The U.S. Army has initiated development of a signals intelligence capability for its Shadow-200 Tactical unmanned aerial vehicle, with the hope of addressing a long-standing requirement that has repeatedly proven difficult for service officials to meet. Now, after about a year's worth of risk-reduction work involving nine companies, the Army Communications and Electronics Command has awarded $3.5-million contracts each to Raytheon, BAE Systems and Applied Signal Technology. The target platform is AAI Corp.'s Shadow-200.
NASA has decided to shut down the Upper Atmospheric Research Satellite (UARS) on Sept. 24 to save the $10 million a year it costs to operate the 10-year-old spacecraft for other Earth Science projects. Eight of the satellite's 10 instruments are still working, but there are no funds in the federal budget that begins Oct. 1 to support observations. Designed to measure ozone and other chemicals as well as stratospheric winds and temperatures, UARS contributes to scientific understanding of the role of the upper atmosphere in climate.
Geoffrey Hopkins has become vice president/general manager of Jet Aviation Singapore. He succeeds Ruedi Kraft, who is now vice president-marketing and sales for Jet Aviation Basel (Switzerland). Hopkins was director of maintenance at Singapore. Alvie Barron has been named director of sales, maintenance and avionics for the West Palm Beach, Fla., facility. He was avionics manager for General Dynamics, also in West Palm Beach.
Chet Marchwinski has become director of communications for The Lean Enterprise Institute, Brookline, Mass. He was head of the newsletter unit at Productivity Inc. and managing editor of Lean Production Report newsletter.
Pilots down at sea, or even on land, have a new way to attract rescuers' attention, with a bright orange See/Rescue streamer that can be deployed in seconds and floats indefinitely.
Firefighters in the western U.S. are using imagery from NASA's Terra satellite to help detect wildfires and decide which ones pose the greatest threats to people, property and the environment. The Terra satellite beams pictures showing wildfires in the West to NASA. Then, with the help of the University of Maryland, imagery with maps overlaid is relayed to the U.S. Agriculture Dept.'s Forest Service.
Michael Kolman and Peter Vasconcelos (see photos) have been appointed sales directors for the Eastern U.S. for Bombardier Aerospace Business Aircraft. Kolman will oversee sales of the Learjet 31A, Learjet 45, Learjet 60 and Continental. Vasconcelos will oversee sales of the Challenger 604 and Global Express.
Turkey has offered to lease F-16s to its NATO ally Hungary as part of an expanding U.S.-Turkish agreement to offer older versions of the fighter throughout Central Europe. The combined Turkish/U.S. offer is one of several competing proposals the Hungarian government has received. Budapest is expected to name the winner in its fighter competition soon. The country wants to replace its aging Russian-made MiG-29A/UB fighters with a Western aircraft that would be interoperable with NATO forces.
Tony Batista has been appointed manager of U.S. sales and distribution and Matt Strong national accounts manager for the U.S. for AeroMexico, both based in Houston. Batista was market development manager, while Strong was regional manager in Dallas/Fort Worth.
GE Aircraft Engines and Honeywell have begun the test phase of the LV100-5 turboshaft engine development as part of the U.S. Army's Abrams-Crusader Common Engine program. The LV100-5 is slated for the General Dynamics M1 Abrams tank and United Defense Crusader self-propelled howitzer.
The FAA's top enforcement official, Tom McSweeny, is leaving. He is the second biggie in the agency's regulation and certification operation to depart this summer. Nick Lacey, erstwhile chief of flight standards under McSweeny, was reassigned in May. Then he left the agency to take a job with a local consulting firm. McSweeny will sign on with Boeing's office here, according to Aviation Daily, an Aviation Week newsletter.
Chris Reid has been appointed president/CEO of the CFX Div. of AEA Technology Engineering Software, Waterloo, Ontario. He was an independent management consultant for the Open Options Corp.
GE Engine Services, under a $34-million, five-year agreement completed earlier this month with Northwest Airlines, will maintain and overhaul powerplants on Bombardier Regional jet aircraft flown by the carrier's regional operators--specifically, CF34-3B1 engines in Northwest's CRJ440 and CRJ200 fleets. Northwest Airlink operator Express Airlines 1 currently operates 23 CRJ200s and has 19 additional scheduled for delivery.
The French Labinal group, Royal Air Maroc and Boeing Commercial Airplanes have formed Casablanca-based Morocco Aero-Technical Interconnect Systems to produce aircraft wiring.
International Launch Services has shifted launch of the DirecTV 5 spacecraft from its original Atlas IIAS ride to a Russian Proton. The big Ku-band Tempo-class satellite built by Space Systems/Loral wasn't ready in time for its original launch date in the spring. When it did become ready, ILS found that its Atlas schedule at Cape Canaveral AFS, Fla., was filled for the rest of the year. To get the satellite in orbit as soon as possible, ILS offered SS/L a Proton launch, which it accepted.
When Kuala Lumpur International Airport was opened in June 1998, the $4-billion facility was expected to become a Southeast Asian regional hub that would dovetail with Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamed's ``Vision 2020'' program to develop a high-tech industrial base for Malaysia.
NASA plans to keep operating the Hubble Space Telescope for the rest of this decade, but after that it's shutting down to make way in the budget for the Next-Generation Space Telescope (NGST). Edward J. Weiler, NASA's space science guru, says that by 2010 telescopes on the ground will have comparable capability in many ways. Hubble technology will be 30 years old.
Roy Rimmer has been named chairman/CEO of the Aviation Sales Co., Miramar, Fla. Rimmer, who has been a member of the board of directors, succeeds Dale S. Baker, who has resigned but will remain a consultant.
A combination of Typhoon Utor and a work slowdown by its pilots knocked the bottom out of Cathay Pacific Airways' business in July. The carrier said passenger traffic was down nearly 20% and cargo 23%. It attributed some of the fall-off to weakness in global aviation markets.
Paul Hawthorne has become director of quality assurance for Chicago-based AirLiance Materials. He held the same post at the Aviation Sales Distribution Co.
U.S. Navy and Northrop Grumman officials are finding growing interest abroad in their RQ-8A Fire Scout vertical take-off and landing (Vtol) unmanned aircraft, although the bulk of its development still lies ahead.
