SOME TWO DOZEN Westinghouse/ITT AN/ALQ-165 Advanced Self Protection Jammers (ASPJs) collecting dust in a U.S. Navy warehouse may get a new lease on life. U.S. Defense Secretary William Perry was expected to decide late last week whether to accede to a Navy request to equip a dozen Marine F/A-18Ds based in Aviano, Italy, with the jammers. The Navy initially wanted to send more ASPJs to equip carrier-based F/A-18s in the region as well. But that has apparently been dropped.
Terry Holburn has been named vice president-marketing for Keith Products of Dallas. He was the Southwest regional director of marketing for Abex/NWL Aerospace.
JAPAN'S NASDA says the first tests of inter-satellite radio communications between its ETS-6 engineering test satellite and NASA's Upper Atmosphere Research Satellite were successful last month. Although ETS-6 did not reach geostationary orbit as planned, the tests were successfully carried out over an 8-min. period and a range of about 24,000 mi. Seven more tests are scheduled over the next year.
Charles Trujillo has been appointed regional sales manager for Europe, based in Paris, for Garrett Aviation. He was a field service engineer with AlliedSignal in France and Italy.
Richard K. Matthews, retired senior staff engineer for Micro Craft Technology at the Arnold Engineering Development Center, Tullahoma, Tenn., and Glendon R. Lazalier, Sverdrup senior engineering principal at the center, have been named 1995 AEDC fellows.
LOCKHEED MARTIN CORP. dodged possible suspension or debarment from doing business with the Pentagon by acknowledging that its employees conspired to violate the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act in a sale involving Egyptian C-130s. The charges were settled in January, and on June 30 company officials agreed with the Air Force to submit to three years of special monitoring of Lockheed Martin's ethics compliance program.
USAF Air Combat Command has drafted a concept of operations for the fledgling long-endurance UAV fleet. ACC officials are basing their force structure studies on having to fight two major regional conflicts almost simultaneously. No final numbers have been proposed, but one force being studied consists of 50 Tier 2 Predators, 20 large-payload Tier 2+ UAVs and 20 stealthy Tier 3- DarkStars. Here is what the three UAVs offer:
A TITAN 4 WITH a classified payload was scheduled to lift off from Cape Canaveral July 10. The U.S. Air Force said the launch would be attempted within the period of 8-11:30 a.m. EDT.
Japan's navy suffered its third fatal maritime aircraft crash of the year when a Sikorsky/Mitsubishi SH-60J antisubmarine helicopter went into the Pacific during a July 4 night training exercise.
Teledyne Ryan Aeronautical's long-endurance, Tier 2+ unmanned reconnaissance aircraft will rely on clever tactics rather than stealth to operate over modern battlefields.
BOEING IS DEVELOPING A THIN phased-array communication antenna that the company thinks will be affordable for both commercial and military users. For commercial transports, the company envisions its Satellite TV Airborne Receiving System (STARS) providing up to 20 live channels from Hughes Direct Broadcast satellite. The electrically steered antenna would have about 1,500 elements and would operate during maneuvers ranging between 6 deg. in pitch and 26 deg. in roll depending on aircraft latitude/longitude. The phased array architecture is scalable from 7GHz. to 44 GHz.
VASP BRAZILIAN AIRLINES has placed firm orders for two McDonnell Douglas MD-11 transports, with delivery scheduled for November and December. The order by the Sao Paulo-based carrier, which currently operates four MD-11s, is the first step in a fleet plan that calls for the addition of up to six new trijets through 1998, VASP officials said, including passenger and freighter versions.
A multinational team led by Hughes Aircraft has won the $154-million development contract for the international Evolved Sea Sparrow Missile and anticipates a production decision near the turn of the century for 3,000 or more missiles worth in excess of $1 billion.
The left and right wing sections for the Gulfstream 5 were joined recently at Northrop Grumman's commercial aircraft division in Dallas. THE WING JOINING WAS accomplished in less than two hours, and all engineering tolerances were met. Wing integration is continuing with installation of flight control actuators, hydraulic lines and electrical wiring. Japan's ShinMaywa is designing and building the flaps, spoilers, ailerons, wing-to-body fairing and main landing gear doors.
A COMPROMISE TO the sticky Parts Manufacturing Authority issue is being floated around U.S. industry. Under the plan, U.S. original equipment manufacturers and component suppliers would partner in the production of spare parts, with the independent parts makers paying a royalty to make spares certified by airplane- and engine-makers. Aircraft manufacturers would gain by eliminating certain high-overhead, low-volume replacement parts business. Customers would receive lower prices and manufacturer-like warrantees.
The U.S. Air Force has certified its new computerized mission planning system for the C-17, C-130 and B-52, and aircrews are undergoing training in the operational use of the software program.
Declaring success in an FAA test of a cellular concrete material for stopping jet aircraft that overrun runways, officials plan to install blocks of the material at New York John F. Kennedy International Airport later this year.
U.S. SPY AIRCRAFT PERSONNEL may depart Key West, Fla., for Albania as early as July 6 to deploy secret unmanned aerial vehicles over Bosnia. A team of about 100 people and three of the vehicles, called the Tier 2 Predator, are to provide intelligence to NATO planners about Bosnian military operations.
OHIO STATE RESEARCHERS have begun developing a ``fuzzy logic''-based system to help pilots regain control of aircraft after potentially catastrophic malfunctions. The system automates pilot expertise to instantly identify and stabilize a malfunctioning system while informing the flightcrew, according to Kevin Passino, assistant professor of electrical engineering. Aircraft controls would be adjusted automatically to maintain an appropriate level of overall aircraft performance.
U.S. and Russian space managers are honing skills critical to the assembly of a permanent orbiting research facility through the precedent-setting joint operations of NASA's shuttle Atlantis and the Mir space station. Flight controllers here and at the Russian Space Agency's control center in Kaliningrad worked together to coordinate shuttle Mission 71 commander Robert L. ``Hoot'' Gibson's flawless flight of Atlantis to its docking with Mir at an altitude of 213 naut. mi. June 29.
Facing budget cuts and an ongoing policy dispute between the White House and Congress, the FAA is laboring today as if it were under siege. In some respects, the agency that bares primary responsibility for aviation safety is facing the most crucial budget battle of its 37-year history. But there are other strong elements in play that suggest the FAA is facing more than budget problems. Among them are: -- Several reform packages under consideration by Congress.
FOR TWO WEEKS THIS SUMMER, up to 500 World War 2-era aircraft will fly from Long Beach, Calif., to McGuire AFB, N.J., to commemorate the end of fighting. As participants in Freedom Flight America, B-25 bombers, P-51 Mustang fighters, trainers, liaisons, transport and cargo aircraft will visit nine cities. Some of the aircraft will join the armada for part of the trip and then drop out. The journey will end with a fly-by of the Statue of Liberty on Aug. 11. From Aug. 12-14, the aircraft will be on display at McGuire.
THE FLIGHT SAFETY FOUNDATION is seeking to create a regional air transport safety advisory committee, comprised of representatives from all industry sectors, to focus exclusively on problems faced by regionals. This is part of the Arlington, Va.-based FSF's entreaty for an industry-wide effort to identify regional airline safety concerns and seek ways to reduce risks. Public relations safety campaigns directed at the flying public are ``not enough,'' according to the FSF.
