Disappointed Wall Streeters are bullish on Boeing once more, raising earnings estimates and reiterating Buy ratings on the stock after Boeing outlined plans for boosting production by 1997. The stock price slid Monday, which analysts attributed to the short- term production rate decline and word that the ambitious Very Large Commercial Transport project-the so-called SuperJumbo-will be put off indefinitely because Boeing and its partners decided it would be easy to build but tough to sell (DAILY, July 11, page 34).
FOURTH HUNTER UAV system was delivered to the Joint Tactical Unmanned Aerial Vehicle program on June 30, bringing to 33 the total number of air vehicles accepted by the Defense Dept., the Hunter manufacturing team of Israel Aircraft Industries/TRW reported. The system is bound for Sierra Vista, Ariz., where it will undergo a test-analyze-fix-test program. The remaining three systems are to be delivered by September, raising the total number of air vehicles to 62.
Congress should resist any plan to auction to industry parts of the radio frequency spectrum that the Pentagon uses for command, control, communications and intelligence, or face a decline in the effectiveness of the U.S. armed forces, the Defense Dept.'s C3I chief said. "I'm concerned that anyone would even think of auctioning off the spectrum that we now depend on to protect the interests of this country," Emmett Paige, Jr., DOD's assistant secretary for command, control, communications and intelligence, said during an interview at the Pentagon.
Optimistic that Congress will boost fiscal 1996 funding for the RAH-66 Comanche helicopter, Army Maj. Gen. Dewitt "T" Irby, aviation program executive officer, warns lawmakers and defense officials against expecting too much too fast from the development program, which he says has been financially crippled in recent years. "They shouldn't forget what they've done with the program over the last few years and shouldn't expect to play catch-up cheap because it won't come cheap," Irby said in a telephone interview Monday with The DAILY.
July 6, 1995 The CNA Corporation, Alexandria, Virginia, is being awarded a $6,500,000 modification to previously awarded contract N00014-91-C-0002 for additional technical studies and analysis in support of various Navy and Marine Corps programs/projects. Work will be performed in Alexandria, Virginia, and is expected to be completed by November 1995. Contract funds in the amount of $912,031 will expire at the end of the current fiscal year. The Naval Research Laboratory, Washington, D.C., is the contracting activity.
The June 2 shootdown of a U.S. F-16 over Bosnia has led the Defense Dept. to recommend that aircraft in the theater carry additional defense suppression equipment, terminals to receive communications more quickly, better survival radar, and Global Positioning Systems. Gen. John M. Shalikashvili, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, gave the breakdown to a congressional committee.
The U.S. Air Force, aiming to capitalize on the potential it sees in the arena of unmanned aerial vehicles, is establishing a squadron dedicated to the use of the remotely piloted aircraft. "We anticipate UAVs will roam freely and possibly in large numbers" over future battlefields, said Brig. Gen. Frank B. Campbell, who will head Air Combat Command's requirements directorate as of next week.
A package of 18 NATO aircraft yesterday hit Bosnian Serb troops that had invaded the U.N.-protected village of Srebrenica, but it won't be known until today whether their mission was successful, a top Pentagon official said yesterday. The package consisted of U.S. F/A-18s, EA-6Bs, EF-111s, OA-10s, and Dutch and U.S. F-16s.
CRAY RESEARCH INC., Eagan, Mich., said Learjet Inc. has acquired a Cray J916 supercomputer. The system, installed at Learjet's R&D facility in Wichita, is being used for computational fluid dynamics (CFD) and finite element analysis (FEA) to support work on new and existing aircraft. It will also be used in simulations to improve quality and efficiency at Learjet, a division of Bombardier Inc. Terms of the order weren't disclosed.
July 5, 1995 Raytheon Company, Missile Systems Division, Bedford, Massachusetts, is being awarded a $5,473,054 modification to previously awarded contract N00019-93-C-0169 for 820 Sidewinder AIM-9M-8/9 retrofit guidance control sections for the U.S. Air Force. Work will be performed in Andover, Massachusetts, and is expected to be completed by October 1996. Contract funds will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. The Naval Air Systems Command, Washington, D.C., is the contracting activity (N00019-93- C-0169).
Loral has lost its protest against the decision of the U.S. Navy and Air Force to award AIM-9X Sidewinder missile demonstration/validation contracts to Raytheon and Hughes, an attorney with the General Accounting Office told The DAILY yesterday.
Rep. Norman D. Dicks (D-Wash) said yesterday that the Defense Dept. should loosen its $10 million unit flyaway cost for the Tier III Minus DarkStar unmanned aerial vehicle, built a team of Lockheed Martin and Seattle-based Boeing. He said he doesn't "believe in being rigid" and would be willing to accept a more expensive system. "If we can get a much better system for, let's say $15 million, then why not do it?"
Army aviators are crafting a long-term UH-60 Black Hawk modernization program that would bring the service's 923 A models up to the capability of its L model utility rotorcraft, the top Army aviator told The DAILY yesterday. "The Black Hawk needs a lot of work," said aviation program executive officer Maj. Gen. Dewitt Irby, who retires this month. His successor hasn't been named yet, but RAH-66 Comanche program manager Brig. Gen. James Snider is believed to be the front-runner for the job.
-- ALCATEL TELSPACE AND SSE TELECOM have agreed to invest $750,000 each in Media4 Inc., an Atlanta-based company developing new products for the distribution of multimedia information over wireless networks. The products are aimed at providing business users with the ability to exchange compressed digital video, audio, software and textual data over satellite networks. Alcatel Telspace, Paris, is a leading provider of satellite Earth stations while SSE Telecom, McLean, Va., is a manufacturer of Earth station components and systems.
-- VIRTUAL REALITY LABORATORIES, San Luis Obispo, Calif., has introduced a new Apollo 13 computer program that makes it possible to see the astronauts view of the Earth, moon and planets at any time during the flight. It also includes video clips of the Apollo 13 liftoff, interior shots of the cabin and a detailed mission description of all Apollo flights.
An Air Force Titan IV lifted off from Cape Canaveral Air Station with a classified payload yesterday morning, flying in a northerly direction that suggested a high-inclination signals intelligence mission. Liftoff came at 8:38 a.m. EDT. Air Force officials reportedly cautioned the government of Canada that the rocket's trajectory would take it over that nation's extreme eastern provinces of Nova Scotia and Newfoundland.
-- LOCKHEED MARTIN ATLAS IIAS launch vehicle has been selected to orbit the Indonesia Palapa C-1 satellite. The launch is scheduled for January 1996 from Cape Canaveral. Arianespace was originally scheduled to launch the satellite, but its owners, Satelit Palapa Indonesia and Pasifik Satelit Nusantara, apparently switched to the Atlas because it could launch earlier.
-- NAVAL SURFACE WARFARE CENTER's Crane, Ind., division plans construction of an Electro-Optics Center, according to a June 28 Commerce Business Daily notice.
-- AT&T TRIDOM announced the introduction of ClearLink 100, a very small aperture terminal (VSAT) system for receive-only data networks. The system incorporates one-way technology designed by Gilat Satellite Networks, Ltd., an Israeli company based in Tel Aviv.
-- MCDONNELL DOUGLAS CORP., St. Louis, got a $44.1 million contract from Naval Air Systems Command June 29 for 32 Advanced Tomahawk Weapon Control Systems (ATWCS), non-recurring engineering design/development effort to develop sub-ATWCS for submarines, as well as general technical support.
-- WESTINGHOUSE ELECTRIC CORP., Sykesville, Md., was awarded a $17.2 million Naval Systems Command contract on June 29 for AN/SQQ-89 design agent services.
