THE BOEING CO. will team with Creative Artists Agency, a talent and literary agency in California, to launch a direct-to-cinema movie delivery system using satellites. The Boeing Digital Cinema technology will involve some of the same techniques Boeing has used for years to deliver encrypted national security information to the Air Force, according to the company.
Northrop Grumman's advanced electronic warfare package for the EA-6B Prowler aircraft is more of a new system than an upgrade and will provide enhanced jamming capabilities and better weapon systems integration, a company official said. The package, now beginning initial testing, is called the Improved Capabilities (ICAP) III.
MOSCOW - Brazilian President Fernando Enrique Cardoso signed several agreements outlining plans for joint aerospace cooperation with Russia and Ukraine during his visit to those countries this week.
The Republic of Ireland plans to buy three Sikorsky S-92 helicopters for Irish air corps search and rescue missions, Sikorsky announced Jan. 17. The contract includes an option for two more aircraft for general-purpose military transport. Pending final negotiations, the contract is valued at about $62 million.
AZ TECHNOLOGY will develop a next-generation mission support collaboration system for the International Space Station using technology supplied by First Virtual Communications. The work will be done under NASA's Small Business Innovative Research program. The company's work could enhance communications among ISS experiment operations personnel, according to Virtual Communications.
EXTRA AWACS: NATO's North Atlantic Council approved the deployment of two more Airborne Warning and Control Systems aircraft to join five AWACs already operating in support of U.S. homeland security. The move was based on a request by the United States, NATO said Jan. 16.
A Lockheed Martin Titan IVB rocket lifted off from Cape Canaveral, Fla. at 7:30 p.m. EST Jan. 15, successfully delivering a Milstar 2 communications satellite into orbit. The $800 million, bus-sized satellite, which has a wingspan equal to a 747 jumbo jet when its solar arrays are deployed, joins three other Milstar satellites already in equatorial orbits, including a previous Milstar 2 launched last February (DAILY, Feb. 22, 2001). The new satellite should be fully checked out and operational within the next four months.
NATO's North Atlantic Council approved the deployment of two more Airborne Warning and Control Systems aircraft to join five AWACs already operating in support of U.S. homeland security. The move was based on a request by the United States, NATO said Jan. 16.
The Presidential Commission on Offsets in International Trade appears to be in limbo. Under the 1999 law that created the panel, commissioners were to issue a final report by October 2001. But the deadline passed with no announcement, and the Bush Administration has not indicated when or if the panel will release a final report. The commission released a status report early last year, but that document did not make specific policy recommendations.
Avionics and communications manufacturer Rockwell Collins Inc. announced Jan. 16 that its net earnings for the first quarter of fiscal 2002 dropped 20 percent over earnings for the same period last year. In a conference call with investors and analysts, Rockwell Collins' Chief Financial Officer Larry Erickson said the company recorded sales of $563 million for the FY 2002 first quarter, compared with $587 million for the same period last year. The company plans to continue with previously announced job cuts, he said.
SAN DIEGO - Adm. John B. Nathman, the commander of Naval Air Force, U.S. Pacific Fleet, said he attributes Operation Enduring Freedom's successful air campaign in Afghanistan to improvements in cooperation between the military services, technological advances, and training in the decade since Desert Storm.
Lockheed Martin Missiles and Fire Control has started work on an electro-optical targeting system (EOTS) for the Joint Strike Fighter under a $171 million contract from BAE Systems, the company announced Jan. 16. The company has teamed with Northrop Grumman Corp.'s Electronic Systems sector to produce EOTS, a derivative of Lockheed Martin's Sniper XR Advanced Targeting Pod. Sniper XR is being produced for U.S. Air Force F-15s and F-16s, and the EOTS will use many of the same components, according to Lockheed Martin.
Growth for most aerospace and defense companies in the fourth quarter "should be reasonable ... though not yet reflecting any real upside from the post Sept. 11 climate change for the sector," says a report released Jan. 16 by the U.S. investment banking arm of Deutsche Bank. Deutsche Banc Alex. Brown Senior Analyst Christopher Mecray said investors should not expect an immediate boost from the increased FY 2002 supplemental defense spending.
NASA's Revolutionary Turbine Accelerator (RTA) engine, which could power the agency's X-43B hypersonic demonstrator, will require the most advanced unclassified turbine engine ever built, according to Project Manager Paul Bartolotta. RTA is a turbine-based combination cycle (TBCC) engine that will use a turbine accelerator to get from zero to roughly Mach 4, at which point a dual-mode scramjet will take over for speeds up to Mach 7 and beyond.
The newly enacted fiscal 2002 defense appropriations and authorization acts make a few gains in advancing military transformation, but more dramatic progress is needed to prepare the U.S. for the threats of the 21st century, according to House Armed Services Committee member William "Mac" Thornberry (R-Texas).
The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency has awarded contracts to two companies for its program to develop technologies for the use of water as an on-orbit propellant for satellites. Hamilton Sundstrand of Windsor Locks, Conn., and Proton Energy Systems of Rocky Hill, Conn., will receive a total of $4.9 million for the first 12 months of the program. DARPA has said water could be a replaceable fluid for satellites because of its potential as a simple, non-hazardous, energy-efficient propellant (DAILY, Feb. 28, 2001).
Raytheon Missile Systems is touting Black Sparrow's moderate price and reconfigurable system in marketing the air-launched ballistic missile target for U.S. missile defense programs.
The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency has awarded contracts to two companies for its program to develop technologies for the use of water as an on-orbit propellant for satellites. Hamilton Sundstrand of Windsor Locks, Conn., and Proton Energy Systems of Rocky Hill, Conn., will receive a total of $4.9 million for the first 12 months of the program. DARPA has said water could be a replaceable fluid for satellites because of its potential as a simple, non-hazardous, energy-efficient propellant (DAILY, Feb. 28, 2001).
