The Defense Dept. wants new technologies that can foster joint operations or better integrate intelligence and surveillance assets, Deputy Defense Secretary John Deutch said Wednesday. "We need technology to find a more effective way to build our forces," Deutch said at a dinner sponsored by the Committee for Economic Development in Washington. The department also will rely on acquisition reform and infrastructure reductions, such as base closures, to get more bang for its buck, he said.
The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) took the first step yesterday towards licensing ventures that want to deliver satellite digital radio services with compact disk sound quality to automobiles and homes nationwide. At a meeting in Washington, the commission allocated spectrum in the 2310-2360 MHz band for satellite digital audio radio services (DARS). They also indicated the hope to move forward rapidly with the proposed service rules for satellite radio systems, which would be received by a small disk- shaped dish.
TRW CEO Joseph Gorman says he has no intention of bowing out of the space and defense market, despite the threat of bruising competition from the behemoth Lockheed Martin. "We've won a place at the table with consistently outstanding performance," Gorman said late Wednesday. "We will be a survivor."
If at first you don't succeed, try, try again. U.S. satellite manufacturers have used their technical prowess to dominate commercial markets worldwide, with one very notable exception. They have yet to win a single new satellite contract from China, due in large part to political and trade frictions between the U.S. and Beijing. But they're not quitting.
NASA has given bidders until Feb. 24 to outline how they would develop the X-33 and X-34 reusable launch vehicle (RLV) demonstrators that may form the basis of a low-cost replacement for the Space Shuttle early in the next century.
LOCKHEED AERONAUTICAL SYSTEMS CO., Marietta, Ga., has completed delivery of 12 C-130H Hercules transports to the North Carolina Air National Guard. The planes are assigned to the 145th Airlift Group at Charlotte International Airport. They replace earlier "B" models that the group had operated for 23 years. Lockheed's 2,000th Hercules was delivered to the Kentucky Air National Guard in May 1992.
Russia will use a modified SS-25 ICBM to launch a 110-pound Israeli research satellite into polar orbit from the Plesetsk cosmodrome in March, according to a press report from Israel. The Associated Press reported yesterday from Haifa that the Gurwin-1 satellite, developed by the Space Research Institute at Technion University, will be launched on March 28. Named after a Florida philanthropist who contributed $1 million towards its construction, the satellite will test several components supplied by Israeli companies, according to the report.
FAA engineers reviewing electric grounding on General Electric aircraft engines have refuted nearly all the technical and recordkeeping claims made by an ex-GE employee in a whistleblower lawsuit against the company, according to the engineers' report, released yesterday by the Justice Dept.
The Federal Trade Commission blessed the merger plans of Lockheed and Martin Marietta yesterday, so long as the merged company lets infrared sensor partners Hughes and Northrop Grumman out of exclusivity clauses in their teaming agreements. In a settlement reached with FTC, Lockheed and Martin agreed to let Hughes and Northrop Grumman bid on providing space-based early warning systems to the Pentagon either independently or in teaming arrangements with other companies, as well as in teams with Lockheed Martin.
A hastily arranged two-day aviation safety "summit" mustered by Transportation Secretary Federico Pena wrapped up Tuesday in Washington with several hardware initiatives-including increased use of simulators and new safety technologies both in and out of the cockpit-among the 540 recommendations produced by six working committees.
The new chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee is calling for a closer look at whether U.S. intelligence should increase its assistance to American companies to level the playing field with foreign competitors that benefit from economic espionage. "A number of intelligence agencies for foreign countries...are much more direct in their assistance of their overseas economic interests," Sen. Arlen Specter (R-Pa.) said at a hearing Tuesday featuring Director of Central Intelligence R. James Woolsey during his last day on the job.
NASA estimates it will cost from $5.5 billion to more than $10 billion to keep the U.S. Space Shuttle fleet flying if plans to shift space launch capability to a commercially operated reusable launch vehicle (RLV) early in the next century come to nothing.
The Ballistic Missile Defense Organization will begin its 14-missile test flight series of the Theater High-Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) system late next month, a senior defense official said yesterday. After a lengthy review, DOD determined that THAAD, which will be able to kill incoming missiles about 120 miles away and 90 miles in altitude, is "fully compliant" with the ABM Treaty and that testing should proceed as planned, the official said.
Lucas Aerospace, which agreed last week to pay $18.5 million in fines for supplying deficient gearboxes for Navy F/A-18 fighters, is denying the parts exposed U.S. military personnel to safety risks. In a statement issued Tuesday night, Lucas repeated its position that independent analysis conducted by retired Navy personnel with extensive aviation experience "confirms previous data that the AMAD [Airframe Mounted Accessory Drive] gearbox exceeds the operational performance requirements."
The U.S. Army's RAH-66 Comanche program office is negotiating with the Office of the Secretary of Defense to postpone the full Defense Acquisition Board meeting scheduled for March, program officials said yesterday. OSD isn't likely to go along with the Army's proposal, but may compromise by agreeing to hold a Conventional Systems Committee review in lieu of a formal DAB meeting.
Invitations to bid for a replacement for the Royal Air Force's 24 Nimrod patrol planes are being issued to British Aerospace, Dassault, Lockheed and Loral ASIC, U.K. Defense Procurement Minister Roger Freeman told Parliament Tuesday. The long-awaited action should lead to a contract with the winner of the international competition in late summer of 1996. Initial service date is expected to be about 2002.
Protecting U.S. radars from attack by inexpensive electronic systems is the subject of a planned 60-month Air Force-sponsored analysis. The AF's Wright Laboratory, soliciting industry for the work, in a Jan. 10 Commerce Business Daily notice, said the effort would continue the Electronic Counter-Countermeasures (ECCM) Analysis Assessment program.
UNISYS CORP., McLean, Va., yesterday said it has appointed retired U.S. Air Force Lt. Gen. Thomas G. McInerney as vice president of command and control for the company's Electronic Systems business segment. He will coordinate strategic efforts in the command and control aspects of Unisys' business thrust into Command, Control, Communications, Computers and Intelligence (C4I) programs. He retired from military service last year as assistant vice chief of staff for the U.S. Air Force and Director of Defense Performance Review (DPR), reporting to the Secretary of Defense.
ELECTROSOURCE INC., Austin, Tex., said the Pentagon's Advanced Research Projects Agency (ARPA) was told Tuesday in a report that its new lead-acid Horizon battery is capable of delivering the range, power and economy to meet 1998 zero emission mandates set by California, Massachusetts and New York. The report by the Sacramento Municipal Utility District (SMUD) was presented in Atlanta ARPA.
PARSONS ENGINEERING SCIENCE INC., Pasadena, Calif., has received an environmental planning contract worth up to $39 million from the Air Force Center for Environmental Excellence at Brooks AFB, Tex. R.C. Wooten, the company's Austin, Tex., based program manager, said, "...we will mobilize our staff to supply environmental services to any Defense Department installation in the world."
The FAA yesterday lifted its prohibition against flying ATR aircraft in icing conditions, provided that new training and flight procedures are followed. Although the planes are still restricted from flying in freezing rain or drizzle, the move essentially returns them to their previous status, since no aircraft are dispatched into such conditions.
ROLLS-ROYCE said that China Yunnan Airlines of Kunming has selected RB211-524H engines to power its new Boeing 767 airliners. China Yunnan has ordered three of the twin engine planes and has options for an additional three. Rolls said the potential value of the engine business is about $105 million.
A leaky Orbital Maneuvering System thruster has forced NASA managers to move the Space Shuttle Discovery from the Vehicle Assembly Building at Kennedy Space Center to launch pad 39B a day early, but while the thruster may be replaced no impact to the Feb. 2 launch date was seen.
SIEMENS CORPORATE RESEARCH INC., Princeton, N.J., is developing a system to help airport control towers to more effectively monitor planes on the ground, and enable planes to automatically dock at airport gates.
Cosmonauts on Russia's Mir space station successfully tested the automatic docking system on their orbiting facility yesterday, ensuring the device that failed twice last year is working when Russia begins stocking Mir this spring for the upcoming series of joint missions with the Space Shuttle.
