Edward Montgomery has become deputy managing director of Serco-IAL Ltd., Southall, England. He will continue as president/chief executive officer of Canadian subsidiary Serco Aviation Services. Steven Kavanagh has been named general manager and Mark Metcalf business development manager of Serco Aviation Services Pty. Ltd. of Australia.
A BRITISH COMPANY has developed a software processing system designed to capture and process live images from weather satellites. The Dartcom Winsat System is designed to receive, store and display near-photographic-quality images from geosynchronous and polar orbiting satellites.
Shelly Buttrill, president of Loral Aeronutronic, received the Leadership and Quality Management Award for developing a Total Quality Management culture resulting in more-efficient processes, lower costs, higher quality products and cooperative team relations with customers and suppliers.
Production of the upper lobe fuselage section for the first Boeing ``next-generation'' 737-700 has begun in Wichita, Kan. The initial 128-seat aircraft is scheduled for completion in December and delivery to launch customer Southwest Airlines in October, 1997. Assembly of the first 160-passenger 737-800 is set to start in November, and manufacturing of the first 108-seat 737-600 in May, 1997.
The Jet Propulsion Laboratory has taken initial steps, at the direction of NASA, to sharply cut costs in anticipation of a possible continuation of the current federal budget impasse. JPL, which is managed for NASA by the California Institute of Technology, last week was working on the first stage of a plan that could result in a hiring freeze, restrictions on overtime and cuts in areas such as training. The action was ordered by the NASA management office.
U.S. officials say they expect the Mikoyan design bureau's MiG-1.42 fighter, held under wraps by the Russians, to look much like this computer generated picture. The drawing demonstrates U.S. convictions that the aircraft will have twin engines, twin vertical tail surfaces and canards. It is designed to compete with Lockheed Martin's F-22 and other next-generation aircraft both operationally and on the world's military market. The aircraft is believed to have 16 control surfaces driven by a fly-by-wire system (AW&ST Jan.1, p.
LOCKHEED MARTIN plans to launch eight Atlas boosters this year, four fewer than in 1995, but it will still be busy thanks to increased Titan missions and the scheduled commercial debut of Russia's Proton booster, on which the company sells launches. Lockheed Martin expects three or four commercial Proton missions this year. Also scheduled are five launches of the Titan 4 and one of the Titan 2--up from four launches of the Titan 4 and none of the Titan 2 last year.
BRITISH AEROSPACE SAYS MALAYSIA AIRLINES (MAS) may produce the industry's first carbon composite passenger seat. BAe, acting on behalf of Airbus Industrie, has reached initial agreement for MAS to build the seats in cooperation with Contour International and a Malaysian carbon fiber specialist, De Bono Industries. The agreement is part of a broader effort by Airbus partner companies to secure orders from MAS.
Engineers and technicians are refining powerplant and other systems on the RAH-66 Comanche as test pilots prepare to expand the flight envelope of the prototype for that next-generation U.S. Army reconnaissance and attack helicopter.
NASA AND THE RUSSIAN SPACE AGENCY don't seem all that far apart as they head into this week's scheduled talks on reducing Russia's financial commitment to the international space station. Rep. F. James Sensenbrenner, Jr. (R.-Wis.) says he and Rep. Jerry Lewis (R.-Calif.), on a quick trip to Moscow last week, received high-level assurances that the FGB space tug and the Russian service module will be delivered on orbit on time. NASA shunned two proposals to attach the new station's first elements to the aging Mir.
Mitsubishi Heavy Industries is scheduled to deliver the first two F-2 close air support fighters to the Technical Research and Development Institute (TRDI) of the Japanese Defense Agency by the end of March. First flights of the third and fourth prototypes--both two-seat versions--are set for February and April, respectively. They are expected to be shifted to the Institute by July and September. The first production F-2, previously named the FS-X, will be stationed at Misawa air base in northeast Japan with the 3rd Air Wing in 1999.
PRATT&WHITNEY'S Space Propulsion Operations shipped a record 26 RL10 rocket engines in 1995, surpassing the old record of 18 deliveries in 1990. The RL10 powers the Centaur upper-stage vehicle for Lockheed Martin's Atlas and Titan boosters. Another record in 1995 was the shipment of an RL10 14 days after it was pulled from a test stand--a 75% improvement over the average 63 days.
THAILAND, ECUADOR AND JORDAN also are expected to be beneficiaries of U.S. foreign military sales. U.S. officials say the release of AIM-120 Advanced Medium Range Air-to-Air Missiles (AMRAAMs) to Thailand is now just a matter of time. Bangkok had tied its purchase of the F/A-18 to the availability of the AMRAAM. McDonnell Douglas and the Pentagon wanted the sale to go through, but the State Dept. had complained that the missile sale might upset the region'sbalance of power.
WESTINGHOUSE ELECTRIC CORP. has agreed to sell its Landmark GIS Inc. subsidiary--one of the U.S.' largest digital mapping firms--to Denver-based DCX Inc. The purchase price was $2.4 million, or just over one-third of Landmark's $7 million in annual sales.
Marybeth Griswold has been appointed vice president/general manager of fleet communications products for the American Mobile Satellite Corp., Reston, Va. She was director of the FTS2000 Program at the Sprint Communications Corp.
A story on a dispute between Federal Express and its employees represented by the Air Line Pilots Assn. (AW&ST Dec. 4, 1995, p. 33) incorrectly said FedEx service had been curtailed in South America.
Wall Street expects the Boeing Co. to capture not merely its fair share, but the overwhelming share of new orders in coming months as commercial aircraft markets continue to strengthen in 1996 (see pp. 34-5). In fact, NatWest Securities analyst Nicholas P. Heymann predicts the airframe manufacturer this month alone will lock up orders valued at $10-12 billion, or about two-thirds of 1995's total.
Buoyed by strong 1995 sales of its new 777 and ``next-generation'' 737 transport lines, Boeing believes it can build its share of the world's commercial air transport market to 67% by the end of the century. The key is new versions of the 747 and 757 that are now under study. Traditionally, Boeing has commanded a 60% share. Production rates, already spooling up after a three-year lull, are expected to remain at ``healthy'' levels for at least three years.
HORIZONS TECHNOLOGY IS DEVELOPING a computerized system for track attack helicopters. This system, which will enable more precise repair and replacement based on condition and not simply age, is intended to be integrated with Navy and Marine Corps maintenance systems. Work on a prototype is being conducted under a $740,000 Small Business Innovative Research program contract administered by the Naval Air Systems Command.
A commercial satellite venture has begun offering mobile satellite telephone service in the U.S., giving it a jump on the ``Big LEO'' systems designed to provide worldwide voice communications. American Mobile Satellite Corp. (AMSC) plans to fully phase in its Skycell service over the next few months, allowing customers in automobiles, trucks, aircraft and boats to place phone calls via its geosynchronous AMSC-1 satellite.
The continuing modernization of defense forces in the Asia/Pacific region and its status as the world's fastest growing airline market are sustaining interest in the region's premier aerospace exhibition, Singapore's Asian Aerospace '96. Many Asian countries--particularly the Association of South-East Asian Nations, but also Australia and New Zealand--are upgrading their fighters, fixed- and rotary-wing transports, missiles, coastal patrol ships and aircraft and radar systems.
A month-long evaluation of candidate aircraft has begun as part of a competition to select a private contractor to provide helicopter training for all three British military services.
Honeywell, GEC-Marconi Avionics and Gulfstream are accelerating the push for enhanced- and synthetic-vision cockpit systems by teaming to certify a new, EVS/SVS-compatible head-up guidance system on the Gulfstream 4 and 5 business jets.
A BREAKTHROUGH IN GLASS-EPOXY-ALUMINUM composite technology for making bonded repairs could extend the life of aging air transports without expensive reskinning. An American and Dutch team recently demonstrated the first bonded repair of stress-corrosion cracks by applying these ``Glare'' composite patches to the fuselage skin of a 26-year-old U.S. Air Force C-5A. Now being tested in service, the C-5A patch culminated a five-year effort by the U.S. Air Force Academy and Delft University of Technology in the Netherlands.
