LORAL Training&Technical Services, Horsham, Pa., has received a three-year contract to maintain all mini-computers, micro-computers and other computer-aided systems for Ford Motor Co. in North America. The unit of Loral Corp. said terms of the contract aren't being disclosed.
Any reinvigorated missile defense program growing out of the Republican "Contract With America" should take into account the threat of land-attack cruise missiles, the authors of a study highlighting the dangers of cruise missile proliferation urged yesterday.
Returning to the Appropriations defense subcommittee will be the new chairman, Sen. Ted Stevens (R-Alaska), and Sens. Thad Cochran (R-Miss.), Arlen Specter (R-Pa.), Pete Domenici (R-N.M.), Phil Gramm (R-Tex.), and Christopher Bond (R-Mo.), the full appropriations committee announced. Joining the defense panel this year, it said, are Republican Sens. Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), Connie Mack (R-Fla.), and Richard Shelby (R-Ala.).
The Senate Armed Services Committee created a seapower subcommittee and realigned other subcommittees slightly in its first organizational meeting of the new Congress yesterday. The strategic forces subcommittee replaced the nuclear deterrence, arms control and defense intelligence subcommittee. The readiness subcommittee was substituted for the old military readiness and defense infrastructure panel.
CONTROL DATA SYSTEMS INC., Arden Hills, Minn., will integrate an electronic mail system to link various NASA centers under a multi-year, multi-million dollar subcontract from Computer Sciences Corp. Control Data said it will install and integrate a comprehensive solution of hardware, software and networks allowing NASA systems to communicate through electronic mail and fax transmission.
Carco Electronics, Menlo Park, Calif., and Contraves Inc. of Pittsburgh have agreed to proceed with discussions on the possible merger of Contraves' Inertial Guidance and Test Systems (IGTS) into Carco. Carco, which manufactures precision flight motion simulators used to test and develop aerospace guidance and control systems, said yesterday that if the talks are successful, the intent of both companies is to enter a definitive agreement by Feb. 15. Terms of a transaction have yet to be negotiated.
Teledyne sold its Electronic Systems business to Litton Industries in an all-cash deal, Litton reported yesterday, but terms weren't disclosed. Three Teledyne units in Northridge, Newbury Park and San Diego, Calif., are involved in the transaction, which has been in the works since last summer (DAILY, Aug. 19, 1994, page 281). Electronic Systems' Lewisburg, Tenn., operations were excluded, as was any real estate.
The White House has accepted NASA's plans to develop a next-generation U.S. space launch vehicle, clearing the way for release of the "Cooperative Agreement Notices" (CANs) inviting industry to join the space agency in a reusable launch vehicle development effort.
January 5, 1995 Sikorsky Aircraft Corporation, Stratford, Connecticut, is being awarded a $7,920,000 ceiling priced order to provide 36 transmission housings for the CH-53D helicopter. Work will be performed in Stratford, Connecticut, and is expected to be completed by December 1996. Contract funds will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. This contract was not competitively procured. The Naval Aviation Supply Office, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, is the contracting activity (N00383-92-G-K311).
Thiokol Corp.'s Strategic Operation has received an order for three Castor 120 solid rocket motors from Lockheed Missiles and Space Co. for the planned Lockheed Launch Vehicle (LLV) family of commercial boosters. The Brigham City, Utah, motor company said it will deliver the motors in 1996, but disclosed no other details of the contract.
Rep. James Sensenbrenner (R-Wis.), the new chairman of the House Science Committee's space subcommittee, is keeping a low public profile on space issues as he begins his new job. The Wisconsin congressman, who is well known for his concerns about Russia's participation in the International Space Station and for his public face-offs with NASA Administrator Daniel Goldin over Station and other issues, has had no comment on the possible implications of the political turmoil in Russia that has resulted from the rebellion in Chechnya.
Composites-specialist Hexcel, struggling to emerge from bankruptcy protection, sold its Chandler, Ariz., honeycomb plant to Northrop Grumman for $30 million, Hexcel said yesterday, and will book a $16 million gain on the deal.
McDonnell Douglas Aerospace received nearly $1 billion in U.S. Navy contracts on Jan. 6 for the F/A-18 program, including production for Finland and Switzerland. Six contracts, awarded by Naval Air Systems Command, totaled $992.7 million. The contracts were as follows: -- $328.8 million for fiscal year 1994 production of two F/A-18C/Ds for the U.S. Navy and 34 F/A-18C/Ds for Switzerland. -- $250.4 million for fiscal '94 production of 11 F/A-18Cs for Finland.
China's Dongfanghong No. 3 communications satellite, launched last November, has failed in orbit after a fuel leak. The China Daily reported yesterday that the domestically produced spacecraft, which was designed for an eight-year service life, has experienced a leak in its attitude control thruster system that rendered it unusable. According to an Associated Press report from Beijing, the China Aerospace Corp. has a similar satellite under construction and will modify it to prevent a recurrence of the problem.
January 3, 1995 Canadian Commercial Corporation, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, is being awarded a $11,227,824 firm-fixed-price contract for the procurement of four recovery, assist, securing, and traversing (RAST) systems for shipboard helicopter landing systems. Work will be performed in Mississauga, Ontario, Canada, and is expected to be completed by January 1997. This contract was not competitively procured. The Naval Air Warfare Center, Aircraft Division, Lakehurst, New Jersey, is the contracting activity (N68335-95-C- 0057)
FINAL RFP for a feasibility study of short and very short range air defense systems for NATO will be released about Jan. 26, according to the U.S. Army's Missile Command. MICOM said in a Jan. 10 Commerce Business Daily notice that interested U.S. companies should contact the program's management office in London by Jan. 13.
The National Transportation Safety Board wants all Robinson R44 and R22 light piston helicopters grounded following a string of recent fatal accidents involving loss of control and inflight breakups, and warned FAA on Friday there may be a fundamental flaw with the rotor design.
New orders for 69 Jetstream 41 twin-engined commuter aircraft by Trans States Airlines and South Africa's SA Airlink swelled AlliedSignal Engines' order book for TPE331 turboprops by at least 138 engines, many of which will be delivered this year, the company reported yesterday. AlliedSignal pegged the deal's value at more than $220 million, including spares and service. More than two-thirds of the engines will be delivered to Trans States, which has already this month begun receiving aircraft. Deliveries to SA Airlink are slated to begin next month.
A federal court judge in Los Angeles yesterday set aside a jury verdict that awarded Litton $1.2 billion in damages in a patent infringement suit against Honeywell, ruling that Litton's patent wasn't valid. U.S. District Court Judge Mariana Pfaelzer found that not only is Litton's patent unenforceable because it was obtained by "inequitable conduct," but that the technology-a process to coat mirrors used in ring laser gyros for navigation-was "obvious," and therefore not something to be patented.
