The latest version of the Non-Developmental Airlift Aircraft (NDAA) request for proposals, made public last week, contains no fiscal 1996 or '97 money for an off-the-shelf airlifter in any force mix other than capping the C-17 program at 40 aircraft, a situation that has industry wondering about the Air Force's already lukewarm commitment to the program.
French defense chief Francois Leotard is now "reasonably confident" Britain will follow through on its promises to re-join the European Future Large Airlifter, or FLA, program, following meetings with top British officials designed to smooth ruffled feathers.
A U.S. government official who helped negotiate a recent launch agreement with China acknowledged yesterday that there have been internal discussions in the U.S. about revisiting a similar agreement with Russia that has stricter pricing provisions.
The Pentagon is still in the "very early stages" of discussion with NATO allies about creating a framework for their participation in the Joint Advanced Strike Technology (JAST) program, says DOD acquisition chief Paul Kaminski.
The U.S. Air Force award of $94.7 million to maintain the B-2 industrial base has achieved something unusual in the contentious world of stealth bomber politics-it has satisfied a leading B-2 supporter and a leading opponent. Rep. Norman Dicks (D-Wash.), a member of the House Appropriations national security subcommittee and a B-2 supporter, said the award in the context of the upcoming bomber decision pleases him because "we're going to get a fair, objective look at whether there is a requirement or not" for more of the planes. Rep.
NASA will rely on emerging high speed data networking technology to take up some of the slack as it cuts redundancy in employees and capabilities across its field centers to save money (DAILY, Feb. 7, page 187).
AAI Corp., Hunt Valley, Md., has received a $4.5 million contract from U.S. Army Missile Command to produce and deliver by mid-1996 an Improved Moving Target Simulator (IMTS) to the Army National Guard's Grand Forks, N.D. facility. Exercises with the system-the latest version of a trainer produced by the company-will take place inside a 40-foot diameter dome controlled through a computerized console.
Lockheed is looking at what SR-71 spare parts are on the shelf, Schwartz says. It's also considering what's exceeded shelf life, whether it matters and-if it does-how the Pentagon "can go backfill that," he says, adding that in some cases, it's not going to be easy to replace components. To keep operation and maintenance costs down, Lockheed will be responsible for maintaining the airframe. Schwartz says he feels "certain" that sensor suite producers Loral, Itek and McDonnell Douglas will also get contracts to maintain their equipment.
U.S. Air Force has decided against adding sensor capabilities such as a data downlink system to the reactivated SR-71A Blackbird, says AF Col. Norty Schwartz, deputy director of forces. "We don't intend to improve the aircraft beyond what it was in 1989," he says. The service, given $100 million in FY '95 to refurbish, operate and maintain the two recce planes, has been "consciously austere" about how it brings the plane out of retirement, Schwartz adds.
Members of the independent NASA Advisory Council sharply questioned the agency's assumptions and goals for its Reusable Launch Vehicle (RLV) program Friday, expressing doubts private industry can be persuaded to build a commercial RLV large enough to ferry supplies and crew members to the International Space Station.
An article in The DAILY of Feb. 10, page 219, incorrectly listed the estimated cost of the National Wind Tunnel Complex (NWTC). Program officials estimate it will cost $2.3 billion, not $3.2 billion, to build the NWTC with its high-Reynolds-number subsonic and transonic wind tunnels.
The Pentagon's Advanced Research Projects Agency will suspend ongoing negotiations for Technology Reinvestment Project contracts until Congress decides what it wants to do with the dual-use technology development program, according to ARPA Director Gary Denman. Also, the current TRP competition will be delayed until both the House and Senate have voted on the Defense Dept.'s fiscal 1995 rescission package, Denman told The DAILY during an interview Friday at his Arlington, Va., office.
Sen. Kent Conrad (D-N.D.) disagrees with Pentagon Comptroller John Hamre on bomber numbers. Conrad said Friday during a hearing of the Senate Budget Committee that the Pentagon's fiscal 1996 budget request supports 171, 13 less than called for in the Bottom-Up Review, and only 93 deployable bombers, seven less than the BUR level.
The Senate Armed Services Committee announced the membership of its subcommittees as follows: -- William S. Cohen (R-Maine), chairman of the seapower subcommittee, which covers special operations forces and airlift. Other members are Republicans John Warner (Va.), John McCain (Ariz.), Trent Lott (Miss.) and Bob Smith (N. H.), and Democrats Edward M. Kennedy (D-Mass.), J. James Exon (Neb.), Charles S. Robb (Va.) and Joseph I. Lieberman (Conn.).
NASA Administrator Daniel S. Goldin hints at some of the changes that may emerge from parallel cost-cutting reviews of the Space Shuttle program, telling reporters at a budget briefing that the three Space Shuttle Main Engine contracts can perhaps be cut to one to save paperwork. Likewise, he says, the program is afflicted with redundant engine test stands at the Stennis and Marshall centers, and with 67 civil service subsystem managers. "We're not doing the job, the contractors are, so if we cut the Shuttle management that's another acceptable area," he said.
Several of the hardware initiatives that emerged from last month's so-called Safety Summit of airline and FAA officials in Washington will be getting some money in the near future. Transportation Secretary Federico Pena says suppliers can count on more use of simulators, both for advanced pilot training and training for special situations, new commitment to satellite-based navigation aids, and a push for new technology to prevent runway accidents.
Senate Budget Committee Chairman Pete Domenici (R-N.M.) warned senior defense officials Friday that future Pentagon requests for emergency supplementals are likely to receive much more scrutiny in the new Republican-dominated Congress.
Conrad and Sen. Trent Lott (R-Miss.) put markedly different twists on U.S. defense spending during the hearing. Lott said it will decline to 2.8% of GDP by the end of the 1990s, its lowest level in decades. President Clinton's fiscal 1996 budget, he said, "cuts too much." But Conrad cited numbers purporting to show that the U.S. still devotes more resources to defense than it did in 1955, and four times as much as any other nation in the world.
ABRAMS SYSTEM ENHANCEMENT PACKAGE is the subject of a solicitation from U.S. Army Tank-Automotive and Armaments Command. "The primary focus of the [effort] is to enhance the M1A2 Abrams tank core electronics so the tank will have the capability to grow to meet future requirements," TACOM said in a Feb. 1 Commerce Business Daily notice. "The improvements," it said, "will update the M1A2 Abrams tanks with the latest technology. The tank configuration changes will improve performance and fightability, sustainability, mobility, lethality, and survivability."
General Dynamics and ITT will produce more than 30,000 Single Channel Ground and Airborne Radio System (SINCGARS) radios, which for the first time will be equipped with GPS receivers. The work will be carried out for the U.S. Army Communications and Electronics Command (CECOM). ITT will get 55% of the job and GD 45%. CECOM's contract action is expected next month, and will likely include options for additional radios.
MILTOPE GROUP INC., Montgomery, Ala., has received $23.4 million in contracts under the U.S. Army Command and Control System Common Hardware/Software (ATCCS/CHS-1) program. Included, the company said, are $7.6 million from Air Defense Command and Control Systems, $1.7 million from Patriot Systems, $4.5 million in handheld computer terminals and $3.4 million from various other ATCCS/CHS programs.
ARMY Research, Development and Evaluation Center is soliciting industry for information on potential candidate systems to fill a tri- service requirement for a Multi-role Anti-Armor Anti-personnel Weapon System (MAAWS). ARDEC said in a Jan.
Goldin says that if NASA can find a way to save money building the International Space Station, it will. But he's more hopeful that savings can be found in Station operations once it's built, and along lines favored by Rep. Robert Walker (R-Pa.) and his free-market allies on Capitol Hill (DAILY, Feb. 10, page 213). "We've got to get the government out of being totally in control of operations and cherry picking a whole bunch of contractors and kind of orchestrating it," Goldin says.
