WINGS DELIVERED: The Boeing Co. has delivered the wings for the first F-22 Raptor production aicraft to Lockheed Martin, the company announced March 19. The two 2,000-pound titanium and composite structures were delivered last week and will be mated with the aircraft's fuselage later this month in Marietta, Ga.
AIR AGREEMENT: NASA officials and Boeing Air Traffic Management senior managers will sign a memorandum of understanding March 21 to plan future research projects to enable "the next-generation air transportation system," according to NASA.
Standard&Poor's has lowered the corporate credit rating for aviation component supplier Fairchild Corp. but removed the company from CreditWatch, where it had been placed Sept. 21, 2001. In a report released March 18, S&P aerospace analyst Roman Szuper lowered the rating for the Dulles, Va.-based company from "B" to "B-" out of concern that the continued softness in the commercial aviation market would weaken its financial profile. The company's ratings outlook is negative.
A senior official in the Turkish air force called on the U.S. to remove technology transfer and export licensing restrictions that he said are preventing the two countries from developing a closer relationship on a number of strategic issues. Maj. Gen Aktug Atay, chief of staff for plans and principles, said March 19 that the concept of "strategic cooperation" between Turkey and the U.S. has taken on a greater meaning since the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11.
BOEING BONDS: Boeing Capital Corp. filed a prospectus with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission for the issue of up to $1 billion of Boeing Capital investment-grade corporate bonds through Incapital's InterNotesSM Medium-Term Note program. The company provides lease and loan financing for commercial aircraft and equipment, business aircraft and space and defense products.
A high-level Navy official said March 19 that he is trying to secure significantly more money for new weapon systems in the service's fiscal 2004 budget, which the Bush Administration is scheduled to release in about 11 months.
The Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) is working to shrink laser weapon systems to make them suitable for use on tactical aircraft such as C-130s or even fighters. Lasers offer a number of tactical advantages over conventional munitions, according to Col. Mark Stephen, deputy director of AFRL's Directed Energy Directorate at Kirtland Air Force Base, N.M.
South Korea has requested a possible sale of Aegis combat systems to be installed on three 7,000 ton KDX-III destroyers, which would bolster South Korea's naval and air defense capabilities, according to the Department of Defense.
The Air Force is considering developing a version of the Active Denial non-lethal weapon for use on C-130 aircraft, according to Col. Mark Stephen, deputy director of the Air Force Research Laboratory's (ARFL) Directed Energy Directorate. Active Denial Technology (ADT) uses millimeter-wave electromagnetic energy to create painful sensations that can stop, deter and turn back an adversary from relatively long range. ADT is one of several directed energy technologies that may be incorporated onto the C-130, Stephen told The DAILY.
The Boeing Co. will sell its Mesa, Ariz.-based ordnance business to Alliant Techsystems (ATK) of Edina, Minn., if it gets regulatory approval, the company announced March 18. The ordnance business is part of Boeing Military Aircraft and Missile Systems. The unit's 50 employees will be offered a chance to transfer to ATK when the sale is final, which is expected to be in the first half of this year. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.
Integral Systems Inc. was chosen over TRW for the Air Force's CCS-C (Command and Control System-Consolidated) program, an effort to replace the portion of the Air Force Satellite Control Network that supports military communications satellites and advanced satellites.
Lockheed Martin Corp. announced March 18 it is selling two additional units that once belonged to its Global Telecommunications business, which it decided to dissolve late last year. Intelsat Ltd., of Bermuda, has agreed to purchase Lockheed Martin's World Systems and COMSAT Digital Teleport Inc. businesses for an undisclosed price. Lockheed Martin officials said the sale would not be material to the company's earnings, nor would it affect Lockheed Martin's 24 percent ownership stake in Intelsat.
Turkish and American officials announced March 18 that Turkey will participate in the new phase of the U.S. Defense Department's F-35 Joint Strike Fighter program. Turkey will join the system development and demonstration (SDD) phase as a Level 3 partner, meaning it will pay about 1 percent to 2 percent of the SDD's cost. Although an exact dollar amount was not immediately available, Canada, which is already a Level 3 participant, plans to contribute about $150 million to the program (DAILY, Feb. 8).
After a one-day launch delay resulting from high winds, NASA and the German Center for Air and Space Flight successfully launched the Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment (GRACE) mission at 1:21 a.m. Pacific time March 17 from Russia's Plesetsk Cosmodrome.
The European Aeronautic Space and Defence Co. (EADS) said group revenues for 2001 grew by more than 27 percent over 2000 levels, but company officials warned that fewer deliveries of commercial aircraft by its Airbus Industrie division could cause earnings to fall this year.
Air Force Space Command declared initial operational capability (IOC) on March 15 for the Minuteman III ICBM propulsion replacement program (PRP). Ten ICBMs that have gone through the PRP have been deployed and are on alert at Malmstrom Air Force Base, Mont., under the $2.4 billion program. Five hundred Minutemen IIIs are deployed at Malmstrom, F.E. Warren Air Force Base, Wyo., and Minot Air Force Base, N.D. The PRP program is intended to replace aging propellant in the boosters to maintain reliability through 2020.
March 14, 2002 Bell-Boeing Joint Program Office, Arlington, Va., is being awarded a $43,987,322 ceiling-priced order for procurement of an estimated 15,036 various low-rate initial production Lot 6 spares for the V-22 Osprey aircraft. Work will be performed at Ridley Park, Pa., and is to be completed by July 2004. Contract funds will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. This contract was not competitively procured. The Naval Inventory Control Point, Philadelphia, is the contracting activity (N00383-97-G-002N) (Order 0028).
TEST FIRE: The U.S. Navy successfully test-fired a Lockheed Martin Space Systems-built Trident II (D5) Fleet Ballistic Missile over the weekend, according to the company. The missile was launched from the submarine U.S.S. Alaska at the Eastern Range off the coast of Florida. It was the 95th consecutive successful test launch.
March 14, 2002 Bell-Boeing Joint Program Office, Arlington, Va., is being awarded a $35,250,849 ceiling-priced order for procurement of an estimated 1,064 various low-rate initial production Lot 6 spares for the V-22 Osprey aircraft. Work will be performed at Fort Worth, Texas, and is expected to be completed by July 2004. Contract funds will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. This contract was not competitively procured. The Naval Inventory Control Point, Philadelphia, is the contracting activity (N00383-97-G-002N) (Order 0029).
March 12, 2002 McDonnell Douglas Corp., a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Boeing Co., Long Beach, Calif., is being awarded a $47,000,009 cost-plus-incentive-fee contract modification to provide for computer software upgrade and engineering services. This effort will support the B-1B aircraft. At this time, $25,029,544 of the funds has been obligated. This work will be completed in November 2003. The Oklahoma City Air Logistics Center, Tinker Air Force Base, is the contracting activity (F34601-99-C-0001, P00131).
The National Science Foundation would get an 8.9 percent funding increase under the House version of the fiscal 2003 budget resolution, 3.9 percent above the Bush Administration's request. The budget outline, approved by the House Budget Committee March 13, would provide the NSF with a total of $5.2 billion in FY '03, $425 million over FY '02. Funding for research and related activities would rise 11.1 percent, 6 percent above the Administration's request.
