General Electric Aircraft Engines, General Electric Co., Lynn, Mass., is being awarded a $22,000,000 advance acquisition contract for long lead hardware for the fiscal year 2000 full-rate production procurement of 72 F414-GE-400 engines, devices, and production tooling for the F/A-18E/F aircraft. Work will be performed in Lynn, Mass. (58%); Evendale, Ohio (25%); Rutland, Vt. (4%); Albuquerque, N.M. (4%); Hooksett, N. H. (3%); Madisonville, Ky (4%); and Wilmington, N.C. (2%), and is expected to be completed by May 2000.
Rep. Dave Weldon (R-Fla.) has become the new chair of the Congressional Air and Space Caucus, succeeding Rep. Herbert Bateman (R-Va.). Rep. Dennis Kucinich (D-Ohio) is the new co-chair. The caucus, which may be renamed the Aerospace Caucus, has been relatively inactive, but a Kucinich spokesman said the group had organized members this year to respond to the President's budget request and the NASA authorization bill. The next effort, he said, will be to coordinate the work of caucus members on the NASA appropriation.
Logicon, Inc., San Pedro, Calif., is being awarded a $53,000,000 modification to previously awarded contract N00019-98-C-0183 for the Phase II effort of the Joint Mission Planning Systems for Navy, Air Force and U.S. Special Operations Forces. The Joint Mission Planning System will provide mission-planning capabilities for the Navy, Air Force and U.S.
Space tourism can become a multi-billion dollar market, according to research done by DaimlerChrysler Aerospace (DASA) based on tickets for a 24-hour space stay in the $50,000 to $400,000 price range.
UAW members have ratified a new labor agreement with Boeing North American, the UAW reported yesterday. The new contract won 83% approval during meetings on Sunday at four UAW local unions, covering more than 3,200 aerospace and defense workers at Boeing.
Iridium LLC, slashing prices on both equipment and services, hopes that the changes - and a new marketing focus - will turn its poor sales performance around and help it meet obligations to lenders. But time is running out. Two convenant deadlines on its credit facilitPies are due this week, and Aug. 15 is the last day to make a payment on some of its bonds. Iridium's troubles have roiled the financial community and have been deemed the reason that other communications companies like Globalstar and ICO have had trouble raising financing.
From Commerce Business Daily: Posted in CBDNet on June 23, 1999; Printed Issue Date: June 25, 1999 ... PART: U.S. GOVERNMENT PROCUREMENTS; SUBPART: SERVICES; CLASSCOD: A-Research and Development; OFFADD: United States Air Force, Air Force Materiel Command, AFRL - Wright Research Site, Det 1 AFRL/PK, Bldg 7, Area B, 2530 C Street, Wright-Patterson AFB, OH, 45433-7607 ...
TRW and the U.S. Army are setting their sights on a demonstration of the ability of the Tactical High Energy Laser (THEL) to shoot down targets, a TRW executive said yesterday. Ronald D. Sugar, president and chief operating officer of TRW Aerospace and Information Systems, said the program, intended to defeat short range rockets like the Katyusha that Hezbollah guerrillas have launched at Israel from bases in Lebanon, has been "very, very challenging," but "I'm feeling increasingly confident we're going to see some very interesting results from it."
GLOBAL HAWK PROGRESS: The U.S. Air Force is ready to move the Teledyne Ryan Global Hawk UAV program from an Advanced Concept Technology Demonstration to a regular acquisition program on schedule. Air Combat Command is reportedly working on the operational requirements document to be released in June 2000, when the utility assessment is complete. AF leaders were briefed last week on the plan and will talk this week with Secretary of Defense William Cohen.
The State Dept. did not seek or welcome its new job of governing the export of satellites, but is committed to it and has implemented changes affecting activities of the U.S. aerospace industry, a State official told lawmakers. The 1999 defense authorization act mandated return of commercial satellites to the U.S. Munitions List for export control following allegations of unauthorized assistance to China by Hughes and Loral.
The U.S. Air Force's Expeditionary Aerospace Force (EAF) initiative will kick off in August but will be missing some aircraft because of deployment commitments.
The U.S. Air Force has modified its contract with Northrop Grumman Corp. for the engineering and manufacturing development phase of the B-2 bomber program, a move that the company said Friday would put off its payment of $1 billion in state and federal taxes from 2000 to 2002. The $15.4 million contract modification, made on June 15, allows verification and integration of a series of planned changes to the B-2, which include integration of JSOW, JDAM, Satcom DAMA and additional low observable enhancements.
Lockheed Martin remained mum about rumors it might dump assets worth more than $1 billion, while analysts offered differing views about possible moves that would have a ripple effect throughout the industry. Just weeks after Lockheed Martin said that problems with the C-130J program, launch vehicle failures and late commercial satellite deliveries would hurt 1999 and 2000 profits (DAILY, June 10), published reports said the company's ongoing review would lead to the sale of several areas of business.
INCREASED MOBILITY REQUIREMENTS: The Air Mobility Roadmap due out in this summer is expected to recommend an increase to the number of U.S. airlifters, according to Harry Disbrow, deputy director for Air Force operations requirements, Air and Space Operations. He says "This requirement is going up, not down, I suspect." The report will be passed to Congress and key Pentagon officials next month.
NORTHROP GRUMMAN'S Logicon unit, Herndon, Va., has won a contract with a potential value of $133 million to provide support services to the U.S. Army Regional Directorate of Logistics (RDOL) at Fort Eustis, Va. The contract calls for Logicon to provide maintenance for helicopters and Army vehicles, food services, logistics and transport support, and other services. Northrop Grumman's Technical Services, part of Logicon's Operations and Services unit, has supported the RDOL since 1983.
Eurocontrol wants to introduce a system of rulemaking - a European Notice of Proposed Rulemaking, or ENPRM - that would bring public, private or corporatized air navigation service providers and users into line to end the foot-dragging by member states that has delayed implementation of major air traffic management programs in Europe.
UAVS AS JOINT STARS, AWACS: The U.S. Air Force may look at unmanned aerial vehicles to replace the Joint STARS and AWACS aircraft, according to Brig. Gen. Craig P. Weston, program executive officer for AF command and control. The move would require "bringing the crew to the ground" because information from satellites and reconnaissance UAVs could be fused and relayed to operators in ground stations.
...AND ARMY COMMUNICATIONS: The U.S. Army and the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency plan to add communications systems to the Global Hawk to relay information to ground troops, according to Lt. Gen. William Campbell, director of Army information systems. The systems will be part of the WIN infrastructure.
The U.S. Air Force and Boeing have signed a $26.8 million contract for 1,308 Joint Direct Attack Munitions (JDAM), after receiving approval from Congress to extend the program office's acquisition authority for another year.
...MINI-ABL: The ABL's Chemical Oxygen Iodine Laser (COIL) may be miniaturized in the future to arm fighters and bombers with their own laser kill capability, says Maj. Gen. Claude Bolton, Air Combat Command's program executive for fighters and bombers. The small system may be used to neutralize chemical and biological weapons. ABL leaders and intelligence officers, meanwhile, are identifying likely locations for such weapons.
C-130J WITH FREEBIES: Australia and the U.K. will receive their first Lockheed Martin C-130J airlifters this fall for operational test and evaluation. Australia's plane is slated to arrive in September, while the U.K. can expect its first C-130J by November. Both countries will receive bonus equipment, such as a backup for the mission computer to compensate for late deliveries.
The Export-Import Bank and Korean Air Lines Friday signed agreements under which the Ex-Im Bank will provide $796 million in financing to support KAL's lease of six aircraft from Boeing. The financing covers two 747-400s, one 747-400F and three 777-300s and is the single largest aircraft transaction by the bank. All the aircraft will be powered by Pratt&Whitney engines. The transaction is structured as a full payout finance lease.
The U.S. Air Force is expected to award the integration and operation (I&O) contracts for its Distributed Mission Training (DMT) program within a month. The award has an estimated value of $583 million over 15 years. The Phase 1 awards, to be announced by July 12, will be demonstration contracts given to two companies. A downselect to a single company will be made after six months for the initial five- to seven-year contract. The award could expand to 15 years without a new competition if contractor performance is satisfactory.
ABL LINK: The U.S. Air Force plans to link Airborne Laser (ABL) aircraft to each other in the same way that fighters coordinate their target and shot plans. "We don't know what the link will be, but we know that ABL will have it," says Col. James Hobbs, chief of the ABL division at Air Combat Command. The connection could be in addition to Link-16 and the backup Integrated Battlefield System, both of which will be used to relay warning when ballistic missile launches are detected by ABL.
