Greece plans to buy 45 Raytheon T-6A Texan II advanced trainers and a ground-based training system in a deal worth more than $200 million. The Hellenic air force will use the airplanes to replace Cessna T-41s and T-37s.
Rowland H. Worrell has become the Colorado Springs-based manager of daily operations of the Army Space Command Space and Missile Defense Initiatives Support Scientific, Engineering and Technical Assistance Contract.
Marc Foquet, an engineer at Surrey Satellite Technology, has been awarded the Royal Aeronautical Society's 1998 Geoffrey Pardoe Space Award for his work on imaging systems design.
Boeing plans to begin construction next month of a 36,000-sq.-ft. industrial facility at the company's Delta vehicle integration site in Pueblo, Colo. The new facility, in support of the Delta IV program, is expected to be completed in March 2000. The Pueblo site will be responsible for completing Delta IV 13.1-ft. medium fairing segments, which are fabricated in Boeing's Huntington Beach, Calif., site.
Yves Cousquer has been appointed chairman/CEO of the ADP Paris airports authority. He succeeds Gen. (Ret.) Jean Fleury, who has retired. Cousquer was president of the French postal services.
The U.S. Air Force wants to develop electronic warfare equipment that could protect satellites because of a growing fear among commanders that assets in space will come under attack in future conflicts.
The Air Line Pilots Assn. unit at Delta Air Lines is supporting a bid by the Transport Workers Union to represent that carrier's flight attendants, ramp workers and mechanics, all of whom are not currently union members. ALPA and Delta have been squaring off over pay levels for 777 crews and are preparing to open negotiations next month on a new contract. The 777 pay dispute resulted in Delta's deferring delivery of all 11 777-200s it has on order and put the two in its fleet up for sale.
USAF has lifted its proposed debarment against the Montreal and Bethlehem, Pa., plants of Howmet International Inc.'s Cercast aluminum casting subsidiaries. Based on an administrative agreement between Howmet and the Air Force, the facilities again are eligible to accept new U.S. government work. The agreement requires Howmet to broaden its ethics training of employees in North America and keep the Air Force posted on any misconduct.
France, Italy and the U.K. have awarded a 1.3-billion pound ($2.1-billion) contract with a European consortium for a new air defense system to equip their next-generation frigates. Dubbed the Principal Anti-Air Missile System (PAAMS), it will include Eurosam Aster 15 and 30 missiles, the Sylver vertical launch system, missile command and control systems, the S1850 long-range surveillance radar and Alenia's Empar (France and Italy) and British Aerospace's Sampson (U.K.) fire-control radars.
General Electric has begun construction of a $29-million, 60,000-sq.-meter (645,600-sq.-ft.) engine maintenance plant in Xiamen, China, near the Taikoo Aircraft Engineering Co. (Taeco) heavy maintenance facility. GE holds a 60% interest in the factory, with the remainder split between Taeco and Xiamen Aviation Industries Co. Work is scheduled to be completed in 2001. In related news, China Eastern Airlines, one of the country's biggest carriers, has begun overhauling its four Airbus A300s.
Recent images returned by Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) show a dynamic planetary environment in which geologic features comparable in size to those found on Earth are being shaped by active surface processes. Comparisons of recent images with ones made earlier in the mission show that Mars' surface is being shaped by wind, storms, ice and shifting sand dunes, program scientists said at a NASA briefing last week. Those changes can now be quantified for the first time, they added.
Russia's latest government shakeup and its simultaneous plunge into military conflict in the Caucasus have probably shredded what slim chance there remained for the White House and the Kremlin to complete new strategic arms agreements prior to each nation's presidential elections next year. ``There is definitely no chance for a breakthrough'' before then on a third Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START 3) or revisions to the 1972 Anti-Ballistic Missile (ABM) Treaty, said Lilia Shevtsova, a senior associate at the Carnegie Endowment (see p. 74).
Valencia, Calif.-based Safe Environment Engineering has developed a wireless system that provides hands-free two-way communications and real-time sensor data telemetry for employees working in confined spaces or under hazardous conditions. Called Lifeline, the system uses cellphone-sized personal safety monitors (PSMs) that can be worn on the worker's belt or harness. These continuously communicate with a monitoring console about the size of a file cabinet or a briefcase-sized 12-volt portable unit.
AirVenture'99 highlighted advanced cockpit technology's rapid transfer from airline flight deck to general aviation, as well as the influx into the marketplace of affordable, computer-based training tools--with features once the domain of high-end simulators.
The U.K. government has agreed to provide funding for the Beagle 2 lander, virtually ensuring that vehicle development will go ahead as planned. The lander is to be launched with Europe's Mars Express probe, to be placed in orbit around Mars in 2003. The European Space Agency's science committee gave Mars Express the green light in early June, after a show of support from the agency's ministerial summit in May. But the 150 million euros ($160 million) approved for the project did not include money for the lander.
Japanese Defense Minister Hosei Norota said he might delay deploying the Mitsubishi F-2 close air support fighter to front-line units because of cracks in its composite wings. He also said Japan should consider postponing introduction of refueling tanker aircraft, apparently out of concern that they might be taken as an aggressive sign by China and Southeast Asian nations.
CH-47D Chinook helicopters have been grounded after Boeing found a cracked transmission gear on a U.K. Chinook during inspection earlier this month. Further inspections found additional cracked gears that were in overhaul. The affected planetary gear passes turbine engine power through the drive train from the combining transmission to the rotors, the Army said. The root cause is believed to be a poorly ground spherical bearing raceway that caused too much stress to be placed on the gear, which eventually caused the cracking.
Arms experts see bargaining room, but little political leeway, for the latest American/Russian talks to streamline huge if diminishing strategic arsenals. Plausible weapons tradeoffs are prey to the vagaries of presidential election politics in both countries, insiders caution, along with chronic government shakeups in Moscow. Although specific negotiating goals have not been spelled out, a notional framework circulating backstage here has two main elements:
The U.K.'s Defense and Research Evaluation Agency (DERA) has agreed to purchase 12 surplus German air force Alpha Jets to replace part of its aging inventory of fast jets employed for flight testing. DERA has contracted with Dornier Luftfahrt to restore six of the aircraft to flying condition, plus an option on a seventh. The remainder will be stored for use as replacements and for spare parts. Acquiring the Alpha Jets will free up DERA's fleet of Hawk aircraft for key training syllabus requirements at the agency's Empire Test Pilots School at Boscombe Down.
LanChile has selected Messier-Bugatti's Sepcarb III carbon brakes to equip 15 Boeing 767-300 twinjets. The French braking system's 767 application obtained FAA certification last month.
DGA French armaments agency has selected Thomson Training&Simulation and Sogitec to supply two Rafale M full-flight simulators to the French navy. They are scheduled to be delivered in the fourth quarter 2000.
Aerospatiale Matra Airbus has selected Latecoere to supply digital video cameras as an aid in taxiing for Airbus Industrie's A340-500/600 high-capacity transports.
