A new partnership of teams competing for the U.K.'s Future Strategic Tanker Aircraft (FSTA) program reduces the contenders from four to three. The new partnership, AirTanker, was formed in mid-January when Air Reach and Eurotanker joined forces with several other major European companies as equal shareholders. Competing with AirTanker are BAE Systems and SSM Group, led by Serco.
A Lockheed Martin beam control system was able to maintain pointing and alignment of a megawatt-class laser in a six-second ground test as part of the Pentagon's Space-Based Laser (SBL) development effort, according to the three-contractor team working on a SBL Integrated Flight Experiment (SBL-IFX).
Technologies Ltd. of Herzeliya, Israel, announced it has received a $3.5 million follow-on order from European Aeronautic Defense and Space Company EADS Airbus SA for the company's eMPower e-manufacturing software. EADS Airbus SA will use eMPower in its A380 program, the company announced Wednesday.
The U.S. Air Force, anxious for an official low rate initial production (LRIP) decision on the F-22, said that the remaining congressionally mandated requirements will be completed within 10 days and a Defense Acquisition Board will meet within two weeks. "The Air Force is being overly optimistic," a Pentagon source told The DAILY. The F-22 program has said it will finish its exit criteria up "within weeks" for several months now, said the source. "We've heard that already."
DRS Technologies Inc. received $40 million in U.S. Army contracts for additional Horizontal Technology Integration Second Generation Forward Looking Infrared (HTI SGF) sighting systems. These systems, the Parsippany, N.J., company said yesterday, apply common night vision technology across several land platforms, including the Abrams M1A2 Main Battle Tank System Enhancement Package (SEP), the Bradley M2A3 Infantry Fighting Vehicles and the M1025 and M1114 High-Mobility Multipurpose Wheeled Vehicles (HMMWV).
Britain will take about a year before choosing between the U.S. Marines' vertical-lift version of the Joint Strike Fighter and the U.S. Navy's conventional takeoff and landing concept to equip its planned new aircraft carriers, says Adm. Sir Nigel Essenhigh, the Royal Navy's First Sea Lord. The short takeoff and vertical landing (STOVL) JSF would take off using a ski-jump bow-ramp, and would land vertically on the carrier's deck; the Navy version relies on a catapult launch for takeoff and is caught by an arrester wire on landing.
Northrop Grumman Corp. and Litton Industries Inc. said their boards of directors have approved an amendment to their merger agreement that would increase the benefit to Litton stockholders. They would get $80 per share in cash, the equivalent of $80.25 in common stock, or the equivalent of $80 in liquidation value of a new preferred stock. The equity would be tax-free. The companies said they plan to file detailed information about the offer with the Securities and Exchange Commission on or about Feb. 1.
Boeing Co. has put on hold discussions aimed at establishing co-production of the Israeli Arrow Weapon Systems (AWS) until technology transfer issues are resolved, Boeing announced yesterday. Boeing has been working with the Israeli Ministry of Defense and Israel Aircraft Industries (IAI) to explore possible co-production of the weapon in both Israel and the U.S. for the Israeli national missile defense system.
The U.S. Air Force will likely bed down 13 new Boeing-made C-17 Globemaster III airlift aircraft at McGuire Air Force Base, N.J., once the environmental impact analysis (EIA) is complete. Air Mobility Command (AMC) considered three bases on the East Coast as home for the new aircraft due to their strategic proximity to forces the C-17 will deploy and their location for reach across the Atlantic Ocean.
Aerojet expects to enjoy a steady market for the microwave sounders it builds for weather satellites, but only for "evolving" sounder technology rather than for any specific unit, according to the manager directing the company's latest development effort in the field.
Senate Defense Appropriations Subcommittee Chairman Ted Stevens (R-Alaska) said Tuesday he hopes to include defense needs in a fiscal 2001 supplemental appropriations bill, but he questioned whether the Air Force, Army and Navy really need all of the $7 billion that they've identified as urgent requirements (DAILY, Jan. 17). "Those numbers are flopping around every time someone wants more money," Stevens told reporters.
Lockheed Martin Corp. was the top Pentagon contractor in fiscal year 2000, receiving $15.1 billion in defense contracts, according to figures released yesterday by the Dept. of Defense. Boeing came in second, Raytheon was third, General Dynamics was fourth and Northrop Grumman was fifth. These five companies were also the top five in fiscal year 1999, in the same order.
SEN. TOM HARKIN (D-Iowa) and Rep. Nick Lampson (D-Texas) have asked the General Accounting Office to conduct a study on the Defense Dept.'s ability to prevent the misuse of excess military hardware sold or loaned to non-governmental parties.
The Pentagon's Ballistic Missile Defense Organization plans to put a $75 facility to test its proposed Space-Based Laser (SBL) at Stennis Space Center, Miss., with construction slated to begin in the first quarter of fiscal 2002.
The U.S. defense industry doesn't appear to be experiencing a significant financial crisis, despite claims to the contrary by some observers, the Defense Dept. concluded in a new report.
AIR FORCE LOGISTICS CENTERS have been named Centers of Industrial and Technical excellence by outgoing Secretary of the Air Force F. Whitten Peters. Rep. Saxby Chambliss (R-Ga.), whose district contains Warner Robins ALC, said this will give ALCs better capability to team with private industry to work on AF weapon systems.
The Defense Dept.'s inspector general will replace the Marine Corps IG as the agency investigating allegations that the commanding officer of the only MV-22 squadron told his Marines to falsify maintenance records, officials said yesterday. USMC Commandant Gen. James Jones requested the switch, which received the approval of Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, Acting Navy Secretary Robert Pirie Jr. and the DOD IG.
Russia launched a Progress supply capsule loaded with fuel to the Mir orbital station yesterday in the first step of a sequence space program managers hope will bring the 15-year-old spacecraft down in the Pacific early in March. Meanwhile, NASA prepared to return the Space Shuttle Atlantis to the launch pad after inspections in the Vehicle Assembly Building at Kennedy Space Center, Fla., designed to ensure there were no electrical faults in the cables that activate the Shuttle's big solid rocket boosters (SRBs).
Kelly Space&Technology, Inc., of San Bernadino, Calif., and Vought Aircraft Industries, Inc. of Dallas, Texas announced Tuesday they have signed a teaming agreement and have submitted proposals to develop a second generation Reusable Space Launch Vehicle (RLV) system and associated technologies.
Pratt&Whitney announced purchase of the Astronautics and Aerosciences Div. (AASD) of Adroit Systems Inc. (ASI), a move that gives Pratt&Whitney leading-edge technology in fluid mechanics and advanced combustion concepts. Work by the division of ASI in the field of pulse detonation technology, P&W said, holds promise for advanced gas turbine, rocket and other applications. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.
CORRECTION: As GKN Aerospace proceeds with a plan to grow business, it is moving manufacturing capabilities, technologies and processes, and is not closing plants, as indicated in The DAILY of Jan. 9 (page 42).
A new technical glitch has forced the launch of a Defense Meteorological Satellite Program weather satellite to be delayed yet again. Program officials have not announced a new launch schedule. Vandenberg officials said the delay to the planned Monday launch was caused by technical problems with the satellite's guidance system.
Cubic Defense Systems announced receipt of a $9.8 million U.S. Army contract for 10 more Ground Data Terminals (GDTs) to support the Joint STARS program. The order brings the total amount awarded to Cubic since 1993 for Joint STARS work to $192 million, the company said. GDTs are components of the Surveillance and Control Data Link that Cubic built for Joint STARS.
Turkey cancelled a military satellite contract with France's Alcatel, retaliating against a resolution by the French parliament condemning Turkey for allegedly killing more than a million Armenians between 1915 and 1923. Israel Aircraft Industries was initially named winner of the contract to supply Turkey's first military satellite, but when Alcatel lowered its price last fall, it was chosen instead. Alcatel had agreed to supply the satellite by 2003.
The Turkish Navy's first S-70B Sea Hawk helicopter flew for the first time Monday at Sikorsky Aircraft Corp.'s main facility in Stratford, Conn., the company said. The two-hour flight also marked the first time aloft for the Sikorsky Glass Cockpit in an international Naval Hawk, Sikorsky said. The company is building eight S-70B aircraft for Turkey. Deliveries will take place in 2001 and 2002.
