4 Firms Seek Consortium for New Space Plane : Aerospace: The firms have lost millions of dollars on the project. They now say cooperation rather than competition will be more cost-effective.
The four aerospace firms developing the National Aero-Space Plane, which will take off like an airplane and fly into space at 25 times the speed of sound, proposed Tuesday to end their competition and form a consortium to jointly undertake the $5-billion project.
The dramatic move, which must be formally approved by federal agencies, comes amid budget pressures that led the government last year to stretch out the program’s schedule by 2 1/2 years. In addition, contractors have incurred multimillion-dollar losses on the program because government funding has not covered all their costs.
Under the plan, Rockwell International’s unit in Downey, McDonnell Douglas and General Dynamics would jointly develop the airframe of the hypersonic craft, also known as the X-30. A separate team made up of Pratt & Whitney and Rockwell’s Rocketdyne unit in Canoga Park would develop the exotic propulsion system, known as a supersonic combustion ramjet engine.
Rockwell International, which stands to capture roughly 40% of the program if such a consortium is formed, was selected by the group to be the program director.
A national office to coordinate and manage activity at five plant sites around the nation is expected to be located somewhere in Los Angeles County, sources said. Barry Waldman, a 26-year Rockwell veteran, was named program director for the consortium.
Critics have attacked the program because they say it lacks a clear purpose. However, the Air Force believes that a hypersonic vehicle could be used as a bomber, reconnaissance vehicle or as a high-speed interceptor.
Proponents also say that the technology could be transferable to a commercial passenger plane, but one that would operate at only two to three times the speed of sound.
Aerospace analysts said the distant payoff on the X-30 program has made contractors reluctant to invest more money in it, especially as it faces the risk of further budget reductions. At the same time, the X-30 technology is likely to be shared within U.S. industry, preventing any one company from holding a future edge.
“This program has a really long time frame, if it comes to fruition at all,” said Paine Webber analyst Jack Modzelewski. “The National Aero-Space Plane is expensive, and companies are unwilling to go it alone.”
Modzelewski estimated that Rockwell is investing $10 million annually and the other three contractors lesser amounts. If the government accepts the consortium proposal, then the program could be run on a break-even basis, sources said.
The first flight of the X-30 is scheduled for 1997, and the first flight into space orbit in 1999, but those dates are widely regarded as optimistic, given the formidable technical challenges.
The program has a work force of about 5,000, including workers in government, academia and private industry. Rockwell has 250 workers on the project at its Downey facility and an equal number in Canoga Park.
The formation of a consortium has been under discussion within the industry since last summer, when it became apparent that the program faced an uncertain financial future and formidable foreign competition in hypersonic technology. European and Japanese space agencies have their own plans to build hypersonic craft, utilizing much of the same technology.
Unlike the U.S. approach to have contractors compete, foreign nations have emphasized teaming and technology sharing. Even though the U.S. firms believe that they have a sharp lead over rivals, they believe that a cooperative approach will be most effective from now on.
“Between our government and our contractors, we will see the best of everybody’s configuration,” said Sam Iacobellis, executive vice president at Rockwell. “Aerospace leadership will be more and more of a prerequisite for the U.S. to be a superpower.”
