Harris Corp., of Melbourne, Fla., has been awarded a $7 million contract by the Boeing Company to develop Digital Video Map Computers (DVMC) for the U.S. Navy's F/A-18E/F Super Hornet aircraft. First unit delivery of the DVMC is expected in March of 2003, according to Harris Spokesman Bill Bentz. The DVMC will be part of Boeing's Advanced Crew Station upgrade, which provides a new cockpit for the F-18 F back seat, including a new high-resolution, large format display.
General Atomics Aeronautical Systems, Inc., San Diego, Calif., is being awarded a $16,016,421 modification to a cost plus fixed fee contract to provide for 12 Predator unmanned aerial reconnaissance vehicles. At this time, $2,450,769 of the funds have been obligated. Aeronautical Systems Center, Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio, is the contracting activity (F33657-00-C-4010-P00014).
The X-35B, the Lockheed Martin-led team's STOVL entry in the high-stakes Joint Strike Fighter competition, is wrapping up flight testing of its unique lift-fan system at Palmdale, Calif., and will fly to Edwards Air Force Base, Calif., within "a day or two," a company spokesman said July 2.
Sen. Joseph Biden (D-Del.) plans to offer an amendment to the fiscal 2001 supplemental spending bill to give the Army National Guard $204 million to buy 20 UH-60L Black Hawks, an aide told The DAILY July 2. Guard units deemed to have "the most severe shortages of modern utility helicopters" would get the Sikorsky helicopters, according to the amendment.
The Italian military is expected to announce a decision as soon as this week on whether it will buy several tanker/transport aircraft from the Boeing Co. or contract rival European Aeronautic Defense and Space Co. (EADS). Boeing spokesman Rick Fuller said the company expects the announcement to come "any day. We thought we might receive word before the Paris Air Show."
The Boeing-led Joint Strike Fighter team, by conducting three X-32B short takeoffs July 1, has completed all flight-test requirements set by the U.S. Department of Defense and is beginning flight tests designed to demonstrate contractor-set requirements, Boeing said July 2.
Lockheed Martin Corp., Marietta, Ga., is being awarded a $120,559,000 modification to a firm-fixed-price contract to provide for extension through Nov. 15, 2001, of advancement procurement supporting low rate initial production of 13 F-22 aircraft and associated equipment (Lot II). At this time, the total amount of funds have been obligated. This effort will be performed by The Boeing Co., Seattle, Wash. (52%), Lockheed Martin, Fort Worth, Texas (35%), and other locations. This work is expected to be completed November 2001. Solicitation began April 2000.
The Aging Aircraft Integrated Product Team (AAIPT) at Naval Air Station Patuxent River, Md., is developing a number of new weapons in the fight against aircraft corrosion - a problem that costs the Navy more than a billion dollars a year. These technologies include corrosion removal brushes that don't allow the user to damage the underlying surface, as well as networks of embedded sensors that could enable non-invasive inspections.
Lockheed Martin Missiles and Fire Control and ELTA Electronics Industries Ltd., a subsidiary of Israel Aircraft Industries Ltd., announced they have won a U.S. Navy contract to study a way to give attack fighters all-weather targeting. The contract funds an integration and impact study to incorporate the Tactical All-Weather Collection and Long Range (TACL) Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) system capabilities into the Shared Reconnaissance (SHARP) system for use on the Navy's F-18E/F Super Hornet.
McDonnell Douglas Training Systems, St. Louis, Mo., is being awarded a $7,233,097 (estimated) firm-fixed-price contract to provide for incorporation of terrain awareness warning system, into each of the 13 weapon system trainers and cockpit systems simulator for the training of C-17 aircrews. Work is expected to be completed January 2006. This effort will be performed in BAE Systems Control Inc, Johnson City, N.Y. (68%) and other locations. Aeronautical Systems Center, Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio, is the contracting activity (F33657-98-D-2030).
Japan's Ground Self-Defense Force is expected to announce this month which competitor - the Boeing Co. or Bell Helicopter Textron - will be selected to replace its aging fleet of Bell/Fuji AH-1S anti-tank assault helicopters. A group of specialists from Japan visited the United States in late May and early June seeking replacement candidates, and has narrowed it down to Boeing's AH-64D Apache Longbow and Bell's AH-1Z.
Lockheed Martin Missiles and Fire Control - Dallas successfully completed the final developmental flight test of the Multiple Launch Rocket System (MLRS) upgraded M270A1 launcher at White Sands Missile Range, N.M., the company announced June 29. Twelve MLRS Reduced-Range Practice Rockets were fired from the M270A1 at four different aimpoints. Operational testing of the M270A1 is scheduled to begin at Fort Sill, Okla., in August.
B-1B REVIEW: Senate Armed Services Committee member Max Cleland (D-Ga.) says he plans to ask the General Accounting Office to review the Pentagon's decision to shrink the Air Force's B-1B bomber fleet from 93 to 60. "I will ask the GAO to take a new, independent look at this decision to give this senator and this committee an objective analysis of where we are on the B-1 bomber program and suggestions as to where we should go," he says.
JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY'S Applied Physics Laboratory, Greenbelt, Md., has been awarded a $600 million NASA contract to research, design, develop and operate two programs, Living with a Star and Solar Terrestrial Probes. Both programs are part of NASA's investigation of the Sun-Earth connection. The contract is a cost-plus-fixed-fee, and spans 12 years. The Solar Terrestrial Probes program is a continuous sequence of flexible, cost-capped missions designed to study the Sun-Earth connection.
MOON RETURN: The Space Frontier Foundation plans to hold its third annual Lunar Development Conference in Las Vegas next month. The conference, which will run from July 19-21, will include discussions on returning people to the moon, this time to establish permanent settlements for manufacturing, research and tourism. Among the speakers is former astronaut Harrison Schmitt, who holds a special distinction - he was the last man to walk on the moon, as part of the Apollo 17 mission.
The B-2 stealth bomber production line would be restarted and the House Armed Services Committee would back procurement of 40 of the bat-winged bombers under a proposal sent to committee chairman Bob Stump (R-Ariz.) by committee member Rep. Howard P. "Buck" McKeon (R-Calif.).
The U.S. is moving ahead with development of a comprehensive, multifaceted missile defense program despite Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty restrictions that could prohibit fielding some of the systems, Lt. Gen. Ronald Kadish, director of the Ballistic Missile Defense Organization, said June 29. Kadish, speaking at a missile defense conference in Valley Forge, Pa., said the directive to do so came from the office of the Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld.
CRW AT AIRPORTS: The Boeing Co. is thinking ahead to possible commercial applications for its "Dragonfly" Canard Rotor/Wing (CRW) program (DAILY, Jun. 27), including using CRW aircraft to transport air passengers from city center to city center, or from hubs to smaller regional airports, thus relieving congestion.
ASIA SATELLITE TELECOMMUNICATIONS CO. LTD. (AsiaSat) has signed a lease agreement with Australia's Telstra Corp. for one and a half 54 MHz Ku-band transponders on AsiaSat 3S. AsiaSat's satellite capacity will be used to deliver Telstra's BigPond broadband services throughout the country, particularly in rural and remote areas. "AsiaSat 3S's unbeatable power and coverage will complement and enhance Telstra's existing broadband solutions, particularly to Australia's remote outback," said AsiaSat CEO Peter Jackson.
CTRL SYSTEMS, INC., of Westminster, Md., said its Ultraphonic 101 (UL101) diagnostic device will be flown by NASA on the shuttle mission STS-104 and will be used by astronauts on the International Space Station for various applications, including to check for gas leaks from the station. NASA selected the UL101 based on the hand-held device's ease of use, according to the company.
INTEGRAL SYSTEMS INC. of Lanham, Md., has become an independent solutions supplier (ISS) for Agilent Technologies for the satellite integration and test marketplace, the company announced. Agilent supports its ISS partners with cooperative market planning, referrals and access to Agilent's worldwide sales force. The two companies have recently been jointly marketing testing solutions for communications satellites.
The Boeing Co. has completed the first flight of its prototype CH-47F Chinook heavy-lift helicopter, the sixth Chinook type designed for the U.S. Army. The June 25 flight - which Boeing announced on June 29 - took place at the company's Philadelphia manufacturing facility. It involved hover and basic maneuvers.
The U.S. Army is sending six X-ray technicians to key Apache helicopter units around the world in an effort to determine which tail rotor blades on the aircraft need to be replaced. The effort is underway because one of the four tail rotor blades on an Israeli Apache failed during a June 11 flight, prompting an immediate landing at a base in Israel. No one was injured, but the Army wants to be sure there are no other such incidents.
DEEPWATER FUNDING: The Coast Guard would get $300 million to begin carrying out its $18 billion, 20-year Deepwater aircraft and ship modernization program, under a fiscal 2002 transportation appropriations bill recently approved by the House. The amount is $38 million less than the Bush Administration's request.
Sen. Ted Stevens (R-Alaska) is trying to add language to the fiscal 2001 supplemental appropriations bill that would allow the Bush Administration to operate a missile defense system at Fort Greeley, Alaska, according to Sen. Bill Nelson (D-Fla.). According to Nelson, the language would allow the defense secretary to use part or all of Fort Greeley to "to meet military operational, logistics and personnel support requirements for missile defense."
