The U.S. Air Force watered down this summer's Reliability, Maintainability and Availability Evaluation of the C-17 airlifter, the General Accounting Office argues in an interim report on the tests in which the airlifter met or surpassed specifications in 10 of 11 categories.
The U.S. Army, apparently preparing to quickly add a moving target indicator-synthetic aperture radar to its Airborne Reconnaissance Low (ARL) surveillance planes, is updating its list of suppliers for such a system.
Commercial companies are so reluctant to bid on government business, fearing the loss of patent and intellectual property rights, that none of the top companies in the field responded to a recent Army RFP for computers and telecommunications systems. The Army commissioned a study by the Rand Corp. to find out why.
The U.S. Dept. of Defense notified Congress of an Egyptian request to buy 124 M113A2 armored personnel carriers and related logistics support at an estimated $25 million to augment Egypt's M113 inventory for troop mobility and border security. The APCs, from the Red River Army Depot, Texarkana, Tex., would be sold "as is, where is."
A U.S. team is upgrading the electronic warfare suites of the Norwegian air force's two DA-20 Falcon jamming planes. The team, under San Jose, Calif.-based Condor Systems, received an unspecified amount for the effort, which also includes integration of equipment developed by the Norwegian Defense Research Establishment. The Dassault planes, modified Falcon business jets, have the mission of jamming radar and communications.
Adm. William Owens, vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, will leave military service early next year, and symbols of his reign in the JCS slot and as chairman of the Joint Requirements Oversight Council are already disappearing. Removed from its place in the Pentagon is a display showing off-shore, floating air bases, only one of the advanced technology concepts Owens championed during his tenure. Owens, who said in September that he would leave the government, will join San Diego-based SAIC in March as vice-chairman of the board of directors.
Simula Inc., Phoenix, posted an increase in net earnings for the third quarter of 89%, and a 60% boost in revenue for the first nine months of the year. It said the figures reflect a 3-for-2 stock split, which was effective Sept. 28. The company, which produces high-tech energy absorbing aircraft seating systems, advanced composite structures, airbags and ballistic armor, said earnings for the third quarter hit $1,139,182 ($.13 per share), up from the $603,371 ($.10 per share) for the same period a year ago.
Missing from a list of future weapons laid out by U.S. Navy Air Warfare Director Rear Adm. Brent M. Bennitt is the Joint Air-to- Surface Standoff Missile (JASSM). Critics have charged the Navy with a half-hearted commitment to the program because the SLAM-ER fills some of the requirement. Included on the list - in addition to SLAM-ER - are the Joint Direct Attack Munition, the Joint Stand-Off Weapon and AIM-9X. Bennitt's list appears in the November/December issue of Naval Aviation News.
Undaunted (more or less) by industry's tepid reaction, ARPA plans to try the 845 procedure again next spring with a research and demonstration project for advanced missile manufacturing using commercial parts and techniques, including small batch production. All the usual suspects - the Big Nine missile makers - will be invited to bid
Of the first three ARPA contracts to be awarded under Section 845 of the defense authorization act, only one, Teledyne/Ryan's Tier 2 Plus UAV, is said to be approaching the level of streamlined procurement the agency had in mind to replace the traditional rigidity of mil specs. The Tier 3 Minus contract held by the Lockheed-Boeing team was essentially the continuation of an earlier effort, so it was probably too far along for Section 845 innovations. The third contract, also for UAV work, is a radar effort by Westinghouse.
ASSURANCE TECHNOLOGY CORP., Carlisle, Mass., is in line to continue space systems support of the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory. NRL said in an Oct. 25 Commerce Business Daily notice that it plans to negotiate with the company on a sole source basis for engineering and technical support of space systems R&D.
Evans&Sutherland Computer Co. has reorganized its Government Simulation business, merging its U.S. and international efforts, the company said. James Oyler, president and chief executive officer of the Salt Lake City company, said Tuesday that the change was made "to better address the growth we are experiencing in" both markets.
The chairmen and ranking members of the Senate Armed Services and the House National Security Committee agreed yesterday that virtually all outstanding issues in their fiscal 1996 national security conference would be packaged with the hope of resolving them promptly, congressional sources said. Sources said the Big Four met yesterday to see if they could resolve outstanding differences and salvage a compromise authorization before Congress quits for the year.
Engineers developing the F-22 fighter's missile warning system hope to get a better understanding of tracking enemy missiles by firing a missile motor in a wind tunnel at the U.S. Air Force's Arnold Engineering Development Center that is usually used to test aircraft engines. A recent test at AEDC was the last in a series of four that included static tests, sled tests, flight tests and the work in AEDC's 16-foot transonic wind tunnel. It was also the first time in 16 years that a rocket motor had been fired in Arnold's tunnel.
Two of the aerospace and defense industry's top executives - C. Michael Armstrong of Hughes Electronics and Michael H. Jordan of Westinghouse Electric Corp. - yesterday attacked U.S. export regulations and policy, saying they have hurt their companies and industry in general.
The first of 64 F-18 fighters being bought by Finland from the U.S. arrived in Finland Tuesday, McDonnell Douglas reported. The Hornet prime contractor said four of the planes - two-seat "D" models flown by Finnish Air Force and U.S. Navy pilots - made the non-stop flight from St. Louis to Tampere, Finland, in nine and one-half hours. The aircraft refueled from a KC-10 tanker during their trip across the North Atlantic Ocean, McDonnell Douglas said.
U.S. ARMY plans to extend a three-year program under which it studies different intelligence and electronic warfare areas, and has invited industry to submit proposals for the work. A Nov. 9 Commerce Business Daily notice from the Army's C4IEW Acquisition Center at Vint Hill Farms, Va., listed the five topic areas. Contracts would last between six months and three years, including options. Submissions will be accepted through September 1996, but proposals received after Jan. 31, 1996 won't be considered for this fiscal year.
CESELA INC., Madrid, Spain, is working under a $6.7 million contract from the U.S. Naval Air Warfare Center Training Systems Div., Orlando, Fla., to upgrade AV-8B trainer aircraft at the Marine Corps Air Stations at Cherry Point, N.C., and Yuma, Ariz. The contract was awarded Nov. 1.
The U.S. Army has awarded Texas Instruments $3.1 million to supply night vision systems for the Bradley Fighting Vehicle (BFV) systems upgrade program. TI said yesterday it will deliver 184 driver vision enhancers (DVE) to the Army's Communications and Electronics Command, Ft. Monmouth, N.J., beginning in the second quarter of 1996. Bradleys will receive the uncooled thermal imaging system as part of the Operation Desert Storm BFV systems upgrade program, Texas Instruments said. Deliveries will be completed in 1997.
LOCKHEED MARTIN'S Sanders unit, Nashua, N.H., is in line for a sole source contract for 28 AN/ALQ-144(VP)2 infrared countermeasures systems. U.S. Naval Air Systems Command said in an Oct. 13 Commerce Business Daily notice t hat the system will be for the SH-60B helicopter.
NASA expects its annual Space Shuttle budget to drop by about $700 million after five years of operating under a single Shuttle operations prime contractor, with the Shuttle workforce falling by about 7,500 contractor and civil service personnel. Meanwhile, the Rockwell/Lockheed Martin joint venture picked to be the Shuttle operations prime contractor envisions the contract growing to between $2 billion and $2.5 billion a year over the same period, with its profits tied to performance and the savings it can squeeze out of the program.
Persistent C-17 critic Rep. Elizabeth Furse (D-Ore.) wants the General Accounting Office to review the Pentagon's decision last week to restore the airlifter program to 120 aircraft, rejecting options that would have included some number of militarized Boeing 747s.
VITRO CORP., Rockville, Md., a subsidiary of Tracor, is moving into the Indianapolis area to support the Naval Air Warfare Center, Aircraft Div. The company recently won a $51.7 million, five-year-contract from the center to provide design engineering and software services. The company previously supported the Indianapolis-based center from offices in Fort Wayne and Bloomington, Ind.
U.S. NAVAL AIR WARFARE CENTER Training Systems Div., Orlando, Fla., is soliciting industry for up to five years of Command Aircraft Crew Training (CACT) services. It said in a pair of Nov. 8 Commerce Business Daily notices that the program "includes providing all labor, equipment, training facilities, tools, training materials, supervision and other services necessary for academic, aircrew coordination, and simulator training for" several aircraft: C-9B, CT-39E/G and T-39D, UC-12B/F and UC-12M, and C-20D.
NATO has invited industry to submit bids for independent verification and validation of the Air Command and Control System, a program that could be worth $1 billion. NATO's Air Command and Control Systems Management Agency (NACMA) said in a Nov. 2 Commerce Business Daily notice that it is "requesting nominations from qualified and certified companies" for the bids.
