Loral Space and Communications Corp., a by-product of Lockheed Martin's acquisition of Loral Corp., is expected to provide a launch pad for what will become a major space-oriented telecommunications company. Heading up the new, publicly traded enterprise will be Bernard Schwartz, who will pursue strategies similar to those he used in building Loral Corp. into a highly profitable, $6.7-billion enterprise from a $27-million business.
Endeavour kicked off a busy year for NASA's space shuttle program with its launch Jan. 11 on a mission to chase down and capture one satellite, deploy and retrieve another and test space station assembly tools and techniques. The first of eight planned shuttle missions this year lifted off at 4:41 a.m. EST (0941 GMT). Launching a shuttle about once every six weeks would let NASA overcome the effects of a string of launch delays last year.
THE FISCAL 1996 U.S. intelligence authorization bill has escaped the bitter budget fight between President Clinton and Congress. The President signed the bill Jan. 6, following through on the recommendation of his top national security advisers. The bill is believed to authorize about $29 billion for U.S. intelligence activities.
Following are excerpts from a speech by Dick Evans, chief executive of British Aerospace, on the need for European defense industry consolidation at the Royal United Services Institute in London on Dec. 13.
McDONNELL DOUGLAS IS USING illuminated keyboards from Computer Keyboard Systems to improve night computer operations in C-141, C-130 and KC-135 aircraft. Light levels on the ruggedized keyboards can be varied from off to bright, and are compatible with night vision goggles.
Hong Kong's new airport at Chek Lap Kok is to be home to a $1-billion, six-story cargo terminal that underscores an expectation that this British colony will continue to prosper after it reverts to Chinese rule in mid-1997. The terminal is designed to handle 2.4 million metric tons of freight a year in a 118-ft.-tall building with 274,000 sq. meters (2.95 million sq. ft.) of floor space. It is expected to be the largest air freight complex under one roof in the world.
Boeing's engineers and technicians are voting this week on new, performance-based contracts that will increase the average engineer's salary at the company to $64,000 within four years. Jointly represented by the Seattle Professional Engineering Employees Assn. (SPEEA), Seattle-based Boeing's second-largest union, the company's 11,000 engineers and 9,000 technicians are expected to ratify their respective pacts. Their quick agreement is in sharp contrast to the acrimonious, 10-week Machinists' strike that ended in December.
TESTS AT THE U.S. ARMED Forces Institute of Pathology in Washington found no evidence that American Airlines Capt. Nicholas Tafuri was under the influence of alcohol when his Boeing 757 crashed into a mountain northeast of Cali, Colombia, on Dec. 20. The tests by a Colombian toxicologist working with U.S. investigators found that the alcohol detected in Tafuri's remains was the result of natural decay of human tissue. Tafuri and copilot Don Williams were among more than 160 people killed in the crash.
THE U.K.'S DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORT, in conjunction with the Civil Aeronautics Administration, will inspect more foreign-registered aircraft when there are doubts that international safety standards are being observed. New procedures also will clarify which airline is responsible for safety in wet-lease operations. The latter were recommended in the Air Accidents Investigation Branch's report on the crash of an Air Algerie 737 at Willenhall, Coventry.
DON'T BET YOUR LUNCH MONEY that the tax exemption on commercial jet fuel will be restored. The White House considers the tax break a flagrant example of Republicans catering to big business. Republicans are looking more willing to forgo the exemption to the 4.3 cent/gal. tax in order to reach a budget deal with the President. The industry estimates the loss of the exemption, which expired last October, will cost airlines about $500 million annually.
U.S. AIR FORCE CRASH investigators have cleared the crew of an E-3 AWACS of any human error in a Sept. 22 crash in Alaska that killed the crew of 24. It was the first crash of an E-3 since the aircraft entered service in 1977. Investigators determined the crash resulted from ``the aircraft's two left-wing engines ingesting several Canada geese,'' according to an Air Force report. The accident report said the senior tower controller noted geese near the runway, but failed to warn the AWACS crew of the flock's presence.
REP. PATRICIA SCHROEDER (D.-Colo.), the longtime tormentor of the defense establishment who recently said she would not run for another term, may still be afforded more deference in the Republican-dominated Congress than at Denver's new star-crossed airfield. On a recent trip home, she could not find her car in a 30-day parking lot at the Denver International Airport--even though she hadn't been gone nearly that long. DIA officials said the parking contractor had mistakenly listed her 1993 Plymouth Colt as abandoned and had it towed.
The first Boeing 777 for China Southern Airlines lifts off the runway during a pre-delivery flight at Paine Field in Everett, Wash. The Guanghzhou-based carrier is the first Chinese airline to order the new Boeing twinjet and plans to place it in revenue service this week. The 777 joins a China Southern fleet of about 60 aircraft, consisting of Boeing 737s, 757s and 767s.
CHINA'S EFFORTS to establish itself as a major player in the commercial launch market in 1996 are looking up--as long as things continue to go well. China Great Wall Industry Corp.'s Long March boosters have notched two successful missions since resuming commercial flights following a 10-month grounding last year. The AsiaSat 2 spacecraft was orbited on Nov. 28 and the EchoStar 1 direct broadcast satellite on Dec. 28. The launch insurance community is starting to take notice.
The Jan. 1 story (p. 29) on the crash of American Airlines Flight 965 incorrectly stated that the approach controller in Cali, Colombia, told the flight that it was cleared direct to the Cali VOR. It was the American flight crew that first used the word ``direct'' in reading back the clearance to that VOR, according to Colombian investigators. The Jan. 8 story (p. 336) stated that the aircraft executed a left turn of 90 deg. after the crew selected the Tulua VOR in their autopilot. The aircraft executed a left turn for 90 sec.
Smart hemispherical helicone antenna array developed by Lockheed Martin will be used by U.S. Navy ships to monitor Trident 2 missile performance during multiple-launch flight tests. The portable, 90-lb., 24-helicone array is intended to record high-fidelity telemetry at all polarizations with no data dropout. Transmitted information is received without mechanical pointing or scanning and missiles are automatically tracked.
Russian spacecraft development and launch operations are beginning to drop sharply, indicating that the momentum of what was a massive Soviet space effort has finally succumbed to the collapse of the USSR. The mission rate during 1995 plummeted to only 32 Russian launches. ``The momentum that had been `in the pipeline' has finally begun to run out,'' one Moscow-based U.S. analyst said. Russian reductions in unmanned military imaging, intelligence, communications and weather missions are primary factors in the drop.
CENTRAL EUROPEAN COUNTRIES are watching closely as Spain receives the first of 24 used F/A-18As. The deal to buy veteran U.S. Navy aircraft is being seen as the model for used aircraft sales to Poland, Hungary and the Czech Republic. Cumulative fighter sales to those three countries may total 200 aircraft over five to six years. In addition to lower prices, the used fighters would be available up to three years sooner than new aircraft--1997 compared to 2000.
GPS MANUFACTURER TRIMBLE HAS SIGNED a memorandum of understanding with Delco Electronics to jointly develop a low-priced family of automotive navigation systems compatible with Delco's head-up display system. The U.S. GPS Industry Council figures car navigation will be the largest GPS growth market, estimated at $3 billion by 2000. Delco is a subsidiary of GM-Hughes Electronics Corp.
SAN DIEGO-BASED QUANTUM MAGNETICS says its security system has successfully completed a week-long field test at Los Angeles International Airport. The QSCAN-1000 uses quadrupole resonance technology, a version of magnetic resonance imaging used in hospitals, to detect plastic explosives within checked baggage. The device's low-intensity radio waves scanned 4,000 bags during the trial and proved the capability to detect minute amounts of explosives with a ``very high'' probability of detection and 1% false alarm rate.
Robert Ayling, who became British Airways' chief executive on Jan. 1, has installed his new management team. It includes: Alistair Cumming, former managing director-engineering who now is chief operating officer/director of profit development; Charles Gurassa, former head of world sales who now is director of passenger business; David Holmes, who shifted from director of government and industry affairs to director of corporate resources; and Mike Jeffery, who was general manager of heavy maintenance and is now director of flight crews.
BRITISH AEROSPACE HAS BEGUN manufacturing its first parts for the Saab JAS 39A Gripen fighter at its factory in Brough in central England. The company, which is involved in a joint venture with Saab to market an export version of the Gripen, is expected to be certified as the single-source producer of the aircraft's center fuselage landing gear unit this spring. The first complete assembly is scheduled to be delivered to Saab in March. Saab, meanwhile, has begun high-angle-of-attack flight tests of the new fighter.
Construcciones Aeronauticas S.A. has completed final assembly of the Spanish navy's first McDonnell Douglas/British Aerospace Harrier 2 Plus fighter. CASA is scheduled to assemble Spain's eight aircraft in 1996-97. Italy and the U.S. Marine Corps also have ordered the aircraft. CASA and Italy's Alenia have 15% stakes in the program. The Harrier 2 Plus vertical-takeoff close support fighter is an AV-8B derivative equipped with a Hughes AN/APG65 radar providing increased night attack capabilities.
John M. Leonis has been named chairman and Michael R. Brown president/chief operating officer of Litton Industries Inc., Woodland Hills, Calif. Leonis, who was president/chief executive officer, succeeds Alton J. Brann, who will remain chairman of the executive committee. Brown was executive vice president/COO. Charles B. Hofmann, president of Litton's Amecom Div., College Park, Md., additionally has been named corporate vice president/president of the Applied Technology Div., San Jose, Calif. He succeeds Clayton A. Williams, who has resigned.
