The new German chancellor, Gerhard Schroeder, has named the final members of his cabinet. In addition to defense minister Rudolf Scharping, Schroeder added Franz Muentefering as transport minister and Edelgard Bulmahn as minister of education and research, in charge of space activities. Like Schroeder and Scharping, both are from the Social Democratic Party and are not expected to radically change existing defense, aviation and aerospace policies.
Cirrus Design Corp.'s SR20 light airplane received FAA certification Oct. 23. FAA Administrator Jane F. Garvey issued the certificate to Cirrus officials during the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Assn.'s Expo '98 convention in Palm Springs, Calif.
Honeywell's Airport Systems business, formed in 1996, is aggressively acquiring or partnering with other companies to reach its goal of providing turn-key, integrated ``airside infrastructure'' projects for airports. With partner DDS in Vancouver, British Columbia, Honeywell is testing a new TracLink Global Positioning System (GPS)-based airport vehicle tracking technology, according to Mark Howes, vice president of airport systems within the company's Space and Aviation Control group.
Ivan A. Getting, the first president of The Aerospace Corp. of Los Angeles, has received the Space and Missile Pioneer Award from the U.S. Air Force Space Command, Peterson AFB, Colo. Receiving the award posthumously were Gen. Samuel C. Phillips and Karel J. (Charlie) Bossart.
Phantom Works is moving out of the black world and applying its technologies and process expertise across the Boeing product line, including commercial transports. Phantom Works is being expanded to become the ``shared resource'' for basic technology, manufacturing processes, prototyping and laboratories across Boeing. The change, made official earlier this month, has been chartered by top Boeing management, including President Harry Stonecipher.
Aerospatiale will develop an electron and X-ray beam curing process to produce large-scale composite materials structures. The initiative has been funded by the European Commission's Brite Euram research program. Eurocopter and DaimlerChrysler Aerospace are among other companies that are participating.
Italy's Minerva Airlines and Alitalia Express will use Lufthansa Aero service centers for their Pratt&Whitney Canada PW119 and PW127 turboprop engines. The PW119 powers Minerva's Dornier 328s while the PW127 powers Alitalia's ATR 72s.
TERA COMPUTER CO. IS TRANSITIONING its multi-threaded microprocessor architecture from gallium arsenide, application-specific integrated circuits to complementary metal oxide semiconductor (CMOS) technology. Tera has selected Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. as its foundry. Tera plans to phase in CMOS over the next two years until all 24 GaAs ASICs are replaced with CMOS microprocessors. The company claims its multithread architecture offers effective parallel processing for supercomputers that is easier to use than massively parallel systems.
European defense procurement agencies are poised to launch the decisive phases of major new missile and military helicopter programs. Last month, the French government issued a contract for definition of the ANF, a long-range supersonic antiship missile intended to succeed the Exocet. Coupled with the subsonic NSM, being developed by Aerospatiale and Kongsberg of Norway for the Royal Norwegian Navy, the 200-km. (108-naut.-mi.) range, Mach 2.5-3 ANF will provide Europe with a state-of-the-art antiship missile capability.
Lockheed Martin Sanders has won a $12-million contract from the U.S. Navy to provide its AN/USQ-113 communications jamming system for upgrade of EA-6B Prowler aircraft.
Gen. (ret.) Ronald R. Fogleman (see photos), former U.S. Air Force chief of staff, has been appointed to the board of directors of the Allison Engine Co. of Indianapolis, a Rolls-Royce subsidiary. Gary F. Swartz has become Indianapolis-based vice president-procurement for North America of Rolls-Royce. He was vice president-supply management, production planning, logistics and parts distribution of the Outboard Marine Corp., Waukegan, Ill.
Rafael of Israel has established EuroSpike, a consortium that includes STN Atlas Elektronic, Diehl and Rheinmetall, to jointly market and produce the company's anti-armor weapons, including Gill, Spike and NTD. State-owned Rafael also signed an agreement with Lockheed Martin to jointly market and manufacture Rafael's Python-4 short-range air-to-air missile.
A Russian Progress tanker/transport carrying about a ton of supplies docked with the Mir space station Oct. 27 following its launch from the Baikonur Cosmodrome on Oct. 25. The mission to resupply the two cosmonauts on Mir had been delayed by two months by Russian budget problems. When the Progress is undocked from Mir in February, it is to automatically unfurl a 100-ft.-dia. foil type reflector to demonstrate deployment mechanisms for potentially larger reflectors in the future.
Japan Air System will transfer its international services to a wholly owned subsidiary, Harlequin Air, within three years. JAS once attempted a major international expansion but could not buck Japan Airlines or All Nippon Airways. But it does have regional routes and will transition to Harlequin with expanded services into China. The four new routes include three-times-weekly services from Tokyo to Xian, and twice-weekly Tokyo-Guangzhou, Kansai-Kunming and Kansai-Xian services.
James J. Frelk has been named vice president-spatial information systems of ERIM International, Ann Arbor, Mich. He was vice president-market development and government operations of EarthWatch.
Once the province only of military officers, statesmen and philosophers, wargaming has moved into the executive suites of corporate businesses across the globe. Today, defense contractors, airlines, tire companies, energy utilities, oil conglomerates and other industries have embraced wargaming--also known as ``Dynamic Competitive Simulation''--to improve their competitive positions in a rapidly changing economy.
During recent tests at Eglin AFB, Fla., Lockheed Martin Vought System's Low- Cost Autonomous Attack Systems (Locaas) vehicle demonstrated its ability to glide to a specified area, search and locate a designated target. The Locaas selected a Scud missile launcher situated among tanks, identified the target and simulated a direct hit on the launcher. The Locaas is designed for deployment from aircraft for suppression of enemy air defenses, deep attack interdiction missions and other roles.
Edwin T. Mahood has been named senior analyst of the Official Helicopter Blue Book, Lincolnshire, Ill. He was director of marketing for CALM Systems Inc.
NASA selected Orbital Sciences Corp. and Coleman Research Corp. for contracts to launch up to 16 small-class payloads over the next five years. Each of the indefinite delivery and quantity contracts had a maximum value of $400 million.
Group Capt. John Cunningham, celebrated Royal Air Force night fighter pilot during World War 2 and for 33 years the chief test pilot for the de Havilland Aircraft Co., has received the U.K.'s Guild of Air Pilots and Air Navigators' Sir Barnes Wallis Medal for contributions to British aviation. Bill Deacon, a winch operator with the Shetland Coast Guard, won the Prince Philip Helicopter Rescue Award posthumously. Lowered to the deck of a cargo vessel battered by 30-40-ft. waves and 60-kt.
Hong Kong Air Cargo Terminals Ltd.'s billion-dollar Super Terminal 1 at the city's new international airport is restricting freight shipments because part of its ceiling collapsed. The problem struck the 2.95-million-sq.-ft. building--the world's largest air freight center--on Oct. 15 when beams that support power cables collapsed. Although that area of the building is not fully used, HACTL officials began restricting cargo shipments. Power was restored recently, but HACTL officials did not say how much longer the freight restrictions would last.
A five-month delay in the first flight of the NASA/Lockheed Martin X-33 single-stage-to-orbit testbed has refocused attention on the basic question of whether its technologies can really provide an economical, reusable launcher. The X-33 testbed is now scheduled to fly for the first time in December 1999 and it is by no means clear whether this approach will ultimately be successful.
The U.K.'s Ministry of Defense has selected several acquisition programs as potential pilot projects for its Smart Procurement initiative. Existing programs slated for the streamlining effort include the GKN Westland WAH-64 Apache attack helicopter, the British Aerospace Nimrod MRA4 replacement maritime patrol aircraft and the GEC Brimstone antitank missile. Upcoming projects include the Future Offensive Air System and a program to acquire two new large-deck aircraft carriers.
Turkey has decided to buy eight Sikorsky CH-53E Super Stallion helicopters in a contract estimated to be worth $200 million. At the same time, Prime Minister Mesut Yilmaz is ready to finalize a contract with Sikorsky for 50 additional Black Hawk helicopters. Defense sources indicate the CH-53Es will be used to transport and support Turkish forces in cross-border operations against Kurdish militants in northern Iraq. Tensions between Turkey and Syria about the Kurdish separatist issue eased last week following mediation efforts by Egypt and Iran.
