Look for the Navy to increasingly emphasize automation and wield its tremendous research and development capability to help reduce personnel requirements and operating costs while increasing sailor-retention rates. A ``Smart Ship'' initiative is reducing cruiser crews by 44 sailors, and there are programs in progress that could take as much as half the crew off a carrier, according to Danzig. Improved watertight doors, which now use 1950s technology, nonchip paint, curved ship surfaces and low-maintenance PRC flooring would save hundreds of sailor-years of upkeep work.
The U.S. Air Force Research Laboratory's Space Vehicles Directorate is developing minimally invasive technologies for sensors that are designed to detect intentional interference with a satellite, then alert ground crews to take action.
In Yugoslavia's shrouded, springtime skies, NATO commanders discovered that despite almost a decade of continuous operations, U.S. air forces still have two obvious weaknesses--an inability to identify and strike moving targets beneath a layer of clouds and a pronounced difficulty in locating well-concealed or camouflaged targets.
World in-flight entertainment markets increased 20% to $2 billion last year, fueled by robust transport and business jet production and strong airline profits. Market growth is expected to continue at double-digit rates through 2005, according to Frost&Sullivan, an international market consulting and training firm based in Mountain View, Calif. A United Airlines executive recently estimated the average in-plane lifetime for an IFE system on an airplane is less than five years before competitive pressures force installation of a newer, more capable system.
RAYTHEON WILL PROVIDE THE PRIMARY SURVEILLANCE radar for approach control at London's Heathrow Airport. The solid-state digital ASR-10SS will supply radar data to Heathrow control tower and London ATC Center at West Drayton. Switzerland already has bought two of the ASR-10SS radars, which are operating at Geneva and Zurich international airports.
AlliedSignal and Lockheed Martin Tactical Aircraft Systems plan to install and demonstrate two-way satellite communications on an F-16 using the commercial Iridium system. By integrating satcom into tactical fighters such as the F-16, pilots would have access to an over-the-horizon communications system allowing them to exchange information with any base, command element, or intelligence source anywhere in the world. The system is part of an ongoing effort by LMTAS to develop capabilities applicable to Real-Time Intelligence to the Cockpit.
Researchers at Oak Ridge (Tenn.) National Laboratory are developing a new aluminum and water-based propellant that will allow a user to ``dial in'' the speed of a projectile fired from shotgunlike platforms. The concept is based on controlling vapor explosion phenomena in which a fragmented molten metal such as aluminum vaporizes fluids such as water and generates a significant pressure pulse. A fist-sized electrical triggering mechanism is powered by a 1.5-volt battery.
The Polish Air Traffic Agency has awarded a contract to Northrop Grumman Corp. Electronic Sensors and Systems Sector to upgrade its airspace management system.
The Pentagon is offering its combat leaders an additional source of intelligence that springs from its relatively new-found ability to quickly collect, analyze and identify non-photographic clues from a foe's military targets. The data includes unique heat patterns, electronic emissions and previously unused dimensions of radar reflections.
GPS RECEIVERS COULD HAVE PROBLEMS on Aug. 21 because of the first encounter with a 20-year phenomenon--GPS End of Week rollover. Less well known than the Year 2000 problems, it could cause safety problems for a GPS user if a receiver stopped working, or worse yet, gave inaccurate navigation data. GPS system-time counts weeks. The rollover will occur when the GPS calendar resets to zero week at 13 sec. before midnight GMT on Saturday, Aug. 21, 1999. Problems for GPS receivers, especially older models, could range from minor to serious.
Thomas I. Bradley has been appointed vice president-finance of the Lockheed Martin Electronics Sector, Bethesda, Md. He succeeds Janet L. McGregor, who was named vice president/treasurer for the Lockheed Martin Corp. Brian D. Dailey has become vice president of Lockheed Martin's Washington operations. He succeeds David Osterhout, who has retired.
Eight major U.S. and international airlines have begun a formal push for manufacturers to standardize the passenger cabins of new-build transport aircraft to reduce acquisition, operating, modification and maintenance costs.
Rotary Rocket made the first flights of its Atmospheric Test Vehicle on July 28 with three brief hops that reached 8-ft. altitude and totaled 4 min. 40 sec. duration. The Atmospheric Test Vehicle (ATV) is a full-scale prototype of the company's planned Roton reusable launcher, which is to make an autorotative entry, descent, and power-assisted landing (AW&ST June 28, p. 44). The ATV was built to test the approach and landing phase and is equipped with a Sikorsky S-58 rotor powered by hydrogen peroxide tip thrusters.
Maersk Air has placed a firm order for three CRJ-700 regional jets with Bombardier, and has taken an additional three options. The 70-seat CRJ-700 currently is in test at Bombardier's Wichita, Kan., facility in preparation for scheduled certification next year. Maersk, a British Airways franchise partner, also exercised options for two 50-seat CRJ-200s. The value of the Maersk firm orders is about $120 million. The order increases to 99 the number of CRJ-700s on firm order.
The founder and chairman of the Experimental Aircraft Assn., Paul Poberezny, was inducted, along with Louise Thaden and test pilot Fitz Fulton, in the National Aviation Hall of Fame in Dayton, Ohio, on July 24. He, along with 35 other aviation enthusiasts, founded the EAA in January 1953. He has flown almost 400 different types of airplanes and created 15 separate aircraft designs in his 60-year aviation career.
John F. McDonnell, former CEO of the McDonnell Douglas Corp., has been named to the board of directors of the Zoltek Cos. of St. Louis. He also is a director of the Boeing Co. and Ralston Purina Co.
Bell Helicopter Textron will invest $300 million to improve facilities in the Fort Worth area, including the purchase of a three-story office building at Alliance Airport as a BA 609 tiltrotor training and delivery center. Bell/Agusta Aerospace Co., the BA 609 joint venture, will also have its headquarters in the new building, and Bell will hire 175-200 people by year-end to add to the 6,200 it employs in the Dallas-Fort Worth area.
Rep. Jerry Lewis, author of the push to kill F-22 funding, has told senior Pentagon officials in private that his reason for attacking the stealth fighter was to force the Clinton Administration, rather than the Republican-controlled Congress, to propose breaking defense spending caps.
Paul R. Kuhn has been appointed president/CEO of the Kaman Corp., Bloomfield, Conn.He succeeds Charles H. Kaman, who will remain chairman.Kuhn was senior vice president-aerospace engines business for Coltec Industries Inc.
Hubert D. Hopkins has been appointed president of Alliant Integrated Defense, a subsidiary of Alliant Techsystems of Minneapolis. He was vice president-engineering/director of the Military Bridge Systems unit of Litton Marine Systems.
GENERAL AVIATION PILOTS WILL BE ABLE TO SEE Nexrad weather images in the cockpit starting in September, using a service provided by Orbcomm and Echo Flight. Echo Flight's StratoCheetah Flight Manager III system will provide the Nexrad images using Orbcomm's data communicator and low-Earth-orbit satellites. The StratoCheetah Flight Manager III system receives hourly weather data and will allow pilots to request additional weather information, transmit position reports and send and receive inflight e-mail at any altitude or location, according to the companies.
