THE CLINTON ADMINISTRATION'S Fiscal 1996 supplemental defense requests include approval for extending the multiyear buy of C-17s to seven from five years; $820 million for Bosnia deployments, and $140 million to begin leasing F-16s to Jordan. The Jordanians would initially receive 12 F-16As and four two-place F-16Bs. Other lease programs thought to be near fruition include deals with Poland and the Czech Republic. The two countries are weighing the lease of either F-16s or F-18s.
U.S. LEGISLATORS ARE investigating reports that the Feb. 14 explosion of a Long March booster may have killed far more than the four people Chinese authorities listed as dead (AW&ST Feb. 26, p. 68). A congressional staffer who has talked with people who were on the scene said he believes there were hundreds of casualties. But a China Great Wall Industry Corp. official reaffirmed on Feb. 29 that only four people were killed in the mishap.
BOEING IS PLANNING TO MODERNIZE its workhorse transonic wind tunnel in Seattle. The multiyear plan would replace the facility's drive system and upgrade the fan between April and December, 1996. Addition of a rapid Mach control system and automated, streamlined testing procedures also are under study. A second phase, set to start in mid-1999, will focus on modifying the tunnel circuit to improve test section flow and install a removable, transportable new-technology main balance.
IN THE WAKE OF THE FEB. 24 attack by Cuban air force jets on three U.S.-based Cessna Skymaster aircraft, the FAA last week issued an emergency cease and desist order prohibiting unauthorized operation of any U.S.-registered aircraft, and/or any operations conducted by any U.S. certificated pilot, within Cuban airspace. Existing FAA regulations already prohibit such activity. The order, which became effective Feb. 29 and will continue indefinitely, applies to private as well as commercial passenger and cargo aircraft.
Boeing plans to use its Joint Strike Fighter design as the basis for a $15-million-per-copy, unmanned strike or air combat aircraft that could be in operation by 2020-25.
Airlines in Latin America are paring costs and forming strategic alliances to bolster their ability to compete with overseas carriers and tap burgeoning regional air markets. Carriers from Chile to Venezuela and Mexico have moved in the last year to pare their workforces, reorganize their fleets and restructure debt to allow them to operate more efficiently. Varig last year completed a daunting fleet and debt restructuring effort, and the greater influence that creditors gained has led an overhaul of the airline's management.
The Polar spacecraft lifted off from Vandenberg AFB, Calif. Feb. 24 on a Delta 2 (AW&ST Feb. 19, p. 24). One hr. 31 min. after launch, a thruster failed during maneuver to change the spacecraft's Sun angle. The maneuver was completed with another thruster. A board is investigating the anomaly. Polar was scheduled to launch Feb. 22, but the mission was delayed once for a booster problem and once again by Air Force range safety officials due to winds aloft and difficulties with a range safety command transmitter. The satellite was boosted into orbit Feb.
The revived USAF/Lockheed SR-71 has started participating in military exercises, and Lockheed officials expect the two reconnaissance aircraft will be fully operational and deployable at Edwards AFB, Calif., at the end of March. In-flight transmission tests of the Mach 3+ aircraft's new data link--key to the more real-time tactical role envisioned by its supporters--began on Feb. 15. As the aircraft take part in exercises, the ability to disseminate information quickly to a variety of users will be on trial.
ASIA SATELLITE TELECOMMUNICATIONS (AsiaSat) of Hong Kong says it will buy a Hughes HS 60111P for its third satellite with a launch date of late 1997. AsiaSat's previous launches have been on Chinese Long March vehicles; no launcher has been named for AsiaSat-3.
AN ALL-PLASTIC BATTERY HAS BEEN DEVELOPED by the U.S. Air Force's Rome (N.Y.) Laboratory and researchers at Johns Hopkins University's Applied Physics Laboratory. The solid-state battery, intended to be molded into almost any size and shape, uses a plastic anode, cathode and electrolyte. Tests on a prototype indicate the battery, which is composed of nontoxic materials, can be recharged up to 100 times. The technology, while still at an early stage, eventually could help eliminate weight, safety and environmental concerns associated with metal-based batteries.
Strengthening economies and unique mission needs will help drive Latin American helicopter demand to an estimated 6.5% annual unit growth rate over the next several years. Latin American economies are shaking off the ``killer effect'' of Mexico's recent financial crisis and peso devaluation. Increased oil exploration, the privatization of state-owned industries and emerging medevac and law enforcement missions are creating new opportunities for commercial operators.
Administrator Daniel S. Goldin has some excellent plans for clarifying the roles of NASA field centers. He has aptly referred to them as ``city states,'' with many research and infrastructure capabilities that needlessly duplicate those found elsewhere within the agency.
The FAA has taken an impressive step toward untangling its little corner of the jungle that is the U.S. government's acquisition procedures. Heaven only knows, the FAA needs to speed acquisition. The agency's slow-as-molasses procurement is ludicrous in today's era of leap-frogging progress in electronics. So it is a relief to see the new acquisition system the agency proposes contains some farsighted measures to cut red tape (see p. 32).
Gerard Le Page (see photos) has been appointed senior vice president-industrial development and services of France's Hispano-Suiza. Christian Knapp, who was Snecma's general manager of CFM56 programs, has succeeded Le Page as vice president-nacelles and thrust reversers.
Tight budgets, greater control by civilian-led governments and strengthening economies are forcing Latin American military services to focus on modernization rather than replacement of their aviation equipment. But a trend toward greater integration of those forces with international operations could increase desire and funding available for equipment replacement programs at the turn of the century, according to aerospace industry officials and analysts.
GOVERNMENT AUTHORITIES HAVE ASKED Heli-Tech, Eugene, Ore., to look into development of an underslung, pilot-operated device capable of removing frozen bodies off cold mountainsides. As envisioned, the unit would allow authorities to more efficiently retrieve the bodies of dead accident victims in rugged, high-altitude terrain without lowering--and sometimes leaving behind due to helicopter performance limits--a rescue crewman. The device would be a development of Heli-Tech's successful ``Logging Grabber'' and ``Sky Shovel'' underslung extraction equipment for helicopters.
The U.S. National Transportation Safety Board is analyzing preliminary data from flight and cockpit voice recorders to determine what caused the Feb. 6 crash of a Birgenair Boeing 757 off the coast of the Dominican Republic.
The U.K.'s Defense Research Agency is moving into the second phase of a program designed to investigate new technologies and concepts for next generation STOVL aircraft. The vectored thrust aircraft advanced flight control, or VAAC, program is primarily looking at handling and control concepts with the aim of reducing pilot workload for these new and highly complex aircraft. Specifically, program officials are investigating integrated flight control systems, using active control technology.
Israel Aircraft Industries (IAI) and Core Software Technology (CST) of Pasadena, Calif., have formed a joint partnership to manufacture and launch a constellation of high-resolution commercial remote sensing satellites.
Samuel D. Horgan has been named chief financial officer of Atlanta-based Worldspan. He succeeds Mark S. Mulvany, who is retiring. Horgan was CFO of the Computer Task Group, Buffalo, N.Y.
DENVER INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT RECEIVED HIGH MARKS from an FAA report, which noted that the new facility reduced delay rates in 1995 by almost five times over those at the old Stapleton airport. Using the agency's national delay-rate yardstick, DIA recorded 3.1 air traffic control-related delays per 1,000 operations, compared with a 14.2 rate at Stapleton the year before it closed. DIA's aircraft acceptance rate is 35% higher than Stapleton's had been in good weather and 275% better in bad weather.
FAIRBANKS INTERNATIONAL IS INTENSIFYING its pursuit of world cargo airlines with a planned 750-ft. extension of its north-south air carrier Runway 1L/19R this year. The north-end runway addition, part of a $10-million airport upgrade program, will be followed by a similar extension to the opposite end in 1997. When construction is complete, Runway 1L/19R will measure 11,800-ft. and enable fully loaded cargo transports to operate from the airport year-round without payload restrictions.
The U.K. government says it will take more systematic account of defense industrial factors in weapon purchases, but will retain competition as the cornerstone of its procurement policy. It also acknowledges that collaborative projects, ``usually within Europe,'' are likely to be increasingly important in the future. But the government also notes its ``important relationships'' with the U.S. offer good opportunities to build upon.
