The U.S. defense laboratory infrastructure could be cut substantially as Congress tries to bolster military procurement while balancing the budget, industry executives were told yesterday at an Electronic Industries Association conference in Washington.
Although deployment of a national missile defense (NMD) system would cost between $29 billion and $48 billion, depending on the number of sites involved, there are a number of cheaper options, according to the Congressional Budget Office (CBO). In a six-page letter sent to Rep. James Exon (D-Neb.) last Thursday, the CBO said Congress could adopt an entirely different approach to the Pentagon's January 1993 NMD plan, which was trimmed down by the Clinton Administration. Republicans in Congress have been pushing legislation that would require the Defense Dept.
UNISYS CORP. said its Government Systems Group has received a $39.24 million contract from E-Systems to support the Royal Australian Air Force's upgrade of the P-3C aircraft. Unisys, as a subcontractor to E-Systems, said it will provide the DMS 2000 Data Management System for 18 RAAF P-3C aircraft and for the Integrated Test and Training Facility in Australia. Unisys said the DMS 2000 will be managed by its Electronic Systems business unit in Eagan, Minn., and that production will take place in Pueblo, Colo., and Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada.
NASA managers believe it would take "a year or two, minimum" to transfer Space Shuttle operations to a prime contractor, plus a shift in the reusable space plane's mission if the contractor is to operate the Shuttle as a private commercial venture. Administrator Daniel S. Goldin told the House Appropriations VA, HUD and independent agencies subcommittee yesterday that the decision on whether to place Shuttle operations under a single prime contractor will be made along with other NASA restructuring decisions, currently set for mid- May.
The Pentagon is evaluating increasing the buy for the Joint Surveillance Target Attack Radar System (Joint STARS) beyond present plans for 19 systems and one test article, Pentagon procurement executive Paul G. Kaminski testified yesterday. Kaminski, under secretary of defense for acquisition and technology, told the House National Security research and development subcommittee that an evaluation is ongoing into the need for a bigger Joint STARS force that would take "on the order of" six months to complete.
Initiation of a second low rate production run for the Hunter unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) should be delayed, but the UAV doesn't need to go through independent testing as the General Accounting Office has recommended, according to an internal Pentagon summary of the program obtained by The DAILY. The summary is based on an Acquisition Decision Memorandum (ADM) by Air Force Lt. Gen. James Fain, who conducted a special review of the program for Navy acquisition chief Nora Slatkin following numerous accidents and program delays.
ALLIEDSIGNAL Engines, Stratford, Conn., has received a $20.5 million modification to an existing contract for 80 AGT 1500 turbine engines for M1A2 Abrams tanks for Kuwait. The sole source contract from U.S. Army Tank Automotive Command was initiated in February 1993.
March 20, 1995 Westinghouse Electric Corporation, Electronic Systems Group, Baltimore, Maryland, is being awarded a $5,025,186 cost-plus-fixed-fee contract to perform a concept study and demonstration of the joint advanced weapons guidance and weapons integration precision targeting capabilities for the Joint Advanced Strike Technology (JAST) Program. The study and demonstration will focus on critical strike warfare targeting and target identification capabilities. Work will be performed in Baltimore, Maryland, and is expected to be completed by July 1997.
About 13,000 Boeing workers are eligible for the corporation's first- ever retirement incentive program, announced Friday. Workers must be 55 years old with 10 years of credited experience or 62 years old with any credited service, a spokesman said. Those who volunteer to leave Boeing will be credited with five additional years of service and three years of age to boost their pension benefits. "It remains to be seen how this will affect the layoffs," a spokesman said.
Eurocopter is working with Singapore and China to develop and sell a new single-engine helicopter for law enforcement and surveillance called the EC120, American Eurocopter Corp. Chairman Gerard Chauvallon said. Speaking with Aviation Week Group editors in Washington, Chauvallon, who heads the U.S. subsidiary of the Aerospatiale-Daimler Benz Aerospace helicopter joint venture, said there's already a prototype of the 1.4-ton helicopter nearly ready. "First flight might be this summer," he said.
NASA Administrator Daniel S. Goldin expects the restructuring now underway at his agency to cost some 13,500 space workers their jobs, most of them in the private sector. Briefing reporters at the White House yesterday on "Phase II" of the Clinton Administration's "Reinventing Government" initiative, Goldin said NASA estimates the $5 billion cut from NASA's out-year spending in the fiscal 1996 budget request will mean 2,000 fewer full time civil servants at the agency by the end of five years.
March 21, 1995 Hughes Training, Incorporated, Arlington, Texas, is being awarded a $5,275,036 firm-fixed-price contract for update of four F-16C trainers from the Block 25B configuration to a Block 30B/E configuration. Contract is expected to be completed February 1997. Contract funds will expire at the end of the current fiscal year. The solicitation was issued in November 1993 and negotiations were completed in February 1995. This contract is in support of Foreign Military Sales (FMS) to Turkey.
March 23, 1995 OC, Inc., Alexandria, Virginia, is being awarded a $5,900,000 indefinite delivery/indefinite quantity cost-plus-fixed-fee contract for analysis of current and proposed training systems, including the recommendation of interactive courseware enhancement, and development, integration, and evaluation of interactive courseware for Navy aircraft/maintenance training programs in support of the Naval Air Systems Command Aviation Training System Program Office.
The U.S. Army last week issued a request for proposals to McDonnell Douglas for the first lot production of AH-64D Longbow helicopters. McDonnell Douglas plans to respond to the RFP within 90 days, Charles A. Vehlow, the company's Longbow director said Friday. MDC will modify 18 AH-64As to the Longbow "D" configuration under the production contract. The per-year rate will increase from two to six by the end of Lot 1 production, Vehlow said during an Arlington, Va., conference sponsored by the Technical Marketing Society of America.
WATERVLIET ARSENAL, Watervliet N.Y., was awarded an $11.3 million U.S. Army-in house contract to manufacture and support 100 120mm M256 cannons for use on the M1 tank upgrade phase II program.
EGYPT wants to buy 296 M113 Armored Personnel Carriers with related logistics support, a sale valued at about $36 million, the Pentagon said yesterday. The proposed sale "would contribute to the foreign policy and national security of the United States by helping Egypt enhance its capability to provide for its own security and defense," the Defense Dept. said in a statement.
March 20, 1995 Racal Communications, Incorporated, Rockville, Maryland, is being awarded $7,683,000 (not-to exceed) firm-fixed-price contract for 45 line items of spare parts for the Scope Shield II tactical deployable radio. The work will be performed in Rockville, Maryland. Contract is expected to be completed in June 1996. Contracts funds of $3,841,500 will expire at the end of the current fiscal year. One bid was solicited and one proposal was received. The solicitation date was issued February 1995 and negotiations were completed March 1995.
Prudential Securities VP Gary Reich is boldly predicting that the long-awaited recovery in commercial aircraft demand will begin this year, and that the upturn will be stronger than ever before. "As a result of traffic growth, obsolescence and aging aircraft-and the fact that the world's population now grows by about 1 billion people every seven years or so-the world has entered the nirvana age for commercial aircraft production," Reich told investors in an update being mailed this week.
March 23, 1995 Unisys Corporation, Reston, Virginia, is being awarded a $38,616,433 face value increase to a cost-plus-award-fee contract for development of a global command and control system for United States Transportation Command. Contract is expected to be completed March 2000. Contract funds will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. Two hundred thirty eight was solicited and five offers were received. The solicitation was issued in May 1994 and negotiations were completed in February 1995.
TRW's Space & Electronics Group has signed a $75 million contract with Korea Aerospace Research Institute (KARI) to jointly develop the new Korea Multipurpose Satellite (KOMSAT), TRW said yesterday. KOMSAT's payload will consist of scientific and communications equipment and may include a high-energy particle detector, a sensor to measure the Earth's magnetic field and a sensor to measure the ionosphere, TRW said. TRW will train KARI engineers who will assemble, integrate and test the flight model.
BULOVA TECHNOLOGIES, Lancaster, Pa., has received an additional $10.7 million from U.S. Army Armament, Munitions and Chemical Command for 113,228 M762 fuzes for the 105mm mortar.
March 24, 1995 Raytheon Company, Bedford, Massachusetts, is being awarded a $750,000 modification to a $5,388,202 (potential value $13,921,729 if option is exercised) cost plus fixed fee/cost plus incentive fee contract for The Army Combined Arms Weapon System (TACAWS) Imaging Infrared Seeker Design Definition Program, Phase I and Technical Demonstration Program, Phase II. Work will be performed in Bedford, Massachusetts, and is expected to be completed by April 30, 1997. Of the total contract funds, $1,138,202 will expire at the end of the current fiscal year.
MCDONNELL DOUGLAS HELICOPTER CO. Mesa, Ariz., is in line to conduct the "Mission Enhancement Little Bird (MELB)" flight test program. "The objective of this program is to modify the A/MH-6 aircraft with enhanced components, conduct a qualification flight test program, and demonstrate specification compliance," the Aviation Applied Technology Directorate of U.S. Army Aviation and Troop Command said in a March 14 Commerce Business Daily notice. A 21-month effort is planned.
Propulsion and fastener specialist Thiokol Corp. paid off the last of the $220 million debt it was saddled with when it spun-off from Morton Thiokol in 1989, the company reported yesterday. Falling real interest rates made it possible. The company will take a $7.7 million pre-tax hit against third-quarter earnings to cover the cost of retiring $85.5 million in private placement debt, but avoids the interest that would have accrued through the notes' maturity dates of June, 1996, and June, 1999.
March 20, 1995 Bell Helicopter Textron, Incorporated, Fort Worth, Texas, is being awarded a $25,672,213 modification to a firm fixed price contract for 16 OH-68D Kiowa Warrior Helicopters. Work will be performed in Fort Worth, Texas, and is expected to be completed by August 31, 1997. Contract funds will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. This is a sole source contract initiated on January 5, 1995. The contracting activity is the U.S. Army Aviation and Troop Command, St. Louis, Missouri (DAAJ09-94-C-0145).
