WARP SPEED: A warp drive for interstellar travel may actually be possible one day, provided someone figures out a way to make a material that can warp space around a starship so it has a large internal volume enclosed by a tiny external surface. Chris Van Den Broeck of the Institute for Theoretical Physics at the Catholic University of Leuven, Belgium, calculates it would only take about a gram of such material to enshroud a starship, according to Britain's New Scientist magazine.
Germany's DaimlerChrysler aerospace unit and Spain's Construcciones Aeronauticas agreed Friday to form an alliance that may lead to creation of a European aerospace giant to compete with the big American companies. The agreement is scheduled to be finalized by July 31. "European integration is the only solution to survive facing the United States," said Spanish Minister of the Industry Josep Pique.
POLISH FIGHTERS: Poland may lease fighter aircraft within two years to replace its aging fleet of 100 planes, says Col. Krzysztof Polkowski, air attache at the embassy in Washington. Polish military leaders plan to accept proposals this summer but have already talked to manufacturers from the U.S., U.K. and Sweden about leasing "older model aircraft" in preparation for buying newer planes with the "latest and best technology." Poland expects the winning manufacturer to produce some components in Poland.
Japan's Institute of Space and Astronautical Science has again delayed the launch of its Lunar-A seismology probe because testing proved penetrators built for the probe were not tough enough for the job. The launch, originally set for the summer of 1997 on an M-5 rocket (DAILY, Jan. 29, 1997), will be delayed until at least April 2002 to allow more time for tests, according to news reports from Tokyo.
Lockheed Martin and Kongsberg Defense and Aerospace AS signed an accord to become partners on the New Frigate program of the Royal Norwegian Navy and to establish a long-term business relationship on other projects. The memorandum of agreement could result in $250 million in sales to Kongsberg over the life of the ten-year agreement, according to Lockheed Martin.
Vinland Helicopters AS, an indirect Norwegian subsidiary of CHC Helicopter Corp. of Newfoundland, increased its previously announced cash offer for shares of Helicopter Services Group ASA (HSG) on the Oslo Stock Exchange and extended the offer until June 23.
EUROPEAN KA-BAND: Luxembourg's Societe Europeenne des Satellites (SES) plans a Baikonur launch this week of its Astra 1H satellite, but on a Proton D-1-e provided by International Launch Services. The new Hughes HS 601HP spacecraft carries a Ka-band capability in addition to 30 Ku-band transponders for direct-to-home television. With the new capability, customers in Europe will have access to interactive services with relatively low-cost user terminals for the first time.
AIR-TO-SURFACE WARFARE: Germany plans to join the Defense Aids Sub-Systems (DASS) team on the Eurofighter program, after refusing to sign the development contract in the early 1990s due an economic crisis at home. The DASS pods, permanently mounted on the Eurofighter's wingtips, are essential to the air-to-surface emphasis being placed on the program following NATO's air campaign in Yugoslavia.
GREECE'S REQUEST to purchase four Boeing AH-64A Apache attack helicopters to add to its fleet of 20 Apaches was approved Friday by the U.S. Dept. of Defense. The helicopters, which will cost $111 million, will be configured with M130 chaff dispensers and integrated helmet and display sight system.
Comsat Corp.'s board of directors has decided to slip the satellite operator's annual shareholder's meeting until August to give stockholders more time to digest lowered earnings projections from suitor Lockheed Martin. Comsat said Friday the meeting, originally scheduled June 18, will be postponed until Aug. 20, which will also give Comsat and Lockheed Martin more time to receive the regulatory and congressional approvals necessary for the proposed acquisition.
Orbital Sciences Corp.'s Fairchild Defense Div. will provide an advanced version of its Modular Mission Support System for combat mission planning to the United Arab Emirates under a $7.3 million contract announced Friday. UAE pilots will use the system to rehearse sorties on the ground before flight, applying satellite-derived cartographic databases to generate the scenes they will see. The system will also initialize avionics in the UAE's Mirage 2000-8 and 2000-9 aircraft, Orbital said.
Production of the next generation Link-16 terminal, the Multifunction Information Distribution System Low Volume Terminal (MIDS-LVT), is the next step for the MIDS joint program office, according to Frank Criste, assistant program manager. A draft request for proposal is on the U.S. Navy Space and Naval Warfare Systems Command website, and a final RFP will be issued in time for March 2000 contract awards. Initial deliveries are planned for September 2001.
IDECM FLIGHT TESTS: The Integrated Defensive Electronic Countermeasures (IDECM) system being developed by Lockheed Martin's Sanders unit for the Boeing F/A-18E/F is set to begin flight tests on the avionics test bed Thursday at China Lake, Calif. It will mark the first time that the ALE-55 towed decoy has deployed from the belly of the aircraft rather than from a pod, said Cdr. Mark Storch, deputy program manager. Fast-deploy tests of the decoy from a B-1 bomber are scheduled for August.
United Technologies completed its acquisition of Sundstrand Corp. on June 10 following a vote of Sundstrand shareholders approving the deal. Sundstrand has merged with United Technologies' Hamilton Standard unit to form Hamilton Sundstrand Corp. Total value of the transaction is $4.3 billion. Hamilton Sundstrand combines Hamilton Standard's expertise in engine controls, environmental systems, propellers and other flight systems with Sundstrand's expertise in electrical, mechanical and power systems.
EUROFIGHTER TEAM: Norway continues to eye the Eurofighter consortium and will likely join as an observer in the near future, says Sqn. Ldr. Paul Keeton of the U.K. Defense Procurement Agency.
DEMO FLIGHT: Ukraine plans a demonstration flight of its Zenit rocket this summer to calm the fears of potential commercial space launch customers after last fall's high-profile Zenit-2 failure with 12 Globalstar satellites worth some $180 million aboard (DAILY, Sept. 11, 1998). A different variant, the Zenit-3SL, flew just fine in a demonstration of the Sea Launch floating launch concept in March, and that international venture now has signed up Hughes' DirecTV as a paying customer (DAILY, June 8).
...AND INDUSTRY: Poland plans to sell 22 of its government-owned defense companies in the next two years, says Polkowski. Nine companies will remain under federal control, all of which produce ammunition, missiles, and electronic warfare equipment.
SAFETY FIRST: NASA's faster-better-cheaper administrator has a new mantra - safety-safety-safety. Dan Goldin tells his senior staff he plans to visit the CEOs and board chairs of all NASA's top contractors to hammer home the message that safety is the U.S. space agency's top priority.
U.S. COAST GUARD has achieved full operational capability with the Maritime Differential Global Positioning System. "The network now meets the high standards for accuracy, integrity, reliability, availability and coverage required for harbor entrance and approach phases of maritime navigation," it said.
LAST TO GO: House defense appropriators as of Friday still didn't know when they might start marking up their fiscal year 2000 defense bill. The Senate already moved its bill off the floor, and the defense authorizers are soon headed to conference to resolve the differences in the House and Senate versions of that bill. House appropriators had indicated they wanted to complete work on the bill before the July 4 recess.
The House, reacting to the Cox Committee report detailing Chinese efforts to steal U.S. defense secrets, voted unanimously on Wednesday to write into the fiscal 2000 defense authorization counterintelligence safeguards that were recommended by the special panel. By a 428-0 vote, the House adopted an amendment offered by Reps. Christopher Cox (R-Calif.), chairman of the special panel, and Norman Dicks (Wash.), ranking Democrat on the panel.
The Theater High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) missile yesterday broke its string of six failures in a row, intercepting a target missile for the first time during a test at White Sands Missile Range N.M., and helping to validate the hit-to-kill idea that is the backbone of the Pentagon's ballistic missile defense programs. The test was a boost in another way for THAAD prime contractor Lockheed Martin, which the day before had reported lowered earnings expectations for 1999 and 2000.
NASA is analyzing eight proposals for "entrepreneurial" projects on the International Space Station and hopes to close some deals by the end of September, according to Administrator Daniel S. Goldin. Goldin told the Washington Space Business Roundtable Wednesday the U.S. space agency has retained KPMG Peat Marwick to study the market for Station-based business, and plans "an on-going activity" to search for companies willing and able to use the Station to make money.
The board of Crossair yesterday selected Embraer to supply it with up to 81 regional jets valued at up to $1.5 billion. Losing out was the Fairchild-Dornier regional jet family. Crossair had been long-time customer of Saab before that company retired from the civil aircraft market. The order is also one of the first for Embraer's new larger jets and includes the 37-seat ERJ-135, the 50-seat ERJ-145, 70-seat ERJ-170, the 108-seat ERJ-190. The latter will put Embraer in competition with Boeing and Airbus in the 100-seat market.
