Volvo Aero has reached an agreement in principle to acquire 67% of the Norwegian aircraft engine component manufacturer Norsk Jetmotor, based in Kongsberg. Volvo Aero President Fred Bodin expects to complete the transaction by the end of 1998. Pratt&Whitney has a 22% stake in Norsk Jetmotor, and Snecma an 11% interest.
Three annual, national-level wargames hosted by the U.S. Navy, Army and Air Force are exposing crucial issues that must be resolved if the U.S. and its allies are to survive and win major future conflicts. The ``Big Three'' Title-10 games--Navy's ``Global,'' ``Army After Next'' (AAN) and Air Force's ``Global Engagement'' -- have become a primary mechanism for regional commanders, as well as Pentagon, congressional and White House decisionmakers, to explore and increase their understanding of complex matters such as:
International arms sales grew in value by 12% in 1997, to $46.3 million, according to the International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS). That represents a real increase of 36% since 1995, after three years of decline. But IISS analysts expected sales to slump again over the next two years before rising again at the turn of the century. The Asian economic crisis has already created postponements and cancellations of programs in a number of countries, and Russia was hit particularly hard.
Skeptics scoffed earlier this year at Vice President Al Gore's plan for a spacecraft to provide real-time imagery of Earth on the Internet, labeling the project a publicity stunt with little scientific payoff. But it now appears Gore's ``Triana'' will get off the ground after all. NASA last week selected the Scripps Institution of Oceanography in La Jolla, Calif., from nine competitors to help develop Triana. The spacecraft is to be stationed at the L-1 Lagrangian point between the Sun and Earth.
A state district court in Fort Worth has ruled that Dallas must prohibit interstate flights from Love Field, setting the scene for a potential showdown with the federal government over whether the city or Congress has authority to control expanded service at the airport.
Mark Harris (see photos) has been appointed managing director of business operations, Scott Gunnufson director of customer programs and Scott Watson director of business development, all for Rockwell Collins Support Services, Cedar Rapids, Iowa. Harris was director of aircraft program management and Gunnufson maintenance contracts manager, both for Northwest Airlines. Watson was manager of Rockwell Collins' Dallas center.
Representatives of the FedEx Pilots Assn. (FPA) and FedEx management have resumed negotiations aimed at forging a new contract amidst union threats to implement a work reduction plan beginning Nov. 9. The FPA intends to enact a policy of no longer accepting overtime flying on that date, chiefly as a vehicle to vent its displeasure with slow progress at the bargaining table, according to the union. In addition, FPA officials are discussing plans to authorize a strike during the holiday period if a tentative agreement is not reached soon.
France's Reims Aviation will produce fuselage barrels for Airbus Industrie's 124-185-seat A319/A320/A321 twinjets. In addition, it will manufacture belly fairings for the stretched-fuselage A340-500/600 transports.
The growing number of disruptive passengers who endanger flight safety and operations is fast becoming a major concern to airlines. To prevent escalation of the problem, KLM Royal Dutch Airlines has launched a specific preventive training program for its 11,000 employees, including flight attendants and airport staff. During the first half of the year, the Dutch carrier reported an average of 100 incidents per month, ranging from minor problems with inebriated travelers to actual physical violence.
The consolidated South Korean aerospace company that is emerging from a government-industry planning team would level the playing field in the country's manufacturing activities.
BIPOLAR ELECTRONICS COMMONLY USED in satellites for analog signal processing may fail after long exposure to low levels of radiation in space, according to researchers at Sandia National Laboratories. Commercially manufactured bipolar electronics were thought suitable for space, based on tests that subjected them to high doses of radiation for a short time. Researchers speculate radiation may have caused the May outage of PanAmSat Corp.'s Galaxy 4 satellite.
LOOKING GLASS, THE U.S. AIR FORCE squadron of EC-135 aircraft that has been the nation's airborne nuclear command center for 37 years, has turned the mission over to the Navy's E-6B Tacamo (Take Charge and Move Out) aircraft. Tacamo was developed during the cold war to relay instant, long range communication from the President to submerged nuclear ballistic missile submarines. A modification to the E-6B configuration adds communications equipment and command consoles to permit carrying out both missions.
Ground controllers at the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory are preparing for an initial firing of the large ion electric propulsion system on the Deep Space 1 spacecraft launched Oct. 24 on NASA's first Med-Lite version of the Boeing Delta 2 booster.
Industria de Turboreactorres (ITR) inaugurated its new engine maintenance, overhaul and repair facility in Queretaro, Mexico. ITR is a joint venture between Industria de Turbo Propulsores of Spain (60%) and Cintra, the Mexican airlines group (40%), which invested $20 million to modernize the facility. ITR, which will work mainly on Pratt&Whitney JT8 engines, is expected to employ 300 workers by 1999. Another $30 million is to be invested through the year 2004, by which time the workforce is expected to grow to 500.
Is a shift in the works for this week's Global Analysis and Information Network GAIN (see p. 55) conference in Long Beach, Calif.? The first two GAIN confabs, in 1996 and 1997, focused on calling for a grand, global mechanism for sharing incident and accident analysis data among airlines and regulators. Now, airline officials say they want to focus on more pragmatic means of implementing ``data sharing.'' That may mean being satisfied for now that major airlines are increasing their incident analysis, while encouraging smaller carriers to develop their capabilities.
The first delivery of a lighter, less expensive, improved performance version of the APR-48A Electronic Support Measures (ESM) system for the AH-64D Apache Longbow helicopter is expected shortly. The updated version, developed by Lockheed Martin's Federal Systems in Owego, N.Y., under a value engineering change proposal, provides a 10% weight reduction and a 25% reduction in power consumption compared to APR-48As in the first two production lots. There also has been a 15% reduction in system cost, with the company and the Army sharing the savings.
William A. Schoneberger, a public relations counsel in Malibu, Calif., and former communications director for the Northrop Corp., has won the Lauren D. Lyman Award from the Society of Aerospace Communications. The award recognizes career achievement in aviation journalism.
Northrop Grumman's Electronic Sensors and Systems division and ELOP of Israel are exploring a teaming arrangement on advanced reconnaissance pods for F/A-18 aircraft.
Northrop Grumman's AAQ-24 directed infrared countermeasures (DIRCM) system recently successfully demonstrated in live-fire tests its ability to defend against a variety of heat-seeking surface-to-air missiles. The tests, which began June 8 and ran for six weeks, were conducted at the White Sands (N.M.) Missile Range's cable car facility.
Europe's Ariane 5 booster has successfully finished its qualification test campaign on its third attempt, preparing the way for the new heavy-lift launcher to enter service.
Who says it was a do-nothing Congress! In yet another item in the omnibus bill, Congress ordered the Transportation Dept. not to mandate peanut-free zones in airliners without a scientific study of ``very small airborne peanut particles.'' The proposed rule, intended to protect passengers who are allergic to the ubiquitous tourist-class handout, had been widely ridiculed by pundit and pol as an example of big government gone awry.
All Nippon Airways is to join the Star Alliance next year, becoming the fourth airline from the Asia-Pacific region to do so. ANA is the world's sixth-largest airline in terms of passengers flown and has Japan's most extensive domestic route network. Thai Airways International was a Star Alliance founding member, but ANA brings an Asian marketing clout to the membership that is commensurate with Lufthansa's in Europe and United Airlines' in the U.S. Air New Zealand and Ansett are scheduled to join next year as well and Singapore Airlines is also expected to.
US Airways Chairman Stephen M. Wolf stirred the already simmering U.S-U.K. pot a little more last week. He called for the U.S. to renounce the Bermuda 2 treaty that governs air services between the two countries. In a letter to President Clinton, Wolf charged that the current pact contains an array of restrictions on airline pricing, capacity and routes that work to the benefit of British carriers and against consumers.
