DASSAULT FALCON JET PLANS TO INCREASE efficiency by conducting finishing work on most Falcon business jets at its Little Rock, Ark., completion center. Previously, the Merignac, France-based manufacturer completed Falcon 50s, 2000s and 900Bs destined for European, Middle Eastern and African customers in France. Only certain special-mission military and government Falcons now will receive interiors, avionics and paint at Merignac, Dassault said.
The U.S. government is making two types of highly modified Sidewinder airframes available to Raytheon and Hughes to incorporate as part of their AIM-9X design proposals.
THE B-2 IS BEGINNING RADAR CROSS-SECTION tests with an aircraft in the physical configuration of the final production version. Tests of the intermediate Block 20 aircraft were completed recently. Flight tests to determine detectability of the final production configuration began on test ranges this month.
AN ALPHA JOINT for the international space station's solar arrays is to begin preliminary testing in January with qualification testing set for March. Technicians are shown working on prototype hardware at Lockheed Martin Missiles&Space in Sunnyvale, Calif. Lockheed Martin is to deliver two flight units of the device, the purpose of which is to allow the station's photovoltaic power arrays to track the Sun. Construction has already begun on the first flight unit.
WORKERS AT EL AL ARE DEMANDING that the government of Israel delay implementing its new aviation agreement with Jordan until Saudi Arabia opens its airspace to the airline's flights to the Far East. El Al flights now must fly around the airspace of Saudi Arabia and other Arab nations with which Israel has no diplomatic relations. That can translate to up to 4 hr. of additional flying on longer routes. Officials of the Workers' Council union group at El Al worry that many of the airline's passengers would drive to the Jordanian capital of Amman, about 100 mi.
William C. Betke has been appointed general manager of marketingfor GE Supply, Shelton, Conn. He was national executive for GE Reuter-Stokes in Taiwan.
U.S. Air Force/Navy tests of U.S.-built seekers in the AIM-9X program, along with parallel tests of the British Aerospace ASRAAM, are setting the stage for a showdown on who will build a high off-boresight missile for the U.S.
ROCKETDYNE AND NASA engineers late last week were analyzing a cracked space shuttle main engine duct to determine whether its failure should delay plans to launch Columbia on Mission 73. Two cracks totaling 2 in. in length were discovered Oct. 11 when cryogenic oxygen began leaking from the Inconel 718 discharge duct of the high-pressure oxidizer turbopump on an engine being readied for testing at Mississippi's Stennis Space Center. Engineers were trying to determine whether the failure is related to unique repairs made during the manufacture of that duct.
Lucas Industries, still smarting from its recent $88-million settlement of civil claims with the Pentagon, is considering options to sell its dwindling aerospace business. ``We will have to look and see if we can support all the activities we are in,'' CEO George Simpson said. Restructuring plans are underway to improve the aerospace sector's profitability. But selling the aerospace businesses would not be ruled out in considering strategic options, Simpson said.
INTERSTATE ELECTRONICS CORP. and Airport Systems International Inc. will install a local area differential GPS (D-GPS) ground station for Crossair of Switzerland at the Lugano airport. During the first phase, an Airport Systems Model 8000 D-GPS ground station will be installed at Lugano, and Interstate Electronics 9001 GPS navigation and landing systems will be installed in two Saab 2000 aircraft. This phase will create an approach into Lugano and evaluate the performance of the equipment and the approach. On completion, Crossair plans to equip its fleet.
The 15 member nations of the European Union are struggling with urgent pleas from the continent's aerospace industry for higher research and development spending and an expansion of the U.S./European agreement governing commercial air transport subsidies. The European Assn. of Aerospace Industries' plea for increased research funding and a unified strategic plan for aerospace is tied to excess production capacity, plummeting sales and heavy losses that are affecting major airframe, engine and avionics companies.
The FAA plans to issue a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking in January calling for the elimination of most long-range, en-route primary radar sites in the U.S. by the end of the century. In addition, the NPRM will recommend lowering the minimum altitude for operation of transponder-equipped aircraft to 6,000 ft. above mean sea level, but exempt airspace 2,500 ft. above the surface in mountainous areas.
Kevin Longstaff has been promoted to vice president-customer services from European customer services manager of the Sherpa Corp., San Jose, Calif. Richard Bertrand has been appointed vice president-engineering. He was vice president-research and development of Hotel Information Systems.
Europe's space ministers will gather late this week in Toulouse, France, to decide the fate of European Space Agency programs into the early 21st century. Let's hope the member states' political leaders show far more resolve at Toulouse than ESA's management has shown going into the meeting. A lack of out-front leadership by ESA Director-General Jean-Marie Luton has produced a lot of hot air of no relevance to a strong cooperative space program.
There may be political tension between China and the West--particularly the U.S.--but China's senior political and manufacturing leaders are making it clear they want all the Western help they can get to build their aviation industry.
The U.S. military services are convinced they need to develop a new short-range missile, according to Lt. Gen. George Muellner, the U.S. Air Force acquisition deputy. But he believes it is possible to overemphasize the importance of a turning infrared missile. If aircraft performance no longer counts, ``then we can put all these infrared missiles on 747s,'' he said.
IF NOTHING ELSE, TALK OF AN American Airlines-USAir merger is giving AMR Corp. Chairman Robert L. Crandall yet another plank for his campaign to pressure American employees for concessions. After a recent British-American Business Assn. meeting in Washington, Crandall said American's costs are still too high for it to expand into U.S. East Coast markets, which USAir dominates. American is making slow progress in cutting costs, he said.
John C. Wilson, Jr., (see photo) has been appointed director of the U.S. Air Force's Electronic Systems Center Engineering and Program Management Directorate, Hans- com AFB, Mass. He succeeds Anthony Salvucci, who has retired. Wilson was deputy program director for the C-17 system office at Wright-Patterson AFB, Ohio.
The Italian government has ordered 16 Agusta/Westland EH101 helicopters for its navy, boosting the overall order book for the Anglo/Italian helicopter to 82. The Italian navy will acquire eight helicopters in the antisubmarine/antisurface vessel warfare version, four equipped with surveillance radars and four in the utility transport version. The helicopters will be assembled by Agusta with first deliveries expected in early 1998.
LOCKHEED MARTIN and Hughes Aircraft/Raytheon were chosen by the U.S. Army as the two teams to conduct the project definition and validation phase of the Corps Surface-to-Air Missile/Medium Extended Air Defense System. The teams will represent the U.S. as participants in the international part of the program's competition. The Corps SAM/MEADS contract will not be awarded until January.
Special Aircraft Transport International Co.'s first Airbus Industrie A300-600ST outsize cargo transport is scheduled to be delivered in a few weeks to Skylink, Airbus' in-house carrier. During the German air freight fair, the A300-600ST carried two U.N. Sikorsky CH-53G helicopters from Larnaca, Cyprus, to Frankfurt.
LEARJET'S MODEL 45 made its first flight Oct. 7 from Bombardier flight test facilities in Wichita, Kan. The 2-hr., 2-min. flight reached an altitude of 26,000 ft. and a top speed of 300 kt.
John F. Hill has been appointed vice president-engineering of Aero-design Technology Inc., Valencia, Calif. He was engineering director of C.F. Taylor.
THE FILING DEADLINE HAD PASSED, and the Federal Communications Commission's international bureau chief, Scott Harris, was looking at a slew of applications for lucrative KA-band satellite licenses--nine to be exact (AW&ST Oct. 9, p. 24). Little did he know six more companies had lined up in the competition: Ka Star Communications, Morningstar Satellite Corp., Visionstar, Orion Network Systems, PanAmSat and TRW. How had they flown under the radar of the eagle-eyed bureaucrat? They sent their paperwork to Pittsburgh's Mellon Bank, the official FCC depository.
