Parametric Technology's Pro/Mechanica 2000i software is intended to simulate and optimize objects early in the design cycle. It has three packages to analyze structural stresses, thermal properties and motion simulation. It interacts with a variety of CAD programs, such as Catia, Unigraphics and Pro/Engineer, and with Parametric's other i-series software. Pro/Mechanica 2000i has the same ``behavioral modeling'' and ``associative features'' capabilities as Pro/Engineer 2000i that help optimize designs and simplify altering them (AW&ST Mar. 8, p. 21).
As Gansler urged European companies to seek mergers, he told U.S. companies to tend better to the needs of their primary customer--the Pentagon. The acquisition chief said Lockheed Martin officials are being lectured and quizzed by the Defense Dept. about letting quality slip. Lock Mart ``just happened to be first,'' he said. Boeing, Raytheon and others will soon be in the same tank.
The U.S. Air Force is putting together its acquisition plan for the Global Hawk surveillance unmanned aircraft as the program moves into its final phase, during which military operators will get to experiment with the system.
Arianespace has reached a preliminary launch and financing accord with Ellipso Inc., but Boeing has yet to complete an agreement to take a leading role in the uniquely designed mobile satellite telephone project.
Belgium's LMS International will supply components to the NASA Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala., for a next-generation data acquisition system. LMS will supply the Scadas III mainframe and slave units, source channels, signal conditioning and processors to configure parallel measurement channels.
China's two largest carriers, Guangzhou-based China Southern Airlines and Beijing's Air China, may be forced to merge by the government. Such a combination would create a new behemoth in Asia. The Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC) has been working toward a consolidation of the airline industry for years, but the prospect that the China State Council, the country's cabinet, wants to push ahead with the merger goes beyond previous consolidation moves.
Start-up regional carrier Ozark Air Lines plans to begin scheduled revenue service in October between Columbia, Mo., Dallas' Love Field and Chicago's Midway Airport, using two Fairchild Aerospace 328JETs. The original Ozark Airlines was acquired by TWA in October 1986.
Continental Airlines next month plans to start first-phase construction in its $1-billion Global Gateway Program at Newark (N.J.) International Airport. According to Continental, this stage will consist of adding a 600,000-sq.-ft. concourse to Terminal C with 12 gates for wide-body jets, a baggage handling facility, a 150,000-sq.-ft. cargo area, large maintenance hangar and support facilities. Additional phases would include construction of a second wide-body hangar to accommodate the airline's new Boeing 777s and an engine maintenance shop.
Air Canada and its 5,100-member flight attendants union agreed on a new contract minutes after a strike deadline passed July 8, averting a shutdown of the carrier's operations. Officials of the flight attendants section of the Canadian Union of Public Employees said the pact calls for improved retirement income, safer and healthier working conditions and wage increases of 5%, 4% and 3% over three years. A ratification vote is slated for next week.
NASA is poised to launch the Chandra advanced X-ray astrophysics observatory on a $2.78-billion flight next week in search of both the most violent phenomenon in deep space and answers to questions about the most fundamental physics governing the evolution of the universe. Set for liftoff on the orbiter Columbia on July 20--the 30th anniversary of the first manned lunar landing by Apollo 11--Chandra is viewed as equal to the Hubble Telescope in its potential for revolutionary discoveries.
Thomson-CSF Optrosys has acquired the electro-optics business of AlliedSignal Aerospatiale Canada following the acquisition of AlliedSignal by Honeywell last month. The unit was folded into Thomson-CSF Systems Canada, a fully owned subsidiary specializing in thermal imaging technology. Last month, Thomson-CSF Comsys set up a joint venture with Aerostar of Romania, Aerothom Electronics, to develop, manufacture and market radiocommunications and identification/detection equipment.
Japan's Defense Agency is seeking compensation from Mitsubishi Heavy Industries for defective machining in a rotor hub that caused the loss of a Sikorsky SH-60J anti-submarine helicopter, made under license, during joint naval training exercises in Hawaii. The JDA has sought a 1.1 billion yen ($9 million) penalty payment from MHI after the helicopter lost its rotor blades and suffered an engine fire. MHI, a long-time license producer of Sikorsky helicopters, has denied negligence.
Jobs continue to open up at the National Transportation Safety Board. Vice Chairman Robert T. Francis says he will not seek renomination. Francis, who became familiar to Americans through his media briefings after the TWA Flight 800 crash, wrote President Clinton that he will conclude his 37 years of government service when his term expires on Dec. 31. The leading candidate to take Francis' place is Carol J. Carmody, the former U.S. representative to ICAO.
After realizing its F-16s are running out of life long before they reach the intended 8,000-hr. mark, the Air Force decided to throw $800 million at the problem. Greater-than-expected use and increasing weight of the multirole fighter have contributed to the aging problem, says Maj. Gen. Dennis G. Haines, the Air Combat Command's weapons systems director. But the new spending isn't going to keep older F-16s--Block 40s and earlier versions--flying much longer.
Spanish aircraft manufacturer CASA has selected AlliedSignal Aerospace to provide avionics systems for the new C-295 military transport, and will equip new CN-235s as well as CN-235s undergoing retrofit. Avionics will include color weather radar, enhanced ground proximity warning system, solid-state flight data and cockpit voice recorders, traffic and collision-avoidance system and identification friend/foe transponder.
Taiwanese authorities have cited pilot error as the cause of the 1998 loss of a China Airlines Airbus A300-600R at Taipei's Chiang Kai-Shek Airport that killed 196 passengers and crew and another six persons on the ground. But aside from its focus on the pilots, the Taiwan Civil Aeronautics Administration (TCAA) also said China Airlines needs to turn around its company culture, enhance its pilot training and improve crew resource management.
Massachusetts Institute of Technology's aeronautical, mechanical and electrical engineering departments are collaborating to build a micro turbojet engine with a rotor diameter of only 8 mm. (0.3 in.) out of silicon using integrated circuit techniques.
TERA COMPUTER CO. HAS DELIVERED THE FIRST MULTITHREAD architecture (MTA) system with 8 processors and 8 gigabytes of shared memory to the San Diego Supercomputer Center. The company intends to demonstrate a 16-processor system in the next six months. The Seattle-based supercomputer manufacturer developed MTA to simplify parallel programming compared with what is required for massively parallel systems. According to Tera, the MTA architecture allows applications to run in parallel on multiple processors without forcing users to rewrite all their application codes.
Ongoing efforts to shape a unified European defense policy are expected to lead to significant progress in the aftermath of Operation Allied Force. The European contribution to NATO's air strikes against Yugoslavia has confirmed the need to improve interoperability and boost Europe's military capability, according to French defense officials.
Boeing has selected a 115,000-lb.-thrust derivative of General Electric's GE90 as the exclusive powerplant for its projected 777-200X and -300X transports, and for all other future growth versions of the 777 aircraft. Under an agreement reached last week, General Electric's GE90 will be ``the exclusive powerplant for 700,000-lb. maximum takeoff weight--and greater--Boeing 777s,'' James McNerney, president of GE Aircraft Engines, said. The deal could eventually be worth $15 billion or more to GE over the next two decades.
Funding will let scientists decide which aircraft are best for research, and offset NASA subsidy of manned platforms NASA plans to start shifting its science drone program out of the development phase and into operational use next year by funding scientists to conduct research with the aircraft.
Boeing has blocked efforts to investigate its adherence to federal antidiscriminatory employment regulations, the U.S. Labor Dept. complained last week. In suits filed before administrative law judges, department officials charged the aerospace contractor hindered their investigation of African-American workers' complaints of discrimination at Boeing facilities in the Seattle area, Wichita, Kan., and Philadelphia. The officials also charged that Boeing stymied routine compliance reviews in April and May at facilities in Wichita and Mesa, Ariz.
Elop Electro-Optics Industries is to be merged into Elbit Systems Ltd. under the terms of an agreement reached between the two Israeli companies on July 5. Both companies, which had earlier revealed they were discussing a potential merger as required by Israeli law, expect the merger to be completed by the end of the year. Elop shareholders will receive 32.5% of the shares in Elbit. Joseph Ackerman, president and CEO of Elbit, will retain those posts in the merged company.
