Russia's Spektr scientific module docked with a slightly leaky Mir space station on the first try Wednesday night, but back on Earth a tiny woodpecker threatened to delay the upcoming launch of one of NASA's Space Shuttles. Spektr docked at 8:56 p.m. EDT Wednesday, carrying more than 1,700 pounds of scientific equipment, two pairs of solar arrays to boost power to the aging Russian station and a new robotic arm to shuffle the massive Mir modules around in preparation for seven dockings with the Shuttle Atlantis.
A modified antenna is being used to test the F-22 fighter's radome and will help determine how to mitigate any impact of the radome on radar performance. Since the end of last year, an antenna built by the Westinghouse/Texas Instruments team developing the F-22's electronically scanned, active aperture radar has been involved in radome testing at Lockheed Martin Skunk Works, Palmdale, Calif., a Boeing spokesman said.
Sikorsky President Eugene Buckley has promised to sell 30-36 UH-60 Black Hawk helicopters a year to the U.S. Army for the same price he's been selling the service 60 a year under a multi-year procurement, according to Maj. Gen. Dewitt "T" Irby, the Army's aviation program element officer. "The Army would be ill-advised to walk away from that," Irby told The DAILY Thursday during rollout of the RAH-66 Comanche here.
As the commercial space launch market outstrips U.S. government demand for launch services, the Transportation Dept. office responsible for regulating commercial spaceflights is moving toward the same sort of role the Federal Aviation Administration now plays in the aircraft industry.
SPACE SYSTEMS/LORAL said yesterday it was picked to build a C- and Ku-band telecommunications satellite for Mabuhay Philippines Satellite Corp. The three-axis stabilized satellite will be launched in December 1996.
In the current budget environment, conversion or shared use of military capabilities is a predominant choice for Russian space communications developers and service providers instead of developing new systems, based on the status of several space communications projects displayed at the annual Moscow exhibition Communications '95. A new full-scale system development appears to have a chance to succeed only if there is a clear customer committed to long-term large- scale funding.
LORAL DEFENSE SYSTEMS-ARIZONA, Litchfield Park, Ariz., will supply an advanced synthetic aperture radar system for the SR-71 reconnaissance aircraft program. Under a $3 million contract from Lockheed Martin, Loral will refurbish and recalibrate the ASARS-1 system, and install it on three of the Mach 3 planes. The SR-71 program was terminated by the U.S. Air Force in 1990, shortly after ASARS-1 was introduced the U.S. The program is being reactivated under congressional direction to improve radar intelligence collection capability.
MCDONNELL DOUGLAS said a U.S. Air Force C-17 airlifter on May 28 flew from a base near Calcutta, India, to Kunming, China, retracing the "Burma Hump" route of the World War II China-Burma-India theater of operations. The flight was part of the AF's World War II 50th anniversary commemorative activities.
TRW AND ISRAEL AIRCRAFT INDUSTRIES said the Hunter Joint Tactical Unmanned Aerial Vehicle has logged 3,000 hours. About 325 hours have been for system development, 120 for technical testing, 2,215 for user training, 315 for user operational testing, and 25 for shipboard utility demonstration, the companies said. The milestone was reached May 19 by air vehicle No. 205 during a six-hour flight from Rugge-Hamilton airfield at Ft. Huachuca, Ariz., they said.
Hughes Space and Communications Co. is planning an October unveiling of a new satellite it is designing as a follow-on to the HS-601 model. Company spokespersons here were mum on the specifics of the new satellite, but indicated it would be compatible with the Atlas, Ariane, Proton, Long March and new Delta III rockets. Hughes customers have expressed a desire for more power and more capacity, they said.
LOCKHEED MARTIN ATLAS II BOOSTER placed the U.S. Navy's fifth UHF Follow- On (UFO F5) communications satellite in its geosynchronous transfer orbit after an on-time launch yesterday morning Liftoff came as the launch window opened at 11:27 a.m. EDT from Cape Canaveral Air Station, Fla., and controllers later contacted the Hughes-built platform and determined that it was "functioning normally," according to the satellite-maker. Hughes has a $1.7 billion contract to build and launch 10 of the ultra-high frequency (UHF) communications satellites for the Navy.
An old Nash Rambler automobile plant across the street from Los Angeles International Airport has become the focal point of Hughes Space and Communications Co.'s efforts to churn out high-tech satellites quicker, cheaper and more efficiently. The plant, owned by Hughes since the 1960s, was converted into the Integrated Satellite Facility (ISF) last year, and the numbers tell it all.
Boeing rescued its Air France order book, reaching a deal made public yesterday to put off seven jetliners that would have been delivered this year and next while booking new firm orders for another 15 planes.
Russia's Khrunichev State Space Center has signed a contract for $3 million with the Austrian firm ACEA for delivery of electric power systems at the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. ACEA won a contract competition by offering hardware able to survive the harsh continental climate of Southern Kazakhstan. Under the contract ACEA will supply three sets of a system for continuous electric power supply.
LORAL FEDERAL SYSTEMS-GAITHERSBURG said tests have proven that its new ground control software is showing that it's ready to perform navigation duties for Block IIR Global Positioning System satellites to be launched in 1996. The company said tests have proven the ground control system can modify software onboard the satellite's reprogrammable processors, a new feature of the IIR spacecraft. This, Loral said, will allow controllers to program the spacecraft's computers from the ground and add new mission capability when it is in orbit.
ROCKWELL INTERNATIONAL moves into the production phase of the E-6A TACAMO aircraft's High Power Transmit Set (HPTS) under a $26.5 million U.S. Navy contract. The contract, awarded May 1, follows a $29.6-million add-on award in April 1994, and a $17.7-million initial production contract in 1993, Rockwell said. Rockwell said the new contract provides for fiscal 1995 fabrication and test of two 200 Kw HPTS systems.
Acting U.S. Air Force acquisition chief Darleen Druyun yesterday unveiled eight new acquisition reform initiatives that would affect major changes in the system program offices (SPOs) and at AF headquarters, including cutting the size of SPOs by at least 50% and reviewing all requests for proposal, contract modifications and contract options of more than $10 million.
NASA may invite the Defense Dept. to participate in the science institutes it plans to create at its field centers as a way to spread the science-funding burden, Administrator Daniel S. Goldin said yesterday.
Preparing for a Nov. 30 first flight, Boeing and Sikorsky will start ground tests in late June of the RAH-66 Comanche helicopter propulsion system testbed at Sikorsky's flight test center in West Palm Beach, Fla. The testbed includes all of Comanche's dynamic systems, such as the main transmission, the rotor system, the fan-tail and the engines. The first RAH-66 prototype, rolled out last Thursday, will start ground tests at West Palm Beach on Oct. 1.
RAYTHEON AND BRAZIL on Saturday signed a $1.3 billion contract under which Raytheon will develop, produce and install the Amazon Surveillance System known as SIVAM. Goal of the effort is to protect the environment of the Amazon River basin. A team headed by Raytheon won the contract in July 1994, beating out Unisys of the U.S., German's DASA and France's Thomson CSF. Final contract negotiations began in August 1994.
DELTA II ROCKET has been selected by Hughes Communications, Inc. to launch the Galaxy IX communications satellite. A contract calls for an April 1996 launch from Cape Canaveral. Galaxy IX, a spin-stabilized HS 376 model satellite, will be the newest addition to Hughes' Galaxy fleet, which provides television transmission, audio and data distribution, video time- sharing and international television satellite services via the C and Ku bands.
SPOT IMAGE, S.A., has signed a data reception agreement with Singapore National Scientific and Technology Board (NTSB) to open a new real-time receiving station in Singapore in September. The station, the 18th in Spot's global receiving network, will cover a 2,500 km radius that includes Malaysia, Brunei, Thailand, Vietnam, Indonesia, Laos, Cambodia, southern China, most of Myanmar, the Philippines and part of Sri Lanka.
Lockheed Martin Tactical Aircraft Systems delivered the first U.S.- built wing box last week for an FS-X aircraft that will fly, and the Fort Worth, Tex., fighter factory will deliver two more wing boxes for the U.S.- Japanese codevelopment program later this year. The first FS-X prototype was rolled out earlier this year and will fly for the first time this summer; the Lockheed Martin wing box will fly on FS-X No. 4.
Texas Instruments will begin delivering Paveway II laser guided bomb kits to the French Ministry of Defense this summer, the company said yesterday. Initial deliveries by TI-France's Defense Systems&Electronics Group under a $28.7 million production contract will be to the French Air Force. The French naval air arm will receive its first kits in late 1995, with deliveries to both services continuing through the end of 1997. TI didn't disclose quantities.
May 26, 1995 Sikorsky Aircraft Corporation, Stratford, Connecticut is being awarded a $36,841,262 firm fixed price contract for six S76-H aircraft with a total commercial support package, for Thailand. Work will be performed in Stratford, Connecticut, and is expected to be completed by March 31, 1996. Contract funds will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. This is a sole source contract initiated on August 11, 1994. The contracting activity is the U. S. Army Aviation and Troop Command, St. Louis, Missouri (DAAJ09-95-C-0118).
