Operation Allied Force has highlighted shortfalls in European military capabilities that could provide additional impetus to calls for developing a strong security and defense identity within Europe.
The U.S. Air Force's increased allocation of R&D resources to next-century military space systems will accelerate the development of advanced technologies by the AFRL Space Vehicles and Directed Energy directorates here.
C.T. (Tom) Burbage has been appointed president of Lockheed Martin Aeronautical Systems, Marietta, Ga. He succeeds William B. Bullock, who will be a special adviser/corporate vice president until retiring later this year. Burbage was vice president/general manager of the F-22 program.
AlliedSignal has fixes in the pipeline to correct problems with its air turbine starter for the BMW Rolls-Royce BR700 series turbofans, which should eliminate the current need for Gulfstream V operators to carry a spare starter. Two problems have developed with the starter: One centers on a mechanical fuse that has been failing during normal use, preventing the starter from engaging and starting powerplants. The second issue has been a high cycle fatigue problem with the starter's turbine.
Lt. Gen. Sheikh Mohammed Bin Sayed, chief of staff of the United Arab Emirates armed forces, has been named chairman of the General Exhibitions Corp., which will supervise all exhibitions and conferences held in Abu Dhabi.
Military experts say America's supreme national security challenge--Russia's denuclearization--may be a casualty of the NATO/Serb war. Coming on the heels of NATO expansion, the allied bombing of Iraq last December and recent congressional approval of a national missile defense deployment, the West's assault on Russia's historical Serb allies could be the death knell for a second Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START 2).
The Star Alliance has formally accepted Ansett Australia and Air New Zealand into the international airline grouping, which is led by Lufthansa and United. The Alliance now serves more than 720 destinations in over 110 countries.
Iridium LLC, the world's first global satellite phone and paging company, and its principal investors have got to be feeling more than just a little pressure these days. The 18-member consortium, 25% owned by its prime contractor, Motorola, has pledged to disclose later this month how many subscribers have signed up. The network of 66 low-Earth-orbiting satellites, combined with terrestrial cellular systems, enables subscribers to communicate virtually anywhere in the world using one phone and pager, one phone number, and receiving one monthly bill.
Spacehab and OHB-System GmbH. last week signed a memorandum of understanding to jointly provide commercial life sciences spaceflight services on the space shuttle and the International Space Station (ISS). Spacehab will work with OHB to establish a biotechnology business enterprise and to operate and upgrade the Commercial Biological Research Unit for use on the shuttle and ISS, beginning in late 2000.
Barely weeks after kicking off development of a proposed European high-resolution optical/radar imaging network, Italy is poised to become the first nation to commit to the Galileo Global Navigation Satellite System.
has been appointed chief financial officer of the Baan Co. of Barneveld, Netherlands, and Reston, Va. Mooney succeeds Klaas Wagenaar, who is now executive vice president-operational and strategic initiatives. Mooney was vice president/CFO for the Americas for the IBM Corp.
Event-driven. It's the phrase Wall Street analysts use to describe how stocks behave in response to favorable or unfavorable news, and events last week did nothing to bolster two of the satellite communications industry's most closely followed issues: Iridium World Communications and PanAmSat.
A new Hook-112 survival radio with a built-in GPS receiver may have helped search-and-rescue aircrews quickly locate and extract the downed F-117 pilot from Yugoslavia on Mar. 28.
Asian airlines are reporting their most significant increases in passenger load factors since the region's recession began nearly two years ago. The Assn. of Asia-Pacific Airlines (AAPA) reported a 4.43-point lift in average load factors to 70.47% for February as compared with the previous year. The gain is a reflection more of reduced capacity than increased passenger demand. Declining load factors started hitting Asian carriers in March 1997, three months before a crash in Thailand's currency triggered the regional recession.
The FAA advises manufacturers to defer investments in independent research and development for new air traffic control radars. Michael J. Harrison, the agency's acting director for architecture and system engineering, says a new multipurpose airport radar will not be needed until 2008-18. Industry should wait a while to exploit the latest technologies before making a decision to invest, he counsels.
Boeing has made an unsolicited proposal to the U.S. Air Force for 60 enhanced C-17 transport aircraft, to influence long-range Defense Dept. plan- ning on future transport requirements. The proposal, which is worth almost $9 billion, builds on the existing seven-year USAF commitment to acquire 80 C-17s and would extend C-17 production from 2003-07.
A consortium led by Hochtief AirPort of Germany has contracted with the German federal government and the states of Berlin and Brandenburg to take over Berlin's three airports and to build a 20-million passenger international facility to replace them. The consortium, which also includes the Frankfurt airport authority, ABB and Bankgesellschaft Berlin, is to start work on the DM4.8 billion ($2.8 billion) project in 2003. The new terminal will open in 2007.
Strict restrictions in the use of airspace as a result of strikes on Yugoslav military targets are making a significant impact on European airline operations. NATO requested civil aviation authorities to close the airspace of Albania, Bosnia-Herzegovina and Yugoslavia to civil aircraft. However, the ``buffer zone'' established between the Yugoslav airspace, Bulgaria and Romania has been narrowed to 10 naut. mi., down from 40 naut. mi., in an effort to handle additional commercial operations and reduce flight delays.
France's privatization commission has approved the Aerospatiale/Matra Hautes Technologies merger agreement. The unified company is tentatively scheduled to be formed in June.
Motorola's Satellite Communications Group and Systems Solutions Group have picked the iBASEt paperless manufacturing execution system for facilities in Arizona. . . . Ad Opt Technologies of Montreal won a $2-million contract to provide preferential bidding and crew scheduling software for 5,800 Swissair pilots and cabin crewmembers. Ad Opt's ShiftLogic scheduling software also will be used by the Icelandic Civil Aviation Administration to schedule 90 air traffic controllers and flight data assistants at the Oceanic Air Control Center in Reykjavik. . . .
Rapidly shrinking numbers of precision weapons and a long stretch of bad weather have complicated NATO air strikes against targets in Yugoslavia which--with the introduction of additional strike and reconnaissance aircraft--have been expanded to focus increasingly on Serbian ground forces in Kosovo.
A second privately owned Indian carrier will operate Boeing next-generation 737 transports beginning this month. Sahara is leasing a -700 from Ansett Worldwide. The Delhi-based carrier also flies two -400s and three -200 models serving 14 Indian cities, including Delhi and Mumbai. Backed by the powerful Sahara Group, the domestic airline is exploring a market niche strategy, flying to smaller, underserved cities. India's other major private domestic carrier, Jet Airways, now operates 25 737s, including eight next-generation -700s and -800s.
Ann Block has been appointed vice president-human resources of Frontier Airlines. She was director of human resources strategy and services for BlueCross BlueShield of Colorado.
