NEGOTIATORS for NASA and Boeing Defense&Space Group completed work over the weekend on the company's prime contract to build the International Space Station, sources said yesterday, but final space agency approval was withheld pending a review by top program officials. The general outline of the contract-$6.2 billion through 2003-was settled late last summer, but final cost and fee details had remained open (DAILY, Sept. 6, 1994, page 364).
NOAA-14, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's newest weather satellite, is completing checkout and operating normally, Martin Marietta, the spacecraft's builder, said. As of Friday, spacecraft controllers had turned on all but one of the nine instruments on board, the first step to bringing them to full data production, Martin said. All of NOAA-14's spacecraft subsystems "are operating normally," the company said.
President Clinton will deliver the State of the Union message to Congress on Jan. 24, and the fiscal 1996 defense budget will go to Capitol Hill on Feb. 6, congressional sources say.
Rep. Jane Harman (D-Calif.) was sworn in to a second term Wednesday after a Republican challenge to her and other Democrats who won re-election by paper-thin margins failed to materialize. Some Republicans had threatened to seat Harman, who represents an aerospace-rich district in the Los Angeles area, only provisionally pending investigations into Republican complaints of fraud in her 812-vote victory (DAILY, Nov. 23, page 281).
Aerojet has used experience gained in materials processing for defense programs to launch pilot production of an organic aerogel that will be tested for several commercial applications. The company said Friday it also plans to begin pilot production of silica-based aerogels at its Sacramento, Calif., facilities, soon. Both types of aerogel have strong insulation properties, being 95% air.
Derlan Inc. has acquired assets of Peacock Aerospace Inc. of Los Angeles in a $2.4 million deal to upgrade its manufacturing operation at Santa Ana, Calif., the company's Canadian parent Derlan Industries announced from Toronto. Peacock's assets and revenues will be transferred to Derlan's Santa Ana facility, the company said. Peacock manufactures and repairs landing gear assemblies, actuators and valves for commercial aircraft, helicopters and the space program, with annual sales of about $7 million and a $9 million backlog.
Cosmonaut Valeri Polyakov sets a new human spaceflight endurance record today aboard the Mir space station when he logs his 366th consecutive day in orbit. Polyakov, a physician and deputy director of the Institute for Biomedical Problems in Moscow, is scheduled to remain aboard Mir a total of 442 days studying the physiological effects of long-term exposure to microgravity.
Ben R. Rich, the retired president of Lockheed Advanced Development Co. who won wide acclaim over a 40-year career as a designer of some of the most sophisticated U.S. aircraft, died Jan. 5 after a long illness. He was 69. After joining Lockheed in 1950, Rich worked on a wide range of projects, including the F-104, U-2, YF-12 and SR-71. He led Lockheed's development of the F-117A, an effort that won the Collier Trophy in 1990. Last year, Defense Secretary William Perry awarded Rich, who retired in 1991, the Distinguished Service Medal.
Anyone who wants to know why a country like Saudi Arabia is having trouble coming up with money to pay for 60-some U.S. jetliners from Boeing and McDonnell Douglas should take a close look at what happened in the kingdom last week. Even after a new round of government austerity measures-higher rates for electricity, fuel and water-took effect last week, the Saudis will have to borrow another $4 billion to cover this year's government deficit.
In the latest Army-Air Force clash over roles and missions, the Air Force is questioning the role of the Army Tactical Missile System (ATACMS) in deep battle, the Army's top roles and missions official said Thursday. The debate is such that it could mean a change in ATACMS' role on the battlefield, Brig. Gen. John Costello told reporters during a breakfast briefing.
Lucas Western Inc. agreed last week to plead guilty to false statements charges and to pay $18.5 million in fines to settle charges of supplying bad parts for Navy F/A-18 fighters. George Simpson, chief executive of parent Lucas Industries, revealed plans to work out a cash settlement with the Pentagon last fall (DAILY, Oct. 12, 1994, page 51), and Lucas said yesterday that the fine is "consistent with" reserves already set aside to cover criminal and civil issues arising from the case.
Symetrics, a small manufacturer of quick-disconnect valved couplings for the Space Shuttle, International Space Station and various defense aircraft and missiles, has been acquired by Parker Hannifin Corp. Under the stock for stock deal, Cleveland-based Parker, a $2.6 billion worldwide producer of motion-control components and systems for the aerospace, automotive and other industrial markets, will merge Symetrics into its Fluid Connectors Group.
The Navy conducted the first free-flight test of a guided Joint Stand- Off Weapon (JSOW) last month, demonstrating separation under autopilot control and wing deployment, prime contractor Texas Instruments reported yesterday. A Navy F/A-18C launched the first guided JSOW over the China Lake test range in California on Dec. 13, 1994, TI said. The vehicle flew more than 13 miles before a planned destruct command was sent, generating debris pattern data for future range safety calculations.
NASA Administrator Daniel Goldin says there can be no more funding or design changes to the International Space Station. "If there's one more request to redesign, I will recommend cancellation of the Space Station," he tells the House Science Committee. Goldin says 26,500 pounds of Station hardware was built in 1994.
The Army this week plans to submit a proposal to the Pentagon's roles and missions commission to take over all Defense Dept. rotary wing activities, including acquisition, maintenance, training and logistic, said Army Brig. Gen. John Costello, responsible for roles and missions. The plan, which has been in the works for several weeks, is not a "cram-it-down-your-throat" proposal, Costello said. "We will offer it in a congenial manner."
The Air Force's Wright Laboratory plans a $6.2 million effort to identify and test technologies that will enhance the survivability of special operation and transport aircraft by lowering their signatures or raising their ability to withstand battle damage.
Despite his new responsibilities as chairman of the House Budget Committee and point man in the Republican battle to win a balanced budget constitutional amendment, a cornerstone of the Republican "Contract With America," Rep. John R. Kasich (R-Ohio) said Friday he will play an active role this year opposing any attempt to build more than 20 B-2 stealth bombers. "No, I won't be too busy to be involved in the B-2 issue this year," he told the DAILY in an interview.
TRW Systems Engineering and Development Div. in Carson, Calif., on Friday won a $282.8 million contract to develop interim, or "applique," hardware and to integrate software for the Army's digitization program. The equipment, to be installed first in Army ground combat and combat support equipment, will provide situational awareness and operational control. The work is to be finished by May 1, 2000.
French airworthiness officials lifted their flight restrictions on autopilot use in ATR-42 and -72 twin-turboprop commuter planes Friday, replacing them with new operating procedures identical to those proposed by the Avions de Transport Regional consortium to U.S. air safety officials and still pending in the U.S.
Daimler Benz wants to start partnerships between its aerospace businesses-until recently collectively known as Deutsche Aerospace-and big Indian companies, says Daimler chief Edzard Reuter. During a trip to a business conference in Calcutta, Reuter reveals Daimler's plans to open an office in New Delhi within a few months, which will serve as the jumping-off point for exploring the range of possible tie-ups. India's aerospace market is "open to challenge and progressive in outlook," Reuter says.
Defense Secretary William Perry says he "welcomes the spirit" of a bill introduced last week by Senate Majority Leader Robert Dole (Kan.) to repeal the War Powers Resolution. The Peace Powers Act of 1995 also requires the president "in every possible instance" to consult with Congress before deploying troops, but it imposes "significant new limits" on peacekeeping policies as well, Dole says. The legislation would limit the placement of U.S. troops under foreign command and require that U.N.
NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center is seeking proposals for the computerized units that will control the furnace astronauts on the International Space Station will use for materials research, and for a high-capacity recorder to store the data it generates.
Seven former secretaries of defense have urged President Clinton to keep the B-2 bomber in low-rate production beyond the 20 aircraft now planned, citing "fiscal and operational" arguments. Circulated by former New Jersey Republican congressman Jim Courter, now chairman of a group called The Committee for the Common Defense at the Alexis de Tocqueville Institution in suburban Washington, the Jan. 4 letter was signed by Melvin Laird, James Schlesinger, Donald Rumsfeld, Harold Brown, Caspar Weinberger, Frank Carlucci and Dick Cheney.
