Russia's Mysasishchev Design Bureau, which is developing a 14-seat light transport with India's National Aerospace Laboratory, is offering a Russian-built 1,000-shp. engine for the new aircraft. Valery K. Novikov, head of MDB, said the TVD 20M turboprop engine is ``fuel efficient and cheaper to produce'' than the Pratt&Whitney Canada PT6A-66. The TVD 20M is manufactured by the Omsk Engine Design Bureau in Siberia. Both governments have approved codevelopment of the aircraft, called Saras by the Indians and Duet by the Russians.
MCDONNELL DOUGLAS CORP. retained its position as the top supplier to the Pentagon in Fiscal 1994 with a total of $9.2 billion in prime contract awards, $1.7 billion more than in Fiscal 1993. Lockheed ranked second despite a drop from $6.9 billion in contracts in 1993 to $6.5 billion in 1994. Martin Marietta, which merged with Lockheed this year, ranked fourth with $3.1 billion in contracts, down from $4.7 billion.
JAPAN AIRLINES IS RETHINKING its traditional go-it-alone policy on computerized reservations systems. It expects to link its Axess CRS system with American Airlines' Sabre by the end of the year. With 114,000 terminals among travel agencies, Sabre dwarfs Axess with 11,000. Until recently, the JAL system controlled 80% of Japan's domestic market. Then Sabre and United Airlines' Apollo systems began entering the Japanese market. Competition from All Nippon Airways provided JAL with further heartburn. Today, Axess controls just 50% of Japan's market.
Crossair, the successful Swiss regional with a network spanning 52 destinations in 14 countries, will face its biggest challenge yet over the next 18 months. The airline's task will be to maintain profitability and its quality niche in the market while its revenues double, its fleet grows by 60% and its workforce increases by 40%.
NASA's John E. Mansfield staunchly defends the Orbital Sciences/Rockwell/NASA program to develop a small, mostly reusable launcher (AW&ST Apr. 3, p. 44). But he concedes it does not fit the experimental vehicle mold. ``It's not really an X program, and we're making a lot of people mad by calling it that,'' the associate administrator for advanced technology said. Especially angry is the Space Frontier Foundation, space activists who have pushed hard for single-stage-to-orbit vehicles.
Ronald Windom has been named product marketing manager of Paradigm Technology, Inc., San Jose, Calif. He was product marketing engineer for the Subsystems Div. of Integrated Device Technology.
FAA officials are urging the U.S. Air Force to retain its NKC-135A tanker to allow in-flight icing tests of turboprop-powered regional airline aircraft that could lead to revised certification standards for those transports.
``Crew Resource Management'' is a 12-hr. video course designed for training crews at Part 121 and Part 135 airlines as well as corporate aviation departments. It can be used individually or in a classroom. The course follows guidelines in FAA Advisory Circular 121-51A. Topics include team building, information transfer, decision making, conflict resolution and situational awareness. Airline Educational Services, 6250 Tuttle Place, Suite No. 3, Anchorage, Alaska 99507-2041.
FAILURES OF back-to-back experimental spacecraft--ETS-6 and Express--have prompted Japan's Space Activities Commission to study whether to insure more satellites. Currently, the government insures only high-cost spacecraft. The reasoning has been that the high reliability of Japan's launch vehicles (87%) did not warrant the expense of insuring every flight. But the uninsured ETS-6 failure created a 41.5-billion-yen ($500-million) loss and sparked pointed questions in the Diet. Express added 16 billion yen ($193 million) to the losses.
A Pentagon-sponsored study calls for the vice president's task force on terrorism to be reestablished for a high-level review of capabilities available to counter increasingly lethal attacks on targets such as civil transports.
Pilotbrief 2, the stand-alone, satellite-delivered weather briefing system, has been upgraded to allow animation of WSI's Nowrad radar images while providing enhanced printing capabilities and a fine tuning feature that improves satellite signal reception. The turnkey system features a menu-driven interface, high-speed microprocessor, high-resolution color monitor, dedicated keypad, mouse, a modem and 30-in.-radius satellite dish. The system is intended for fixed base operators, corporate flight departments and airlines with pilot self-briefing.
The 1935 BLDC brushless d.c. motor features integrated electronics, yet has a diameter of only 0.75 in. and is 1.38 in. long. The motor operates on the principle of sensorless feedback. It weighs 1.3 oz. and requires just two wires that can be connected directly to a d.c. power source for installation. Its dynamic speed range of 100-15,000 rpm. varies linearly with supply voltage. The addition of a third wire allows a tachometer feedback signal, permitting speed regulation of 3%. Service life is 20,000-30,000 hr. The unit comes with two shielded ball bearings.
LOCKHEED MARTIN AND SANDERS ARE TESTING a Westinghouse AAR-54 passive Missile Approach Warning System before selecting a MAWS supplier for the team's bid to the Army for engineering and manufacturing development of the Advanced Tactical Infrared Countermeasures (ATIRCM) system. During the initial prototype phase of ATIRCM, Loral Infrared&Imaging Systems Div. provided the passive MAWS.
McDonnell Douglas is studying the use of mission modules that could be placed in the cargo area of a C-17 transport to fulfill theater requirements such as a flying hospital or tanker aircraft. While the contractor's current focus is reducing aircraft costs and successfully reaching the program's Milestone 3B, officials said an advanced design group is looking into various options that could broaden the aircraft's role. McDonnell Douglas is funding the preliminary study.
A New Jersey company plans to offer a suite of personal computer-based tutorial and simulator programs for Learjet systems this summer. The modular package, developed by PCW Aerospace Software Technology, will allow pilots to become familiar with the design and operation of fuel, fire and annunciator systems as well as hydraulic, electrical, mechanical and pneumatic systems, according to Craig Wood, vice president for simulation development. Operation of the programs requires a computer with an Intel 486 microprocessor.
AFTER MONTHS OF SEESAWING OVER NATO'S Partnership for Peace program, Russia has agreed to formalize its affiliate status with the alliance that stops short of full membership. But Moscow still opposes NATO's eventual extension eastward to Russia that is being pressed by its erstwhile allies in the defunct Warsaw Pact, among them Poland and the Czech Republic.
Advanced Voice and Integrated Data is an all-digital card that provides the capability to simultaneously transmit voice and data at 28.8 kilobits/sec. over a standard voice-grade, four-wire line. A single AVID can replace several remote control modules. It is designed to be paired with Radio Control Head digital control board and Radio Control Software to serve air traffic control and military range needs. Austin Information Services, Inc., 301 Camp Craft Road, Suite 150, Austin, Tex. 78746.
NASA is narrowing its list of candidate technologies for the New Millennium smallsat initiative, pushing toward a late-summer decision on the robotic scientific missions it will fly to demonstrate the ``faster- better-cheaper'' approach NASA says will boost space science in the next century.
A new software tool that mimics vision could help designers reduce aircraft detectability in the visible and infrared spectra. From a detailed description of an aircraft or other object, software algorithms predict how detectable an object is by an operator searching with visible or infrared viewers. The software was developed in the Visible and Electro-Optical Detection Analysis (VISEO) program at Georgia Tech Research Institute (GTRI), a part of Georgia Institute of Technology.
Hunting Aviation has opened a 2-million-pound ($3.2-million) air- craft engine test cell with a thrust range of up to 40,000 lb. at Pyestock, Farnborough. The test cell will be used by Hunting's Aircraft Engineering Div. to test Rolls-Royce Conway engines (left), which power RAF VC10 tanker/ transports. The facility also will be used to test Allied- Signal ALF 502 and LF 507 engines.
A LAW ENFORCEMENT version of a military automatic video tracking system is in initial operation with the Pasadena, Calif., police aviation unit. The Compact Airborne Automatic Tracking System, developed by Octec, Ltd., of Bracknell, England, reduces police flightcrew workload while improving arrest and conviction rates. CAATS lightweight hardware and programmable software enables remote-controlled airborne video or forward-looking infrared cameras to hold a specific ``scene'' or ``target'' image while the host helicopter or fixed-wing aircraft maneuvers.
