Endeavoring to draw American industry more deeply into joint efforts to dismantle ex-Soviet nuclear weapons, President Clinton is proposing a 70% expansion of federal programs that aid Russia's nonproliferation and defense conversion projects.
A NASA-funded study on airline cockpit communications by the Georgia Institute of Technology has found that first officers initially resort to indirect techniques instead of explicitly telling the captain what to do if he or she has made a mistake.
To help prevent designing electronic devices with parts that may soon be obsolete, Aspect Development has devised a Life Cycle Management module for its component and supplier management systems. The LCM module can use Aspect's large database of electronic parts to get obsolescence information directly from suppliers, or can use algorithms to estimate when a part will become obsolete. It can warn when obsolescence may be a problem, analyze the effects on a product and help devise solutions, the company says.
Silicon Graphics Inc. has introduced its first Windows NT and Intel Pentium II-based visual workstations to keep pace with the fastest growing segment of the market for computer-aided design and manufacturing. The basic model 320 (in photo at right with SGI 1600SW flat panel display) can be configured with one or two Pentium II 450-MHz. processors, while the powerful model 540 can be configured with up to four Pentium II Xeon 450-MHz. processors. Xeon is Intel's highest performing processor, and the 540 is the first graphics workstation to support up to four CPUs.
National security experts are split over the possible demise of on-site weapons inspections in the wake of recent charges that U.S. intelligence misused the U.N. Special Commission chartered to verify Iraq's dismantling of its weapons of mass destruction.
DRS TECHNOLOGIES HAS BEEN CHOSEN to supply Multiple Platform Boresight Equipment to British Aerospace Military Aircraft and Aerostructures. The systems are destined for Canada and Australia, for use with the Hawk 100 Series light attack, fixed-wing aircraft. Relying mostly on commercial off-the-shelf technology, the single-beam, laser-based instrument measures all three axes of weapons, fire control and navigation systems to 0.9 milliradians in less than an hour.
NORTHROP GRUMMAN HAS BEGUN delivering 20 upgraded EA-6B Prowler electronic warfare (EW) aircraft at the rate of one a month to the U.S. Navy's NAS Whidbey Island (Wash.) base. These aircraft are modified to a common ``Block 89'' configuration. Two EW performance enhancements will follow, the first to Block 89A, and the second to Improved Capability-3. ICAP-3 will provide reactive jamming and a counter to new threats, and is slated for initial operations in 2004.
Louis J. Giuliano, president/chief operating officer of ITT Industries Inc., has been elected chairman of the National Defense Industrial Assn. for 1999. Vice chair will be Marilyn W. Andrulis, who is chair/ president/CEO of the Andrulis Corp.
Gen. William Lyon (USAF, Ret.) has been named to the board of directors of Kellstrom Industries Inc., Sunrise, Fla. He also was chairman/president/CEO of AirCal and a director of American Airlines.
Air France has been singing a familiar refrain of late: Load factors on its 16 Asian routes are approaching 80%, but currency devaluations are leaving economy-class customers clamoring for discount tickets. But its business-class traffic from Paris was up 25% in 1998, in part because many Europeans were flying to the region to check their investments. With 23 flights per week into Osaka, Nagoya and Tokyo, services to Japan still contribute half of Air France's Asia-Pacific revenues.
William R. Bean, Jr., has become director of the cadet program of the Civil Air Patrol, based at CAP headquarters, Maxwell AFB, Ala. He was Southeast U.S. director of aerospace education.
Boeing subsidiary McDonnell Douglas Helicopter Co. plans to sell its lightweight, commercial helicopter product line to Netherlands-based RDM Holding Inc. and is scheduled to complete the transaction by mid-February. No U.S. regulatory delays are anticipated by the two companies. RDM's subsidiary, MD Helicopter Holding Inc., is handling the transaction.
Boeing remains committed to its massive DCAC/MRM computer project, which is destined to transform the way commercial aircraft production is managed, although the effort has proved more difficult and time consuming than expected.
In a management shakeup, Beijing's Air China has replaced four top executives in an effort to gain a more solid business footing. The installation of Wang Lian, the former vice minister of the Civil Aviation Administration of China, as president was received positively by regional airline analysts. Wang was executive chairman of Shanghai's China Eastern Group and succeeds Yin Wenlong, who has retired, according to the CAAC.
Responding to ever-increasing customer demands for more capacity, Space Systems/Loral has unveiled plans to develop a massive satellite bus that would offer commercial operators an unprecedented 25 kw. of power. The geosynchronous ``20.20'' bus, set to debut in 2002, would essentially provide two satellites in one. It would carry more than 150 transponders, compared to a maximum of 80 transponders that can be accommodated on the company's current bus, the FS 1300.
Raytheon Systems Co.'s Command and Control Div. in Fullerton, Calif. (formerly Hughes Ground Systems Group) has received a Level 5 rating from Carnegie-Mellon University's Software Engineering Institute based on SEI's Capability Maturity Model. Level 5, the SEI's highest rating, was earned for Raytheon's work on the FAA's Wide Area Augmentation System (WAAS), the Satellite-Based Augmentation System for the Japanese Civil Aviation Board's Multi-Function Transport Satellite (MTSAT) and Germany's Schonewalde air defense system.
David B.A. Fleming, general manager of flight technical and training for British Airways, is one of three winners of the reintroduced AlliedSignal Bendix Trophy for Aviation Safety. The others are: Edward D. Mendenhall, director of flight operations for the Gulfstream Aerospace Corp., and Edmond L. Soliday, vice president-corporate safety, quality assurance and security for United Airlines. The award recognizes individual efforts to improve aerospace safety.
GEC's Marconi Electronic Systems is launching production of the ECR-90 radar for the Eurofighter following a contract award valued at 350 million pounds ($578 million) by its prospective new owner, British Aerospace.
B/E Aerospace has been selected by Legend Airlines to provide seats in its all-business-class service for six DC-9 aircraft. B/E also will provide seating for all 20 of the BAe 146s operated by Jersey European Airways.
Rada Electronics Industries Ltd. has received an order from Scandinavian Airlines System for its Commercial Aviation Test System to support next-generation Boeing 737s.
Bell Helicopter Textron officials expect to receive Transport Canada certification of the twin-engine 427 as early as next month. The flight test program has accumulated more than 550 hr. and 1,300 landings, as well as 810 engine starts and more than 1,280 hr. on its Pratt&Whitney Canada turboshaft powerplants. Bell has 81 orders for the helicopter from 47 customers. The 427's base price is $1.9 million.
Harold B. (Buck) Adams has been appointed president/chief operating officer of the WorldSpace Corp. of Washington. He was chairman/CEO of the Artley Group Ltd., also in Washington.
Boeing China President Ray Bracy sees some hope of sales for the 717 to regional carriers such as Yunnan Airlines, but otherwise has painted a somber picture of sales prospects in China. With the economy underperforming and only seven of China's 27 airlines prosperous in 1998, there are ``no other sales on the radar screen,'' he told an industry group in Hong Kong. He predicted large layoffs at China Southern and China Eastern. Air China, the nation's third-largest carrier, has undergone a management shakeup because of poor business results.
SAP AG, the German software company, has made significant strides in winning major aerospace and defense customers during the past 2 years based on its promise to address the special needs of the industry.
British Aerospace's decision to merge with GEC Marconi has eased France's fears that its industry would be marginalized in the European consolidation race.
