SPACE SYSTEMS/LORAL will build the MBSAT communications satellite for Japan's Mobile Broadcasting Corp. (MBC). MBSAT will deliver digital multimedia services such as CD-quality audio, MPEG-4 video and data to mobile users in Japan. On-orbit delivery of the spacecraft is scheduled for the fourth quarter of 2003, with service expected to begin in early 2004. According to Space Systems/Loral, MBC will deliver music, video and data to various kinds of receivers, including those in cars, ships, trains, handheld terminals, personal digital assistants and cellular phones.
The U.S. should consider conditioning military aid and other foreign assistance to Middle East countries on whether they adequately support a peaceful resolution of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, according to Senate Appropriations Committee Chairman Robert Byrd (D-W.Va.). Foreign assistance to the Middle East includes annual military aid of about $2 billion to Israel and $1.3 billion to Egypt. "We must stop rewarding the status quo with an uninterrupted flow of foreign aid dollars and instead use foreign assistance as a tool to leverage peace," Byrd says.
The Boeing Co. announced Jan. 3 that it delivered 144 commercial aircraft during the fourth quarter of 2001, bringing the total number of aircraft delivered for the year to 527 - slightly better than the company had predicted after the Sept. 11 attacks. Before the attacks, Boeing estimated it would deliver about 538 aircraft. Shortly afterwards, company officials revised that estimate to 522 to reflect the steep decline in passenger air travel.
The U.S. Navy has awarded Northrop Grumman Corp. a $49 million Pre-Systems Development and Demonstration (Pre-SDD) contract for the E-2C Hawkeye Radar Modernization Program (RMP), the company announced Jan. 3. The contract marks the beginning of a $1 billion-plus development effort to deliver early warning and battle management capabilities by the end of the decade, and could lead to a multibillion-dollar program for production of the next-generation Advanced Hawkeye, according to the company.
BOEING SATELLITE SYSTEMS has awarded the launch of the U.S. Navy's UFO F-11 satellite to International Launch Services after receiving a contract modification allowing it to contract for the launch. UFO F-11 is the latest in a series of Navy UHF Follow-On (UFO) satellites the company has built under a contract awarded in 1998. The satellite is now scheduled to launch in late 2003 on an Atlas IIIB. ILS launched the first 10 UFO satellites.
The Senate Dec. 20 passed a bill that would authorize Israel to spend $200 million in U.S. military aid to set up an American production line for the Arrow missile, the interceptor for the Arrow missile defense system. The security assistance bill would allow Israel, which gets about $2 billion a year in U.S. military aid, to spend $100 million of that money in fiscal 2002 and another $100 million in FY '03 to set up the production line in cooperation with a U.S. company.
EMS Technologies Inc.'s SATCOM division has won a $4.2 million contract from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration to provide ground-based equipment to support search-and-rescue operations over the Cospas-Sarsat satellite system. NOAA's National Environmental Satellite, Data and Information Service will use the system to quickly determine the location of distress beacons for U.S. search-and-rescue authorities.
L-3 Communications Corp. said Jan. 4 that its offer to buy Canada's Spar Aerospace Ltd. has expired. About 72 percent of Spar stock has been tendered, and the company said it plans to buy the rest of the stock for its announced price of Canadian $15.50 per share. Spar provides aviation management services, engineering and upgrades for military and commercial aviation programs.
Lockheed Martin Corp. and Raytheon Co. have both won contracts to produce laser guided bomb (LGB) kits. The contracts were awarded Dec. 21. Lockheed Martin's award, an $80.4 million contract announced by the Navy, followed a Dec. 17 determination by the service that Lockheed Martin is qualified to do the work, a development that gives the company a share of the business that Raytheon has had for some 25 years.
Air Force Space and Missiles System Center will brief industry representatives Jan. 16 on the Space Based Radar (SBR) program. During the session, at Aerospace Corp. in El Segundo, Calif., officials will outline the program's acquisition strategy and technology requirements. First launch of SBR is planned for fiscal year 2010. SMC Commander Lt. Gen. Brian A. Arnold, who will give an overview of the program at the meeting, has said that if SBR were available today, U.S.
The U.S. Navy has awarded Northrop Grumman Corp. a $49 million Pre-Systems Development and Demonstration (Pre-SDD) contract for the E-2C Hawkeye Radar Modernization Program (RMP), the company announced Jan. 3. The contract marks the beginning of a $1 billion-plus development effort to deliver early warning and battle management capabilities by the end of the decade, and could lead to a multibillion-dollar program for production of the next-generation Advanced Hawkeye, according to the company.
Although the Marine Corps is still deliberating options for upgrading its manned aircraft jamming capabilities, a contractor official says it seems likely the Marines won't go with the F/A-18F Super Hornet-based EA-18, the most likely option for the Navy. "Their posture right now is that they want to keep the EA-6B until the last possible minute," says Doug Herd, a business development manager at Northrop Grumman Corp., which is working with the Boeing Co. to develop the EA-18 Electronic Attack aircraft.
Sens. Joe Lieberman (D-Conn.) and John McCain (R-Ariz.) have introduced a bill that would set up a bipartisan commission to study the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks and determine whether the federal government should be restructured to prevent and respond to future attacks. The bill has been referred to the Senate Governmental Affairs Committee, which Lieberman chairs.
The Senate Dec. 20 passed a bill that would authorize Israel to spend $200 million in U.S. military aid to set up an American production line for the Arrow missile, the interceptor for the Arrow missile defense system. The security assistance bill would allow Israel, which gets about $2 billion a year in U.S. military aid, to spend $100 million of that money in fiscal 2002 and another $100 million in FY '03 to set up the production line in cooperation with a U.S. company.
EMS Technologies Inc.'s SATCOM division has won a $4.2 million contract from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration to provide ground-based equipment to support search-and-rescue operations over the Cospas-Sarsat satellite system. NOAA's National Environmental Satellite, Data and Information Service will use the system to quickly determine the location of distress beacons for U.S. search-and-rescue authorities.
The Boeing Co. announced Jan. 3 that it delivered 144 commercial aircraft during the fourth quarter of 2001, bringing the total number of aircraft delivered for the year to 527 - slightly better than the company had predicted after the Sept. 11 attacks. Before the attacks, Boeing estimated it would deliver about 538 aircraft. Shortly afterwards, company officials revised that estimate to 522 to reflect the steep decline in passenger air travel.
The Ballistic Missile Defense Organization (BMDO) has been elevated to agency status and will now be designated the Missile Defense Agency (MDA), the Pentagon announced Jan. 4. The new agency's mission areas will be roughly similar to those of BMDO, but elevation to agency status "recognizes the national priority and mission emphasis on missile defense," according to a Pentagon release.
Lockheed Martin Corp. and Raytheon Co. have both won contracts to produce laser guided bomb (LGB) kits. The contracts were awarded Dec. 21. Lockheed Martin's award, an $80.4 million contract announced by the Navy, followed a Dec. 17 determination by the service that Lockheed Martin is qualified to do the work, a development that gives the company a share of the business that Raytheon has had for some 25 years.
Telecommunications could be a major emerging application for unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) in the coming years, according to Davidson. "I really think that telecommunications is going to be a big part of it," he says.
NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala., has awarded the first design contract for the Integrated System Test of an Air-breathing Rocket (ISTAR) - the hybrid engine that could power the X-43B hypersonic demonstrator by decade's end. The $16.6 million contract, awarded Jan. 4, is expected to lead to the development by 2006 of a ground test version of ISTAR, with a flight demonstration by 2010.
Aerospace and defense analysts with Standard&Poor's affirmed their ratings for Textron Inc. and Textron Financial Corp. in a report released in December. Textron currently has a corporate credit rating of "A/A-1," a senior unsecured debt rating of "A" and commercial paper rating of "A-1." The ratings outlook for the company remains negative.
As the Navy reviews the options for replacing the service's aging EA-6B Prowler aircraft fleet, officials from the Boeing Co. and Northrop Grumman Corp. are moving forward with EA-18 flight tests to demonstrate what they describe as the most cost efficient and operationally suitable solution for the military's standoff and escort jamming needs.
The production of turboprop engines for military transport aircraft probably will increase over the next decade, but that is unlikely to compensate for the decline in turboprop engine production for business and regional aircraft, says a new report from Forecast International Inc. The overall production of turboprop engines is expected to decline through 2010 as the market contracts to niche commercial and business operators using turboprops, according to power systems analyst Carl Opdyke.
Despite recent advances in the acceptance of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), regulatory issues still hinder their growth in areas such as homeland defense, according to Daryl Davidson, executive director of the Association for Unmanned Vehicle Systems International (AUVSI).
