts are in millions. FY 1997 FY 1998 HUMAN SPACE FLIGHT 5,674.80 5,326.50 SCIENCE, AERONAUTICS &TECH 5,453.10 5,642.00 MISSION SUPPORT 2,564.30 2,513.20
An increase in maximum takeoff weight from 6,000 pounds to 6,284 pounds for the new Agusta A109 Power is expected soon, but it will remain classed as a light helicopter. Agusta officials at the Helicopter Association International show here last week said the FAA is allowing the increase under an exemption to FAR Part 27, which specifies a maximum weight for light helicopters of 6,000 pounds. The boosted takeoff weight will add to the twin-turbine aircraft's payload options with only a slight performance degradation, according to Agusta officials.
