Lockheed Martin is developing a third-generation forward looking infrared (FLIR) for its Nite Hawk targeting system to keep the production line going as deliveries for the U.S. Navy draw to a close. The Navy bought its last Nite Hawks in fiscal 1996, but Terry Schultz, Lockheed Martin's program manager, said spares and depot work for the Navy have softened the effect.
The Ages Group, Boca Raton, Fla., is being awarded a $23,439,365 modification to a firm-fixed-price contract for FY98 life cycle contractor support for the Army C-12 aircraft. Work will be performed in Boca Raton, Fla. (92%) and Greer, S.C. (8%), and is expected to be completed by Sept. 30, 1998. Of the total contract funds, $23,439,365 will expire at the end of the current fiscal year. There were two bids solicited on June 30, 1995, and two bids were received. The contracting activity is the U.S. Army Aviation&Missile Command, St. Louis, Mo. (DAAJ09-96-C-0388).
Lockheed Martin Corp, Tactical Aircraft Systems, Fort Worth, Texas, is being awarded a $10,563,060 modification to previously awarded contract N00019-97-C-0038 for the software infrastructure technology maturation effort for the Joint Strike Fighter Program. Work will be performed in Fort Worth, Texas (80%), and Los Angeles, Calif. (20%), and is expected to be completed in February 2001. Contract funds will not expire at the end of the fiscal year. The Naval Air Systems Command, Patuxent River, Md., is the contracting activity.
Funding problems may be forcing the U.S. Army to abandon its plan to acquire the XM777, a replacement for the M198 towed howitzer used by Army and Marine light forces, but an executive of Textron, which holds a big piece of the program, says this would be a mistake. "This is probably as good a case of an outstanding acquisition reform program as anything you'll see," said Dan Ferezan, regional manager, North America business development and marketing, land, for Textron Marine&Land Systems.
Sonalysts, Inc., Waterford, Conn., is being awarded a $19,007,623 indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity, cost-plus-fixed-fee contract for support of operating guidelines and training for both advanced and operational anti-submarine warfare systems. The total estimated level of effort is 359,000 manhours. Work will be performed in Waterford, Conn., and is expected to be completed by February 2003. Contract funds in the amount of $25,000 will expire at the end of the current fiscal year.
TRW, Inc., Redondo Beach, Calif., is being awarded an $8,416,065 face value increase to a cost-plus-award-fee contract to provide for hardware and software modifications to the Space Based Infrared System Low Program Test Support Center and the Flight Demonstration System space vehicles required to establish a direct command and telemetry interface between the support center and spacecraft. Currently communications are directed through the Center for Research Support. Contract is expected to be completed October 2001.
The Pentagon's operational test and evaluation community may be concerned about development of countermeasures that could degrade performance of the U.S. Air Force's Airborne Laser, but Air Force officials and officials of the program itself don't see a major problem.
The Global Hawk unmanned aerial vehicle flew for the first time Saturday at Edwards AFB, Calif., demonstrating several aspects of its autonomous capability. The U-2-size vehicle, developed by Teledyne Ryan Aeronautical and the Pentagon's Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, took off at 7:45 a.m. PST and flew for 56 minutes. It reached an altitude of 32,000 feet, about half the altitude at which it will fly when operational. Airspeed was about 150 knots indicated.
COMPUTER SCIENCES CORP., El Segundo, Calif., said its board of directors unanimously recommended that stockholders not tender any shares to Computer Associates International Inc. The board rejected the offer last month (DAILY, Feb. 20).
Boeing Co. completed the first major overhaul of Test System-3 (TS-3), an Airborne Warning and Control System (AWACS) test aircraft, which has been flying since 1970. Boeing maintains and operates the aircraft, a militarized 707, for the U.S. Air Force. Programmed depot maintenance of TS-3 was done at facilities in Seattle, Wichita, Kan., and Long Beach, Calif., between October 1997 and March 1998.
GE American Communications, of Princeton, N.J., is being awarded a $33,916,361 firm- fixed-price contract to provide leased connectivity for the Army's TROJAN/Intelligence Electronic Warfare (IEW) System which provides for transmission of encrypted data from Ft. Belvoir, Va., to multiple fixed sites worldwide. Contract No. DCA200-98-C-0010 is for five program years with five one-year options. The contract value for the first program is $3,372,821.00. Fifty-eight prospective offers were solicited and four were received.
INTERMETRICS INC., Burlington, Mass., and Pacer Infotec, Billerica, Mass., completed the merger of their operations and formed a new company named AverStar Inc. Both companies will continue as wholly-owned subsidiaries of AverStar. The company expects to generate more than $120 million in sales in 1998 and will be headquartered in Burlington, Mass.
The flexibility of Lockheed Martin's Joint Strike Fighter design will allow it to accommodate alternative missions that are beginning to emerge for the aircraft, company officials told reporters at the Air Force Association's annual Air Warfare Symposium here. Harry Blot, deputy program manager for the company's JSF team, said the plane's horizontal stabilizers could easily moved, or the wings slightly enlarged, to facilitate other missions. "Our wing/tail design lends itself to growth," he said.
The U.S. Air Force is looking to deploy B-2 bombers to Guam this spring, but will first have to repair facilities on the Pacific island which were damaged by a hurricane last year. The AF doesn't have the money readily available to make the repairs, but wants to do so, AF officials said here last week at the Air Force Association's annual Air Warfare Symposium. Gen. Richard Hawley, head of Air Combat Command, said the AF soon will demonstrate a B-2 deployment at wartime utilization rates. A pair of the bombers would be involved.
Hamilton Standard, Windsor Locks, Conn., acquired full ownership of France's Ratier-Figeac from the French industrial company Bertrand Faure. Hamilton Standard, announcing the deal yesterday, said it had held a minority interest in the French company for more than a decade. Ratier-Figeac makes aviation equipment and components for commercial, military and regional markets, including propellers, mechanical flight controls, cockpit controls, hydraulic actuators and ballscrews and helicopter components.
Analysis and Technology, Inc., North Stonington, Conn., is being awarded a $16,853,328 indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity, cost-plus-fixed-fee contract for support of operating guidelines and training for both advanced and operational anti-submarine warfare systems. The total estimated level of effort is 359,000 manhours. Work will be performed in North Stonington, Conn., and is expected to be completed by February 2003. Contract funds in the amount of $25,000 will expire at the end of the current fiscal year.
Arianespace and Lockheed Martin put two heavy communications satellites into geostationary transfer orbits in back-to-back Ariane and Atlas launches Friday from the Guiana Space Center in Kourou and Cape Canaveral, Fla. Less than two hours separated launch of Eutelsat's Hot Bird 4 direct broadcast satellite and the Intelsat 806 platform, which will beam television to more than 2,000 cable television providers in Latin America.
Boeing Co., which has emphasized low cost for its Joint Strike Fighter design through a high commonality of variants for the U.S. Air Force, Navy and Marines, is now checking to see whether a little less commonality might be more cost effective, according to Frank Statkus, the company's JSF program manager.
Rep. Norman Sisisky (Va.), the new ranking Democrat on the House National Security procurement subcommittee, will lead a delegation of three subcommittee members visiting NAS Patuxent River, Md., today for a first- hand look at the F/A-18E/F wing-drop problem. Their visit reflects uncertainty about the program among senior members of the HNSC. Rep. Curt Weldon (R-Pa.), chairman of the HNSC research and development subcommittee, said at a hearing last Thursday, "I'm not convinced that we have solved" the problem.
The Securities and Exchange Commission is investigating possible wrong doing by Daryl L. Jones, the White House's nominee to become secretary of the Air Force. The SEC is looking into possible influence peddling by Jones when he was a Florida state representative.The investigation could derail the nomination. Jones, a member of the Air Force Reserve, was nominated late year to replace Sheila Widnall, who retired.
CHANDLER EVANS CONTROL SYSTEMS CHANDLER EVANS CONTROL SYSTEMS, Charlotte, N.C., will supply its Full Authority Digital Electronic Control (FADEC) system for a helicopter engine made by Turbomeca Engine Corp., Pau, France. The FADEC will regulate the fuel flow in the Arrius 2K1 turboshaft engine.
NASA is studying the use of private companies that would act as commercial "real estate agents" to find industry users for the International Space Station as part of its effort to turn low Earth orbit over to the private sector and concentrate on "opening up the solar system," according to Administrator Daniel S. Goldin.
The Air Force isn't planning to extend the F-111 beyond its June retirement date unless asked to do so by Gen. Robert Zinni, commander of CENTCOM. The Air Force has a small number of EF-111s in Southwest Asia to support the current deployment. They could stay longer if there aren't enough EA-6Bs available to do the mission alone, peters says.
An international "working group" of commercial space launch services providers is mulling whether an industry association would be useful in promoting its causes. To date Arianespace, Boeing, China Great Wall Industries Corp., Orbital Sciences Corp., Rocket System Corp.
