Edo Corp. has won a contract valued at $17.4 million from the USAF Armament Center at Eglin AFB, Fla., for continued production of BRU-57 Smart Bomb Rack Units slated for the F-16 Falcon.
Asecna, Central Africa's agency for air navigation safety, is significantly boosting investment in traffic control systems while seeking accords with neighboring countries in a long-term effort to improve flight operations and safety in the region.
The introduction of new technology that simplifies the use of defibrillators on U.S. carriers has prompted Japan's Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare to relax rules for their operation on Japanese carriers. The Health Ministry previously required that only physicians or trained medical personnel use the devices. Japan Airlines was the first to act, requesting the ministry's permission to put one of the new defibrillators on a Boeing 747 as of Oct. 1, with plans to equip the rest of the fleet by March 2003.
After more than 20 years of research, U.S. military officials believe they are on the verge of demonstrating the ability to destroy a boosting ballistic missile using a high-power laser. The Pentagon is betting heavily on directed-energy weapons because the timelines for a boost-phase intercept kill are extremely short. With less than 5 min. of boost time of the target, using a missile to catch it is a daunting problem.
Long before Boeing became involved in the Exostar e-marketplace, it was thinking of ways to buy supplies over the Internet. In fact, it was thinking that way before its McDonnell Douglas and Rockwell mergers. And so were they.
The Administration's antitrust enforcers will not be the sleeping watchdogs that many in industry had been hoping for. The Justice Dept.'s new antitrust boss, Charles James, indicated in his maiden speech last week that a reflexively pro-business Republican White House does not translate to blind-eye enforcement. With the United-US Airways merger gone the way of all flesh; with an American Airlines predatory practices appeal in the works, and with transatlantic airline antitrust immunity applications on the horizon (see p.
Astronaut Robert D. Cabana, who commanded the first International Space Station assembly mission, has taken over in Moscow as NASA's top liaison to the Russian space program. In that capacity, he will represent the ISS program manager and the Johnson Space Center director in all human spaceflight discussions with NASA's principal station partner.
With their worth being proven in the automotive industry, a nonprofit organization intends to employ fuel cells in conjunction with a combustion engine and eventually use fuel cells only to power a new electric airplane.
Japan's three largest defense contractors have submitted proposals for the next two big Japanese defense projects, a $1.6-billion replacement for the navy's Lockheed Martin/Kawasaki P-3C Orion submarine hunter and a $1.2-billion replacement for the air force's Kawasaki C-1 tactical transport. But they have decidedly different strategies on how to tackle them.
Version 7.0 of ASA's IFR desktop simulator is now available, with new features that include updated U.S. database (all airports--both VFR and IFR), airways, navaids, intersections, fixes and approaches; updated worldwide database (includes many airports, navaids, intersections, fixes and airways outside the continental U.S.); and database editor. Version 7.0 includes the Cessna 172P Skyhawk, 182R Skyland, 82R Skyland RG, Piper PA-28-161 Warrior II, PA-28R-201 Arrow IV, Mooney MSE, Lancair Columbia 300, Beechcraft V-35B Bonanza, BE-58 Baron and 1900.
SriLankan Airlines said damages to a second A340-300 transport in the July 24 attack by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil were sufficient that the aircraft is unrepairable. The airline lost another A340 and two A330-300s in the attack and had two A320s damaged. One of those is repairable; the fate of the other is uncertain.
The global airline industry is not entering a major downturn, but the market is suffering from ``softness,'' according to Airbus officials. As a result, the European manufacturer is revising its combined production schedule for the next three years to reflect changes in demand for new jet transports, as airlines defer deliveries or cancel options for additional airplanes. In 2002, Airbus plans to deliver 390 jets--up from 330 this year--and in 2003 would stabilize annual production at about 400 aircraft.
The U.S. Transportation Dept. tentatively approved code sharing between the U.S. and Vietnam by three U.S. carriers--Delta Air Lines, Northwest and United--with third-country partners. A March 2000 U.S.-Vietnam memorandum of discussion authorized as many as 21 such round-trip flights per week by as many as three U.S. carriers, and the department parceled them out to seven per carrier. The agreement permitted service to three points in Vietnam, but the approvals were limited to Ho Chi Minh City and Hanoi.
General Atomics Aeronautical Systems will deliver the first of six Predator remotely operated aircraft systems to the Italian air force within nine months. The sale includes options for additional aircraft, as well as two General Atomics Lynx synthetic aperture radars to support all-weather operations. The company is teaming with Meteor, an Italian manufacturer of UAVs and flight simulators, to assist with program support in Italy.
Startup company Eclipse Aviation is focused on improving performance and lowering manufacturing costs vis-a-vis a series of aerodynamic and structural design changes to its Eclipse 500 business jet.
PARK AIR SYSTEMS IS SUPPLYING the T6 multimode ground-based VHF radios to Speedwing for its worldwide communications network. Speedwing, a wholly owned subsidiary of British Airways, provides operational mobile communication services for the air transport market. The radios support both 25 KHz. and 8.33 KHz. channel spacing. The initial deployment of the T6 will be at Greece's new Athens Spata airport this summer, followed by the rest of Europe.
Boeing is continuing on the infotech and aviation services acquisition trail with the purchase of SBS International, a supplier of airline crew scheduling systems. Terms have not been disclosed, but the move is being portrayed by Boeing as complementary to other acquisitions. In 1999 the company gained traffic management simulation and scheduling expertise by buying The Preston Group, and last year it added Jeppesen for flight operations, Continental Graphics and AeroInfo Systems in the maintenance area.
Marcus Agius has been appointed chairman of BAA plc, effective Apr. 1, 2002. He will succeed Lawrence Urquhart. Agius has been a non-executive director and chairman of the Audit and Assurance Committee and deputy chairman. He is chairman of the London division of the investment bank Lazard.
Walter Kroell has been elected chairman of the Advisory Council for Aeronautic Research in Europe. He is chief executive of the DLR German aerospace research agency.
Japan's aerospace industry experienced a 6%-sales increase in the fiscal year ended Mar. 31, according to the Society of Japanese Aerospace Companies. Manufacturers had revenues of $6.82 billion from aircraft components and assemblies, and $1.57 billion from overhaul and maintenance business. The largest customer was Japan's Defense Agency (JDA), followed by U.S. military forces in Japan, domestic civil customers and exports. Sales to the JDA jumped 13.8%, but work for the U.S. fell 31.2%. Civil and export markets both showed gains.
The EAA's AirVenture 2001 international convention saw the introduction of new avionics, aircraft and engines that are spurring growth within the general aviation industry--despite an economic downturn. About 750,000 people from around the world attended the event here last week at Wittman Regional Airport. In addition, more than 10,000 aircraft including ultralights, warbirds, antique, classic, experimental and production aircraft, and U.S. military jet fighters and transports were parked along the mile-long flight line.
THE FAA IS REPLACING radios that form a communications network in the Gulf of Mexico with Cubic Corp.'s ATC-100 transceivers. The network consists of ``floating communication sites,'' which extend the ATC communication capability across the Gulf between Florida and Texas.
Arianespace is tentatively scheduling launch of the next Ariane 5 for November following an investigation into last month's failure that shows the European heavy-lift booster's upper stage requires only minor fixes to return it to service.
The Model 3315A dual-channel function/arbitrary waveform generator--built as an extension to Pragmatic's single-channel line of instruments--gives the user two channels in one instrument. Both channels may be operated independently or interconnected. The 3315A supports five standard waveforms: sine, square, ramp, triangle and noise, as well as arbitrary. All waveforms, with the exception of noise, are available as modulation waveforms for AM, FM and PM modulation. Likewise, burst modulation offers phase angle control from 0.00 to 359.99 deg.
The newest missile defense concept to emerge from the Pentagon's expanded research effort is sea-based boost-phase intercept. Although never tried, Defense Dept. officials believe it may offer a promising path, especially if other BPI efforts founder.
