Chris Bade has been appointed vice president-strategic planning and business development at the Raytheon Co., Lexington, Mass. He headed corporate governance reengineering at Textron Inc.
Lawmakers are hoping to salvage at least part of the Republicans' $792-billion omnibus tax cut bill, which includes a provision to extend the research and development tax credit sought by high-tech industry. Although a presidential veto is in store for the tax relief Congress approved just before its Aug. 6 recess, a cadre of Republican moderates and a number of Democrats agree with the White House that a $792-billion cut is too high. That may present an opening for a compromise when Congress reconvenes just after Labor Day.
Precision Castparts Corp.'s efforts to win regulatory approval of its proposed acquisition of Wyman-Gordon are dragging out, raising concerns about possible snags in the U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) review. PCC's all-cash offer of $825 million will require support of two-thirds or more of Wyman-Gordon's shares tendered--a process that has been extended twice since the deal was announced on May 17. As of last Thursday, the closure date was Aug. 27.
Alan Bishop has become director and Dan Strottman deputy director of the Theoretical Div. of the Los Alamos (N.M.) National Laboratory. Bishop succeeds Dan Butler, who was acting director. He will remain a deputy divisional director.
MICHAEL A. TAVERNAGeoffrey Thomas contributed to this article from Perth, Australia.
The two-year-old Star Alliance is already preparing the next step in its cooperative relationship, even as it continues to broaden the web of its worldwide network.
John Fox has been promoted to assistant manager of FlightSafety International's San Antonio, Tex., Learning Center. He was an FAA-certified flight instructor there and training center evaluator.
Although U.S. and British aircraft have been trading fire with Iraqi air defense units all year, there are signs the situation may be entering a new phase. Iraq recently started firing a longer-range version of the SA-2 surface-to-air missile. The Pentagon says the range may be even greater than that of the fire control radar. Most Iraqi SAM launches are unguided, so not having radar control may not mean much, though. For the first time since Operation Desert Fox, the allies have engaged a SAM site outside the northern and southern no-fly zones. U.S.
Japan has reopened competition for a primary trainer to replace the Fuji T-3. Fuji Heavy Industries had been named to build the T-7 as a replacement but Fuji has been caught up in a bribery scandal that prompted the Japanese Defense Agency to suspend it from all contracts until Dec. 31. A new round of bidding is to open early next year. The original competition ended with the T-7 pitted against the Pilatus PC-7. Fuji will be allowed to recompete but is given only a 50% chance of winning, according to one JDA official. About 50 trainers will be bought.
The Galileo spacecraft was hit by a burst of radiation on Aug. 12 and experienced several computer upsets, but recently loaded software automatically restarted command sequences, minimizing the loss of science data.
The Australian government has accepted Thomson-CSF's offer to privatize Australian Defence Industries. ADI will be acquired next month by Transfield Thomson-CSF, the French defense electronics group's local affiliate. ADI is Australia's biggest defense contractor and the country's leading company in command, control and communications systems.
The International Air Transport Assn. and IBM are jointly developing a centralized system to link the electronic ticketing networks of the world's airlines. IATA officials hope the service will permit airlines to accept e-tickets issued by other carriers, enabling passengers to fly several airlines on one itinerary with a single electronic document.
The U.S. will assist Japan in its military satellite reconnaissance program, but will try to avoid the political travails of the FS-X fighter development when the U.S. dictated program decisions to the Japanese government. Recent discussions between Defense Secretary William Cohen and Japanese Minister of State for Defense Housei Norota addressed the issue of the satellite program. ``I made it clear that the U.S. supports Japan's indigenous program and we are willing to cooperate,'' Cohen said after the meeting.
Chris Brockbank has been appointed North American marketing director for ICO Global Communications of Washington. He was director of marketing for Mobility Canada.
The European Commission's new team, headed by former Italian Prime Minister Romano Prodi, will face a number of critical aviation-related issues when it assumes power in mid-September, following confirmation hearings in the European Parliament. Next week, the commissioner-designates will undergo reviews, which are scheduled to be completed by Sept. 7.
The U.S. Navy, in a $3.3-million contract, has selected DRS Technologies to develop an airborne multi-system controller for the test and evaluation of weapons release on board fixed- and rotary-wing military aircraft and ground-base launch systems. This contract represents Phase IV of the Navy's Airborne Separation Video System program.
Atlantic Coast Airlines has ordered 20 additional Bombardier CRJ-200 regional jets, increasing to 63 the total number the Dulles, Va.-based carrier has ordered. Twenty have been delivered. The latest order is valued at about U.S. $430 million.
Mike Wolf has been appointed vice president-quality assurance and Jack Strite vice president-marketing, sales and new business development of Textron Lycoming in Williamsport, Pa. Bill Bernardini was named Latin American sales manager.
American Eagle took delivery last week of its first 37-seat Embraer ERJ-135 regional jet. The carrier has been operating the 50-seat ERJ-145 since last year. American Eagle has placed a total of 277 orders and options for the two Brazilian-built jets and helped launch the ERJ-135 program. Included are aircraft orders picked up in the acquisition of Business Express Airlines earlier this year. The ERJ-135 has 96% commonality with the larger -145 and has a range of up to 1,700 naut. mi.
Despite six successive intercept failures the Theater High-Altitude Area Defense program logged early on, the Pentagon is betting the ballistic missile defense program is now ready for the next phase--a $4.5-billion engineering and manufacturing development (EMD) effort. The Pentagon initially wanted three successful intercepts, but after Thaad hit the targets twice in recent weeks, officials began hinting that might be enough (AW&ST Aug. 9, p. 29). Last week, the deputy director of the Ballistic Missile Defense Office, Army Maj. Gen.
Kevin Jones has been named CEO of Airtel ATN of Dublin. Other recent appointments were: Graham Harris, vice president-engineering services; Norman Stewart, vice president-research and development; Frank O'Connor, vice president-marketing; and Joe McGoldrick, vice president-technology.
Electronic warfare is in trouble and a former U.S. Air Force chief of staff, Gen. Michael Dugan (Ret.), has accepted responsibility--sort of. ``Electronic combat in general and the [EF-111] Raven program in particular got in trouble, probably on my watch in 1990, when [USAF leaders] did not replace a couple of senior officers in the acquisition and operations community that [oversaw] the contribution of electronic combat to war-fighting output,'' Dugan said.
