Tyco Electronics has released the M/A-COM MAPRST1030-1KS, 1,000-watt peak, class C bipolar transistor designed for 1030-MHz. pulsed avionics applications. The transistor is well suited to operate in IFF/Tacan (tactical air navigation system) or similar short-pulse formats and features a minimum gain of 8.0 dB. (>8.6 dB. typical) with 45% minimum collector efficiency (>50% typical) on a 50VDC. supply. The 1,000-watt rating can greatly enhance the range capabilities of new avionics systems, according to the company.
Sea Launch has penciled in an October launch date for the Thuraya D3 mobile services satellite for the return to service of the Zenit-3SL booster, following the January launch pad explosion that destroyed the SES New Skies NSS-8 satellite. Sea Launch's Failure Review Oversight Board's final report early this month says metal contaminants in the liquid oxygen turbopump of the first-stage EnergoMash 171M motor caused the explosion. The Sea Launch Commander control ship and Odyssey launch platform were due in Vancouver on June 14 for repairs and maintenance.
As Europe moves ahead with building a controller-pilot data link communications network in the core of the continent by 2014, the FAA is starting to work on a similar system with the same technology.
Laurent Mares has been named vice president-sales for European operations for Paris-based Aonix. He was head of sales for Europe and Asia for Thales Computers.
Andre Sinanian has been appointed vice president-CF34 program for MTU Maintenance Berlin-Brandenburg. He was a corporate development executive for MTU Aero Engines in Munich.
The Airline Owners & Pilots Assn.'s (AOPA's) 24-hr. watch combines pilot-friendly features with modern design. The main 12-hr. movement is indicated with a red hand to aid in setting Zulu time. The watch also features a date window, solid stainless steel case and a leather band. AOPA Pilot is inscribed on the watch face. A portion of the sale of AOPA merchandise helps support efforts to maintain the freedom, safety and affordability of general aviation. Sporty's Pilot Shop, Clermont County Airport, Batavia, Ohio 45103-9747 or sportys.com.
A CHINA EASTERN AIRLINES Boeing 737-700 flight test last month demonstrated a Required Navigation Performance approach into Linzhi Airport in Tibet using a procedure designed by Jeppesen. Since last September, Air China also has been flying RNP approaches into the airport with its 757s using procedures developed by Naverus Inc. (AW&ST Sept. 25, 2006, p. 52). Air China now operates five flights per week to Linzhi. With RNP, airliners can fly down a mountain valley 80 naut. mi. long to land at Linzhi, which is situated at a 9,700-ft. elevation.
Jaspal Jandu has been named vice president-strategic marketing and Peter Davis vice president-technical operations for Dublin-based Lease Corporation International. Jandu was an investor services executive for AWAS, where Davis was vice president-strategic development and engineering.
Kuwait Airways expects to put several years of red ink behind it by the end of the current fiscal year. A sign things are improving already came as the carrier closed the books on the fiscal year just ended, in which it trimmed losses to 9.2 million Kuwaiti dinars ($32 million), from 23.8 million Kuwaiti dinars in the prior year. Cost-cutting measures and revenue increases brought about the change, says the carrier's chairman and managing director, Talal Mubarak Abdullah Al-Ahmad Al-Sabah.
Northrop Grumman won a $171-million contract to develop a new satellite communications system for the U.S. Air Force B-2 bomber. The five-year development and demonstration program would be the first increment of a new extremely high-frequency satellite communication system designed to overcome improvements in technological advances by U.S. foes.
After months of being coy, Israeli defense and aerospace officials have admitted their huge new unmanned aircraft--the Eitan or Heron TP--does exist and will be on public display this week at the Paris air show. A few poor-quality bootleg pictures of the unmanned, missile-carrying aircraft leaked out last month (AW&ST May 21, p. 32). Now the Defense Ministry has given Israel Aerospace Industries permission to release pictures. The UAV has been test flown sufficiently since its first flight last July that IAI says it is ready for serial production.
Gerry Coady has become vice president/chief information officer for Frontier Airlines. He was chief technological officer/executive vice president-engineering at Evident Software, Bloomfield, N.J.
USN Rear Adm. Allen G. Myers, 4th, has been named director and Rear Adm. (lower half) Kenneth E. Floyd deputy director of the Air Warfare Div. in the Office of the Chief of Naval Operations in Washington. Myers has been commander of Carrier Strike Group Eight, Norfolk, Va., while Floyd has been director of the aviation plans and requirements branch in the Office of the CNO.
In Iraq, the U.S. Air Force's focus is on close air support, intelligence gathering and surveillance, often in tightly packed urban areas. It is an increasingly high-tempo version of low-intensity guerrilla war; but, it's not the only war the military is obligated to fight.
Presidential candidates Hillary Clinton (D-N.Y.) and John McCain (R-Ariz.) are marrying their White House races with the inside-the-Beltway brouhaha over congressional earmarks, and things are starting to get testy. The two high-profile members of the Senate Armed Services Committee are trading barbs over the panel's version of the Fiscal 2008 defense authorization.
Preston Carter has been named chief technology officer of Cyber Defense Systems Inc., St. Petersburg, Fla. He was director of Defense Dept. programs at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in California and had been a program manager in the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency Tactical Technology Office.
European transport ministers have accepted a European Commission proposal to abandon plans to fund the space and ground segment of the Galileo satellite navigation system through a public-private partnership (PPP), and instead finance the entire system with public money. But foot-dragging by some transport council members could prevent the new plan from being implemented.
Michael Scanlan has become director of industry affairs for the Arlington, Va.-based Assn. of the U.S. Army. He was assistant director and succeeds Joseph Hollis, who has retired. Alex Brody, who has been manager of the sustaining member program for industry affairs, succeeds Scanlan.
Now that the FAA has decided to certify Class 2 electronic flight bags to show a moving map of the airport surface with a pilot's "own-ship" position marked, more airlines may take the plunge and retrofit these systems.
Lewis Peach has been appointed vice president-exploration and technology at the Universities Space Research Assn., Columbia, Md. He remains chief engineer. Robert Senter, who has been treasurer/chief financial officer, now also will be a vice president.
Dassault Aviation's Falcon 7X long-range business jet has entered service with delivery to Gilbert Chagoury, the first customer to sign for the aircraft in November 2001. The second aircraft has gone to Serge Dassault.
After a decade of pioneering work on Automatic Dependent Surveillance-Broadcast, UPS aims to reap the benefits later this year by being the first U.S. airline to fly continuous-descent approaches on more than a trial basis. CDAs are promising new procedures that will allow airlines to cut fuel burn, noise and emissions, and they're expected to grow in popularity.
Its defense officials say France is inching closer to joining Sicral-2, a next-generation Italian X-band/EHF satellite system. Engineers are studying a dedicated French payload for the system, which would mean abandoning plans to acquire a third Syracuse 3 satellite.
