Boeing Co., St. Louis, Mo., is being awarded a $9,382,155 option to a firm-fixed-price contract to provide for low rate initial production of 11 upgrade kits, one operational flight trainer, one mission planning system, and associated data in support of the avionics system on the T-38C aircraft. Expected contract completion date is Aug. 31, 2001. Aeronautical Systems Center, Wright-Patterson AFB, Ohio, is the contracting activity (F33657-95-C-0057-P00064).
BAE SYSTEMS North America, working with MAR Inc., has won a five-year, $45.7 million U.S. Navy contract to provide engineering and technical services to support the Towed Array Test and Evaluation Facility (TATEF) programs. This is continuation of present TATEF Technical Services (TTS) Joint Venture efforts which provide R&D and test and evaluation to a variety of TATEF programs. The contract was awarded by the Naval Undersea Warfare Center in Newport, R.I.
The U.S. Navy has chosen Lockheed Martin Federal Systems, Owego, N.Y., to supply a new acoustic processor subsystem for four prototype SH-60R multi-mission helicopters, the company announced. The contract, worth $13.6 million, is for airborne sonar signal processing and uses a general-purpose processor, a change from the special-purpose, custom-designed processors previously used, Lockheed Martin said.
Lockheed Martin and a partner have developed an unmanned lighter-than-air vehicle that would maintain station above the jetstream and perform a variety of military and commercial missions. Lockheed Martin Naval Electronics&Surveillance Systems, Akron, Ohio, said all vital technologies for the vehicle have been evaluated and a ready for integration into a demonstration vehicle.
The work load linked to the assembly of Airbus' future A3XX aircraft will be "equitably spread" between DASA's Hamburg plant and Aerospatiale's Toulouse site, pledged Siegmar Mosdorf, German state secretary in charge of aerospace, in an interview published Friday. A French union source speculated last week, after the interview was made public, that "the mechanical activities would stay in Toulouse, while the commercial fitting out of the aircraft would take place in Hamburg."
The Air Force has plans in place to convert its Conventional Air-Launched Cruise Missile (CALCM) into an extended range variant while keeping its inventory stocked to meet near-term requirements, Air Force officials told lawmakers. The service is requesting $178 million in the fiscal year 2001 supplemental to convert 322 missiles into CALCMs, Air Force Assistant Secretary for Acquisition Lawrence J. Delaney told the House Armed Services Committee's panels on procurement and research and development on Thursday.
Jacques S. Gansler, under secretary of defense for acquisition and technology, announced 11 new Advanced Concept Technology Demonstration (ACTD) programs for fiscal year 2000. The ACTD process is a means for evaluating mature advanced technology to address critical military needs and then getting the technology into the field.
AIR MOBILITY STUDY: The Air Force expects a new Joint-Staff led study on air mobility to be completed by late summer, says Lt. Gen. Stephen Plummer, USAF deputy assistant secretary for acquisition. The study will give clearer insight into the outsize and oversize airlift requirements to meet a two-major-regional-conflict scenario, he explains. Meanwhile, the service is exploring how best to modernize some of the 126 C-5s it has in inventory, he adds. "The air mobility study will show what mix of modernized C-5s and C-17s will best meet the requirement."
JSTARS ALTERNATIVES: While the Air Force still acknowledges a requirement remains for 19 Joint STARS platforms, other options to meet that requirement are being eyed, says Assistant Secretary of the Air Force for Acquisition Lawrence J. Delaney. Members of the House Armed Services Committee are urging the Air Force to use $40 million in the FY '01 budget to keep the Joint STARS line going. That money also may be used to shut it down.
NONE OF DOZENS of parties interested in bidding for the bankrupt Iridium low-Earth orbit communications satellite system could meet a met a steep financial requirement, so the company told a U.S. bankruptcy court it would shut down at midnight Friday. Iridium asked the Manhattan court Friday to release $8.3 million in funds sheltered under Chapter 11 to pay for the shutdown after none of its suitors could demonstrate it had $10 million in a cash deposit account. Unless they are reactivated, the pioneering "Big LEO" company's 66 satellites will burn up on reentry.
CONTRACTORS GEARING UP FOR MULTI-USE EELV BUSINESS: New technology introduced into the Evolved Expendable Launch Vehicle (EELV), the Air Force's next generation Atlas and Delta medium and heavy lift space launchers, is enough "to make industry's eyes water," a senior Air Force official tells reporters. Complete production lines laid out by Lockheed Martin in Denver and by Boeing in Decatur, Ala., "will be able to produce 30 to 40 launch vehicles a year," says the official. But while "there's still room for two very viable U.S.
Northrop Grumman Corp.'s Integrated Systems and Aerostructures (ISA) sector, El Segundo, Calif., reports it has received a $20.1 million contract from the U.S. Navy for 71 BQM-74E multi-role aerial target systems and 30 air launch kits. The award, which increases the company's BQM-74E backlog to 155 units, is scheduled to begin its 12-month delivery program in February 2001 when the current contract for BQM-74Es is completed.
KENYA AIRWAYS has ordered three enhanced Boeing 767-400ERs and two 737-700s to complete its fleet expansion and upgrade, Boeing reported. Kenya Airways is one of the first airlines to order the longer-range 767-400ER that is under development. Deliveries are expected to begin in May 2004. Improvements to the aircraft combine airframe and engine enhancements to provide greater payload and longer range.
The strike by Boeing's Society of Professional Engineering Employees in Aerospace (SPEEA) will not hurt the company's earnings over the year, according to airline industry analysts. SPEAA and the company reached a tentative agreement Friday, and the union's rank and file members were set to vote yesterday on ratifying it to end the walkout. Boeing Chairman and Chief Executive Phil Condit said Friday the company would perform an analysis over the week of the strike's financial impact.
AIRSHIPS: European industry is working with the European Space Agency on applying space technology to High-Altitude Long-Endurance (HALE) aerostats, 220-meter-long helium cigar-shaped balloons that could be used as communications relays and for Earth observation. A concept assessment just completed by ESA, DaimlerChrysler Aerospace, Lindstrand Balloons Ltd. of the U.K.
The third F-22 built was received by the U.S. Air Force at Edwards AFB, Calif., following a four-hour, 50 minute flight from Dobbins Air Reserve Base, Ga., and had "absolutely no problems except for marginal weather," according to the plane's pilot. Raptor 4003 is not certified for instrument flight rules so the flight to Edwards involved some cloud avoidance, Lt. Col. Bill Craig, the seventh test pilot and fourth AF pilot to be certified in the jet, told The Daily in a phone interview following the landing.
The U.S. Air Force recently shipped another of Northrop Grumman Corp.'s TPS-70 surveillance radar to Columbia, adding to the five already deployed to aid in counter-narcotics efforts in the country, the company announced this week. The TPS-70 radar is to provide enhanced air surveillance in areas where illegal drugs are thought to be produced. According to Northrop Grumman, the TPS-70 radar is capable of detecting and tracking hundreds of small aircraft at ranges up to 240 nautical miles.
Safety issues on the Russian side of the International Space Station that were raised on Capitol Hill last week are unlikely to delay launch of the long-awaited Russian Service Module or follow-on components, according to the Station program chief at NASA headquarters.
BUDGET DEBATE: House appropriators plan to have their FY '01 budget resolution on the floor this week. That resolution proposes adding about $1 billion above the White House request for defense. The Senate plans to mark up its version this week as well. Meanwhile, House Appropriations Chairman C.W. (Bill) Young (R-Fla.) says work on the fiscal year 2000 supplemental won't be completed until the House passes its budget resolution.
The military regional commanders-in-chief this week reported a number of areas where the U.S. should beef up its intelligence, reconnaissance and communications in global hot spots of operation. For example, Pacific Command's top intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) readiness concern is shortfalls in Airborne ISR capabilities, Pacific Command Chief Adm. Dennis C. Blair told the House Armed Services Committee last Wednesday.
Titan Corp., San Diego, said it has entered into an agreement to purchase all of the stock of Pulse Engineering of Hanover, Md., a privately held information technology (IT) company, for an undisclosed amount. Titan said all 180 Pulse employees will become a part of Titan Systems Corp., its government IT business.
PRESTON GROUP, a Boeing subsidiary, said it delivered Total Airspace&Airport Modeller (TAAM) licenses for the DFS Deutsche Flugsicherung (German Air Navigation Services). TAAM is a fast-time gate-to-gate simulation tool used by civil aviation authorities, airlines and airports to analyze operations, redesign airspace, optimize use of existing facilities and plan for the future. The addition of the third and fourth TAAM licenses will give DFS increased simulation capability to conduct more in-depth studies in Germany and elsewhere.
Raytheon reported it has won a $162 million contract for continued production of the AIM-120 Advanced Medium Range Air-to-Air Missile (AMRAAM). The contract is for Lot 14 production of 439 AMRAAMs, supporting missile deliveries and program engineering and logistics services through July 2002. Of those missiles, 161 are for the Air Force and 90 for the Navy, with the remaining going to Bahrain and South Korea, the company reported.
TWO PLACES AT ONCE: The C-17 is hailed by the Air Force as its most flexible cargo lift aircraft, because of its ability to carry large or heavy outsize cargo. But, there is another side to replacing 270 retiring C-141s with 134 replacement C-17s, as is the AF's plan by 2005-2006. While the C-17 brings the benefits of carrying capacity, reliability and throughput to austere airfields, it is still a one-for-two replacement. "The problem is...a very simple mathematical concept," says Air Mobility Commander Gen. Charles T. Robertson, Jr.
