Hong Kong's Air Cargo Terminals Ltd. (HACTL) has at last begun handling all air cargo (an estimated 4,000 metric tons per day) through its new $1-billion Super-Terminal 1 (ST1) facilities at Hong Kong's new international airport at Chek Lap Kok. The ST1 facility which officially opened on July 6th had been in only partial use since opening due to a massive failure of its automated box storage system. Lufthansa Cargo alone has estimated losses from the fiasco will run into the millions of dollars.
Spectrum Astro, a small Arizona-based company with 270 employees, is taking on the likes of Boeing, Lockheed Martin and TRW in a bid to become a finalist to build a U.S. Air Force satellite network that will track ballistic missiles from low-Earth orbit. Northrop Grumman has signed up with Spectrum Astro to compete against a Lockheed Martin/Boeing/Aerojet team and a TRW/Raytheon team to build an estimated two dozen satellites for SBIRS-Low, the low-Earth orbit component of the Air Force's Space-Based Infrared missile warning system.
Joe Gullion has been appointed president of The Canaan Group Ltd., a division of AlliedSignal Inc., Torrance, Calif. He was vice president-global sales for AlliedSignal Aerospace Marketing, Sales and Service. Gullion succeeds George H. Ebbs, Jr., who has been named president of Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University.
Allegations of Sudanese use of chemical weapons date as far back as the mid-1980s, and allegations that Sudan was producing chemical weapons with Iranian or Iraqi assistance arose at least as early as 1995, according to Western, Arab and African sources.
Revenues of the SAirGroup, Swissair's parent company, during the first half increased a healthy 11.3% to $3.5 billion, despite the impact of the Asian economic crisis. Net profit increased to $84.6 million, up from $70.6 million during 1997's first half. SAirLines, which comprises Swissair, Crossair, Balair and CTA, achieved results ``well beyond expectations,'' according to company officials. The trend, along with Swissair's 70.7% seat load factor, is generating optimism for a strong 1998.
Euless, Tex.-based Menasco Aerospace is transferring manufacture and final assembly of landing gear components for the F-16 to its affiliate in Poland, Menasco Aerospace-Krosno. Production of minor components already has begun, and plans call for shipping additional tooling to Poland by year-end, according to a senior Menasco official. He said painting, plating and final assembly of the gear, however, still is being performed in Euless.
To get more bang out of palmtop and other inexpensive computers, Annasoft Systems of San Diego is making several products to improve Windows CE, the palmtop operating system. Annasoft's ``Intrinsyc DeviceCOM'' makes it easy to create client-server distributed applications by using the distributed component object model (DCOM), which Windows CE does not support. DCOM is available in Windows 95, NT and UNIX, so DeviceCOM will allow operation with these existing systems. The company expects DeviceCOM to be used in factory automation, transportation and point-of-sale.
Indonesia's parliament has finally approved a rise in domestic airfares. Fares will rise by 40% from Sept. 1 and a further 14% from Dec. 1. The problem for Indonesia's carriers, including Garuda, Merpati, Bourak and Mandala, is that 80% of their costs and only 20% of their revenues are in U.S. dollars.
Northrop Grumman Corp. has won a $5.5-million contract from the U.S. Air Force to provide radar circuit card assemblies applicable to the F-16 aircraft.
Unova Inc. of Beverly Hills, Calif., is planning to diversify into the aerospace segment of machine tool manufacturing by acquiring the machine tool business of Cincinnati Milacron Inc. for $178 million in cash.
The Joint Chiefs of Staff rejected Rumsfeld Commission criticism of the Pentagon's missile defense program (AW&ST July 20, p. 24). The commission's concern that an outlaw nation such as North Korea could acquire an ICBM capability in a short time with foreign assistance and high-risk crash programs ``is an unlikely development,'' JCS Chairman Henry H. Shelton said in a letter to Congress. The more immediate threat is terrorist use of weapons of mass destruction, he admonished (see p. 30).
Defense stocks historically have been considered potentially attractive investments because of, well, their defensive nature. During periods of slackening economic growth, such as the U.S. is experiencing now, military contractors' earnings were viewed as relatively immune from lower economic expectations. But the sector hardly has been a safe haven this year; through mid-August, most issues substantially underperformed against the Standard&Poor's 500 Index. Among large-capitalization companies, Northrop Grumman Corp.
The Boeing Super Hornet, scheduled to join U.S. Navy squadrons in 2001, offers carrier pilots a fighter/attack aircraft that has improved performance, longer range, greater weapon payload, a slower landing speed and overall better handling characteristics. The F/A-18E/F is a compromise aircraft spawned when the McDonnell Douglas/General Dynamics A-12 was canceled in 1991. Boeing's McDonnell Douglas Aircraft and Missile System unit and the Navy concentrated on improving the shortcomings in the Hornet, which has been in operation since the early 1980s.
Spar Aerospace Ltd. has entered into a strategic alliance with privately-held Ellipso Inc., which is building a satellite-based global communications system. As an equity investor, Spar will provide system definition support services and payload components, including low-noise amplifiers and electronic power conditioners. The partnership could generate up to $45 million (Canadian) in incremental sales for Spar during the next 30 months, according to a company official.
Hurricane Bonnie moves slowly toward the U.S. East Coast in image from NOAA 15, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's newest polar orbiting satellite. Launched in May, the spacecraft had antenna problems initially. The image, relayed by the Automatic Picture Transmission payload, was captured by Hank Brandli, a Florida satellite meteorologist.
Richard E. Tierney has been named president of Interstate Electronics, Anaheim, Calif. He succeeds Lawrence A. LaCotti, who has retired. Tierney was president of Whittaker Electronics Systems.
U.S. Army ground crews for the Boeing AH-64D Apache Longbow are training to use an interactive electronic technical manual (IETM) for the helicopter. The IETM is a ``Class 4'' system, which makes it easier to obtain the correct information because data are stored in a hierarchical, rather than linear, manner. The IETM replaces 30,000 printed pages with a single CD-ROM. The F/A-18E/F fighter will also have an IETM, and Boeing employees in Mesa, Ariz., and St. Louis collaborated on both IETMs.
Chutta Ratnathicam has been named interim president of Emery Worldwide, Palo Alto, Calif. He succeeds David I. Beatson, who has resigned. Ratnathicam was chief financial officer.
THE GERMAN AIR FORCE HAS AWARDED a $5.2-million contract to CAE's German company, CAE Elektronik GmbH., to add simulation of a new radar warning receiver to flight simulators for German Air Force F-4F aircraft. Electric warfare training will be enhanced as the scenario is upgraded to generate signals double the number of threat emitters--up to 32 from 16.
