LOCKHEED FORT WORTH CO. yesterday received a $511.4 million increase to a contract from the U.S. Air Force for production of 80 F-16 fighters for Turkey and related equipment. The contract was awarded by the Aeronautical Systems Center, Wright-Patterson AFB, Ohio.
The U.S. Air Force Phillips Laboratory's top priority in 1996 will be refining laser technology for the AF's Airborne Laser missile defense project, but diode lasers and ground based laser projects are also on its priority list, according to a Phillips Lab official.
Technology NASA has developed for space projects as disparate as the Hubble Space Telescope and the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence (SETI) is being applied to digital mammography techniques the National Cancer Institute (NCI) hopes will lead to better treatment of breast cancer through earlier detection.
NASA plans to issue its draft request for proposals for a single Space Shuttle operations prime contractor in about three months, but the agency's space flight chief made clear yesterday the transition from government operation of the system will proceed slowly and cautiously.
ShinMaywa is studying whether to go ahead with a civil version of its navy US-1A amphibious rescue aircraft, eyeing both fire-fighting and rescue variants. Local Japanese governments, including the Osaka prefectural government, are increasingly interested in introducing fire-fighting and rescue aircraft because of their earthquake experience in Kobe. In addition, operators in Canada and France have made inquiries about civil versions of the plane, although so far there's no firm commitment to launch a formal development program.
Component-maker and overhauler Orenda will let certification of its new line of aviation V-8 reciprocating engines slip anywhere from nine months to nearly a year to give engineers time to put customers' suggestions into the engine right away.
NORTHROP GRUMMAN will provide E-3A Airborne Warning and Control System automatic test equipment and related software under a $3.3 million contract from Boeing.
JULES FROHMANN has been named president of Loral Defense Systems-East, the company said yesterday. Frohmann, whose career with Loral includes more than 35 years of management and engineering experience, replaces Vincent Obsitnik, who has accepted an assignment with Loral Corp. to focus on special corporate matters. Before the appointment, Frohmann, 62, was serving as group vice president for several Loral product lines. Frohmann had been president of Loral Defense Systems-Akron, and before that he was president of Loral Control Systems, Archbald, Pa.
Japan has decided to go ahead with a new version of the ShinMaywa US-1A rescue amphibian, and the Japan Defense Agency will ask to begin funding development in fiscal 1996. JDA estimates that the development program will cost about 65 billion yen, or $670 million, and take some eight years-which means the first modernized US-1A will fly some 30 years after the original US-1A made its first flight, in 1974.
U.S. Army Space and Strategic Command last Wednesday launched a Differential GPS-equipped Storm rocket that promises to help ground radar systems in their tracking duties. The use of GPS in conjunction with data from the onboard inertial measurement unit "will significantly augment the existing capability of range radar systems to track a launch vehicle's dynamic flight patterns," said James R. Thompson, Jr., executive vice president and general manager, launch systems, of Orbital Sciences Corp., which built the Storm.
The U.S. Army has dropped Northrop Grumman from the Advanced Tactical Infrared Countermeasures (ATIRCM) competition, leaving Lockheed Martin's Sanders unit to claim the prize. A Northrop Grumman spokesman said yesterday that the company was dropped from the ATIRCM engineering, manufacturing and development (EMD) competition in late July, but neither the company nor the Army were willing to disclose the reason for the elimination.
JOSEPH NYE, assistant secretary of defense for international security, will become dean of Harvard's John F. Kennedy School of Government as of December. In a statement, Nye said he's "reluctant" to leave the Pentagon, but that he can't turn down the Kennedy School opportunity.
The U.S. Air Force scored hits in 17 of 18 launches of the AGM-130 and GBU-15 weapons during an annual exercise to determine AF weapons performance. Rockwell International, which makes both weapons, said F-15Es from Seymour Johnson AFB, N.C., launched six AGM-130s and 12 GBU-15s during the July 17-18 weapon system evaluation program conducted at the Utah Test and Training Range. Eleven of 12 GBU-15 glide bombs were on target, and all six AGM-130s-powered GBU-15s-hit their targets.
Lockheed Martin Astro Space's acrimonious relationship with AT&T is nearing an end. AT&T says its Telstar 402R communications satellite will be launched on a European Ariane rocket on Sept. 22 from Kourou, French Guiana. The satellite replaces Telstar 402, which failed shortly after launch in September 1994, prompting a spate of lawsuits between AT&T and Astro Space, which built the spacecraft. The suits were settled in May, but Astro Space isn't expecting any additional satellite contracts from AT&T anytime soon.
Rapid installation of the Integrated Defensive Electronic Countermeasures (IDECM) system in U.S. Navy F/A-18E/F fighters depends on keeping to the development schedule, according to a Northrop Grumman official.
The five biggest aerospace companies agreed informally last week to share laboratories and even staffers when working on projects with tight deadlines.
President Clinton's February declassification of more than 800,000 spy satellite photos doesn't mean they'll all be available anytime soon, according to NRO Chief Jeffrey Harris. He says an NRO/CIA "declassification review" of photos and documents will begin in October and won't be completed until September 1996. The imagery will then be shipped to the National Archives, where it will have to be indexed and catalogued before being made available to the public.
NORTHROP GRUMMAN will make 26 new F-5E/F aircraft wings for the U.S. Air Force under an $18.7 million contract to support the RF/F-5 Structural Upgrade Program.
