Having won two of the Defense Dept.'s most coveted electronic warfare development contracts this year, Lockheed Martin's Sanders unit says it will be able to avoid integration problems that have plagued EW programs in the past.
The U.S. Air Force has successfully completed testing of an AGM-130 standoff weapon with an improved seeker, clearing the way for a production configuration audit next year, an AF officer said yesterday.
Hughes Electronics Corp. yesterday confirmed that it plans to acquire the Itek Optical Systems division of Litton Industries and merge it with its own Hughes Danbury Optical Systems.
The U.S. Army's Theater High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) program was looking forward to its first missile intercept test in December, but the shutdown of the federal government is raising concerns about a possible delay. The service is still "looking at a December flight," a spokesman for Army Missile Command said yesterday. But he also said "we're all getting nervous."
Lockheed Martin Aeronautical Systems Co., Marietta, Ga., has begun assembling the forward fuselage of the F-22 fighter, first flight of which is planned for May 1997. "We are starting assembly operations on schedule," said Randy Johnson, manufacturing program manager for the Lockheed Martin-Boeing F-22 team. "It is exciting getting to this point," he said in a prepared announcement released Tuesday. "We are not just doing design anymore - this is the real thing."
SIEMENS PLESSEY SYSTEMS team has won a competition for the U.K.'s "Lychgate" project, an intelligence and mission support system for British air operations. Observers said the team beat a British Aerospace-TRW team, and that the contract was awarded on Oct. 15. Siemens, Lockheed Martin and BTG will provide software development, systems integration and project support for Lychgate, Vienna, Va.-based BTG said yesterday.
V-22 contractors Bell and Boeing have mated the wing section and right and left hand nacelles for aircraft No. 7, and achieved significant time savings in the process, the companies said.
COLTEC INDUSTRIES INC., New York, said yesterday that it is projecting a gain of more than $100 million in landing gear sales as a result of the $12.7 billion sale by Boeing of 777 airliners to Singapore Airlines Ltd. (DAILY, Nov. 15, page 259). Coltec's Menasco Group makes the main and nose landing gear systems for the 777.
LORAL FEDERAL SYSTEMS, Owego, N.Y., on Monday was awarded the U.S. Army's $276.5 million Intelligence Electronic Warfare Common Sensor (IEWCS) program, intended to allow tactical commanders to identify, determine the intentions of and precisely locate enemy forces by electronically mapping the battlefield, according to a Dept. of Defense notice yesterday.
Whittaker Corp. will combine its booming aircraft, defense electronics, industrial products and federal information operations into a new Whittaker Aerospace Group, effective Nov. 21. Three business units will be included under the Aerospace Group umbrella - Whittaker Electronic Systems, Whittaker Controls, Inc., and Whittaker Safety Systems Div. - and all will report to Whittaker Controls chief Jay Fernandes, named president of the new group yesterday.
Erroneous navigation data generated by the lone inertial measurement unit aboard EER Systems' Conestoga booster was the "root cause" of the booster's spectacular failure on its first launch attempt last month, EER has concluded in its mishap investigation. Jim Hengle, vice president for space systems at EER, told The DAILY yesterday that examination of telemetry and debris recovered after the Oct. 23 launch failure indicates "low frequency noise" reaching the IMU introduced error into the navigation system which was accepted by the flight computer.
Both Britain and Lockheed Martin are vehemently denying a London newspaper report that the company offered to sell F-22 fighters to the U.K. in a deal linked to short-term leases of Lockheed Martin F-16s to cover the gap left by retiring Tornado F.3s. "We are definitely not considering the purchase of United States F- 22s," said a U.K. Defense Ministry spokeswoman, adding that Britain remains committed to the two-years-late Eurofighter program.
COL. WILLIE B. NANCE JR. will be the next deputy commander of the U.S. Army Space and Strategic Defense Command. Nance, now project manager for the Army TACMS-BAT project office, will take the place of Maj. Gen. J.A. Van Prooyen, who has assumed new responsibilities at the Pentagon. SSDC said yesterday that in his new position, Nance, to be promoted to brigadier general, will share responsibility for the command's role as the Army's advocate for space, theater missile defense and national missile defense. He is expected to move to SSDC soon, a spokeswoman said.
The U.S. Army's Space and Strategic Defense Command has asked for proposals from industry and academia to counter near- and far-term cruise missile threats, the service said. It said it is asking industry in a "broad agency announcement" to "examine innovative and unconventional concepts for cruise missile defense (CMD) that offer effective, robust CMD capabilities and a cost savings over traditional CMD architectures." Proposed systems must be compatible with Army operations, the service said.
Britain won't fall back on U.S. aircraft in spite of Eurofighter's troubles, declared Defense Minister Michael Portillo, who will travel to Germany later this month to try to iron out disputes over production workshares that threaten - again - to kill the program.
RAYTHEON ELECTRONIC SYSTEMS, Portsmouth, R.I., is in line for a sole source contract from U.S. Naval Sea Systems Command for development and production of the Block 1C upgrade to the Mk. 2 Submarine Combat Control System (CCS Mk. 2) Program D0 Block 1A/B. NavSea said in a Nov. 8 Commerce Business Daily notice that the contract will include options for production of up to 43 upgrade kits.
U.S. NAVAL SEA SYSTEMS COMMAND is asking industry for ideas on acquisition strategy for an ADC(X) auxiliary ammunition/dry cargo ship and technologies with potential for improving underway replenishment systems that would go with it. NavSea said in a Nov. 9 Commerce Business Daily notice that it is beginning to plan for procurement of the new class of combat logistics force shuttle ships that would replace the aging AE (ammunition) and AFS (dry stores) classes of shuttle ships.
Stalled fiscal 1996 defense authorization conferees achieved some movement yesterday on the key New Attack Submarine and missile defense issues, Senate sources said yesterday. The sources were optimistic that both issues could be settled but said the House-Senate conferees did not have an agreement yet.
MCDONNELL DOUGLAS AEROSPACE Huntington Beach, Calif., received a $2.9 million contract Oct. 5 from Naval Sea Systems Command to develop a thermal imaging sensor system (TISS) for shipboard application. The award was noted in a Nov. 9 Commerce Business Daily item.
LUCAS AEROSPACE Power Systems, Huyton, England, said it will supply eight main hull assemblies for the Spearfish torpedo under a $13.4 million contract from GEC-Marconi. The contract extends to the year 2000.
A review of the Comanche helicopter program found no issues that would delay first flight of the prototype later this month, according to the director of the Boeing/Sikorsky team developing the helo. Jim Morris said Monday in a telephone interview that U.S. Army and contractor and representatives, meeting between Nov. 7 and Nov. 9, had "an excellent review" and that all participants were "very satisfied" with the program.
TECHNICAL RESEARCH ASSOCIATES, Camarillo, Calif., is working on hyperspectral mine detection under a $1 million contract awarded Sept. 28 by the U.S. Naval Command Control Ocean Systems Center, RDT&E Div., San Diego.
Astronauts aboard the Space Shuttle Atlantis yesterday positioned a Russian-built docking module for installation on the Mir orbital station in a maneuver planned for early today. Canadian Chris Hadfield used the Shuttle's robot arm to position the 15-foot-long module a few inches above the Orbiter Docking System. Then, with the arm's brakes disengaged, Mission Commander Kenneth Cameron fired Atlantis' thrusters and moved the Shuttle and the docking module together for a perfect "capture."
ISRAEL will buy four additional F-15I fighters, increasing its total order to 25, F-15 prime contractor McDonnell Douglas announced yesterday. Israel exercised an option that was part of the original agreement signed in January 1994. Delivery of F-15Is will begin in 1997 and be completed by the end of 1998, MDC said. Israel is already operating other F-15 variants.
Chemicals, metals and ammunition specialist Olin Corp. is thinking about spinning off its $500 million defense and aerospace operations to shareholders, and hinted yesterday that the company may make up its mind soon. Studies of a spin-off are "at an advanced stage," but the company said in a prepared statement that a "variety of factors" are still being assessed, among them the tax-free nature of such a deal and the odds of winning the go-ahead from various third parties.
