Rockwell Collins Inc., the Cedar Rapids, Iowa-based avionics and communications company, reported $816 million in sales for the fourth quarter of 2001, up from $702 million for the same period the year before. However, it reported an overall loss for the quarter of $48 million, or 26 cents per share, due to an asset charge and a company restructuring in the wake of "the unexpected decline in the air transport market" after the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11.
The House Science Committee plans to publicly scrutinize an independent review panel's recommendation that the International Space Station program pursue staff cuts and fewer space shuttle trips to rein in costs. The committee has scheduled a Nov. 7 hearing on the panel's findings. Sean O'Keefe, deputy director of the White House Office of Management and Budget, and A. Thomas Young, the review panel's chairman, are slated to testify.
Aero Vodochody, the Czech aerospace company, has called for talks with Gripen International, the Swedish-British joint venture, to confirm public statements that the consortium may opt for final assembly of its Gripen fighters at Aero Vodochody if the Gripen JAS 39 wins the tender to supply up to 36 aircraft to the Czech military.
A joint venture of Boeing, Lockheed Martin and TRW has received additional funding for work on the Space Based Laser, a satellite-borne weapon intended to defeat ballistic missiles in their boost phase. The venture, called Team Space Based Laser, won a $50 million contract from the Air Force on Nov. 1. It had previously won $232 million in two increments, the first in 1999 and the second in 2000. When the contract is completed in coming years, its value will be an estimated $3 billion.
Kaiser Electronics is developing a new multifunction F-22 cockpit display that uses rear projection rather than liquid crystal technology - the first such display for any aircraft, according to the company. The F-22 Raptor cockpit has six display screens - two up-front 3 x 4-inch active matrix liquid crystal displays (AMLCDs), three 6.25 x 6.25-inch secondary multifunction displays (SMFDs), and one 8 x 8-inch display, the primary multifunction display (PMFD).
FALCON CONTRACTS: TRW Aeronautical Systems will provide flight control and power generation systems for Dassault Aviation's new Falcon 7X business jet, contracts estimated to be worth $350 million over the life of the program, the company announced Nov. 4.
October 29, 2001 Northrop Grumman Systems, Corp., El Segundo, Calif., is being awarded a $19,945,108 firm-fixed-price contract to provide for structuring upgrade programs for F-5 aircraft. The work is expected to be completed December 2004. There was one firm solicited and one proposal received. Solicitation began May 2001; negotiations were completed September 2001. The Ogden Air Logistics Center, Hill Air Force Base, Utah, is the contracting activity (F42620-01/D-0069).
Big aerospace firms are increasingly turning to electronic auctions as a way to award contracts for bulk items more efficiently, but the response from some aerospace suppliers - especially long-time, preferred suppliers - has been guarded. Some suppliers fear their strategic relationships with larger aerospace firms will be undercut because e-auctions now give their competitors easier access, said David Johnson, director of Engineering Management with Aerospace Industries Association.
The Army wants to upgrade or replace the aging radar warning receivers on its fleet of MH-47 and MH-60 Special Operations helicopters, some of which are seeing service in Afghanistan. The service wants to move rapidly on the program, which centers on the Northrop Grumman AN/APR-39A(V)1. Industry is being asked to respond by Nov. 9 to a request for information from the Army Technology Applications Office at Fort Eustis, Va.
October 29, 2001 Lockheed Martin Missiles and Space, Sunnyvale, Calif., is being awarded a $7,709,823 modification to a cost-plus-award-fee contract to provide for Defense Satellite Communication System III orbital support operations (fiscal year 2001/fiscal year 2002), which consists of satellite normal and anomalous operations and maintenance of ground systems. The work is expected to be completed September 2003. The Space and Missile Systems Center, Los Angeles Air Force Base, Calif., is the contracting activity (F04701-97/C-0042, P00044).
An RQ-1B Predator unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) was reported lost over Afghanistan Nov. 2, with preliminary reports indicating that severe weather was the likely cause, according to a statement issued by U.S. Central Command in Florida. The Nov. 2 loss marks the 20th loss of a Predator air vehicle. The previous 19 have been lost "due to mishaps or losses over enemy territory," according to a senior Pentagon official. Each Predator system consists of four air vehicles, ground-control stations and satellite gear.
The Norwegian armed forces should increase its planned purchase of 48 fighters to 60, according to Kristin Krohn-Devold, Norway's new minister of defense. Krohn-Devold, a member of Norway's Conservative Party, was appointed last month after Norway's left-leaning government lost in general elections to the conservatives. The previous government had planned for flat or slightly declining defense budgets and advocated reducing the military infrastructure to achieve cost savings.
Several military space technology programs will suffer serious setbacks if House-approved funding cuts become law, according to the Defense Department. In an "appeal" to the House-Senate conference committee on the fiscal year 2002 defense authorization bill, DOD wrote that a $10 million cut in the Air Force's $33 million request for space control technology will prevent the service in FY '02 from starting to develop a mobile system to block an enemy's use of space-based surveillance capabilities.
NASA will have to broaden its perspective on commercial use of the International Space Station (ISS) to find a way to offset the program's budget shortfall, said David Logsdon, manager of space operations for the Aerospace Industries Association. Logsdon cited the Independent Management and Cost Evaluation (IMCE) report released Nov. 2, which said NASA must cut staff and reduce shuttle flights to save station money (DAILY, Nov. 5).
The House Appropriations Committee will likely include funding for military unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) in the fiscal 2002 supplemental spending bill it plans to consider later this month, according to Capitol Hill sources.
LAUNCH LEVELING: A lack of differentiation in insurance rates for launch vehicles is having a "leveling effect" on pricing that is new to the industry, according to Mark Albrecht, president of International Launch Services (ILS). "We would like to see a bigger differentiation for proven vehicles," says Albrecht. "I think the insurance business tends to smooth the edges, and perhaps a more finely tuned insurance rate that directly relates to the performance of the vehicle, and separates on-orbit from the launch services, might be better for us ...
The House voted late Nov. 1 to limit The Boeing Co.'s liability for the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks to the amount of the aircraft manufacturer's insurance coverage. The provision, approved as part of an airport/airline security bill, is intended to give Boeing the same kind of protection from lawsuits that Congress approved for the airlines in September. An industry source has warned that Boeing could suffer a "big financial bath" without the lawsuit protection (DAILY, Nov. 1).
ATK Thiokol Propulsion Co. successfully conducted a static test-firing of a space shuttle Reusable Solid Rocket Motor (RSRM) at its Promontory, Utah, facility, on Nov. 1, the company announced Nov. 2. The test was part of the engineering test motor program, which is part of the shuttle's ongoing safety program to verify materials and manufacturing processes. It ran for two minutes, the same duration as the motors fire when launching the space shuttle.
The top priority for the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter program now is ensuring that the government team and the prime contractor team share a common vision of how to proceed in the 10-year System Development and Demonstration phase, the government's new JSF program director said in an interview. "The first priority is to get off to a good start with the prime contractor," said U.S. Air Force Brig. Gen. Jack Hudson, who moved up from deputy director to director Oct. 26, succeeding U. S. Marine Corps Maj. Gen. Mike Hough. "We've already begun that process."
Satellite service providers and satellite operators can still obtain investment capital, even in the slow telecommunications market, but they must have a solid business plan and a tangible consumer market, financial analysts said at the recent International Space Symposium in Washington.
