Platforms International Corp. has secured Ukrainian approval to purchase three supersonic Tu-160 Blackjack bombers for use as airborne launchers of commercial space vehicles, the first step of an ambitious multiphase launcher development program. The deal was approved in early December by Ukraine President Leonid Kuchma and the national council of ministers.
FAA says it now expects to commission its GPS Wide Area Augmentation System (WAAS), designed to provide Category-1 precision approach service, in September 2000--a schedule slippage of about 1 year.
The first commercial launch of the Soyuz booster by France-based Starsem could take place in the next few weeks, according to French industry officials. Starsem's first Soyuz launch, scheduled to orbit four Globalstar mobile telephone satellites from the Baikonur Cosmodrome, was initially planned for late 1998 but has been put on hold because of a delay by U.S., Russia and Kazakhstan in concluding a technology transfer agreement. The U.S. State Dept. is refusing to issue new permits allowing satellite launches from Baikonur involving U.S.
BFGoodrich and Coltec Industries are vigorously defending their proposed merger against a stiff legal challenge by Crane Co., which has been pursuing Coltec for the last several years. Coltec Chairman and CEO John W. Guffey, Jr., described the lawsuit as ``meritless,'' and the company is seeking to dismiss it. A federal judge was expected to rule on Coltec's motion on Jan. 11.
The U.S. Mars Polar Lander and its twin Deep Space 2 penetrators are en route to the Red Planet this week on a mission that is helping inaugurate a new international Mars strategy second in scope only to global aerospace industry collaboration on the International Space Station.
Tangless CoilThread Inserts are designed for use with air-driven insertion tools. They are compatible with most air motors used to install conventional tanged inserts. CoilThread Inserts are used to provide permanent, strong, wear-resistant stainless-steel screw threads in lightweight metals such as aluminum. The tangless inserts reduce the danger of foreign object damage and eliminate the time-consuming tang break-off operation during inspections. The bi-directional design eliminates orienting the insert before installation.
The Navy will soon decide whether to keep the Tomahawk remanufacturing line open longer. A slew of cruise missile firings last year has raised concerns about a shortage of the most capable Tomahawks. Now under consideration is a plan to convert about 300 Block 2D missiles into the newer Block 3Cs. Those have GPS and a better engine and terrain matching system. That would cost around $350 million and keep the Raytheon line open several years.
Under NASA contracts that may total $100 million, Ball Aerospace&Technologies Corp. will build a spacecraft for the CloudSat mission, as well as instruments for the PICASSO-CENA and VOLCAM Earth science missions, which will study clouds, aerosols and volcanic ash.
The U.S. Navy and Simula Technologies are assessing and modeling forces resulting from higher speed helicopter ``hard'' ditchings and crashes in water. Results will help improve occupant safety systems, according to Joseph W. Coltman, president of the Phoenix-based company. About 40% of Navy helicopters that go down do so over water. Initial drop pond tests of stripped and full-weight UH-1H airframes at high vertical speeds resulted in severe damage to the belly skin and even hydroforming of the underfloor structure.
The HP V8486A V-band power sensor is designed to help engineers make accurate and repeatable true-average power measurements in the 50-75-GHz. range. Applications include aerospace and defense, as well as microwave radio systems. Hewlett-Packard Co., 300 Hanover St., Palo Alto, Calif. 94304.
Fighter General: The Life of Adolf Galland, The Official Biography by Col. Raymond F. Toliver, USAF (Ret.) and Trevor J. Constable recounts the career of a man who began World War II flying biplanes in Poland, became a protege of Hermann Goering and general of fighter pilots by the age of 29, but ended the war commanding a squadron of Me 262 jet fighters. Schiffer Publishing Ltd., 4880 Lower Valley Road, Atglen, Pa. 19310.
Rapidly growing leasing company Boullioun Aviation closed Airbus' year on an up note with an order for 30 A320 family transports worth more than $3 billion at list prices. The last-minute order, announced only last week, may help Airbus edge closer to its long-stated 50% market share goal in commercial jet transports. Boeing last week said it logged 656 new orders for the year worth almost $42.1 billion at list prices. The figures do not include cancellations.
Pentagon officials continue to puzzle over the reason and antidote for Iraq's renewed aggressiveness since Operation Desert Fox that so far has included the shift of antiaircraft missiles into the country's no-fly zones and high-speed probing flights by warplanes to within 20 mi. of neighboring countries.
Airline stocks traditionally have risen about 25% from their December lows to their spring highs. Judging from recent gains by most major U.S. carriers, that tradition seems on track to repeat in 1999.
A team of investors led by Arkia Israeli Airlines plans to set up a new carrier to serve Nigeria. This Texas-sized West African nation boasts huge pent-up demand that state-owned flag carrier Nigeria Airways--caught up in the prolonged financial and political crisis that has engulfed the country--is no longer able to meet.
The Falcon-FT is a portable analytical instrument that checks fuel and lubricant condition by Fourier-Transform using infrared technology. It can monitor fluid degradation and identify water, soot, glycol, nitration, sulfation, additive depletion and oxidation. The Falcon-FT also can be customized. The unit weighs less than 30 lb. Its analysis methods follow the specifications of the USA Joint Oil Analysis Program. Midac Corp., 17911 Fitch Ave., Irvine, Calif. 92614.
A mobile satellite venture that lost much of its financing due to the Asian economic crisis received a big boost last week when Lockheed Martin, which is building its spacecraft and ground facilities, agreed to take a 30% stake in the project. Lockheed Martin's investment, worth roughly $150 million, provides enough cash for Asia Cellular Satellite (ACeS) to launch its first A2100-model geosynchronous satellite in June, commence service in the Asia-Pacific region in the fall, and begin work on a second satellite.
Several airlines have started installing a smoke detection and fire suppression system made by Securaplane Technologies LLC of Tucson, Ariz., that relies on wireless, spread-spectrum technology.
Jet Products Co., a Phoenix-area aerospace precision machine shop, is fighting low-cost Asian competition using a ``transitional workforce'' concept. Jet managers with teaching credentials conduct classroom and on-the-job training for high school and college engineering students. The students work part-time as CNC machine operators at an initial pay rate of about $6.50/hr. and must maintain good standing in an academic course load to continue employment.
Marsh Aviation has delivered the first of eight S-2F3T Initial Attack Air Tankers to California's Dept. of Forestry and Fire Protection. Mesa, Ariz.-based Marsh is modifying the former U.S. Navy S-2E twin-engine airplanes into fire-fighting configuration under a contract worth $22.6 million.
Passengers traveling on the European air route system (or crossing the Channel by ferry) will be able to continue buying duty-free goods. In a surprise initiative, the European Union's 15 member states in December agreed to postpone the abolition of duty-free sales scheduled to go into effect in June. In March, the European Commission is expected to determine an extended transitory agreement. Duty-free sales no longer comply with tax regulations prevailing in the European single market.
A U.S. Air Force-conducted Cheyenne Mountain Operations Center upgrade has been declared operational after a 15-year development and test program. The $1.8-billion upgrade involved improving communication, data processing and display systems at the nexus of U.S. and Canadian missile warning, air defense and space operations networks. USAF also set up an alternate missile warning center at Offutt AFB, Neb. (AW&ST Feb. 6, 1995, p. 46).
A third satellite builder, Motorola, claims it was unfairly tarred during the China tech transfer probe. Motorola used China's Long March booster to launch batches of Iridium satellites. Rep. Dana Rohrabacher (R-Calif.) charged on the House floor that multi-satellite dispensers for the launches helped China acquire MIRV missile technology (AW&ST Aug. 17, 1998, p. 27). But Bary R. Bertiger, chief of Motorola's Satellite Communications Group, told Aviation Week that's just not true. ``He had his facts all wrong,'' Bertiger said.
Arousing alarm bells in neighboring Pakistan, India has continued its long-standing cooperation with Russia by agreeing to the broad outline of a new ``strategic partnership.'' The partnership, which offers assurances that neither will join alliances in conflict with the other, was agreed to following a visit by Russian Prime Minister Yevgeny M. Primakov to Indian Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpaye here in late December. It is to be formally signed at a summit later this year.
ICO Global Communications has launched a global roaming service that will form one of the cornerstones of its planned satellite-based mobile phone service.
