Aerospace and defense analysts with Standard&Poor's affirmed their credit ratings for Northrop Grumman Corp. on Nov. 12 despite recent guidance from the company that 2001 earnings may fall shorter than expected. Company officials issued the revised guidance Nov. 9, shortly after the company reached a merger agreement with the Newport News Shipbuilding board of directors.
Senate Appropriations defense subcommittee Chairman Daniel Inouye (D-Hawaii) said Nov. 13 that he is determined to include a provision in his panel's fiscal 2002 defense spending bill to lease Boeing 767-derivative refuelers for the Air Force, despite concerns that such a move could violate congressionally approved spending limits. Inouye told The DAILY that the U.S. is courting "disaster" unless it replaces the Air Force's aging KC-135s with new 767 tankers. "There's every justification to have these [new] tankers," he said.
RAYTHEON CO. will provide spares, repairs, modifications and support to the U.S. Air Force's Air Logistics Centers under a contract from Science Applications International Corp., the company announced Nov. 13. The contract could be worth up to $350 million over its lifetime, according to Raytheon. Tasks included under the contract include systems engineering, logistics support, technical services, spares and repair services.
With the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter (JSF) program only in its third week of the System Development and Demonstration (SDD) phase, the Defense Department needs to be "very careful with requirements changes" that could drive up its overall cost, said Brig. Gen. John L. Hudson, program executive officer and director of the Joint Strike Fighter office.
The U.S. Air Force plans to award a contract next month to modernize the Air Force Satellite Control Network (AFSCN), a global system that controls all U.S. military satellites and supports a host of other spacecraft, including intelligence, civil and allied types. The Satellite Control Network Contract (SCNC) "is a major modernization and sustainment effort" for the system, which includes 22 antennas at eight remote tracking stations and two control centers, Air Force Space Command said in response to a question.
New simulator training facilities for the Royal Air Force's seven Boeing E-3D AWACS aircraft began operational service Nov. 13 at Waddington air base in Lincolnshire. United Kingdom-based Quest Flight Training Ltd. developed the facility for the Ministry of Defence under a 30-year Private Finance Initiative (PFI) contract.
The Russian Satellite Communication Co. (RSCC), Russia's authorized satcom operator, will buy Khrunichev Center's Dialog satellite after it is deployed in 2003, the companies announced Nov. 12. The agreement, announced jointly by Khrunichev General Director Alexander Medvedev and RSCC's Boris Antonyuk, introduces a new type of satellite deal for Russian market.
Forty officials of the Indian air force (IAF) and the Ministry of Defence are facing a court of inquiry on a range of charges from leaking sensitive documents to taking bribes from arms dealers and component suppliers. The inquiry was ordered by the IAF and court martial proceedings are already underway in the case of an air commodore and a wing commander. Senior IAF officials said the officers under scrutiny worked in the IAF's logistics and quality inspection department.
Although work in nuclear fission for space propulsion has been largely stalled since the 1960s, nuclear power may well be the only way to explore the outer solar system and beyond, according to Les Johnson of NASA Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala. Missions that call for entering orbit around any of the outer planets could well be impossible without nuclear-powered systems, Johnson told The DAILY.
Fifty Nobel Prize winners have signed a letter urging congressional leaders not to fund any missile defense activities that are "inconsistent" with the 1972 Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty.
When the Expedition Four crew launches to the International Space Station (ISS) late this month, it will mark the beginning of the "busiest, most diverse, and most complex" stage of the station's research mission to date, according to Expedition Four Lead Increment Scientist John Uri. With five on-orbit research racks and eight continuous months of research operations under their belt, mission scientists are beginning to taste the fruit of their labors, Uri said during a NASA press conference Nov. 13.
NEW RUDDERS: FAA said it plans to require new rudder control systems on the U.S. fleet of 2,000 Boeing 737s within five years, at a cost of $364 million. Boeing, which supports the rule, is developing the new rudder control system.
As overseas sales account for a growing portion of U.S. aerospace revenues, some second- and third-tier suppliers are wondering whether they are being slowly squeezed out of the supplier market. But analysts say that while U.S aerospace giants are incorporating global outsourcing in their business plans more often, that trend does not yet pose a real threat to U.S. aerospace suppliers.
HALL OF FAME: Space shuttle commanders Bob Crippen, Joe Engle, Rick Hauck and Dick Truly have joined Mercury, Gemini and Apollo astronauts in the U.S. Astronaut Hall of Fame. They were inducted during a ceremony at NASA's Kennedy Space Center, Fla., on Nov. 10.
The U.S. Navy will give Global Positioning System capability to 268 decoy vehicles to make them more effective in drawing fire away from attacks by manned aircraft on enemy air defenses. Israel Military Industries (IMI) will retrofit 184 Improved Tactical Air Launched Decoys (ITALDs) that have already been procured, and convert another 84 that are still in the production cycle.
Raytheon Co. officials say they hope the addition of TRW Inc. to Raytheon's "Team Futara" will help bolster the group's bid for the Defense Department's Joint Tactical Radio System (JTRS) contract. At a Nov. 9 press briefing, Raytheon officials praised TRW's experience with developing software-defined communication and navigation systems for three of the military's most advanced platforms, including the Air Force F-22 fighter, the Army Comanche helicopter and the Joint Strike Fighter.
The Bush Administration announced late Nov. 9 that it will give the Defense Department an additional $7.9 billion in emergency spending for situational awareness, force protection and other needs arising from the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.
Measurement and signature intelligence (MASINT) will likely receive significant attention when lawmakers consider the fiscal 2003 intelligence authorization bill in calendar year 2002, according to Senate Select Committee on Intelligence Chairman Bob Graham (D-Fla.).
The Defense Department is urging Congress to reject a House-passed cut in the Bush Administration's request for the Air Force's Large Aircraft Infrared Countermeasures (LAIRCM) system, saying the reduction would delay efforts to protect C-130 transport planes against the growing threat from shoulder-fired, heat-seeking missiles. In its version of the fiscal 2002 defense authorization bill, the House cut the Administration's $62.5 million request for LAIRCM research and development by $22.5 million. The Senate approved the full request.
November 7, 2001 McDonnell Douglas Corp., a wholly owned subsidiary of the Boeing Co., St. Louis, Mo., is being awarded a $73,100,000 modification to a previously awarded fixed-price incentive-fee contract (N00019-99-C-1226) for the procurement of ancillary mission equipment to support the F/A-18E/F Super Hornet aircraft. Work will be performed in St. Louis, Mo. (60%); Mesa, Ariz. (30%); and El Segundo, Calif. (10%), and is expected to be completed in September 2002. The Naval Air Systems Command, Patuxent River, Md., is the contracting activity.
November 6, 2001 McDonnell Douglas Corp., Long Beach, Calif., is being awarded a $19,359,999 firm-fixed-price contract modification. This action modifies the production of 35 C-17 aircraft (lots 13-15) by providing for the incorporation of Terrain Awareness Warning System hardware and software into the aircraft. At this time, $9,560,220 has been obligated. The Aeronautical Systems Center, Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio, is the contracting activity (F33657-96-C-2059, P00138).
November 9, 2001 Lockheed Martin Corp., Marietta, Ga., is being awarded a $5,000,000 cost-plus award-fee and firm-fixed-price with economic price adjustment contract modification to provide for fiscal year 2002 engineering manufacturing development effort for the C-5 Avionics Modernization Program. At this time, the total amount of funds has been obligated. This work will be complete November 2001. The Aeronautical Systems Center, Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio, is the contracting activity (F33657-98-C-0006, P00041).
NASA has selected 10 scientific investigations for the 2005 Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO), a spacecraft that will be "the closest thing to being there we're going to get until we land," according to Jim Garvin, NASA's lead scientist for Mars exploration. The MRO will carry six primary instruments that will aid NASA in the search for evidence of water and the investigation of future landing sites on Mars.
