About a week ahead of schedule, Lockheed Martin officially started assembling the first major portion of the F-22 Advanced Tactical Fighter yesterday, when workers loaded subcomponents of the mid-fuselage into an assembly fixture at the company's Fort Worth, Tex., plant. The 5,700-pound mid-fuselage assembly-17 feet long by 15 wide and with more than 200 composite parts-should be completed next July, when it will then be shipped to Lockheed Martin's Marietta, Ga., plant for final assembly with the rest of the plane's components.
A redesigned turbine for Pratt&Whitney's F119 Advanced Tactical Fighter engine recently passed a crucial series of worst-case tests, doing well enough that P&W and the U.S. Air Force are ready to abandon an all-new turbine design that had been in the works as a back-up. "The stunning success of the new turbine design has made it possible for us to stop work on an alternate contingency turbine design," said James Yankel, F119 Propulsion lead engineer in the F-22 fighter System Program Office, or SPO.
The acting heads of NASA's Office of External Relations and Office of Aeronautics have been appointed full-fledged associate administrators at space agency headquarters, Administrator Daniel S. Goldin announced Monday. John D. Schumacher was named associate administrator for external relations, and Robert E. Whitehead was appointed associate administrator for aeronautics.
AT&T is planning a satellite constellation for military and commercial customers that uses multiple satellites in the same geostationary orbit node. The concept, called QuestStar, is being proposed by AT&T Federal as part of its proposal for the Common Satellite Communication Initiative contract, which the Defense Information Technology Contracting Office (DITCO) at Scott AFB in St. Louis is expected to award July 17. Hughes, COMSAT and MCI are also vying for the contract.
The decline in the U.S. Defense Dept.'s information technology obligations should slow over the next five years as the Air Force and Defense Information Systems Agency continue record growth for IT obligations, according to a new forecast by the Electronic Industries Association (EIA).
LORAL CONTROL SYSTEMS, Archbald, Pa., was awarded a $9.7 million contract on May 24 by Naval Air Systems Command for 2,500 Laser Guided Training Rounds (LGTRs), used as expendable training devices by Navy air crews. The Dept. of Defense said LGTRs allow training for the proper deployment of laser guided munitions.
Boeing Co.'s board of directors yesterday authorized production of the stretched 777 airliner following announcements at the Paris Air Show earlier this month that four airlines have ordered 31 of the planes. Boeing Chairman Frank Shrontz said the aircraft, the 777-300, "offers an attractive option for progressively lower cost per seat within the 777 family and for replacements of early model 747s."
CONCURRENT COMPUTER CORP., Oceanport, N.J., said Aero Simulation Inc. (ASI) has chosen its Maxion multiprocessor system for the Naval Air Warfare Training Systems Div.'s KC-130 modification for Devices 2F107 and 2F107A. Concurrent said the KC-130 Upgrade Program incorporates GPS training for the U.S. Marine Corps' flight simulation program. ASI, of Tampa, Fla., recently won the $5 million KC-130 Modification Upgrade contract.
U.S. AIR FORCE'S Air Combat Command said yesterday that Lt. Gen. Thomas R. Griffith, commander of the 12th Air Force and U.S. Southern Command Air Forces at Davis-Monthan AFB, Ariz., was relieved of duty Sunday. An AF announcement said Gen. Joseph W. Ralston, ACC's commander, reacted to inappropriate personal conduct on Griffith's part. Maj. Gen. James F. Record, Griffith's vice commander, will be acting commander until a replacement has been confirmed.
The U.S. Air Force's Wright Laboratory is soliciting industry for a program of R&D on laser-hardened optical modules for the LANTIRN system and the forward looking infrared (FLIR) system of the AC-130U gunship. The lab said in a June 20 Commerce Business Daily notice that it is considering multiple awards for a 24-month program.
NORTHROP GRUMMAN, Bethpage, N.Y., has received a $4.6 million contract from Naval Air Systems Command for a maintenance trainer for the F-14A/B upgrade. A June 27 Commerce Business Daily notice said the contract was awarded May 24.
Plans by the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence to zero funding for the Advanced Research Projects Agency's Tier II Plus high altitude endurance unmanned aerial vehicle would leave the recently rolled out Tier III Minus UAV without a ground station, an ARPA official warned. "The ground control station will be common for both systems" so eliminating its funding will also affect Tier III Minus, also known as DarkStar, according to John Entzminger, ARPA's HAE UAV program manager.
The General Prosecutor's Office has focused on Russia's aerospace industry in a report charging that for more than three years Russia's State Committee on Managing State Property (GKI) has mismanaged state-owned property, including trying to privatize strategic facilities which are legally excluded from private ownership.
Closings: 12 facilities and laboratories, plus 15 international and 11 domestic field offices, to be closed or consolidated. Jobs eliminated: 12,000 Cost: $1.7 billion over two years. Company will take a second-quarter pretax charge of $525 million to 1995 earnings on top of a $165 million first quarter charge. Anticipated Savings: $1.8 billion annually when fully implemented Completion date: No later than 1999 Major Closings
Alliant Techsystems will develop a new solid rocket motor to boost McDonnell Douglas' planned Delta III space launcher, while a variant of Pratt&Whitney's venerable RL10 will power the new Delta's cryogenic upper stage. McDonnell Douglas said yesterday the Magna, Utah, solid rocket concern known as Hercules until it was acquired by Alliant Techsystems, will develop a new graphite epoxy motor four feet longer than the motor Alliant builds for the Delta II.
EAST INC., Centreville, Va., is pursuing R&D for virtual simulation for terminally-guided weapons under a $69,243 contract from Naval Air Systems Command. The contract, according to a June 27 Commerce Business Daily notice, was awarded April 25.
NASA spent yesterday preparing the Space Shuttle Atlantis for launch to Russia's Mir space station today, but Florida's stormy weather continued to hamper the 100th U.S. human spaceflight. Forecasters gave only a 30% chance yesterday that the weather will meet minimum launch standards when the 10-minute window for the Mir rendezvous opens at 3:32 p.m. EDT today, and the same odds for a launch tomorrow about 24 minutes earlier in the day.
The Defense Dept. yesterday said the Predator unmanned aerial vehicle will be sent to Albania late this week or early next week to support operations in Bosnia-Herzegovnia. One ground station, three UAVs and around 100 U.S. military and contractor employees are being deployed. About 38 of those personnel are directly involved with Predator support. The others are needed because Gjader Airfield, the Predator's base, lacks full facilities, a source said.
June 21, 1995 Sikorsky Aircraft Corporation, Stratford, Connecticut, is being awarded a $42,214,000 modification to previously awarded contract N00019-93-C-0053 for the procurement of two CH-53E helicopters, including associated integrated logistics support, logistics support analysis, and related engineering services. Work will be performed in Stratford, Connecticut, and is expected to be completed by July 1997. 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.
Lockheed Martin's move to shutter its two Astro Space satellite plants is the biggest single part of the consolidation plan it announced yesterday. It also marks the final chapter for two facilities that have their origins in the dawn of the space age. The plan calls for phasing out operations of the plants in East Windsor, N.J., and Valley Forge, Pa.-acquired just two years ago in the former Martin Marietta's purchase of General Electric Astro Space.
The Swedish armed forces are experimenting with some advanced technologies for a "virtual staff room" from which battlefield operations could be remotely monitored. "When you're in your virtual staff room...you can see whatever you want," S. Anders Christensson, technical representative for Sweden's Defense Material Administration (DMA) said Wednesday in Washington. Users would be able to view an overall situation or specific tactical battlefield areas "to show where the troops are in the terrain."
