Eight European nations signed an agreement in Brussels Dec. 18 to purchase a total of 196 A400M military transport aircraft for a total of 18 billion euros (about $16 billion). Although the agreement dashes hopes that the Europeans would opt instead to buy the Boeing Co.'s C-17 Globemaster transport or Lockheed Martin Corp.'s C-130J Hercules transport, the final decision to actually buy the aircraft will depend upon a vote in the German Bundestag next year.
SCIENCE APPLICATIONS INTERNATIONAL CORP. (SAIC) will provide atmospheric-science research and technology support under a $150 million, five-year contract from NASA's Langley Research Center, Hampton, Va. Work areas include scientific analysis and modeling support as well as consulting, outreach and applications support to the center's dynamic atmospheric sciences program. SAIC will also maintain and enhance the agency's Atmospheric Science Data Center (ASDC), providing documentation for processing, archiving and distributing atmospheric data, among other functions.
NEW ENGINE: France's Turbomeca is developing a new turboshaft engine to power helicopters in the five to six ton range, the company announced. The engine, the Ardiden, will have 1,200 shp power at takeoff and is slated for certification in 2005.
BALL AEROSPACE&TECHNOLOGIES CORP. of Boulder, Colo., will provide a Multispectral Visible Imaging Camera (MVIC) and part of an infrared spectrometer to a team selected by NASA for a preliminary design study of a spacecraft to travel to Pluto and the Kuiper Belt, a ring of objects composed of material left over from the formation of planets. The MVIC, slated to be one of seven sensors onboard the spacecraft, will capture detailed images of Pluto's surface as the spacecraft flies by.
NASA may have pulled the plug on its three-year-old Deep Space 1 mission, but the technology the spacecraft demonstrated will live on in other missions, according to the aerospace agency. "By the time we turn its engines off ... Deep Space 1 will have earned an honored place in space exploration history," Colleen Hartman, the director of NASA's Solar System Exploration Division, said in a statement. NASA sent a command to turn off Deep Space 1's ion engine Dec. 18.
The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is considering roughly 1,700 new aviation security ideas in response to the September 11 terrorist attacks, according to Paul Polski, director of FAA aviation security research and development. "In the last two months, we've gotten over 30,000 recommendations," Polski said, speaking at an aeronautics conference in Washington earlier this month. "We've had a hotline for a long time - 1-800-TELL-FAA. Well, we've been told, and told, and told."
E-market exchanges that were originally developed by larger aerospace companies as an efficient way to obtain supplier products at a cheaper price are now becoming more supplier friendly, according to Bill Lewandowski, vice-president of supplier management for the Aerospace Industries Association. However, suppliers are still somewhat reluctant to participate in the exchanges, and will remain so until they see the exchanges giving them as much benefit as they provide buyers, he said.
SPACE SYSTEMS/LORAL will build two new X-band satellites: XTAR EUR for XTAR, a defense satellite communications company that is a joint venture between Loral and commercial satellite company Hisdesat, S.A., and SpainSat for Hisdesat. The satellites will provide leased communications services to the U.S. Department of Defense, Spain's Ministry of Defense and other agencies. The XTAR EUR, slated to begin service in 2003, will carry 12 X-band transponders and will operate from an Indian Ocean region orbital slot.
INTEGRAL SYSTEMS INC. will provide the primary and backup satellite control software for PanAmSat's Galaxy XII satellite, under a contract with Orbital Sciences Corp. Orbital Sciences is responsible for the complete satellite development program, including the spacecraft bus, payload subsystems and ground control systems. Integral will provide software for PanAmSat's Primary Operations Control Center and an alternate control facility. The software will provide real-time command and control, orbital analysis and maneuver planning and offline trending functions.
A House-Senate conference committee approved a fiscal 2002 defense appropriations bill Dec. 18 that would allow the Air Force to lease 100 Boeing 767s for a decade to replace its aging KC-135E tankers. "It's in there," Senate Appropriations defense subcommittee Chairman Daniel Inouye (D-Hawaii) said shortly before the panel agreed to the leasing plan, which he advocated. The conference provision is similar to language in the Senate version of the defense bill. The House bill did not have a leasing provision.
ALCATEL SPACE is heading a consortium of companies from France, Italy and Spain that will continue to provide technical services for the Guiana Space Center in Kourou, French Guiana. Alcatel Space has been in charge of technical services there since 1996, and will continue to provide them under a new $135 million, five-year contract awarded by the French space agency Centre National d'Etudes Spatiales (CNES).
Army Secretary Thomas White and Air Force Secretary James Roche said they are making changes and realignments in their headquarters to cut bureaucracy and staff. Before Sept. 11, Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld announced plans to overhaul the Defense Department and has continued to insist that these plans should go forward regardless of current military operations. The Army and Air Force plans - presented at a Dec. 18 briefing by White and Roche - do not yet have a specific timetable for implementation.
The Army's Operations Support Command (OSC) plans to solicit proposals in January for a contractor to operate the Radford Army Ammunition Plant in southwestern Virginia, according to an OSC spokesman. The plant, the Army's only munitions propellant manufacturing facility, produces propellant for missiles and other weapons. The current contract with Minnesota-based Alliant Techsystems Inc.
NASA has awarded an additional $94.6 million in contracts under the Space Launch Initiative (SLI) - the agency's effort to develop the technologies needed for future-generation reusable launch vehicles (RLVs) that will replace the space shuttle. The awards, announced Dec. 17, represent the final round of competitive selections under cycle one of the NASA Research Announcement (NRA) for SLI issued in October 2000.
DRS TECHNOLOGIES INC. of Parsippany, N.J., will supply equipment to support the Stores Management System (SMS) used on the U.S. Navy F/A-18E/F Super Hornet and Canadian CF-18A/B fighter aircraft under contracts worth up to $24 million. DRS will provide circuit card assemblies and testing for the housing, wire harnesses and power supplies for the system. The contracts were awarded by Smiths Aerospace and are associated with the upgrade of 80 Canadian Forces CF-18 Hornets and the production of more than 220 F/A-18E/Fs for the U.S. Navy.
The National Reconnaissance Office (NRO) announced Dec. 14 it is issuing a Broad Agency Announcement (BAA) for research proposals that could lead to new and unique approaches to space launches.
DYNAMAC CORP. of Rockville, Md., will provide services to NASA's Kennedy Space Center, Fla., that include medical planning operations for the space shuttle and International Space Station, environmental compliance and stewardship, life sciences payload operations, life sciences payload development and other services. The work is being done under a three-year, $54 million contract that has options that could boost its value to $119 million. Work will be performed at Kennedy and at NASA facilities located on Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Fla.
Northrop Grumman Corp., Bethpage, N.Y., is being awarded a $7,637,704 cost-plus-fixed-fee delivery order against a previously awarded basic ordering agreement (N00019-00-G-0425) for the development and demonstration of a Specific Emitter Identification (SEI) capability for the AN/ALQ-217 Electronic Support Measures (ESM) sensor system in support of the E-2C aircraft and weapons system. Work will be performed in Bethpage, N.Y., and is expected to be completed in June 2003. Contract funds in the amount of $7,637,704 will expire at the end of current fiscal year.
Undersecretary of Defense E.C. "Pete" Aldridge's Dec. 14 decision to cancel the Navy Area Theater Ballistic Missile Defense program ends one of the military's more advanced terminal-phase intercept efforts and will leave the Pentagon owing about $300 million in contract termination fees.
The Boeing Co., Seattle, Wash., was awarded on Dec. 13, 2001, a $112,000,000 indefinite delivery/indefinite quantity contract to provide for C-32A Mission Communications System upgrade and subscription support.
Rockwell International Corp., Cedar Rapids, Iowa, was awarded on Dec. 13, 2001, an $8,915,759 firm-fixed-price contract modification to provide for an extension on the reliability warranty on the Pacer Compass Radar and Global Positioning system line replacement units through November 30, 2011. At this time, the total amount of funds has been obligated. The Oklahoma City Air Logistics Center, Tinker Air Force Base, Okla., is the contracting activity (F34601-00-C-0042, P00025).
The time is right for a new thrust to promote the use of remotely operated aircraft (ROA) in national airspace, according to a California company. The company, American Technology Alliances of Redwood City, Calif. - one of hundreds responding to a post-Sept. 11 request to industry from the Department of Transportation on ways to increase security for a range of transportation modes, nuclear facilities and oil and gas pipelines - says the need is urgent for several reasons.
HAMILTON SUNDSTRAND of Windsor Locks, Conn., has acquired Magnaghi Hydraulic Systems Division, an aerospace actuation supplier in Brugherio, Italy. The business will continue to operate in Brugherio and will become part of Microtecnica, a subsidiary of Hamilton Sundstrand headquartered in Turin, Italy. "Magnaghi's expertise in primary flight control actuation nicely complements Hamilton Sundstrand's already strong actuation capabilities," Jim Gingrich, president of Hamilton Sundstrand Flight Systems and Services, said in a statement.
Lockheed Martin Corp., Orlando, Fla., was awarded on Dec. 13, 2001, a $15,043,566 firm-fixed-price contract modification to provide for aircrew training for C-130 aircrews, maintenance and support of courseware, and flight simulators. At this time, the total amount of funds has been obligated. This work will be complete September 2002. This effort will be performed by Lockheed Martin Corp., in Building 1230A, Little Rock Air Force Base, Ark. (74%), and by CAE USA Inc., Tampa, Fla. (26%).
