Merpati Nusantara Airlines, Indonesia's state-owned domestic carrier, is facing bankruptcy, according to Chairman Muchtarudin Siregar. The airline is laboring under $335 million in debt and needs to find a foreign benefactor within 60 days. Merpati operates a 35-aircraft fleet, including Boeing 737-200s. Another Indonesian airline, Sempati Air, filed for bankruptcy last week with $760 million in debts.
French Research Minister Claude Allegre is to form a working group to explore the feasibility of a next-generation supersonic commercial transport, Prime Minister Lionel Jospin revealed at the closing of the Paris air show. He added that the French-Italian ATR consortium should launch a regional twinjet soon. Jospin's declaration about the SST, which caught the industry by surprise, is not backed by adequate research funding or a reliable market forecast.
Provisions in Defense and Energy Dept. funding bills working their way through the U.S. Congress would establish new policies governing intellectual property disputes among private companies and contractor-operated Energy Dept. laboratories. In general, the Defense bill would require contractors overseeing the Sandia, Livermore and Los Alamos labs to develop expedited dispute-resolution procedures when patents, licenses and commercialization activities are challenged.
Many security experts concluded that NATO's air war to liberate Kosovo exposed Europe's failure to keep up with U.S. military modernization (AW&ST Apr. 26, p. 28). A recent National Defense University study, ``Mind the Gap,'' published just before the conflict erupted, examines the causes of Europe's slack pace, including slow acceptance of information.
Success of the Aermacchi/Aerospatiale/Alenia/Embraer AMX flown by the Italian air force in operations over Yugoslavia has Alenia looking again at an export version of the light attack aircraft. First priority would be to replace the Rolls-Royce Spey with a new engine. The likely choice appears to be a single non-afterburning version of the Eurojet 200 engine found in the Eurofighter, or a General Electric F404. The AMX's cockpit also would be improved with new multifunction displays and other upgrades. The engine decision is expected before year-end.
The effectiveness of bombers in NATO's air war against Yugoslavia should spur the Pentagon to reconsider its investment plans and shift more money from tactical to long-range aircraft. That is the considered view of Sen. Joseph I. Lieberman (D-Conn.), a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, and he is not alone (see p. 32). ``Either buy some more B-2s or look at some other alternative,'' the self-described New Democrat says.
The CIT Group Inc., which leases to more than 70 airlines worldwide, plans to purchase 10 737 next-generation aircraft. The agreement with the Boeing Co. also gives CIT the right to convert to 767-300/-400 aircraft and options to acquire additional units, exercisable during the next four years. CIT, which manages a portfolio of more than 200 commercial aircraft, will take delivery of the 10 new 737s, to be powered by CFM56-7B engines, in a three-year period starting in the second quarter of 2001.
Boeing revealed orders and options exercised by airlines totaling 31 transports in the closing days of the Paris air show. Overall, the Seattle-based aerospace manufacturer added 62 transports, worth more than $3 billion at list prices, to its orderbook during the week-long exposition.
U.S. and European companies have taken the first steps toward transatlantic cooperation on tanker and transport aircraft. Raytheon has signed an agreement with Airbus Industrie to cooperate on development of an aerial refueling version of its MultiRole Tanker/Transport (MRTT), which would be based on the A310-300. Airbus Industrie has been studying an MRTT for several years as part of an effort to transfer its civil aircraft expertise into the military market.
Lufthansa Tecknik has confirmed that it has signed a letter of intent to buy Philippine Airlines maintenance and engineering services subsidiary, Macroasia Corp. The German company is also talking to PAL about taking over the management of the debt-ridden Philippine airline, which has just staved off liquidation when 70%-owner Lucio Tan came up with $200 million to appease long-suffering creditors. However, those creditors want to see Tan out of management. One creditor that is not happy is the U.S.
Boeing has joined GKN Westland and Alenia on Canada's Comorant maritime patrol helicopter program. The U.S. company will supply the mission system for Comorant, a derivative of the Anglo-Italian EH 101. Boeing's mission system is derived from a similar one developed for the U.K.'s Nimrod MRA 4 maritime patrol program.
Competition between Bombardier and Gulfstream Aerospace in the ultra-long-range business jet market--quite possibly civil aviation's fiercest rivalry--has risen to a higher, more acrimonious pitch. Driving the competitive battle to a new intensity level was Bombardier's announcement during the recent Paris air show that its Global Express will serve as the airborne platform for Britain's airborne stand-off battlefield surveillance radar system (Astor) (AW&ST June 21, p. 30).
General Atomics Aeronautical Systems has signed teaming arrangements with several European companies on its Predator unmanned aerial vehicle, which was employed in the recent Kosovo conflict. The U.S. company has partnered with Alenia's Meteor-C.A.E. subsidiary to meet an emerging requirement in Italy for a medium-altitude, long-endurance UAV. Renzo Lunardi, chief executive of Meteor, said a formal requirement should be announced before the end of the year.
The U.S. Navy this year will begin its analysis of alternatives for the land-based Multimission Maritime Aircraft planned to replace the Lockheed P-3, EP-3, E-6 and Navy C-130s. The three options under consideration are a new aircraft design; a derivative of the Boeing 737, Lockheed C-130J or other existing platform; or remanufactured P-3s with a new electronic suite (AW&ST Feb. 9, 1998, p. 91).
The U.S. Air Force appears to have overcome development problems with its Wind Corrected Munitions Dispenser and achieved, for the first time, a successful weapons release at supersonic speeds.
IAP Research of Dayton, Ohio, is interested in licensing its new dynamic metal compaction (DMC) technology for manufacturing high-strength, high-density parts to the aerospace industry. The manufacturing process uses electromagnetic pulses to force metal powder into a die under very high pressure. The resulting solid part is then sintered, or baked, to strengthen it. The DMC process can cut manufacturing costs by as much as 50% in high-volume applications.
The Mathworks' Simulink is a popular program to design control systems and ADI's Beacon is a popular program that automatically produces C or Ada code from the sort of system block diagrams produced by Simulink. In August, they will be joined when ADI releases ``Beacon for Simulink,'' eliminating interface issues between the programs. Coding options, such as defining data, function types and source files, can be controlled while viewing Simulink diagrams.
CTT Systems of Sweden will develop its zonal drying system for Canadair Regional Jets, for its first foray into the regional aircraft market. The system, now installed on wide-body aircraft, is designed to prevent problems from water condensation in thermal and acoustical insulation.
Olympic Airways employees have called a one-day strike this week to protest the signing of an $8.8-million contract with British Airways subsidiary Speedwing to manage the troubled state-owned carrier for 30 months. The deal, approved by the Greek parliament, includes performance bonuses worth another $4 million. BA also has a 12-month option to buy up to 20% of Olympic's share capital.
Clayton M. Jones, president of Rockwell Collins, Cedar Rapids, Iowa, has been appointed to the policy board of the Radio Technical Commission for Aeronautics.
This picture of the Hera target was taken by the infrared seeker on the Thaad interceptor moments before the missile completed its first successful intercept on June 10. The seeker is used for terminal guidance of the interceptor. It was only the second time the Thaad used the indium antimonide (InSb) seeker, which the Army moved to late in the program because of problems with an earlier design. Army officials say the seeker also functioned properly in its first test in May, but problems with the missile prevented an intercept.
The Defense Dept. recently opened the Modeling and Simulation Information Analysis Center (MSIAC) to help both military and private users with modeling and simulation problems. The MSIAC is located in Alexandria, Va., and combines the activity of three prior organizations--the Defense Modeling, Simulation, and Tactical Technology Information Analysis Center, the Modeling and Simulation Operational Support Activity, and the Modeling and Simulation Resource Repository.
