Charles A. Bigot, former chairman/CEO of Arianespace, has been appointed to the board of directors of Ellipso Inc. of Washington and chairman of the board's Advisory Committee for European Policy and Strategic Planning.
Ever concerned about alienating Chinese military officials, the Pentagon is playing down reports that Beijing is increasing the number of short-range ballistic missiles opposite Taiwan. This is ``not a new threat'' because short-range ballistic missiles have been deployed along the Chinese coast near Taiwan for more than 5 years, said a Pentagon official. But Taiwanese officials are concerned the number will grow from about 100 CSS-6 missiles to around 600 in the coming years.
The U.K. Ministry of Defense issued a last-minute, unexpected request to contenders for the Airborne Stand-Off Radar (Astor) program to resubmit their bids late last month. Three teams--led by Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman and Raytheon--were given a week to clarify their cost estimates, as defense officials sought to obtain common baselines for dissimilar proposals. They are evaluating whether four Astor aircraft, rather than five, may provide enough operational capability.
Congress is as upset as the Administration about new European hushkit restrictions (see p. 47). No sooner had the Commerce Dept. and European Commission (EC) exchanged blows in dueling press releases than lawmakers brandished companion House/Senate bills that would revoke the waiver of noise regulations that permit the Concorde to operate between Europe and New York. Mocking the EC for cloaking itself in the drapes of environmental sanctity, Rep. James L.
El Al Israel Airlines has asked Israel's attorney general to lift the order which bars the state-owned carrier from flying on the Jewish Sabbath and holidays. The request came after the attorney general ruled that additional Israeli passenger and cargo airlines could be licensed for international operations. Privately owned Arkia Israeli Airlines, as well as CAL Cargo Airlines, are looking to take advantage of the ruling (AW&ST Jan. 25, p. 55).
Boeing, Lockheed Martin and TRW have received a $125-million contract for initial work on a Space-Based Laser Integrated Flight Experiment. The award--made by the Ballistic Missile Defense Organization and the U.S. Air Force--covers groundwork in such preliminary areas as determining required development activities and conducting an affordability and architecture study.
Rolls-Royce has opened a new repair and overhaul facility for AE3007 engines in East Kilbridge, Scotland. The facility, which also is a test and rework center for AE2100 engines, becomes the third AE3007 repair center. The other two are in Montreal and Sao Paulo.
Japan's Defense Agency has renewed the selection process for the T-X primary trainer, a program Fuji Heavy Industries won with its turboprop T-7 and then lost when the company became entangled in a bribery scandal.
China has deployed as many as 200 M-9 and M-11 short- and medium-range ballistic missiles in its southern provinces with the intent of targeting Taiwan, according to U.S. military intelligence reports. In response, Taiwan Defense Minister Tang Fei said his country will forge ahead with development of the Sky Bow II missile defense system. A Western defense industry official said Taiwan's new system, developed by the military's Chungshan Institute of Technology and Science, will draw heavily on Patriot technology.
The Sea Launch program is conducting sea trials off the Southern California coast for its planned demonstration mission on the equator that is scheduled in about one month. Following completion of sea trials and final preparations in port, the command ship and self-propelled launch platform are scheduled to depart Long Beach, Calif., on Feb. 28 for the launch site, about 1,400 mi. southeast of Hawaii. Launch of a simulated payload is set for Mar. 14.
Management woes continue at Olympic Airways, as Theodore Tsakiridis, managing director of the state-owned carrier, handed in his resignation last week. The move came just prior to the deadline for interested parties to bid on taking over management of the troubled carrier and finding a strategic partner. The Greek government is looking for other airlines or management specialists to help push through Olympic's faltering restructuring program and put the carrier back in the black.
The City of Chicago has proposed a $1-billion expansion at O'Hare International Airport primarily to serve the global alliances of United and American airlines, its two major tenants. The plan, released last week and met with a mixed reception, calls for construction of two terminals and two federal inspection facilities. Some 20 gates, wide enough to accommodate the Boeing 777s now operated by both carriers, are part of the design concept.
NASA's Cassini spacecraft has successfully completed its sixth scheduled trajectory adjustment maneuver, firing a main engine for 2 min. to make a 11.5-meter-per sec. (25.7-mph.) change in spacecraft speed. The move is intended to fine-tune Cassini's fly-by of Venus on June 24. The spacecraft is currently traveling at a speed of 20.02 km./sec. (44,784 mph.) relative to the Sun. The June fly-by is one of four during the mission to provide the required velocity for the spacecraft's journey to Saturn, where it is scheduled to arrive in 2004.
Look for increased use of high-velocity machining techniques by aerospace manufacturers and component makers. HVM uses rapid, shallow cutting passes to keep heat in discarded aluminum chips and prevent transfer to--and heat warping of--the part (AW&ST Aug. 24, 1998, p. 46). This allows the fast, reliable construction of high-quality aluminum parts with walls as thin as 0.005 in., according to Bert Casper, vice president of marketing for Remmele Engineering Inc. The automated process also reduces component weight, manufacturing time, inventory and tooling.
The flight line at Edwards AFB, Calif., was blanketed by 105 F-16s on Feb. 5-6 when the base hosted a celebration of the Fighting Falcon's first flight 25 years ago. Pilots from units throughout the U.S. flew 72 F-16s to Edwards as part of ``Falcon Rejoin 25,'' a 2-day event hosted by the 416 Flight Test Sqdn. All block numbers of the ``Viper''--as the fighter is called by its pilots and ground crews--were present, as were Edwards-based USAF test aircraft and two F-16XLs now flown by NASA.
Marconi Flight Systems has received a contract to provide for installation of Pacer Compass, Radar and GPS kits and future avionics block upgrades on an estimated 220 USAF C/KC-135 aircraft.
Ryanair will open six new routes from its London Stansted Airport hub this summer and plans to add another two before year-end. The Irish low-cost carrier will fly three times a week to Frankfurt, Germany; twice weekly to Genoa and Turin, Italy. Once-a-week flights are planned for Ancona, Italy, and Biarritz and Dinard, France. The carrier's latest quarterly results saw pretax profits up 11.8% to $13.02 million as passenger traffic rose 20% to 1.2 million.
Debra A. Gray has become vice president/chief financial officer, Ami P. Kelley vice president/general counsel and Charles B. Malone vice president-sales, marketing and communications, all of FDX Global Logistics, Memphis, Tenn. Gray was vice president-finance. Kelley held the same positions at Caliber Logistics, and Malone was a vice president-sales and marketing for Federal Express.
Karl Anderson, director of engineering for Valid Measurements, Lancaster, Calif., and a retired engineer at the NASA Dryden Flight Research Center, has received the 1998 Excellence in Documentation Award from the Instrumentation Society of America.
GPS alone will not meet the FAA's navigation requirements, according to a recent study by the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory. But in apparent contradiction, the study concludes that: ``GPS with appropriate WAAS/LAAS (Wide-Area Augmentation System and Local-Area Augmentation System) configurations can satisfy the required navigation performance as the only navigation system installed in the aircraft and the only navigation service provided by the FAA.'' The issue is the amount of augmentation required.
Ken Curry has been promoted to vice president/general manager from general manager and George Walker to executive director from director of marketing of Petersen Aviation, Van Nuys, Calif.
Cordant Technologies last week increased its ownership of Howmet International by buying the 22.6 million shares of How- met owned by the Carlyle Group for $385 million or $17 a share. The remaining Howmet stock is publicly owned.
Christopher W. Hansen (see photo) has been promoted to senior vice president from vice president-government affairs in Washington for the Boeing Co. He succeeds Stanley Ebner, who has retired as senior vice president-Washington operations. He will be a consultant on government affairs to Boeing.
