McDonnell Douglas Helicopter Co. d.b.a. McDonnell Douglas Helicopter Services, Mesa, Ariz., is being awarded a delivery order amount of $6,408,274 as part of firm-fixed-price (with two cost-plus-fixed-fee contract-line-options) contract DAAH23-98-G-0049, with a cumulative total of $7,870,021 if all options are exercised. The contractor will provide post-production system support of backlog requirements for the AH-64A Apache helicopter. Work will be performed in Mesa, Ariz., and is expected to be completed by July 21, 2001.
Lockheed Martin said it has been picked by GE Aircraft Engines to develop a new generation of electronic controls for commercial engines. Lockheed Martin Control Systems, Johnson City, N.Y., will work with its partner, Snecma Control Systems, in the development of this control.
BOEING will lead a team studying a switch to space-based air traffic management for Venezuela under a $500,000, eight-month project funded by the U.S. Trade and Development Agency. Joining Boeing in the work will be Innovation Solutions International, Design Operations Requirements Strategies International and Grupo Efezeta C.A. of Venezuela. The modernization study will take into account expected increases in overall air traffic and recommend a plan for shifting to a system that will use satellites instead of ground-based radars.
WORLDSPACE CORP. has accepted its second satellite in orbit from Alcatel Space, prime contractor on the three-satellite constellation of geostationary satellites designed to provide digital radio services worldwide. The "AsiaStar" platform was positioned at 105 degrees East longitude for service to Asia, following its March 21 launch on an Ariane 5 rocket. The final satellite, "AmeriStar," is scheduled to join the new satellite and "AfriStar" in orbit next year.
SpaceDev Inc. has received two separate follow-on awards of $400,000 each from the National Reconnaissance Office for further hybrid rocket engine design and development. The awards follow work for the NRO on hybrid rocket applications and orbital transfer vehicle concepts.
The increasing presence of unmanned aerial vehicles threatens to put more stress on the already strained National Airspace System, forcing the FAA to address the question of how UAVs fit with Federal Aviation Regulations (FARs). Pulling for the UAV industry is the FAA Industry Support Group (ISG) of the Association for Unmanned Vehicle Systems International (AUVSI), Arlington, Va. It is addressing such major issues as flight standards, air traffic management and flight certification.
Spacehab Inc.'s Astrotech Space Operations said it has won a $479,600 NASA contract to support processing of two satellites for launch on a Delta rocket. The contract, from NASA's Kennedy Space Center, Fla., covers launch-site payload processing services for NASA's Earth Observing-1 (EO-1) and Satelite de Aplicaciones Cientificas-C (SAC-C) earth-observation satellites. They are scheduled for launch on a Delta 7320 "Med-Lite" from Vandenberg AFB, Calif., in November.
The F-22 that launched an AIM-9 air-to-air missile in a July 25 test was flying at Mach 0.7, not Mach .07 as reported in The DAILY of July 27 (page 133)
HUGHES SPACE AND COMMUNICATIONS has delivered the last of the medium-data-rate (MDR) communications payloads it built for the U.S. Air Force Milstar satellites to Lockheed Martin Space Systems, prime Milstar contractor. The MDR payload gives Milstar onboard signal and data processing capabilities for jam-resistant military communications. Hughes built the communications and crosslink hardware for the satellites, subcontracting the MDR antennas and digital subsystem to TRW.
Australia and the U.K. are planning to exchange information on their strike aircraft replacement programs, following an agreement signed last week at the Farnborough air show. Britain, through its Future Offensive Air System (FOAS) program, is evaluating replacement requirements for its BAe Tornado GR.4s from about 2017. Australia has launched a parallel AIR 6000 program, to examine possible replacements for its long-serving F-111s and more recently acquired F/A-18s.
ORBCOMM ANDES CARIBE, an international Orbcomm service licensee owned by AES Corp. of Arlington, Va., has won permission from Colombia's Ministry of Communications to deliver communications services in the South American nation through Orbcomm Colombia, its subsidiary. Orbcomm Andes Caribe already has licenses to operate in Venezuela, Panama and the Netherlands Antilles, and plans to market Orbcomm services in other South American and Caribbean nations.
Several more countries may be set to sign up with the NATO Flying Training in Canada (NFTC) program. Canadian officials say marketing efforts at last week's Farnborough Air Show in England might prompt other nations to start sending undergraduate and post-graduate pilot trainees to 15 Wing Moose Jaw in Saskatchewan.
SPACEHAB ENGINEERING SERVICES has delivered a trainer to the Neutral Buoyancy Laboratory at NASA's Johnson Space Center that astronauts can use to develop their skill operating the Space Station Remote Manipulator System (SSRMS). The 55.5-foot-long robotic arm, which is jointed in seven places, will be used to minimize spacewalks as NASA and its international partners begin assembling the International Space Station now that the critical Zvezda Service Module has been safely docked with the nascent orbiting facility (DAILY, July 27).
Raytheon Systems Company, Reston, Va., is being awarded a $22,957,425 modification to a cost-plus-award-fee contract to provide for integration and software development support for the Supportability and Sustaining Engineering portion of the Global Broadcast Service (GBS) program. The GBS system is a space-based communication system providing a high-data rate communication link between the United States and other rear-echelon locations and military forces deployed in the field. Expected contract completion date is Sept. 30, 2003.
German MiG-29 Fulcrum fighters flew simulated combat missions against a variety of U.S. aircraft during a recently completed Red Flag exercise at Nellis AFB, Nev., the U.S. Air Force said. The U.S. aircraft often had a long-range advantage over the MiGs, but the maneuvering capability of the MiGs helped them at closer ranges.
SIKORSKY AIRCRAFT CORP., Stratford, Conn., has been awarded a $34.8 million contract modification to exercise the option for five UH-60L Black Hawk helicopters. Work will be performed at the company's Stratford facility and is expected to be completed by Dec. 30, 2003, the Pentagon said yesterday. The U.S. Army Aviation&Missile Command, Redstone Arsenal, Ala., is the contracting agency.
The Boeing Company, St. Louis, Mo., is being awarded a $20,343,490 cost-plus-fixed-fee, indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract for the procurement of nine F/A-18 Advanced Targeting Forward Looking Infrared (ATFLIR) Consolidated Automated Support System (CASS) Operation Test Program sets (OTPs). Work will be performed in St. Louis, Mo., and is expected to be completed by December 2004. Contract funds will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. This contract was not competitively procured.
Smith's Industries, Product Support North America, Clearwater, Fla., is being awarded a $13,704,599 indefinite delivery contract for spares support for the Stores Management Upgrade of the F/A-18 aircraft. The more than 286 spares being procured include signal processors, converter monitors, and circuit card assemblies. This contract includes options, which if exercised, would bring the total cumulative value of this contract to $16,320,366. Work will be performed in Clearwater, Fla., and is expected to be completed by July 2005.
The U.S. Army should take a phased approach to fielding new infrared countermeasures on its helicopters to reduce the risk they face from heat-seeking missiles, the General Accounting Office said in a report (GAO/NSIAD-00-171) released last week. The Army plans to delay producing and fielding its Suite of Integrated Infrared Countermeasures (SIIRCM) until it finishes developing all four components - a laser-based infrared jammer, a programmable countermeasure dispenser, advanced flares and a missile warning system.
International Lease Finance Corp. has chosen Pratt&Whitney PW4168A engines for eight firm and 10 option Airbus A330 aircraft, Pratt&Whitney said yesterday. Deliveries are set to begin in 2002 for A330-200 and -300 models, P&W said. Value of the sale to Pratt&Whitney for the firm order aircraft is $200 million. If ILFC exercises all options, P&W said, the total value will be $450 million.
ND SATCOM, a subsidiary of Nortel Dasa Networks Systems, won a contract from Societe Europeenne des Satellites (SES) to integrate the subsystems of the Astra Broadband Interactive network into a single unified Internet gateway at the Betzdorf, Luxembourg headquarters of SES. The Astra BBI system will allow users to have two-way broadband data communications at speeds more than 30 times faster than the standard 64 kbps ISDN connection via a return channel over satellite connection.
Rockwell Collins Inc., Cedar Rapids, Iowa, is being awarded an $8,003,590 option to a firm-fixed-price contract to provide for 269 Miniaturized Airborne Global Positioning Satellite Receivers applicable to various aircraft. This effort supports Navy requirements (192 receivers) and foreign military sales (77 receivers) to Denmark, Netherlands, Portugal, and Belgium. Expected contract completion date is July 2001. Solicitation issue date was April 21, 2000. Negotiation completion date was July 6, 2000.
DEFENSE INFORMATION SYSTEMS AGENCY GE American Communications, Inc., Princeton, N.J., is today being awarded a firm fixed-price contract to provide one 8MB commercial broadcast satellite circuit from Thule AFB, Greenland, to Schriever AFB, Colo., and Onizuka AS, Calif., in support of the Air Force Satellite Control Network (AFSCN). The total life-cycle cost of contract is $8,616,458 for an estimated service life of sixty months. Competitive procedures were the basis for award by utilizing the Defense Information Systems Agency Contracting Opportunities web site.
Ball Aerospace&Technologies Corp. said it has been selected as a subcontractor under ITN Energy Systems Inc. of Denver to participate in the $35 million TechSat 21 Air Force satellite program. Ball, based in Boulder, Colo., will provide leadership and support to the integrated product teams for systems engineering and assembly, integration and test.
THOMSON TRAINING&SIMULATION has been named winner of a program worth up to 300 million euros to supply the training and simulation equipment for aircrew of the Tiger helicopter. The effort includes the range of crew training devices and systems for all Tiger variants, from the computer-aided training system and cockpit procedures training, to full mission simulators, Thomson said.
