McDonnell Douglas expects to select contractors for the Delta 3 launch vehicle quickly, possibly as early as this week, and Japanese suppliers may be among them. Having completed much of the preliminary design work and running a commercial program should allow the company to move with the speed it will need to conduct a first operational mission within three years, McDonnell Douglas officials say. ``We're a long way along on this already,'' Delta 3 program manager Richard J. Arvesen said.
REP. IKE SKELTON (D.-Mo.) has asked the General Accounting Office to conduct a review of military aircraft accidents following a spate of recent crashes. Skelton cited six crashes in the past several weeks involving an F-117A, a C-130E, an F-16B, a C-21, a National Guard A-10 and a Navy F/A-18D that collectively resulted in the deaths of more than a dozen crewmembers and passengers. Two more crashes occurred days after Skelton's request. On May 30, the pilot of an F-15C from the 53rd Fighter Sqdn. was killed when his aircraft crashed on takeoff at Spangdhalem AB, Germany.
Mike Shojaat has been appointed senior associate in avionics services of Intertrade Ltd., Cedar Rapids, Iowa. He was manager of marketing operations for Rockwell Collins.
Donald W. Hiorth has been appointed vice president-business development for systems engineering at Electro-Radiation Inc., Fairfield, N.J. He was a product manager at Kearfott Guidance and Navigation Corp.
The FAA has cleared operators of U.S.-based ATR42 and ATR72 series regional aircraft to resume flight operations in forecast or known icing conditions, excluding freezing drizzle/rain, following installation of new wing deicers. Last week's action by the agency allows ATR operators to fly in icing conditions after inspectors have confirmed that the new deicers have been installed and operate properly. As with all aircraft, the ATR series are prohibited from flight in known freezing drizzle or freezing rain.
Alton H. Higa has been appointed director of corporate accounting of Aloha Airlines. He was audit manager with Coopers&Lybrand. Randal M. Okita has been appointed director of internal audit. He was audit manager with Ikeda&Wong.
Steven R. Mast has been named vice president/chief financial officer of the Space Applications Corp., Vienna, Va. He was manager of an accounting practice at Coopers and Lybrand.
Todd V. Townsend has been named vice president-product development of Ashtech Inc., Sunnyvale, Calif. He was vice president-business development and advanced engineering for Compression Labs Inc. Also, Sergei Gourevitch and Jonathan W. Ladd have been promoted to chief scientist and vice president-marketing, respectively.
Gen. Thomas S. Moorman, Jr., USAF vice chief of staff, has won the National Space Club's Robert H. Goddard Memorial Trophy for his ``space career across the spectrum of space activities.''
Senior Vietnamese officials say their country's three most urgent airport projects--in Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City and Da Nang---will require a total investment of $600 million over the next five years and another $1.35 billion by 2010. The country is seeking loans from foreign institutions and joint venture funding to finance the improvements. It also will have to rely on direct government investment, bonds and commercial loans if it is to keep pace with air traffic growth, the officials said.
Raytheon Aircraft Co. is facing massive change as it implements a $30-million restructuring and modernization program to cut costs and increase competitiveness. Despite strong sales and market share, major Raytheon product lines need new models and updating. The company also must modernize its factory here, parts of which date from World War 2, and overcome a perception of uncaring customer service.
THE U.S. AND NATO ALSO COULD DEPLOY nonlethal weapons in Bosnia. America's secret arsenal of carbon-fiber and high-power microwave weapons, deliverable by aircraft or submarine-launched cruise missiles, could shut down Bosnian Serb electrical networks for a few days at a time.
WESTINGHOUSE WILL DESIGN AND INSTALL a major part of an air defense system for Thailand under a $180-million Royal Thai Air Force contract. The company is to design and install a turnkey system--the air defense system southern sector. Westinghouse is to deliver three W-2100 long-range L-band radars, high-resolution color displays, data processing, fiber-optic communications trunk with satellite backup, and digital communications switching. Its responsibilities include construction of all facilities, training and total logistics support.
A senior Pentagon official believes the Commission on Roles and Missions offers several ``positive suggestions'' on restructuring aviation program management and support functions to cut costs and improve efficiency.
U.S. MAJOR AIRLINES hired 666 pilots in the first four months of 1995, compared with 1,266 in all of 1994 and only 463 in 1993. Cockpit crew hiring by jet- and turboprop-powered regional airlines also remains strong with 238 positions filled in April and 1,384 year-to-date, according to Air Inc., an Atlanta-based pilot career services firm.
The largest European aerospace companies are negotiating partnership agreements that would streamline the industry, eliminate excess capacity and create cross-border alliances. Long, complex negotiations between Aerospatiale and Daimler-Benz Aerospace (DASA) on combining their missile and satellite businesses are finished, but the French and German governments, as well as the European Union's competition directorate, still must approve the alliance.
FOUR ASTRONAUTS WILL BEGIN training for extravehicular activity (EVA) for the second servicing of the Hubble Space Telescope. The astronauts selected are USAF Col. Mark C. Lee and Gregory J. Harbaugh, both of whom have EVA experience, and Steven L. Smith and Joseph R. Tanner. At least three spacewalks will be conducted on space shuttle Mission 82, set for early 1997 to install a data interface unit and two new instruments--the Space Telescope Imaging Spectrograph and the Near Infrared Camera Multi-Object Spectrometer.
THE EXORBITANT COSTS OF AIR SHOWS, under vehement fire at Farnborough last fall, have finally become the target of collective industry action (AW&ST Aug. 1, 1994, p. 50). With this month's Paris air show just days away, the Board of Governors of the U.S. Aerospace Industries Assn. (AIA) here has issued a formal policy declaration calling for a halt to the annual cycle of the major European shows. The association recommends that the year-to-year alternation between Paris and Farnborough be replaced with ``a European-based international air show'' on a two-year cycle.
Studies are underway to reduce Japan's front-line defense forces by 20-30 F-4EJs, 20-30 P-3C maritime patrol aircraft and diminish use of support aircraft as part of a post Cold-War budget-cutting drive. Final decisions are unlikely until after national elections, which will probably be held this summer. No estimates of how much money might be saved have been put forth. Instead, the cutbacks are being debated in terms of Japan's overall defense commitments.
AN INEXPENSIVE, NONINTRUSIVE METHOD for rapid identification of multiple, noncooperative radar targets is being developed by KTAADN Inc., Newton, Mass. The Aircraft Recognition Evaluator (AIRE) uses neural network computer technology to analyze raw radar cross-section data from an existing, conventional surveillance radar system, according to Ilya Schiller, KTAADN project manager. A pattern of details is extracted that leads to aircraft type identification and can even determine whether the target is carrying stores.
McDonnell Douglas is examining a variety of submunition and unitary warhead payloads for its SLAM stand-off, precision-guided missile to increase the weapon's flexibility and versatility. The company began studying submunition dispensing warheads for the weapon in August. Systems under consideration for potential Air Force and Navy versions of the missile include combined effects bomblets, the brilliant antitank or BATs weapons and sensor-fuzed weapons.
David L. Peel (see photos) has been named regulatory compliance manager of SimuFlite Training International, Dallas-Ft. Worth International Airport. He was a quality assurance specialist. John R. Holland has been appointed manager of Gulfstream training programs. He was director of operations of Alpha Aviation.
Russia's new 20-ton Spektr module docked successfully with the Mir space station June 1, following the transfer of an older 20-ton module on the station to a different docking port. The station crew was late last week preparing to reposition Spektr and then again move the older Kristall module for a third time--the key steps necessary to position Mir modules for the docking in late June by the U. S. space shuttle Atlantis.
Cessna Aircraft Co. is widening its hold on a rebounding business jet market with four new or updated models while restarting major production of light, piston-powered aircraft. The company expects to deliver its 3,000th Citation-series jet by the year 2000. Cessna also is aggressively chasing new military business with an all-domestic entry into the U.S. Joint Primary Aircraft Training System (JPATS) competition based on the proven CitationJet wing and systems.
