| 
|
| | | |
ATK Alliant Techsystems Joins Hypersonics Game
By JEREMY SINGER
Space News Staff Writer
posted: 03:18 pm ET, 23 December 2003
| | |
atkarch_122303
WASHINGTON — The recent purchase of two firms specializing in hypersonics technology could pay off for ATK Alliant Techsystems in the form of future Pentagon and NASA contracts, but is not without risk, financial analysts said.
Alliant Techsystems, best known as a supplier of ammunition, solid-rocket motors and advanced composite materials, moved into the hypersonics arena Nov. 21 with the acquisition of GASL and Micro Craft from Allied Aerospace of Newport News, Va. The purchase price was roughly $40 million, according to Dan Murphy, Alliant Techsystems’ chief executive officer.
The purchase price could have been much higher had Alliant Techsystems waited for the U.S. government to begin investing more heavily in hypersonics research or systems, according to Peter Armant, vice president of JSA Research, a market research firm based in Newport, R.I.
Will Hamilton, an equity analyst with Pershing of Jersey City, N.J., agreed, although he added that there is no guarantee that a surge in U.S. spending on hypersonic technology and products will materialize. "If you get in earlier, there is the risk it won’t come around, but with the programs that are already under development, hypersonics is an area that could experience growth, particularly because of the range of applications from precision guided munitions, strike aircraft, and space launch," Hamilton said.
In a Nov. 24 conference call with reporters, Murphy said he does not expect any jump in revenue over the next two years as a result of the acquisitions. But he said he is bullish on the future of hypersonics technology work.
GASL and Micro Craft already have substantial business with the U.S. government.
For example, GASL of Ronkonkoma, N.Y., is the prime contractor on a joint effort between the U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, the Army and the Navy to develop supersonic combustion ramjet, or scramjet, engine technology for future weapons, according to an Alliant Techsystems press release. That contract, part of a larger program known as Hy Fly, is worth roughly $15 million, said Bryce Hallowell, an Alliant Techsystems spokesman. GASL also is one of five contractors on a U.S. Air Force hypersonic engine technology effort that could be worth $49 million through 2010.
Tullahoma, Tenn.-based Micro Craft has a portfolio that includes a recently awarded contract worth $150 million to build three X-43C hypersonic demonstration vehicles as part of a NASA-Air Force program. Plans call for using conventional rockets to propel these vehicles to up to five times the speed of sound, or Mach 5, at which point their scramjet engines would take over to achieve speeds of up to Mach 7.
In the Nov. 24 press release, Murphy said the acquisitions, combined with Alliant Techsystems’ current portfolio, establish it as the clear leader in hypersonic propulsion. The company is the dominant U.S. producer of solid-rocket motors for launch vehicles, with its biggest program being the large solid-fuel boosters for NASA’s space shuttle.
"Over the next couple of years, we’ll be developing a strategic position in an area that could be very large later on," Murphy said during the conference call with reporters. "You can expect to see us moving as aggressively into advanced propulsion as you have seen us move into precision ordnance."
NASA is interested in scramjet engines for launch vehicle propulsion because they draw their oxygen from the atmosphere as they pass through it, whereas conventional rockets must carry the oxidizer they consume. In an interview in October, Paul Moses, NASA’s X-43C program manager, said the agency has a roadmap for hypersonics research that includes four flight demonstrations leading to the development of an experimental vehicle capable of taking off from a runway and achieving speeds of Mach 15.
The Defense Department is interested in hypersonic technology for a variety of applications, including advanced cruise missiles and small satellite launchers.
But Alliant Techsystems is not the only firm positioning itself for a potential surge in U.S. government spending on hypersonic technology. For example, Andrews Space Inc. of Seattle; Northrop Grumman Air Combat Systems of El Segundo, Calif.; and Lockheed Martin Aeronautics Co. of Palmdale, Calif.; recently won Pentagon contracts worth about $1.5 million to refine designs for a hypersonic weapon that could take off from a standard aircraft runway and strike targets 15,000 kilometers away within two hours.
Pratt & Whitney Space Propulsion of West Palm Beach, Calif.; GenCorp Aerojet of Sacramento, Calif.; and Boeing Co. of Chicago also are among the companies with active programs in hypersonics technology research.
Comments: jsinger@space.com
|
|
|
|
