CAE of Toronto has been selected to upgrade the U.S. Army's AH-64A Combat Mission Simulator, located at Storch Barracks, Illesheim, Germany. The initial program value is about $9 million USD, the company announced May 23. CAE will provide its Medallion visual system with sensor capabilities, and will develop new visual databases and integrate a new tactical threat environment using its Tactical Environment Management System application.
GENERAL DYNAMICS COMMUNICATIONS SYSTEMS was awarded a contract by the Air Force to provide program management, engineering, maintenance and support services to sustain the DIRECT Emergency Action Message system. DIRECT includes receive and transmit interfaces to all communications systems used for Emergency Action Messages at National Command Authority and Nuclear CINC command centers around the world.
Northrop Grumman Corp. and Raytheon Co. this August are slated to test relatively inexpensive methods of destroying ground vehicles from standoff ranges. The technology effort, part of the Affordable Moving Surface Target Engagement (AMSTE) program sponsored by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) and the Air Force Research Lab (AFRL), is intended to defeat such threats as mobile missile launchers. Northrop Grumman is conducting a series of tests at Eglin AFB, Fla. Raytheon is testing at China Lake, Calif.
American Airlines and HEICO Corp., a leading designer, manufacturer and distributor of FAA-approved replacement parts for jet engines and airframe components, today are expected to announce they are forming a joint venture which will accelerate development of replacement parts, Aerospace Daily affiliate Aviation Daily reported. AMR and HEICO Aerospace also will cooperate with technical services and marketing support on a worldwide basis, the two companies said.
A new Ministry of Defence contract calls for an experimental pod-mounted synthetic aperture surveillance radar program to be installed and flight tested on a Royal Air Force Tornado. Britain's Defense Experimental&Research Agency (DERA) and Racal-Thorn Defense were originally selected by the MoD in 1999 to undertake a single concept study for the proposed SAR pod, for use by RAF Tornadoes and Eurofighters.
Quantum Technologies, Inc., and Thiokol Propulsion Corp. announced May 22 that the world's most advanced hydrogen storage testing facility will open soon at Thiokol Propulsion's NASA space shuttle rocket booster manufacturing facility in Promontory, Utah. The testing facility is owned and operated under a teaming agreement between the two companies and will be accessible to manufacturers of compressed gas storage tanks for applications in the aerospace, defense, automotive and industrial markets.
Plans to restructure Russia's aircraft industry will likely lead to the creation of two huge new holdings that would develop and produce both civilian and military aircraft, including helicopters and some aircraft subsystems. A number of top-level government meetings on the issue have been held this month, and industry observers say the creation of diverse holding companies was chosen over the idea of branch monopolies, which would have included Combat Tactical Aviation, Heavy Aircraft and Russian Helicopters.
In a DAILY story on May 23, it was erroneously reported that the Global Hawk and F-22 aircraft would be at the 2001 Paris Air Show in Le Bourget, France next month. Neither aircraft will be on exhibit, although there will be a full-scale model of Global Hawk on display. Aerospace Daily regrets the error.
If Sen. James Jeffords (R-Vt.) leaves his party and votes to give Democrats control of the Senate, the Bush Administration will face greater resistance to its plans to deploy a robust missile defense system, analysts and congressional sources told The DAILY May 23.
With the Globalstar investment failure behind it, Loral Space and Communications Ltd. will concentrate on improving shareholder value by focusing on its two core business units, company chairman and chief executive officer, Bernard Schwartz, said May 23. Schwartz, speaking during the company's annual shareholders meeting in New York, acknowledged 2000 "was a very difficult one for Loral shareholders."
The International Space Station Alpha's Expedition Two crew on May 23 began unloading 1.5 tons of supplies - including critical computer equipment - that were brought to them aboard a Russian Progress supply ship on May 22. Russian commander Yuri Usachev and American flight engineers Jim Voss and Susan Helms were unpacking a spare command-and-control computer hard drive for the station's U.S. laboratory module Destiny along with other supplies and fuel for the orbiting outpost.
The first of four Boeing C-17s leased by the Royal Air Force for its Brize Norton base in Oxfordshire arrived on May 23. However, upcoming elections have led to government-imposed media restrictions, which limited public awareness of the event. Although the lease program has been cited by the Ministry of Defence as a model of its kind, Boeing was unable to invite the press to view the C-17's arrival, which was over a month ahead of the original schedule.
The European Commission has cleared the acquisition by French company Thales of the whole of Airsys ATM, a joint venture active in the field of Air Traffic Management systems and turnkey airport systems. Airsys is currently owned by Thales and Siemens of Germany. The EC said the acquisition does not raise any competition problems. Siemens had included an option in the 1997 joint venture agreement by which it could require Thales to buy all of Siemen's shares in Airsys ATM, and it has now exercised that option.
FAA yesterday ordered operators to inspect the wiring of static port heaters on some DC-9, MD-80 and MD-90 series aircraft for chafing, loose connections and evidence of arcing, and to make any repairs necessary. Operators also must determine if the surrounding insulation is covered with metalized Mylar, which must be removed or replaced with Tedlar-covered insulation, Aerospace Daily affiliate Aviation Daily reported. The order affects 593 U.S.-registered aircraft operated by Delta, Alaska, American, Continental, Midwest Express, TWA and US Airways.
ENGLAND CONFIRMED: The Senate May 22 confirmed Gordon England, a former executive at General Dynamics and Lockheed Martin, to be secretary of the Navy.
Competitors Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman, and Raytheon are awaiting the final contract award for the Air Force's Advanced Targeting Pod (ATP) program, expected on or about July 23. Planned for installation on Block 30 and 50 F-16s, the winning ATP concept could also see service on Block 40 F-16s, Boeing F-15Es and Fairchild A-10 attack planes.
The Marine Corps expects to field its first operational squadron of the V-22 Osprey in about 2004 after fixing the tiltrotor aircraft's hydraulics, flight control software and other problem areas, Maj. Gen. Robert Magnus told the Defense Writers Group May 23. The Navy Department is restructuring the V-22 program to address various deficiencies identified recently by a Defense Department-appointed blue-ribbon panel (DAILY, April 19), which was set up to review the program after two fatal crashes last year.
AGUSTAWESTLAND announced the company is negotiating with major U.S. defense companies to joint produce the EH-101 helicopter, the company's newest product, in the United States. It is already in service in the United Kingdom, Italy and Japan. A decision as to which U.S. company will be selected is expected soon.
The first flight of Lockheed Martin's short takeoff vertical landing (STOVL) version of its Joint Strike Fighter will be a vertical liftoff at Palmdale, Calif., and is expected to take place some time next month. Lockheed Martin's JSF concept demonstrator program has differed considerably from competitor Boeing's program, but nowhere is this more apparent than with the companies' two very different approaches to vertical flight.
Even if machinists at the Boeing military aircraft plant in St. Louis went on strike, financial losses probably would not be significant, according to one industry analyst. Nor would the U.S. Navy be likely to suffer substantially from the delayed aircraft delivery time, said Richard Aboulafia, senior military aircraft analyst at the Teal Group in Fairfax, Va.
The Army needs a $500 million budget increase over the next few years to alleviate a shortage of aviation spare parts, Lt. Gen. Charles Mahan, the Army's deputy chief of staff for logistics, told a congressional panel May 22. Mahan testified before the House Government Reform Committee's national security panel that the Army has failed to meet its aviation supply availability goal of 85 percent at the wholesale level in any of the last 16 years. It missed the goal by an average of 6 percent during that period.
Due to incorrect information from official Pentagon sources, an article in the May 22 issue of The DAILY incorrectly stated that the V-22 Osprey has been moved to a DoD ACAT-1 D Pentagon acquisition category program. Sources now report the V-22 has been moved to a Navy ACAT-1 D program. The Navy ACAT-1 D still requires DoD Defense Acquisition Board oversight and gives Edward "Pete" Aldridge, Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition, Technology and Logistics, any production decision authority. DoD ACAT-1 D programs are generally large, service-wide programs.
Standard&Poor's has revised its ratings on K&F Industries from stable to positive, citing the aerospace component provider's reduced debt following its 1997 recapitalization. The ratings service also said the company's cash flows are benefiting from industry demand, which it said should be sustainable. K&F is a leading supplier of braking systems - wheels, steel and carbon brakes, and anti-skid systems - and fuel tanks to commercial and military aerospace markets.
BAE Systems has completed a series of live fire tests of the Advanced Threat Infrared Countermeasures/Common Missile Warning System (ATIRCM/CMWS) at the White Sands Missile Range, N.M. The tests were conducted from April 4 to April 24, and completed a major phase of the developmental test/operational test - a critical requirement for the Low Rate Initial Production (LRIP) decision expected early next year. ATIRCM/CMWS is the next-generation countermeasure to protect aircraft from infrared-guided missiles.
China Southern Airlines and MTU yesterday laid the cornerstone for the new MTU Maintenance Zhuhai Co. Ltd., which will work on IAE V2500 and other aircraft engines when it opens in 2002. The center is a 50% each joint venture between the two companies, Aerospace Daily affiliate Aviation Daily reported. It is located in Zhuhai, one of China's special economic zones, close to Hong Kong and Macao. Capacity is expected to grow for up to 150 engine overhauls a year by 2006.
