Golf celebrity and businessman Greg Norman has canceled his order for a Boeing Business Jet. One of the first BBJ customers, Norman also acted in an ambassadorial role for the BBJ, appearing in company advertisements and speaking on behalf of the program. Norman cited the Asian market downturn as changing his travel requirements.
Advanced radars are expected to be combined soon with infrared and optical cameras to create improved, long-range intelligence-gathering systems for aircraft, unmanned aerial vehicles and new generations of less expensive intelligence-gathering satellites.
BFGoodrich Aerospace tested electrically powered brakes on an F-16 fighter last month, showing that they are compatible with the aircraft and have equal or better feel to the pilot. Laboratory tests indicate they should have better stopping distance than hydraulic brakes. Electric brakes make the prospect of an all electrically actuated aircraft more plausible, which is the goal of the Air Force's More Electric Aircraft program. NASA recently demonstrated an electromechanical aileron actuator on an F/A-18 fighter under this program.
High shuttle recovery costs have prompted Japan's Space Activities Commission (SAC), the nation's highest-ranking space policy-setting body, to ground the Space Flyer Unit (SFU). The 5 X 2-meter (16.4 X 6.56-ft.) unmanned platform has been used only once. It was launched by an H-2 booster in March 1995 and recovered by Japanese astronaut Koichi Wakata on a January 1996 shuttle mission.
The U.S. Air Force and aerospace industry are working on a major initiative to retool the infrastructure and government-business relationships at both the Cape Canaveral and Vandenberg AFB, Calif., launch sites. The objective is to ensure the Eastern and Western launch ranges are modernized to handle surging commercial flight rates and remain cost competitive with foreign facilities.
Sikorsky Aircraft Corp. has received an $11-million contract to provide a CH-60S airborne mine countermeasures towing demonstration for the U.S. Naval Surface Warfare Center.
After years of experimenting, the U.S. has found a potent mix of weapons--radars in multiple bands, massive computing power in small packages and innovative algorithms for sorting through huge amounts of data--to identify and track some of the most hard-to-find targets. Senior defense officials believe the new blend of technologies should allow U.S. forces to battle the stealthiest threats in the air, be they cruise or ballistic missiles or aircraft. In addition, the systems should make it easier to find the best-hidden targets on the ground.
India's Airborne Early Warning development program suffered a setback on Jan. 11 when a Hawker Siddeley 748 Airborne Surveillance Platform technology demonstrator aircraft (see p. 56) crashed 2.5 km. (1.5 mi.) short of the runway at a naval air base near Arakkonam in southern India. All eight persons on board were killed, including the flight test aircrew and a research team from the Defense Research&Development Organization. Part of the rotodome may have detached and hit the tail, leading to loss of control.
The U.S. Federal Communications Commission is reviewing billions of dollars worth of new proposals for global satellite systems designed to capitalize on burgeoning demand for high-speed Internet and data services. The latest round of applications, still being processed by the FCC last week, are for non-geosynchronous systems that would use Ku-band portions of the radio spectrum to provide broadband data services.
British Aerospace and Denel, soon to be privatized by the South African government, have signed an agreement establishing a framework for closer cooperation. BAe will transfer skills and technology to South Africa and help promote Denel's products on the international market.
Trefor Jones has been named chairman of Pilkington Optronics, which is managed jointly by Pilkington of the U.K. and Thomson-CSF of France. Jones, who was CEO, succeeds Sir Robin Nicholson, who is retiring. Tom O'Neill succeeds Jones as CEO. They will serve on the Joint Venture Board with Bernard Rocquemont, senior vice president of Thomson-CSF, and David Price, managing director of Thomson (U.K.) Holdings.
Despite U.S. sanctions because of India's nuclear tests, Defense Minister George Fernandes has said a series of proposed civil and military aircraft development programs remain underway, but he was indefinite about their timing.
A U.S. Air National Guard KC-135 refueling tanker crashed while attempting to land at the NATO air base at Geilenkirchen in northwestern Germany on Jan. 13. The crash, in which all four crewmembers were killed, occurred roughly 1,200 meters (3,900 ft.) northwest of the air base. The aircraft, from the 141st Air Refueling Wing at Fairchild AFB, Wash., had completed a routine aerial refueling mission prior to the accident, which is under investigation.
William T. Ober (see photo) has been appointed vice president-radio frequency electronic warfare programs for the Defensive Systems Div. of the Northrop Grumman Corp. Electronics Sensors and Systems Sector, Rolling Meadows, Ill. He was director of administration and special assistant to the general manager of EW Systems. Rear Adm. James R. Stark (USN, Ret.) has been named director of marketing for Western Europe and Keith Linwood Young manager in South Korea. Young was director of business development for Raytheon International in South Korea.
The stall warning sounded moments before impact of a Thai Airways International A310-204 at Surat Thani, Thailand, on Dec. 11, according to persons in Thailand familiar with the investigation. They said the sound is heard on the cockpit voice recorder that is being analyzed by the NTSB in Washington. The aircraft, an Airbus A310-204, was attempting to make a landing in bad weather when it crashed, killing 102 of the 146 people on board. Australian survivors said that the A310 was in a near vertical attitude and shaking before the crash.
Addressing reports of cracks in newly designed rudder control system components, the FAA is proposing requiring operators of 737-100 through -500 series aircraft to perform repetitive inspections of the systems. The proposed airworthiness directive would call on operators to perform displacement tests on the rudder to check for signs of cracking in the servo valve of its power control unit (PCU). The action was prompted by reports of cracking found in PCU secondary servo valve slides. Operators have until Feb. 12 to file comments on the proposal.
Researchers at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory have developed a promising new eddy current inspection method that quickly and effectively penetrates several layers of metal, such as that used in large transport structures. The technique uses a fixed array made up of several coil sets and placed on the wing or fuselage area to be inspected. A large-diameter driver coil, rotating above and parallel to but off-axis from the central fixed array, detects and characterizes flaws and corrosion, according to Ronald Hockey, senior research scientist.
TRW and Ball Aerospace&Technologies Corp. have teamed to compete for NASA's Next Generation Space Telescope (NGST), a system set for launch in 2007 that is intended to have about 10 times the light-gathering capabilities of the Hubble Space Telescope. TRW will serve as the team's prime contractor, while Ball Aerospace will be the principal subcontractor, playing a major role in developing the NGST payload.
The FAA has approved an alternate method of compliance of an airworthiness directive requiring oil leak checks on Allison AE-3007-series turbofan engines that was issued in response to three inflight shutdowns since Jan. 4.
Philippine Airlines has shifted tactics in its fight for survival by recruiting four executives from Hong Kong's Cathay Pacific Airways as a management team to put PAL on a better footing with its 9,000 creditors. Besides talking with creditors, the team has put talks with the Philippines Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), which has been charged with overseeing PAL's rehabilitation in the face of $2.1 billion in debt, at the top of its agenda.
Europe's new common currency, the euro, should help advance local aerospace companies' wide-ranging efforts to reduce production costs and boost competitiveness vis-a-vis their U.S. rivals.
The Defense Dept. will replenish its stock of cruise missiles in the aftermath of Operation Desert Fox while U.S. aircraft in the northern no-fly zone are trying to destroy Iraqi air defenses to compensate for shortfalls in last month's air strikes.
