A decision is expected within the next month in the U.K.'s $1.2-billion Airborne Stand-Off Radar (Astor) competition, one that would give the winner a significant edge in meeting a similar NATO requirement.
House Transportation Committee Chairman Bud Shuster (R-Pa.) and senior committee members introduced the Aviation Investment and Reform Act for the 21st Century (AIR 21) last week in Congress. The bill would unlock the aviation trust fund and have a dramatic effect on increasing funding under the Airport Improvement Program (AIP). The bill is similar in some respects to the Senate Commerce Committee's reauthorization, approved under the direction of Chairman John McCain (R-Ariz.).
Swissair parent company SAir Group in 1998 posted a $249-million net profit--an 11.4% increase over 1997--on $7.8 billion in revenues. The SAirLines Div.--which comprises Swissair, regional carrier Crossair and charter operator Balair/CTA, and had long suffered from poor financial performance--last year surpassed its goals and posted a $244-million operating profit, up from $182 million during 1997, group executives noted. Traffic increased 9.8% to 15.4 million passengers, and cargo volume soared by 17% to 696,403 metric tons.
A three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals last week upheld an earlier decision of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York to dismiss Crane Co.'s suit against Coltec Industries and BFGoodrich Co. But the companies must now fight a lawsuit that has been filed by AlliedSignal. It claims the merger would violate antitrust laws as well as a long-term contract with Coltec.
After a one-month hiatus due to a technical glitch on the Ariane 4 booster, Arianespace resumed operations on Feb. 26, with its first launch of the year.
A wireless communication technology developed at Rockwell Science Center could give pilots an unprecedented capability to monitor the health of their aircraft systems with inputs from thousands of sensors.
The degradation of communication links is among the top concerns for the Navy leadership as it looks at possible vulnerabilities to information attacks. ``The risk that worries me the most is jamming,'' said Navy Secretary Richard Danzig. While the Pentagon does a good job of building firewalls and redundant capabilities into computer systems to thwart hackers, that level of protection doesn't exist with communication gear linking ships to aircraft and command posts in the U.S., he said.
The first of 54 upgraded F-4 Phantoms for the Turkish air force made its maiden flight, which lasted 55 min., on Feb. 11 in Israel. Israel Aircraft Industries' (IAI) Lahav Div. is upgrading 26 F-4s. The first delivery is expected later this year. The remaining 28 Phantoms will be modernized at the Turkish air force's First Air Maintenance Factory in Eskisehir. IAI's Elta Electronics subsidiary is providing new radars and active electronic warfare systems, while Elbit Systems is in charge of avionics system integration.
France's civil aviation directorate plans to issue the equivalent of an airworthiness directive to remedy potential problems with composite vertical stabilizers used on A320-series and A330-200 transports. Inspections have discovered adhesive bonds with less than normal strength due to contaminated bonding surfaces. Although the fin can withstand applicable flight and ground loads, the directive requires structural reinforcement to improve damage tolerance capability. This includes adding fasteners at potential weak bonding locations.
A U.S. Marine Corps court-martial has acquitted Capt. Richard Ashby, the pilot of the EA-6B Prowler that severed a ski-lift cable in the Italian Alps last year, leading to the deaths of 20 people.
When the second runway at Hong Kong International Airport opens in August, it will require a higher level of monitoring than anticipated due to the introduction of a Category 3a ILS on Runway 25R.
Sea Launch program managers are forging ahead with plans for a demonstration mission despite an ongoing grand jury investigation. The schedule calls for departure from the Long Beach, Calif., home port this week with the Sea Launch command ship and launch platform for a first flight at the equator by the end of this month.
The U.S. Air Force is grappling with a new set of technical complications on the F-22 development program even as it tries to rein in costs to stay within Congressionally mandated caps.
Cincom is using Microsoft's Windows Distributed interNet Applications for Manufacturing (Windows DNA-M) architecture for several programs, including OEM LifeCycle Navigator for management of maintenance, repair and overhaul by original equipment manufacturers. Windows DNA-M is an open architecture that combines the Internet, client/server and PC models of computing and should ease integration of different manufacturing applications. Cincom has already shipped a new version of its CONTROL enterprise resource planning software that incorporates Windows DNA-M.
Photograph: Interactive Flight Technologies and Swissair are exploring a plan for the possible reactivation of the IFT in-flight entertainment systems that were in use on Swissair long-haul aircraft. B/E Aerospace last week completed the sale of its in-flight entertainment (IFE) systems business to Sextant Avionique as two of the sector's smaller players embarked down the same consolidation path.
Representatives of Pratt&Whitney, Boeing, the FAA and operators of Pratt&Whitney PW4000 series engines with 94-in.-dia. fans met Mar. 3 in Seattle to discuss new inspection techniques for early identification of engines susceptible to compressor instabilities--particularly compressor surges. Pratt officials say the inflight shutdown rate of these engines is now about 0.009 incidents per 1,000 flight hours, and that only about 15% of these incidents are caused by compressor instabilities.
The Concorde, pride of Europe's aerospace industry, could be banned from serving the U.S. under a bill passed by the House of Representatives last week. In passing the bill Mar. 3, legislators made clear their action was a reminder to European legislators and regulators of the price they could pay for their planned phaseout and ban of hushkitted commercial transports from the continent's markets (AW&ST Feb. 15, p. 47).
Motorola Inc.'s System Solutions Group has won a $37-million contract for 756 MK45 Mod 9 and Mod 10 target detecting devices and associated materiel. The MK45 is the fuzing component of the Standard missile.
has selected the Lockheed Martin APG-67 multimode radar for use on its KTX-2 trainer/light combat aircraft. The initial $12-million contract includes the buy of five radars and the aircraft integration work, Lockheed Martin said. The contract has options for another 44 radars.
To estimate the cost of producing a part, Boothroyd Dewhurst has introduced Design for Manufacture Concurrent Costing software. It analyzes processes including cold or hot die casting, hot forging, powder metal processing, and sand and investment casting, as well as finishing operations, machine loading and unloading, and packaging. It also investigates alternative materials. Design data can be imported from other Boothroyd Dewhurst software. The program works with Windows 95/98/NT.
Dassault Systemes has invested $6 million in Invention Machine Corp. of Boston, which makes TechOptimizer, a ``knowledge-based innovation'' design analysis program that includes a large database of scientific and engineering principles. Dassault has also signed a software development agreement with Summit Software that will embed Summit's BasicScript scripting engine and development environment into Dassault's products.
Boeing plans later this year to urge the FAA to scrap its 14-year-old process for clearing airlines to fly twin-engine aircraft on long-range, remote routes and replace it with one that would impose design and operational safeguards on future aircraft used on such routes, regardless of how many engines they use.
GKN of the U.K. and Italy's Finmeccanica are still negotiating an agreement to merge their respective helicopter subsidiaries--Westland and Agusta--nearly 11 months after signing a letter of intent last year. GKN officials said they wanted to be sure to ``get it right,'' noting there was no need to rush the joint venture. GKN plans to expand its aerostructures business, but said it has not made a ``significant commitment yet'' to the Airbus Industrie A3XX project.
The Danish air force has ordered Sperwer tactical unmanned air vehicles developed by France's Sagem. The UAVs will be equipped with a secure, long-range digital transmission system, and daylight and infrared high-resolution cameras.
