Magellan Corp., the satellite access products subsidiary of Orbital Sciences Corp., and Japan-based Topcon Corp. have agreed to form a company to develop and sell precise positioning products for the surveying, industrial geographic information systems mapping and machine-control markets.
Bombardier has determined the size of the passenger cabins for its planned BRJ-X-90 and BRJ-X-110 models, a pair of regional jets which could compete with aircraft offered at the low-end of the Boeing and Airbus Industrie product lines. John Holding, executive vice president for engineering and product development at Bombardier Aerospace, said the BRJ-X-90 and BRJ-X-110 programs--which could be formally launched in the second quarter of 2000--would have an interior cabin width of 128 in.
The FAA is working ``with a sense of urgency'' to get its books in order. But it still faces major hurdles in establishing a cost-accounting system capable of justifying the fee-based system the agency hopes to impose this year for air traffic control and other services. The Transportation Dept.'s deputy assistant inspector general monitoring FAA's finances, John L. Meche, told a House Government Reform panel on Mar. 18 that the agency still can't account for its property and equipment costs accurately.
New NATO members Hungary, Poland and the Czech Republic, as well as Romania, have inaugurated Air Sovereignty Operations Centers that will allow them to integrate their airspace management systems with the alliance's air defense network. ASOCs in the three new member states function as control and reporting centers, providing a local air picture to the alliance's military command, as well as allowing for the transfer of information between neighboring NATO, and non-NATO, states. They also facilitate the training of operators in NATO air defense doctrine.
Motorola delayed the launch of two Iridium satellites on a Chinese Long March booster last week and shipped the spacecraft back to the U.S. An Iridium official said the satellites were exposed to unspecified ``environmental conditions'' during processing in China and were being returned to the U.S. for testing. The spacecraft were replenishment satellites, and the launch delay is not expected to affect Iridium service. Ten Iridium satellites had previously been launched on the Long March in five successful missions.
The World Trade Organization (WTO) has ruled that certain subsidy programs used by Brazil and Canada to sell regional jets must be reformed, but it remains uncertain what effect the rulings will have on future sales of aircraft built by Canada's Bombardier and Brazil's Embraer. A final ruling is scheduled for this month.
Officials at Russia's Ilyushin Aircraft Building Complex say they expect to receive FAA certification of its Il-96T freighter in June. According to Victor Livanov, director general of the Ilyushin complex, the event will boost the Il-96M/T family's export prospects and help ensure overall program success. The passenger version of the four-engine jet transport will seat around 375. After Russia's midsummer monetary crisis, the U.S. Export-Import Bank required a U.S.
A British-Swiss balloon team broke the world record for long-distance flight last week and closed in on the goal of circumnavigating the globe. By Mar. 18, the team of Brian Jones and Bertrand Piccard had traveled 21,000 mi. from the Swiss Alps to the Caribbean, and only the Atlantic Ocean remained to be crossed.
NATO expansion draws Central Europe closer to the West, but harsh economic realities slow assimilation Ten years after the demise of the Warsaw Pact, Central Europe is just beginning to establish a foothold within the Western aerospace and defense community, but full integration is still a long way off.
Eugene D. Juba has become vice president-financial planning and analysis of US Airways. He succeeds Gregory T. Taylor, who has been named vice president-US Airways Express. Juba was director of financial analysis for United Airlines.
AAI Engineering Support Inc. has been awarded a contract worth up to $64 million by the Naval Air Warfare Center Training System Div. for support of command, control, communications, computer and intelligence training devices for the U.S. Army.
Paul C. Bavitz has been named vice president-business strategy and development and USAF Col. Patrick C. Mullaney (Ret.) director of communications for the Northrop Grumman Corp.'s Integrated Systems and Aerostructures Sector in Dallas. Bavitz was vice president-advanced systems and technology for the company's Military Aircraft Systems Div. Mullaney was director of public affairs for the USAF Air Education and Training Command at Randolph AFB, Tex.
The recent withdrawal of Lockheed from Aeroplex of Central Europe, a maintenance, repair and overhaul joint venture with Malev, may reset the clock in the competition to sell military hardware to Hungary. Lockheed's 50% share in the ACE venture, set up in 1992, had been considered a big plus in the American firm's efforts to sell F-16s and other defense gear to Hungary, which has little aerospace industry beyond the MRO facility.
NASA's Lunar Prospector has confirmed that the Moon has a small core, lending credence to the theory that it was formed when a Mars-sized body struck the Earth in its earliest history and split off a large chunk of it. The size of the core was first suggested during the Apollo era and is still open to debate. The Moon's core is about 2-4% of the lunar mass, while the Earth's iron core is about 30% of its mass. Shown are Prospector computer graphic images of surface iron deposits (in blue).
Jeffrey H. Gilley has been appointed staff manager for airports/ground infrastructure for the Washington-based National Business Aviation Assn. He succeeds E.H. (Moe) Haupt, who will retire Mar. 31. Gilley was director of airports for the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Assn.
The House of Representatives approved a policy commitment to deploy a national missile defense system by a lopsided vote of 317-105, with 103 Democrats joining the Republican majority in favor of the bipartisan bill. The House vote late last week capped Senate approval of a counterpart bill the day before (see p. 29), although the House version omitted the operative Senate language to deploy an effective system ``as soon as technologically possible.'' Differences will have to be settled in future deliberations.
William F. Compton, who joined Trans World Airlines as a pilot in 1968, will be appointed CEO at the carrier's annual meeting in May. He now is president and chief operating officer. Gerald L. Gitner, the current chairman and CEO, will become the nonexecutive chairman. He also will become chairman of the board's executive committee.
Gary McGraw and Rodney Mickelson have been named Corporate Engineers of the Year by Rockwell Collins, Cedar Rapids, Iowa. The company also selected eight Engineers of the Year to be recognized by their business entities: Gerry Bendixen, Roy Keen, Dung Nguyen, Douglas Rothenberger, Susan Schellenberg, John Sohn, John Wauer and C. David Young.
Eugene Buckley, chairman/CEO of Sikorsky Aircraft, Stratford, Conn., has received the first Lifetime Achievement Award given by the Fairfield (Conn.) University School of Engineering.
The Globalstar project now has one-third of its operational constellation in orbit following the successful launch of four spacecraft last week on a Starsem Soyuz-Ikar booster from the Baikonur Cosmodrome. Placement of the mobile telephone satellites in an orbit 920 km. (570 mi.) above Earth on Mar. 15 brought to 16 the number of Globalstar spacecraft deployed (AW&ST Feb. 15, p. 46).
CFM International expects commercial transport sales to decline significantly in the next few years and plans to gradually reduce its turbofan engine production rate. However, the airline industry is not heading for a dramatic downturn, according to executives of the General Electric/Snecma subsidiary. In addition, although Boeing and Airbus Industrie foresee a slower order pace for 1999 and beyond, the aircraft replacement market should remain strong, they predicted.
Tom Brown, Stanley Felix and Richard Stone have been promoted to senior managers of training services for SimuFlite Training International Inc., Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport. Brown was manager of Citation programs, Felix manager of Gulfstream programs and Stone account executive for Part 135.
