While a special committee studies disarmament, Japan's Defense Agency has merely gone through the motions in its 1995 Defense White Paper assessment of the nation's military needs. The agency was reluctant to do more than restate previous views favoring a strong industrial base while staring at shrinking budgets. It also notes a shrinking labor pool as Japan's population ages.
SPACE SHUTTLE Mission 70, delayed once by woodpeckers, is set again for launch from the Kennedy Space Center. Late last week, NASA said it would launch Discovery July 13, provided Atlantis landed by July 8. The agency said it would send Atlantis to Edwards AFB, Calif., if necessary. Discovery and a crew of five are to deploy Tracking and Data Relay Satellite-G (AW&ST June 5, p. 67). The 2.5-hr. launch window opens at 9:41 a.m. EDT. If it begins on time, the mission would end July 21 at 7:51 a.m. EDT.
Boeing will slow manufacturing rates of its narrow-body transports in 1996, although production of 777s will be brisk. The changes are not expected to significantly affect employment levels.
WORRIED THAT THE SERVICES ARE UNDERCUTTING ONE ANOTHER in the scramble over boost phase intercept programs, Pentagon acquisition chief Paul Kaminski has called for a review. Boost phase intercept (BPI) refers to weapons that could destroy ballistic missiles in the first seconds of flight, well before they dispense their warheads. Kaminski has asked senior Pentagon officials, the Air Force and the Ballistic Missile Defense Organization for the appraisal of current concepts.
FIVE DASSAULT AVIATION FALCON 50 AIRCRAFT are being procured by the French Navy for search and rescue and surveillance duties. The aircraft will be equipped with Thomson-CSF/DASA search radars as well as a capability to carry and drop eight rescue raft packages capable of holding 25 people.
NASA WILL EVALUATE the connection among changes in FAA separation standards for IFR aircraft, the application of advanced technology and the level of safety. A chief aim of the study, to be conducted by Alexandria, Va.-based Rannoch Corp., is development of a risk analysis model that compares different accidents and incidents and their overall contribution to accident risk. The study will assess, for example, the safety aspects of decreasing separation between aircraft from 3 naut. mi. to 2.5 naut. mi.
A RUSSIAN 4TH GENERATION film return imaging reconnaissance satellite, Cosmos 2,314, is being checked out in orbit following launch on board an SL-4 booster from Plesetsk June 28 into about a 125- mi. orbit inclined 67 deg. In addition, a new Russian navigation spacecraft, Cosmos 2,315, was launched from Plesetsk on board an SL-8 booster July 5 into about a 620-mi. orbit inclined 82.9 deg.
NO ONE HAS ASKED THE COMPANY PUBLICLY, but Teledyne Ryan Aeronautical's new, long-endurance Tier 2+ unmanned aerial vehicle has been designed with hard points for attaching weapons. Two broad types of weapons are being considered: deep strike air-to-ground weapons and kinetic kill vehicles that could destroy enemy ballistic missiles soon after launch. While the Air Force is expected to command the long-range UAV units, the Army is trying to elbow its way into UAVs by supplying the weapons for them. Lt. Gen.
ALLIANCE AIRLINE, A NEW AFRICAN CARRIER being organized by South African Airways, Air Tanzania, Air Uganda and other investors, is to begin service later this month with a Boeing 747-SP. The three carriers will share traffic rights to extend the scope of air routes and further develop East African air traffic. Initial destinations will be London; Johannesburg; Dar es Salaam, Tanzania; Entebbe, Uganda; Bombay; Dubai, and United Arab Emirates.
SPANISH ENGINEERS AT CASA ARE USING a large horizontal test rig to conduct loads tests on the 6-meter (20-ft.) payload module for the European Space Agency's polar platform spacecraft. The CASA-built spacecraft--composed of aluminum honeycomb with a carbon fiber and reinforced plastic skin--is scheduled for launch by an Ariane 5 in 1998.
AIR COMBAT COMMAND'S NEW CHIEF, Gen. Joseph W. Ralston, is taking the lead for the Air Force to embrace unmanned aerial vehicles. The command is expected to announce soon that it will stand up its first UAV squadron within a few months, probably at Indian Springs Auxiliary Airfield on the restricted ranges north of Nellis AFB, Nev. The base is deserted, except for a guard facility and a nearby bombing range, but Air Force officials intend to set up operations there with a small cadre that would grow as the service defines how to man and organize the unit.
The U.S. airline industry's second-quarter profits are expected to soar to record levels, although many such periods will be needed to offset years of huge losses. Operating profits likely will total $1.6-1.8 billion, up from $1 billion in 1994's second quarter. Net or bottom-line profits also may set a record, with estimates ranging from $600-900 million.
From some 22,300 mi. above Earth, a new U.S. weather satellite was able to capture exhaust plumes from the space shuttle Atlantis' launch. The satellite, Goes 8, images the entire disk of the planet from its geosynchronous orbit over the equator at 75 deg. W. The picture was taken at 3:32 p.m. EDT (1932 GMT), just after the shuttle lifted off from the Kennedy Space Center on June 27.
CANADAIR DEFENCE SYSTEMS DIV. will convert four, 194-seat Airbus Industrie A310s into combi transports for the Canadian National Defense Dept. Under a $75-million (Canadian) contract, the A310s will be reconfigured with three quick-change interiors, allowing a 48-hr. conversion to a full freighter capable of carrying 16 pallets; a combi version with 60 seats and 12 pallets, or back to a 194-passenger transport. The aircraft will replace five Boeing 707s that are used in those roles.
Peter Edwards has been named vice president-international sales for Bombardier Business Aircraft Div. in Montreal. He was vice president-Gulfstream 5 sales and marketing for Gulfstream Aerospace Corp.
FOREIGN LAUNCHERS could be in NASA's future. Associate Administrator John E. Mansfield said all options--foreign and domestic, reusable and expendable, single and multiple launches--will be considered in the wake of the latest Pegasus XL failure. Mansfield heads the ``task team'' searching for a long-term solution to NASA's small launch vehicle shortage. Although the agency would prefer to use U.S. vehicles, he said, NASA is not prohibited by law from using others, only by policy. He said the agency could always ask the White House to change the policy.
The Senate Armed Services Committee has approved boosting U.S. defense spending by $7 billion, but sets several funding priorities that place it at odds with the House, specifically over funding for additional B-2 bombers.
OFT REBUKED FOR BEING SLOW on the new technology draw, the FAA mounted a public relations offensive last week to extol its accomplishments with the satellite-based Global Positioning System. Associate Administrator George Donohue called GPS a ``public and international utility'' that will especially benefit underdeveloped nations. He acknowledged, however, that some in Europe regard the FAA's promotion of GPS as ``technological imperialism.'' Donohue expects the agency to award a contract next week for its satellite-based Wide Area Augmentation System.
Contractors have begun teaming to bid on the Pentagon's Maneuver UAV program, which could finally get off the ground this summer after years of delay and restructuring. Competing teams have been anxiously awaiting a formal request for proposals (RFP) for the program, which predates the formation of the UAV Joint Program Office in 1988. The stalled Maneuver UAV project rivals the Joint Primary Aircraft Training System as one of the longest competitions on the Pentagon's books.
Andrew Davis has been named manager of cargo services for American Airlines in Boston. He succeeds John Calabro, who has been appointed manager of cargo services at Chicago O'Hare International Airport.
KOREAN AIR FOUND A GIFT THAT KEEPS ON GIVING when it donated a Boeing 727 transport to Mongolian Airlines last year. Soon, overflight rights it had long sought across Mongolia came through, shaving 1.5 hr. off the flight time to Moscow and Rome. When opportunities arise, Korean shows it can move quickly. It waited through 13 years of negotiations to obtain flight rights into China and now serves four northern cities--Beijing, Qingdao, Tienjin and Shenyang with load factors of 70% on 17 weekly flights.
VIRGIN ATLANTIC AIRWAYS and British Midland have inaugurated a code-share agreement, offering service to three U.K. cities from the U.S. via London Heathrow. Code-share flights from John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York, Newark (N.J.) International Airport and San Francisco will serve Glasgow, Edinburgh and Belfast. Los Angeles flights will operate to both Glasgow and Edinburgh.
The Tier 2 Predator unmanned spy plane is expected to make its combat debut over Bosnia this week, flying from an airfield about 30 mi. north of the Albanian capital of Tirana.
