Defense Daily back issues from October 1998:
CONGRESS URGES CAUTION ON FMTV SECOND SOURCE.(Family of Medium Tactical Vehicles)
Oct 01, 1998 ... Congressional authorizers say the Army may only pursue a second source contractor for its Family of Medium Tactical Vehicles (FMTV) if it maintains "economic" production rates for its existing FMTV contractor, Stewart & Stevenson [SSSS]. The Army has been pursuing a second ...
NAVY TO REDUCE INTER-DEPLOYMENT TRAINING INSPECTIONS.
Oct 01, 1998; ... In a message to Navy personnel this week, Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Jay Johnson said that he is ordering a Navy-wide review "to reduce inter-deployment training cycle (IDTC) requirements by 25 percent." "The reduction will be converted into discretionary time for ...
THOMSON-CSF WINS UAE COMMUNICATIONS CONTRACT.(United Arab Emirates)
Oct 01, 1998 ... Thomson-CSF signed a contract Tuesday worth $200 million with the United Arab Emirates Armed Forces for a secure ground-air military communications system, the company said. The Ground Air Transmit Receive (GATR) network will be part of the UAE Air Force and Air Defence Command, ...
BOEING COMPLETES FIRST RSIP RETROFIT OF U.S. AWACS.(Radar System Improvement Program)
Oct 01, 1998 ... Boeing [BA] completed the first upgrade of an Air Force E-3 Airborne Warning and Control System (AWACS) aircraft with its radar system improvement program (RSIP) kit on Tuesday, the company said. Boeing's RSIP kit consists of a new radar computer, radar control maintenance panel ...
NAVY AWARDS $86.7 MILLION TO INGALLS FOR SHIP SUPPORT.
Oct 01, 1998 ... The Navy yesterday exercised a $86.7 million contract option for Ingalls Shipbuilding [LIT] to continue providing life cycle support for the Navy's Ticonderoga-class (CG-47) cruisers and Spruance-class (DD-963) and Kidd-class (DD-993) destroyers. Ingalls will continue to provide ...
SATELLITES COULD BE VULNERABLE, NRO CHIEF SAYS.(National Reconaissance Office)
Oct 01, 1998; ... Although the Air Force and NASA are making joint efforts to protect U.S. satellites from attack, space systems are still vulnerable, a top service official said. "I'm not in a position to guarantee uninterrupted services from all of our systems," Assistant Secretary of the Air ...
HOUSE MEMBERS CALL FOR NOMINATION OF PETERS AS AF SECRETARY.(Whitten Peters)
Oct 01, 1998; ... A bipartisan coalition of House members yesterday sent a 30- signature petition to President Clinton calling on him to formally nominate Acting Air Force Secretary Whitten Peters to become Secretary of the Air Force. "We've gone a whole year, one of the most challenging years ...
CONGRESS ZEROES MEADS FUNDING, PUTS MONEY INTO MOBILE PAC-3.(Medium-Extended Air Defense System)
Oct 01, 1998; ... Senate and House conferees have decided to virtually zero $43 million in funding for the Medium-Extended Air Defense System (MEADS) program, and direct $10 million to a new, experimental missile defense program to furnish the Patriot Advanced Capability-3 (PAC-3) system, now under ...
NAVY AWARDS $4.2 BILLION FOR VIRGINIA-CLASS SUBS.
Oct 01, 1998 ... General Dynamics [GD] and Newport News Shipbuilding [NNS] yesterday agreed to a $4.2 billion Navy contract for the first four Virginia-class (SSN-774) submarines. Under the contract, General Dynamics' Electric Boat will build the first and third ships in the class formerly known ...
BRASHEARS' DEPARTURE FROM LOCKHEED PROMPTS EXEC CHANGES.(Mel Brashears)
Oct 01, 1998; ... The abrupt departure of Mel Brashears from his post as president and chief operating officer of Lockheed Martin's [LMT] Space & Strategic Missiles sector has prompted an organizational shift across the company. Brashears' departure after 26 years at Lockheed Martin was ...
FORMER ARMY CHIEF SAYS $30 BILLION HIKE NEEDED By George Cahlink.
Oct 01, 1998 ... The United States military needs an additional $30 billion more per year immediately or its readiness woes will grow even worse, according to former Army Chief of Staff Gen. (ret.) Gordon Sullivan, president of the Association of the United States Army. "I think they need $30 ...
NAVY SHORT OF FUNDS TO RE-CERTIFY TOMAHAWKS By Frank Wolfe.
Oct 02, 1998 ... VIRGINIA BEACH, Va.-The Navy's effort to develop a new Tactical Tomahawk missile has left the service short of funds to re-certify older Tomahawk missiles, the Navy's Atlantic submarine force commander told an audience here at the Naval Institute's Warfare Exposition and Symposium. ...
CZECHS NEED 12 FIGHTERS BY 2003, GENERAL SAYS.
Oct 02, 1998 ... Gen. Lt. Ladislav Klima, the commander of the Czech air force, told the lower chamber of the Czech parliament on Wednesday that the country desperately needs at least 12 new Western fighter aircraft by the year 2003, according to the CTK Czech News Agency. The Czech air force ...
KAMAN RELEASED FROM HOSPITAL.
Oct 02, 1998 ... Charles Kaman, the founder, CEO, and president of the Kaman [KAMNA], was released on Wednesday from the hospital to enter a rehabilitation facility, according to a company statement. Kaman is recuperating from knee replacement surgery and a mild stroke he suffered following the ...
STATE DEPARTMENT REINSTATES SEA LAUNCH LICENSE.
Oct 02, 1998 ... The State Department has given Boeing [BA] permission to resume work with its partners on the Sea Launch program in preparation for the program's first launch next year. Boeing agreed to pay a $10 million dollar fine as part of its settlement with the State Department. Boeing ...
NRO PREPARES TO LAUNCH NON-SECRET EXPERIMENTAL SATELLITE By Tom Breen.
Oct 02, 1998 ... The National Reconnaissance Office (NRO) is preparing to fly today a non-secret experimental satellite aimed at testing a range of new civil, commercial and military technologies in space. The 1,540-pound satellite, which was built by Lockheed Martin [LMT] in concert with the ...
McCAIN CALLS FOR ACTION TO STEM DECLINE IN READINESS.
Oct 02, 1998 ... Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) praised the military chiefs for telling the truth to Congress earlier this week about declining military readiness, and called on Congress to act to help reverse the decline. "Credible warnings that we are approaching the 'hollow force' levels of the ...
AF REVIEWING OPTIONS ON GAO PROTEST DECISION By David Atkinson.
Oct 02, 1998 ... The Air Force is carefully reviewing its options following the decision by the General Accounting Office (GAO) last week to uphold a protest by Pemco Aeroplex of Birmingham, Ala., against the bundling of several depot maintenance contracts into a single contract. The service has ...
PLANS FOR MAJOR SPACE PORT IN VIRGINIA.
Oct 02, 1998 ... DynCorp on Wednesday entered into a joint venture with the state of Virginia to develop and operate the Virginia Commercial Space Flight Center (VCSFC) at Wallops Island, Va. DynCorp will be the business development agent for the center, which will have two primary business ...
REASON: 'QUICKER, CHEAPER, BETTER' NAVY's WATCHWORDS By Frank Wolfe.
Oct 02, 1998 ... V IRGINIA BEACH, Va.-The military should only expect "modest" increases in the Pentagon budget, and so the Navy will have to live by the mantra of "quicker, cheaper, better," the Navy's Atlantic Fleet commander told a Naval Institute symposium here. "Uncertainty is the hallmark ...
RAYTHEON TO DELIVER F-16 SIMULATORS TO EGYPT.
Oct 02, 1998 ... Raytheon [RTNA/RTNB] yesterday was given approval by the Air Force to deliver four F-16 unit training device simulators worth $26.2 million to the Egyptian air force. This delivery was approved as part of a 1996 indefinite delivery/indefinite quantity contract with the U.S. Air ...
AIR FORCE, DARPA CALL FOR SPACE-BASED MTI PROPOSALS.
Oct 02, 1998 ... The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), the Air Force, and the National Reconnaissance Office (NRO) today issued a draft request-for-proposal for a space-based radar with Moving Target Indicator (MTI), according to the Oct. 2 edition of the Commerce Business Daily. ...
BOEING JSF INDUSTRY TEAM NAMED By David Atkinson.
Oct 02, 1998 ... Boeing [BA] on Wednesday announced the formal composition of an industry team of component contractors for the company's Joint Strike Fighter (JSF) proposal. Affordability was a major consideration in the selections, Boeing officials said. The international team ...
SECURITY DIRECTORATE REALIGNMENT TO IMPROVE PLANNING By David Atkinson.
Oct 02, 1998 ... The Air Force has announced a realignment that will place the directorate of security forces directly under the deputy chief of staff for air and space operations. The move is intended to increase support for security forces, which will protect Air Force units abroad when ...
DEFENSE WATCH The Latest Word on Trends and Developments in Defense and Aerospace.
Oct 05, 1998 ... Sub Can. The cannibalization rates for submarines have increased 14 percent in FY '98, says Vice Adm. Edmund Giambastiani, commander of the Atlantic Fleet's Submarine Force. The submarine force size has dipped 16 percent. The Navy continues to decommission submarine tenders, which will ...
CARRIER PERSONNEL SHORTAGE COULD AFFECT AIR STRIKES By Frank Wolfe.
Oct 05, 1998 ... ABOARD THE USS ENTERPRISE-The USS Enterprise (CVN-65) aircraft carrier could support any contingency air strikes in Kosovo but would strain under the weight of an intensive air campaign of several weeks because of a 500-man personnel shortage, its captain told Defense Daily in an interview ...
TEXTRON SOUGHT EXIT AS JOINT HOWITZER PRIME CONTRACTOR By George Cahlink.
Oct 05, 1998 ... Textron Marine and Land Systems [TXT] initiated a recent decision to vacate its role as prime contractor for the Army-Marine Corps Joint Lightweight 155mm howitzer, according to senior industry and military program officials. Last week, Textron Marine and Land Systems, the joint ...
LOCKHEED MARTIN COMPLETES FINAL DESIGN REVIEW OF X-35.
Oct 05, 1998 ... Lockheed Martin [LMT] has presented the company's final design review (FDR) of its X-35 Joint Strike Fighter (JSF) concept demonstrator to government officials, according to a company statement. The review was completed on time, according to Lockheed Martin's JSF Program Manager ...
COAST GUARD CONSIDERS ARMED HELOS FOR ANTI-DRUG MISSION By Vago Muradian.
Oct 05, 1998 ... The Coast Guard is considering the unprecedented peacetime step of arming its helicopters, with either conventional machine guns or novel non-lethal weapons, to stop fast boats that ferry cocaine and other narcotics into the United States, service officials said. "We're ...
SOUTHWEST MARINE ACQUIRES NORSHIPCO.
Oct 05, 1998 ... Southwest Marine last week finalized its acquisition of Norfolk Shipbuilding &Drydock (NORSHIPCO). The acquisition makes Southwest Marine the country's largest non-nuclear ship repair company. Southwest Marine and NORSHIPCO first announced the transaction in a letter of intent ...
LONGBOW LLC WINS DoD LIFE CYCLE COST REDUCTION AWARD.
Oct 05, 1998 ... Longbow LLC has won DoD's third annual Life Cycle Cost Reduction Award for a missile program that should save the Army more than $1 billion over the next eight to ten years. Longbow LLC, a joint venture of Lockheed Martin [LMT] and Northrop Grumman [NOC], beat 57 other nominees ...
RN COMMISSIONS AMPHIBIOUS SHIP, TO CONDUCT TOMAHAWK TESTS.
Oct 05, 1998 ... Britain's Royal Navy commissioned a new amphibious warfare ship on Sept. 30, the HMS Ocean, and is also about to conduct submarine launched Tomahawk missile tests. The Ocean is a new 20,000 ton amphibious helicopter carrier, which can carry 12 Sea King transport helicopters, six ...
BRITAIN ISSUES TENDER INVITATIONS FOR STRATEGIC AIRLIFT.
Oct 05, 1998 ... The British Ministry of Defence issued invitations on Oct. 1 for companies to tender for the Short Term Strategic Airlift (STSA) requirement. The tender invitations, issued to Airbus, Air Foyle, Boeing [BA] and British Aerospace, HeavyLift, IBP and Rolls-Royce, are for four C- ...
DoD STUDIES WHETHER NAVY MISSILE COULD WORK FOR THAAD By Sheila Foote.
Oct 05, 1998 ... Senior DoD officials, eyeing the possibility of replacing the missile in the troubled Theater High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) program with the missile interceptor for the Navy Upper Tier program, have asked for an internal analysis of the capability the Army would give up if it used the ...
NEXT THAAD FLIGHT TEST POSTPONED UNTIL NEXT YEAR.(Theater High Altitude Area Defense)
Oct 06, 1998 ... The Ballistic Missile Defense Organization and the Army said yesterday the next flight test of the Theater High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) system will not occur until next year. "On Sept. 18, 1998, the possible delay of the next flight test of the Theater High Altitude Area ...
TOMAHAWK COMMAND AND CONTROL SYSTEM 'EVOLVING'.(USS Enterprise receives Tomahawk missiles)
Oct 06, 1998; ... ABOARD THE USS ENTERPRISE-In May, the USS Enterprise (CVN-65) became the sixth carrier to receive a command and control system for Tomahawk cruise missiles, but the system is still evolving as it continually receives software upgrades and tries to find its place in mission planning. ...
$40 MILLION FOR PAC-3 BUY SHIFTED FOR MORE TEST WORK.(Patriot Advanced Capability)
Oct 06, 1998; ... Citing program delays, defense authorizers and appropriators will allow the Pentagon to spend $40 million, originally requested for procurement of the Patriot Advanced Capability-3 (PAC-3) missile, on additional flight tests of the missile. "[T]his realignment is the result of ...
TOMAHAWK MEETS Y2K TESTS.
Oct 06, 1998 ... The Navy last week conducted several successful ground tests of the Raytheon [RTNA/RTNB] Block II Tomahawk Land Attack Missile's Year 2000 (Y2K) compliance at the Naval Surface Warfare Center, Md. The Tomahawk passed all of the tests, including simulations of a launch in 1999 ...
SERVICES DIFFER ON WEB PAGE REVIEW IMPLEMENTION By Neil Baumgardner.
Oct 06, 1998 ... Each of the military services is taking a different tack on carrying out a recent web site security review memorandum, with responses ranging from the Army pulling nearly all of its web sites off-line to almost business as usual for the other services. The memorandum, signed by ...
AIR FORCE HAS NO PLANS TO TRIM TITAN LAUNCHES AFTER EXPLOSION.(remaining 14 Titan IVs to be launched according to contract)
Oct 06, 1998; ... The Air Force has no plans to reduce launches for the Titan IV rocket in the wake of the Aug. 12 explosion that destroyed a Titan IVA, Air Force Space Command officials tell sister publication Space Business News. The Air Force is under contract to launch 39 Titan IVs--25 have ...
TRW SIGINT PLATFORM COMPLETES DOMESTIC TESTING.
Oct 06, 1998 ... The High Band Prototype, developed by TRW [TRW] as part of the Joint Signal Intelligence (SIGINT) Avionics Family (JSAF), completed domestic flight testing last week at Patuxent River Naval Air Station, the contractor said. The JSAF program is an effort to create common SIGINT ...
DEFENSE STOCKS REBOUND AS INVESTORS SEEK 'SAFE HAVENS' By Vago Muradian.
Oct 06, 1998 ... Defense and aerospace stocks are rebounding in value as weary investors seek "safe havens" for their money in anticipation of broader global economic problems and increased Pentagon spending, according to Wall Street and defense analysts. "People are responding as they would ...
U.S., ALLIES SIGN COMPUTER SECURITY AGREEMENT.
Oct 06, 1998 ... The United States, United Kingdom, Germany, France and Canada signed an agreement yesterday to recognize each other's computer security evaluation certificates. The agreement, signed by the U.S.'s National Security Agency (NSA) and National Institute of Standards and Technology ...
KRESA: GOV'T HAS NO 'MORAL' OBLIGATION TO NORTHROP GRUMMAN.(Kent Kresa; government reaction to Northrop Grumman problems caused by merger disapproval)
Oct 06, 1998; ... FARNBOROUGH, England-The government has no moral obligation to keep Northrop Grumman [NOC] in business after quashing the company's planned merger with Lockheed Martin [LMT], according to Northrop Grumman's top executive. "I think there is no moral obligation; I'm putting the ...
LITTON TO REPAIR B-1B ECM SYSTEMS.
Oct 06, 1998 ... Litton [LIT] yesterday was awarded a contract from the Air Force's Warner Robins Air Logistics Center at Robins AFB, Ga., for the repair of the B-1B's electronic countermeasures (ECM) system that could be worth as much as $72 million. Litton will repair the Band-8 Traveling Wave ...
RAYTHEON-NORTHROP ABRITRATION TO LAST THROUGH NEW YEAR By Vago Muradian.
Oct 07, 1998 ... The arbitration suit filed by Raytheon [RTNA/RTNB] to gain access to a major Northrop Grumman [NOC] radar contract is expected to get underway within a few weeks, and last through early January, sources and officials said. Raytheon last week filed a "formal demand for ...
ELECTRIC DRIVE PROPOSALS 'STRONG CANDIDATES' FOR DD-21 By Frank Wolfe.
Oct 07, 1998 ... VIRGINIA BEACH, Va.-Two teams competing for a design award on the Navy's future destroyer, DD-21, are developing electric drive proposals to save manning, fuel and maintenance costs on the ship, which is planned to have just 95 Navy personnel aboard. "All electric and integrated ...
LOCKHEED MARTIN PROPOSES SUB-LAUNCHED UCAV.
Oct 07, 1998 ... Lockheed Martin [LMT] completed a study earlier this year for two surface ship- and one submarine-launched Unmanned Combat Air Vehicles (UCAV) concept designs for the Navy. The surface ship-launched UCAV designs include a deck-launched Short Take-Off and Vertical Landing (STOVL) ...
GANSLER APPROVES NAVY's DESIGN PLAN FOR CVX By Frank Wolfe.
Oct 07, 1998 ... Pentagon acquisition chief Jacques Gansler has endorsed the Navy's design plan for CVX, the service's future carrier. "I approve the Navy request for the large-capacity carrier alternative," Gansler wrote in a Oct. 5 memorandum to the Navy. "After having reviewed various ...
CSC WINS MORE COMPUTER INVESTIGATIONS TRAINING CONTRACTS.
Oct 07, 1998 ... Computer Sciences Corporation [CSC] received four additional task order contracts to support the Air Force Office of Special Investigations (AFOSI) for its Defense Computer Investigations Training Program (DCITP). The contracts entail providing information technology ...
DoD FAILS TO ANALYZE FIRST-TERM ATTRITION RATES, GAO SAYS.
Oct 07, 1998 ... The Department of Defense, which sees more than 30 percent of all enlistees fail to complete their first term of service, has not used available data on separations to improve the retention rate, according to a report from the General Accounting Office (GAO). "Although the ...
BREAUX BILL WOULD GIVE U.S. LAUNCH COMPANIES A MAJOR BOOST By Tom Breen.
Oct 07, 1998 ... A bill proposed by Sen. John Breaux (D-La.) would enable U.S. launch companies to obtain loan guarantees from the U.S. government. The goal: To make U.S. firms more competitive in the international marketplace. The loan guarantees would make it easier for companies to obtain ...
DEFENSE CONTRACTS.
Oct 07, 1998 ... TRW [TRW], San Bernardino, Calif., is being awarded a $112 million face value increase to a cost-plus-award-fee contract to provide for FY 1999 continuous sustaining engineering and engineering/technical services in support of the Minuteman and Peacekeeper intercontinental ballistic ...
McCAIN: ELECTIONS A KEY TO DEFENSE SPENDING INCREASE By Sheila Foote.
Oct 08, 1998 ... The outcome of November's congressional elections will be important in determining whether the next Congress decides to shift more money next year into defense, said Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.). McCain, speaking at the defense writers group, said the political outlook for more ...
BOEING TESTS ENGINE FOR DELTA IV.
Oct 08, 1998 ... Boeing [BA] engineers have reached important milestones in recent testing of the RS-68 engine for the Delta IV family of expendable launch vehicles, according to a company press release. Engine testing began Aug. 8 with a successful "cold flow" test of a development engine at ...
AIR FORCE AND SPACE COMMAND GIRD FOR METEOR VISIT By David Atkinson.
Oct 08, 1998 ... The Air Force and the U.S. Space Command (SPACECOM) are preparing for the worst when the Leonid meteor stream crosses the earth's orbit in November at a speed of 72 kilometers per second. The meteor stream, which is caused by the debris trail of the Temple-Tuttle comet, may ...
CNO: REDUCED INSPECTIONS WILL NOT AFFECT SAFETY By Frank Wolfe.
Oct 08, 1998 ... The Navy's plan to reduce the number of inspections for its ships and aircraft will not affect safety, according to Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Jay Johnson. "The safety valve I have is that this whole thing is really being run by the fleets. I'm not doing that here in ...
ARMY WANTS EMBEDDED DIAGNOSTICS IN FUTURE SYSTEMS By George Cahlink.
Oct 08, 1998 ... The Army's future weapon systems must be outfitted with embedded diagnostics systems--even if it means the service buys fewer systems, according to Lt. Gen. John Coburn, deputy chief of staff for logistics. Coburn told Defense Daily in an interview on Tuesday that over the past ...
WESTON: GLOBAL CONSOLIDATION POLICIES NEEDED SOON By Vago Muradian.
Oct 08, 1998 ... The governments of the United States and Europe should, within the next 18 months, clearly articulate their policies regarding global consolidation of the defense and aerospace industry to ensure companies involved in the process understand what type of transnational unions are acceptable, ...
COMER SAYS FUTURE AF WILL GET RID OF HELOS ALTOGETHER By David Atkinson.
Oct 08, 1998 ... Air Force Brig. Gen. Richard Comer says the Air Force probably will move away from using helicopters and use tiltrotor aircraft such as the Bell [TXT] / Boeing [BA] V-22 Osprey for both special operations roles and combat search and rescue. "The Air Force culturally is a deep ...
RAYTHEON RESTRUCTURES, TO CUT 14,000 JOBS OVER TWO YEARS By Vago Muradian.
Oct 08, 1998 ... Raytheon [RTNA/RTNB] yesterday said it will cut 14,000 jobs, or 16 percent of its workforce, from the company's defense operation, and shutter six facilities in California, Massachusetts, South Carolina, Texas and Washington over the next two years to reduce costs. Yesterday's ...
GD TO ACQUIRE NASSCO SHIPYARD IN $415 MILLION DEAL By Vago Muradian.
Oct 09, 1998 ... General Dynamics [GD] yesterday said it would acquire National Steel and Shipbuilding Co. (NASSCO), an employee-owned shipyard in San Diego, in a $415 million deal to add construction of amphibious and commercial ships to its existing destroyer and submarine programs, and boost its access ...
JOHNSON: DROP TO FEWER THAN 300 SHIPS BELOW 'COMFORT ZONE' By Frank Wolfe.
Oct 09, 1998 ... An addition of $2 billion to the Navy's budget for FY '00-'05 would help the service stave off a fall below 300 ships, Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Jay Johnson told Defense Daily in an interview. Such a drop would happen if the build rate for ships does not reach eight to 10 ...
LONGBOW APACHE CRASHES DURING TRAINING AT FT. HOOD.
Oct 09, 1998 ... The Army is investigating the non-fatal crash of a Boeing [BA] AH-64D Longbow Apache helicopter during a training mission at Ft. Hood, Texas, on Wednesday evening. According to an Army press release, the helicopter crashed while participating in a "routine live-fire exercise." ...
GANSLER: BIGGER TOPLINE MAY NOT BE NECESSARY FOR MODS By Frank Wolfe.
Oct 09, 1998 ... The Defense Department may not need an increase in its budget allowance for modernization if it can shift funds away from traditional weapons systems and support and infrastructure, Pentagon acquisition chief Jacques Gansler said yesterday. But Gansler told the House National ...