Cuba, Libya and Syria have been accused by the U.S. State Dept. of illicit pursuit of biological weapons. Undersecretary of State John R. Bolton said the U.S. believes Cuba ``has at least a limited offensive biological warfare research and development effort.'' He stopped short of alleging that Cuba has operational biological weapons, but he did accuse Havana of shipping dual-use biotechnology to other pariah states.
NASA has awarded Rocketdyne Propulsion & Power a $1.14-billion contract to maintain and support the Space Shuttle Main Engine (SSME) for another five years. The Boeing unit has built 106 SSMEs since 1972, and will build three more under the new contract. It will also provide flight and test engineering and engine refurbishment, as well as engineering support at Kennedy Space Center, Fla., and Stennis Space Center, Miss.
The refurbished Hubble Space Telescope collected this image of the Tadpole Galaxy on Apr. 1 and 9, demonstrating the power of its new Advanced Camera for Surveys (ACS) to deliver unprecedented detail in astronomical observations. A passing galaxy, visible as a blue mass shining through the Tadpole's spiral at lower left, set up gravitational forces that pulled out a ``tail'' of stars and gas some 280,000 light-years long to give the galaxy its unusual shape.
Charles Raymond Fuller has been appointed vice president-operations productivity and analysis for American Trans Air. He was director of strategic planning.
General Dynamics Corp. plans to purchase Advanced Technical Products Inc. (ATP), a composites technology company headquartered in Roswell, Ga., while EADS will acquire a Belgium-based Siemens AG business unit that manufactures radars and communications systems for the military. General Dynamics will pay $250 million for ATP.
ROBERT WALLDAVID A. FULGHUM ( PALMACHIM AFB, ISRAEL TEL AVIV)
Weeks of intense attack helicopter operations in West Bank towns have produced important lessons for Israel Air Force pilots and service leaders; they need different weapons and more armed helicopters, and they have to learn to live with complex rules of engagement. ``[The major discovery] we made, during the last operation, was the importance of helicopters for urban fighting,'' said IAF Commander Maj. Gen. Dani Halutz. Israeli helicopter pilots in recent weeks have been flying precision strike missions continuously in the West Bank.
Robert Coggin has been appointed executive vice president-supplier development in the Travel Distribution Div. of the Cendant Corp., Parsippany, N.J. Coggin has been a travel and transportation consultant and retired as executive vice president-marketing for Delta Air Lines.
Dornier will supply the EuroGrid digital map system for 160 Franco-German Tiger helicopters under a 50-million-euro ($46-million) contract from the international procurement agency Occar in Bonn. The EuroGrid system designed specifically for the Tiger shows colored topographic terrain maps with overlaid graphics on two multifunction displays. The first lot are to be delivered in 2003. Germany and France plan a total procurement of 400 Tigers.
Our editorial on the crash of American Airlines Flight 587 (Apr. 22, p. 66) highlighted the fact that current training requirements for airline pilots often make grasping the workings of a flight management computer (FMC) more important than developing deep understanding of aircraft performance. That's true, but it is only the tip of a problem that could leave us with a cadre of pilots without the ability to fly an airliner without its automatic features. It appears to me that the FAA has its priorities backward.
Michael McConnell has been named vice president-customer and product support for the Eclipse Aviation Corp., Albuquerque, N.M. He was senior vice president-strategic planning for Mooney Aircraft.
Air Force Research Laboratory engineers are experimenting with a cascade of microlens arrays to steer agile optical beams, a technique that could have applications for laser radars, optical communications, optical interconnects or spatial light modulator addressing. An experimental cascade of three microlens arrays suitable for steering shortwave infrared laser light at 1,064 nanometers was described at the recent IEEE Aerospace Conference in Big Sky, Montana. Each microlens array has 32 X 32 elements.
Romania's Turbomecanica and General Electric Aircraft Engines have formed a Bucharest-based industrial joint venture to manufacture turbofan components.
A lightweight waveguide lens antenna, fabricated from thin, metalized polymer sheets, folded for transit, could replace bulky parabolic dishes on satellites, and have the advantage of a much wider scan-angle. The artist's concept shows the antenna open like a piece of Japanese origami. It is stabilized and supported by a peripheral frame. TRW envisions diameters as large as 150 meters. The cross section of each honeycomb cell can be round, hexagonal or rectangular depending on polarization.
Astronomers may have found a simple signature for stars that have orbiting planets around them, and plan to start checking it out on the upcoming Space Infrared Telescope Facility (SIRTF) mission. Using the 30-in. ground telescope at the McDonald Observatory in West Texas, researchers found that some young stars don't spin faster as they shrink with age, as is normally the case. One possible explanation for the atypical behavior is the presence of planets in the stars' disks of gas and dust that are ``stealing the momentum'' from the star itself.
BAE Systems and Rheinmetall are in detailed discussions over restructuring ownership of German STN Atlas Elektronik, which would see BAE take the majority stake, including all of STN's unmanned air vehicle business. Ownership of STN Atlas is 51% Rheinmetall, 49% BAE. However, BAE is now slated to take up to an 80% stake, according to industry sources.
Michael D. Davidson, who has been controller/chief accounting officer/secretary to the board of directors of First Aviation Services Inc., Westport, Conn., also will be chief financial officer.
The recent implementation of Reduced Vertical Separation Minimums in northern Canada's airspace is expected to result in an estimated C$14.3-million (US$9.1-million) annual savings this year for airlines, according to NavCanada, a private corporation which provides Canada's civil air navigation services. RVSM, which will be implemented throughout most of the world by about 2005, reduces the standard 2,000-ft. vertical separation between aircraft to 1,000 ft. and creates additional flight levels.
EADS and Irkutsk Aircraft Production Assn. will undertake a joint six-month market study of the Be-200 amphibian to see whether there is a business case for obtaining Western certification and setting up an international after-sales service network. The launch customer is the Russian civil defense ministry, which will put the first of seven Be-200s into service for fire-fighting this year. The move was initiated under a framework agreement by EADS and the Russian government (AW&ST July 9, 2001, p. 26).
Bombardier Aerospace was expected to resume production of business and regional aircraft at three Montreal-area factories after about 7,500 members of the International Assn. of Machinists and Aerospace Workers voted last week to end their three-week strike. Their new contract will include a salary increase of 16% during the next four years, improved pension benefits and longer vacations.
Alexander Oudendijk has been appointed senior vice president-sales and marketing of SES Global. He was vice president-satellite services sales of Hughes Network Systems Europe.
Turbomeca and Denel Automotive Div. have created an engine component manufacturer with overhaul, repair and maintenance capabilities in Pretoria, South Africa. In addition to Turbomeca components such as gearboxes, it is expected to produce elements for General Electric, Rolls-Royce and Volvo Aero turbofans and support in-service Snecma group engines including Artouste, Makila and Arriel turboshafts operated by South Africa's forces. Turbomeca, a Snecma subsidiary, will own a 51%-stake in the Franco-African joint venture, Denel the remaining 49%.
