The Royal Air Force will retire two veteran Westland Wessex HCC4 helicopters in the next few weeks after more than 30 years of service in The Queen's Flight and No. 32 (Royal) Squadron. The Wessex helicopters, turboshaft developments of the Sikorsky S-58, are being replaced April 1 by a single Sikorsky S-76C Plus, which will be civil-registered and operated by a civilian crew as Royal employees on a commercial lease basis by Air Hanson from Blackbushe Airport near Farnborough.
L-3 COMMUNICATIONS, Sarasota, Fla., won a contract from American Airlines for Flight Data Recorders (FDRs) and Cockpit Voice Recorders (CVRs) for its new Boeing aircraft. American will also retrofit its existing aircraft with L-3's FDRs.
LOCKHEED TEST PILOT Anthony W. "Tony" LeVier died Feb. 6 of complications due to cancer and kidney failure. He was 84. Funeral services will be held Feb. 14 in Glendale, Calif.
Sabena Belgian World Airlines is expected in coming weeks to announce its choice of an engine supplier for medium-haul aircraft it ordered from Airbus in November. Sabena, in an order that was the largest in its history and that probably topped $1 billion, chose Airbus over Boeing. Thirty-four jets of the A320 family will replace Sabena's aging fleet of 737-200s (DAILY, Nov. 19).
Orbital Sciences Corp., Fairchild Defense, Germantown, Md., is being awarded a $5,771,671 modification to previously awarded contract N00163-95- C-0171 to exercise an option to procure AN/ASQ-215 Digital Data Set components for the U.S. Navy, including 314 Personal Computer Memory Card International Associate (PCMCIA) Data Transfer Module units and 662 Interface Receptacle units. Work will be performed in Germantown, Md., and is expected to be completed in March 1999. Contract funds will not expire at the end of the fiscal year.
REP. IKE SKELTON was formally approved by the House Democratic Caucus yesterday as ranking Democrat on the House National Security Committee. The Missouri Democrat succeeds former Rep. Ronald Dellums (D-Calif.), who retired from the House Friday.
Boeing North American, Inc., Seattle, Wash., is being awarded a $11,735,000 face value increase to a firm-fixed-price contract to provide for post delivery practical test support for two Boeing 767 airframe Airborne Warning and Control System (AWACS) aircraft. Contract is expected to be completed March 2000. Contract funds will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. This effort supports foreign military sales to Japan. Electronic Systems Center, Hanscom AFB, Mass., is the contracting activity (F19628-94/C-0004, P00055).
Defense Secretary William S. Cohen and German Minister of Defense Volker Ruehe in Munich Saturday signed an agreement in Munich Saturday allowing for the transfer of title of 21 U.S.-owned and German-manned Roland weapon systems and 12 Patriot fire units to the German military. The signing follows agreement by the two countries last month to continue cooperation in air defense and to extend the 1983 Agreement on Cooperative Measures for Enhancing Air Defense for Central Europe (DAILY, Jan. 9).
Fibertek, Inc., Herndon, Va., is being awarded a $9,382,282 cost-plus- fixed-fee contract for design and test of an ultra-compact, direct detection laser radar (LADAR) sensor system compatible with the Ballistic Missile Defense Office's Discriminating Interceptor Technology Program operational ballistic missile interceptor system. Work will be performed in Herndon, Va., and is expected to be completed September 2001. Contract funds in the amount of $2,355,270 will expire at the end of the current fiscal year.
House Appropriations national security chairman Rep. C. W. (Bill) Young (R-Fla.) is not inclined to accept an offer from the House Republican leadership to become chairman of the full House Appropriations Committee, congressional sources said yesterday.
General Electric, Lynn, Mass., is being awarded a delivery order amount of $11,549,640, as part of a firm-fixed-price contract for 20 engines (701C) for the Army. Work will be performed in Lynn, Mass., and is expected to be completed by Feb. 27, 1999. Contract funds will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. This is a sole source contract initiated on March 29, 1996. The contracting activity is the U.S. Army Aviation and Missile Command, Redstone Arsenal, Ala. (DAAJ09-97-D-0196). February 6, 1998
Lockheed Martin Corp., Sunnyvale, Calif., is being awarded a $6,445,590 face value increase to a firm-fixed-price contract to provide for Orbital Operations Support from February 1998 through January 1999 for the Defense Satellite Communication System. Contract is expected to be completed January 1999. Contract funds will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. Space and Missile Systems Center, Los Angeles AFB, Calif., is the contracting activity (F04701-95/C-0037, P00008).
Lockheed Martin Corp., Orlando, Fla., is being awarded a $23,900,000 face value increase to a firm-fixed-price contract to provide for equipment to establish an Extended Repair Capability for the Low Altitude Navigation Targeting Infrared for Night (LANTIRN) system applicable to the F-15 aircraft. Contract is expected to be completed February 2000. Contract funds will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. At this time, $12,450,000 of the contract funds have been obligated. This effort supports foreign military sales to Saudi Arabia.
NASA's Advanced X-ray Astrophysics Facility (AXAF) is back on track after computer problems late last year threw off the program's testing and delivery schedule, and with it the U.S. space agency's flight manifest for 1998.
Russia's government has admitted the necessity of increased commercialization of space launches and Russian satellites, with at least 21 commercial space launches for foreign customers planned this year alone. After a session of the government called last week to evaluate Russian Space Agency activities in 1997 and plans for 1998, Vice Prime Minister Vladimir Bulgak said "space is business and it should make profit."
Raytheon E-Systems, Inc. Greenville, Texas, is being awarded a $5,407,884 firm-fixed-price contract for 127 inboard engine tailpipes and 69 outboard engine tailpipes in support of P-3 aircraft. Work will be performed in Southhampton, England, United Kingdom, and is expected to be completed October 1999. Contract funds will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. This contract was competitively procured with two proposals solicited and two offers received. The Naval Inventory Control Point, Philadelphia, Pa., is the contracting activity (N00383-98-C-A038).
NO PERFECT PLANE: Money isn't necessarily the answer to avoiding aircraft design problems like the "wing drop" the U.S. Navy is wrestling with on its F/A-18E/F Super Hornet, a DOD official says. "There's not enough money in the entire United States to build a perfect plane," he tells reporters.
CLOSE LOOK: The U.S. Navy plans to take a close look at its missile inventory requirements, particularly as it begins to field more capable but also more expensive weapons. One of the issues it will look at, a DOD official says, is how many aircraft carriers will need the full complement of high-cost weapons, and how much of the weapons requirement can be accommodated by cross-decking.
CARRIER CONCERNS: The U.S. Navy can maintain at least two carrier battle groups in the Persian Gulf as long as needed, but there will be some effects on readiness, according to senior Navy officials. The three carrier battle groups there now will force a refinement of some of maintenance and training schedules, say Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Jay Johnson. He and Navy Secretary John Dalton, testifying before the Senate Armed Services Committee last week, pressed lawmakers to approve a supplemental request slated to be sent to the Hill next month by the Dept.
INFLATABLE MODULE: Goldin tells the House Science subcommittee that inflatable technology originally conceived for the human exploration of Mars could also save "upwards of $100 million" on the final Station cost. Engineers at Johnson Space Center are running a study on whether the TransHab module - a small composite core that can be expanded with an inflatable Kevlar structure - can safely be added to the International Station in lieu of the Boeing-built U.S. Habitation Module.
The U.S. Defense Dept. is in the final stages of completing its cruise missile defense Capstone Requirement Document (CRD) and hopes to validate the requirements by May, a Pentagon official said last week. The CRD is being staffed by the U.S. Atlantic Command and will be presented in coming months to warfighters to help define key performance parameters. The document will be used to write weapons system operational requirements documents and define cruise missile defense investment strategies across the military services, the official said.
FOUR AND COUNTING: The decision of Rep. Jane Harman (D-Calif.) to seek the Democratic nomination for governor of California means there will be at least four vacancies on the House National Security Committee in the next Congress. Harman announced her intentions last week, and with the California filing deadline of March 6, it's not likely she will change her mind in time to file for her present House seat. The California primary is June 6. Ranking Democrat Ronald Dellums' resignation from the House took effect Friday. Rep.
Orbital Science Corp. has scheduled the second flight of its Taurus ground-launched rocket today with a U.S. Navy research satellite and two of its Orbcomm "Little LEO" subsidiary's communications platforms aboard. Liftoff of the Taurus is scheduled for about 10 a.m. EST from Vandenberg AFB, Calif., first placing the Navy's GEOSAT Follow-On (GFO) satellite into a planned 108-degree orbit at an altitude of 779 by 790 kilometers, and then releasing the two Orbcomm data relay satellites a short time later.
FIRST F-22 FIGHTER was transported on Thursday from Dobbins Air Reserve Base, Marietta, Ga., to Edwards AFB, Calif., where it will begin flight tests in the spring, the AF reported Friday. The F-22, shipped on a C-5 airlifter, was delivered to Edwards about two weeks earlier than expected, an Air Force spokeswoman said. Flight tests will start at Edwards in the spring, but the AF declined to name a specific date. After more than three months of delays, the plane made its first flight at Dobbins last fall (DAILY, Sept. 9, 1997).
