MULTI-MISSION: There likely wouldn't be a fleet of F-22 fighters dedicated to the air-to-ground mission, like today's F-15Es, says Maj. Gen. Claude M. Bolton Jr., Air Force fighter and bomber program executive officer. The idea, he says, will be "to prosecute the [air-to-air war] first, then, when the environment is right, switch weapons." The F-22 focus now is on using the AIM-120, AIM-9 and AIM-9X air-to-air missiles, but Bolton says internal charts show the jet carrying JDAM-type weapons in its internal bay.
NMD NEED: Sen. Fred Thompson (R-Tenn.) says Beijing has been "emboldened" by the Senate's defeat last week of his legislation to impose sanctions on China if it spreads weapons of mass destruction. One day after the Senate rejected his amendment to a bill that would give China permanent normal trade relations, Beijing warned of "grave consequences" if the U.S. deploys a National Missile Defense, Thompson says in a statement, which cites unspecified news reports.
CAPITOL CRUNCH: Congress will address a bunch of aerospace-related issues this week as it tries to finish its business before adjourning for the year in a few weeks. The Senate plans to vote Tuesday on giving China permanent normal trade relations. Boeing strongly favors the legislation, which has already passed the House. In addition, a House-Senate conference committee is aiming to finish writing the fiscal 2001 defense authorization bill.
Orbcomm Global LP, the "Little LEO" satellite messaging service spun off from Orbital Sciences Corp., filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection Friday in an effort to stave off creditors as it restructures to accommodate lower-than-expected revenues and subscription rates.
UNITED INDUSTRIAL CORP. said its AAI subsidiary has received a $22 million contract from an international customer for a Shadow 400 unmanned aerial vehicle. The customer wasn't further identified. The contract calls for AAI to produce and provide support for the single ship-based Shadow 400 UAV system. The New York-based UIC said the award follows AAI's recent receipt of a major contract from the U.S. Army to develop the Tactical Unmanned Aerial Vehicle.
A sell-off of BAE Systems shares last week - 32.6 million shares changed hands Thursday and 17.3 million were traded Friday as of 4:40 p.m. in London, pressuring the stock down almost 19% - was precipitated by release of the company's fiscal 2000 interim results which revealed a number of short-term irritants. A few key military projects are in limbo too, although avionics and the North American market are doing well.
A launch-on-demand requirement is probably forthcoming from the Pentagon in the years ahead, but meeting it will require at least as much improvement in satellites as in the rockets that will be needed to get them into space quickly, the former national security space architect said yesterday.
The U.K. Ministry of Defense, following through on lessons learned from last year's Operation Allied Force, has signed a $59 million contract with Raytheon Co. for Maverick missiles. The anti-tank weapons should be operational on the Royal Air Force's fleet of Harrier GR7 aircraft by mid-December.
Lockheed Martin Corp. unveiled a new business initiative, dubbed "Proven Path," to develop modular systems based on commercial-off-the-shelf technology to help the Pentagon replace avionics and electronics on legacy platforms and equip new ones in a plug-and-play manner. The plug-in design of the systems, according to the company, means it is easier to perform upgrades and take advantage of technological advances over time.
With Block 3.0 avionics software testing already underway on the flying test bed, 14 of 19 static structural tests complete, and aircraft 4004 and 4005 on the flight line in Marietta, Ga., F-22 program officials are confident they will meet the 10 congressionally mandated Defense Acquisition Board criteria in time for a December low rate initial production decision.
Logicon Inc., a unit Northrop Grumman Corp., will handle information technology services for Vought Aircraft Industries Inc. under an outsourcing contract worth an estimated $67.5 million. "The agreement we have with Logicon enables us to continue a teaming relationship with the company that best understands our systems and processes," said Bryan Tutor, IT director at Vought. "The structure we have in place encourages IT goals well aligned with our business goal."
The U.S. aerospace industry booked firm orders of $32.4 billion in June, blowing past the previous monthly high of $20.7 billion set in November 1997. June's record boosted overall orders for the second quarter of fiscal 2000 to $51.7 billion, up almost 53% over the $33.8 billion posted in the first quarter. Backlog of unfilled orders added $14.4 billion to close out the second quarter at $208.7 billion - the highest level since January 1999.
BOEING F/A-18 HORNETS passed the 4 millionth flight hour yesterday, the company said. The U.S. Navy, it said, designated noon EDT as the ceremonial flight hour enabling any Hornet or Super Hornet squadron airborne at that time to participate.
U.S. defense spending will have to rise over time to about $340 billion a year in 2000 dollars, an increase of $51 billion over the fiscal 2000 appropriation, to maintain the current force structure, the Congressional Budget Office said in a report released yesterday. The biggest increase would be in procurement, which would have to rise from $53 billion in fiscal 2000 to $90 billion, according to the report, "Budgeting for Defense: Maintaining Today's Forces." The Air Force and Navy would account for most of the procurement increase.
The Dept. of Justice's Antitrust Div. has asked for additional information on the proposed sale of Lockheed Martin's Aerospace Electronics Systems (AES) business to BAE Systems North America Inc. The request was not unexpected, a Lockheed Martin spokesman said. It was issued pursuant to the Hart-Scott-Rodino antitrust act. The parties filed a pre-merger notification and report with the DOJ and the Federal Trade Commission on Aug. 9.
The U.K's Royal Navy has approved a trial fit of Raytheon Co.'s SEA RAM Inner-Layer Defense System (ILDS) on board a Type 42 Destroyer. SEA RAM, according to Raytheon Systems Ltd., is the low cost evolution of the Phalanx Close-In Weapon System (CIWS) into an autonomous Rolling Airframe Missile (RAM) Inner Layer Defense System. The SEA RAM trial, it said, will be carried out next year on HMS York. Raytheon Systems will serve as the prime contractor of a six-company team that is pursuing the next step in ship defense for the Royal Navy.
Sen. Bob Smith (R-N.H.) has introduced an amendment to a China trade bill that would direct a new commission to monitor the development of China's military space capabilities, but it appeared unlikely late yesterday afternoon that the Senate would vote on his proposal. The bill, which would give China permanent normal trade relations (PNTR), already contains language setting up a commission to monitor human rights and the rule of law in China. Smith's amendment would expand the commission's jurisdiction to several other areas, including space.
Boeing won an engineering and manufacturing development contract worth an estimated $48 million to upgrade the defensive systems on the U.S. Air Force B-52H bomber fleet. Work under the B-52 Situational Awareness Defensive Improvement (SADI) will run through completion of developmental and operational flight testing in 2003, according to the company.
FAA and Boeing said they will redesign the rudder actuation system on 737 airliners and retrofit all of the twinjets. The changes were recommended in a report released yesterday by the 737 Engineering Test and Evaluation Board, formed in May 1999 in the wake of two fatal 737 accidents to study possible ways the rudder could malfunction.
Israel's Arrow Weapon System was successful yesterday in its second intercept of a ballistic missile target. The test, conducted in Israel, was the eighth overall, but the first against a new, air-launched in-bound target dubbed Black Sparrow that more closely simulated a real-world scenario.
EMS Technologies of Montreal won a $6 million contract from Canada's Dept. of National Defense to redesign the Search&Rescue Satellite Aided Tracking (SARSAT) radio-frequency payload. The payload, EMS said, is a radio repeater on meteorological satellites that receives distress signals from emergency locator transmitters on downed aircraft, from emergency beacons on ships, and from personal beacons carried by hikers and campers. The repeater needed to redesigned to match various operational parameters of SARSAT.
Litton Industries' Data Systems division has received a $31 million contract for work on the Theater High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) engineering and manufacturing development (EMD) program. The EMD work will be performed under subcontract to Raytheon Co. The award continues Litton Data Systems' involvement with the program. The company designed and developed THAAD Battle Management Command and Control components for the demonstration/validation system.
NASA has licensed the "bioreactor" it developed to simulate cell growth in space to a Maryland biotechnology firm that hopes to use the space agency technology in developing four different commercial products, including a "liver assist device" that may one day do for the victims of liver failure what the dialysis machine does for kidney-failure patients.
The French Army has purchased additional AT 4 CS anti-armor weapons from Sweden's Saab Bofors Dynamics AB and France's Thomson DASA Armements. Because the order had been anticipated, it won't create any new jobs, according to Saab. The AT4 CS is a disposable, single-round system that can be fired from confined spaces. France first ordered the weapon in 1996.
House members voted 399-17 yesterday to adopt the NASA authorization conference report and send it to the White House for President Clinton's signature, marking the first time since 1992 that Congress has passed an authorization bill for the space agency. In the absence of congressional authorization acts, NASA has operated under the provisions of its appropriations legislation. The new law authorizes appropriations of $14,184 billion in fiscal year 2001 and $14.625 billion in FY '02, and sets controls on a number of agency activities.
