A major change in French defense policy is spawning development of several precision weapons to give the country a better power projection capability around North Africa, the Adriatic and Middle East. Some of the new French precision weapon developments also could involve codevelopment projects with Germany and the United Kingdom. The initiatives are largely tied to French navy and air force introduction of the Dassault Rafale fighter and the debut of the Eurofighter 2000 aircraft early in the next century.
BOEING HAS PITCHED a lease-to-buy offer to the U.S. Air Force for 747-400 transports that would allow the service to keep its C-17 procurement plan on track while placing additional Non-Development Airlift Aircraft (NDAA) on the ramp more quickly than buying them outright. The proposal came as part of Boeing's response to an Air Force request for information on leasing aircraft for its VIP fleet.
U.S. officials believe they can greatly improve accuracies for the Pentagon's new generation of satellite-guided weapons through the use of portable, easily deployed, wide-area differential Global Positioning System stations.
Noel W. Hinners (see photo) has been named vice president-flight systems for Martin Marietta Astronautics in Denver. Previously chief scientist for business development and advanced programs, he succeeds G. Thomas Marsh, who has been named president of Martin Marietta Manned Space Systems.
The automated baggage handling system at Denver International Airport is processing as many as 23,000 suitcases, skis and golf bags over 17-18-hr. evaluation periods, achieving 96-98% availability rates during final pre-opening ``stress tests.'' The system initially will serve only United Airlines' outbound flights when the airport opens this week.
AN IMPROVED, MINIMUM-SMOKE, INSENSITIVE propellant may replace current high-hazard RDX and HMX solid fuels in military Hellfire, TOW and Sidewinder and other missiles. The new propellant, based on an energetic fuel discovered in 1987 and designated CL-20, now is being perfected by scientists at the U.S. Navy's China Lake, Calif., Air Weapons Station and a contractor team led by Thiokol Corp. Initial fleet deployment of the new propellant could occur within three years.
Growing heavy-lift, electronic news-gathering and emergency medical service sectors could jump-start Japanese civil helicopter demand after several years of decline.
Saab-Scania Group is being split into two separate companies, with all of Saab's civil and military aerospace businesses to form the new Saab AB. Saab, which like Scania will be a wholly-owned subsidiary of Investor Group, will consist of Saab Military Aircraft, Saab Dynamics, Saab Training Systems, Saab Aircraft, Saab Combitech and Saab Service Partner. The company, which will remain based in Linkoping, Sweden, has annual sales of 4.9 billion kronor ($671 million).
Gamesa Aeronautica, Embraer's Spanish risk-sharing partner in the EMB-145 transport program, has shipped the first EMB-145 wings to the Brazilian aircraft manufacturer's Sao Jose dos Campos final assembly facilities. Gamesa will produce wings, wing fairings and nacelles for the 50-seat regional twinjet. The nacelle's thrust reverser section is manufactured by France's Hurel-Dubois. The first EMB-145, equipped with 7,040-lb.-thrust Allison AE3007 turbofan engines, will begin flight tests by mid-year. Embraer has launch orders for 13 aircraft.
THE HOUSE HAS APPROVED and sent to the Senate a $3.2-billion Fiscal 1995 supplemental defense spending bill to cover last year's unfunded U.S. contingency operations in Somalia, Haiti, Kuwait and elsewhere around the globe, as well as pay raises for military personnel. A Democratic amendment to reduce the amount to the $2.5 billion originally requested by the Clinton Administration was defeated. Republicans would pay for the boost in readiness funding by rescinding $1.46 billion in other defense spending and $1.4 billion in foreign aid and domestic spending.
A NEW USE FOR SMART MATERIALS could include constant, real-time crack and delamination detection in critical composite aircraft and spacecraft structures. The process incorporates micron size particles of Terfenol-D, a ``giant magnetostrictive'' material, into the composite. Sensing coils monitor internal stress based on the magnetic field generated by the particles. Stress concentration caused by a defect or delamination results in an abnormally high local magnetic field, according to Terfenol-D manufacturer Etrema Products, Ames, Iowa.
IN RESPONSE TO STARTUP NATIONS, USAir has announced one-way fare cuts on several of its Pittsburgh-Philadelphia flights to $53, $6 lower than Nations' fare, and said it would match the $89 fare on four of its 16 daily Pittsburgh-Boston flights.
WorldCorp, which owns 75% of World Airways, posted net earnings of $8.3 million in 1994 after losing $5.3 million in the fourth quarter. This compares with a net loss of $30.9 million and $11.1 million, respectively, in 1993. The company's improved financial performance was chiefly attributed to ``near breakeven operating results'' at World Airways, T. Coleman Andrews said. He is president and CEO at WorldCorp. The airline's fourth-quarter operating loss was $400,000 and net losses were $1.3 million.
A Swiss manufacturer of high-temperature and dynamic pressure transducers for monitoring booster performance gave technical briefings to China Great Wall Industries a month before the Long March 2E/Apstar-2 explosion. Vibro-Meter Aerospace Div. of Fribourg, Switzerland, offered China Great Wall the same equipment that the Societe Europeenne de Propulsion (SEP) has selected to instrument the Ariane 5's first-stage Vulcain engine.
BOEING PREMATURELY REMOVED the starboard Pratt&Whitney PW4084 powerplant from a 777 transport involved in a 1,000-cycle ETOPS test on Feb. 18. The powerplant was 40 cycles short of a planned 500-cycle removal. It previously had been ``aged'' for 2,000 operating cycles. The powerplant may have been damaged by human error during an engine oil change and subsequent run-dry test by Boeing personnel.
Spurred to action by two unsolved crashes involving Boeing 737 transports, the National Transportation Safety Board is calling for sweeping changes that would greatly expand capacity of flight data recorders on board most U.S. airline aircraft.
The flight test of an advanced French rocket-ramjet has opened the way for possible development of a French ``anti-AWACS-type'' long-range, air-to-air missile and European high-speed air-to-ground weapons. The French aeronautics agency ONERA and Matra are joint prime contractors for the ``self modulating ramjet'' project which has been a French ``black program'' for most of its 14-year history.
Some years ago, Alfred E. Kahn, Cornell Professor and former CAB Chairman, coined the phrase ``deregulatory schizophrenia'' to describe his attitudes toward economic deregulation. Kahn indicated his attitudes comprised two components: a clear preference for relying on competition wherever it appears it will do the job, and a skepticism about relying entirely on the unregulated market since economic deregulation cannot mean simple ``laissez-faire.''
Clayton M. Jones (see photo) has become senior vice president-government operations and an international and corporate officer of Rockwell International Corp., Seal Beach, Calif. Previously vice president-aerospace government affairs and marketing, he succeeds James A. McDivitt, who will retire Apr. 1. Lt. Gen. Edward P. Barry, Jr., (USAF, Ret.) has been named vice president-integrated inertial navigation systems/Global Positioning Systems for the Autonetics Electronics Systems Div. He was commander of the Space and Missile Systems Center at Los Angeles AFB.
WESTERN AIRPORTS RENO, SEATTLE AND SALT LAKE CITY in December, 1994, set passenger traffic records for the month and year. Year-end passenger counts rose to 5.3 million at Reno/Tahoe International, 21 million at Seattle-Tacoma International and 17.5 million at Salt Lake City International. The totals are up 12%, 12% and 10.5%, respectively, over 1993..
Pratt&Whitney and General Electric have formally embarked upon programs to develop increased-thrust derivatives of their engines for upcoming versions of the Boeing 777. Pratt has launched development of a 98,000-lb.-thrust version of the 84,000-lb.-thrust PW4000 for stretched versions of the ``B-market'' 777, and General Electric has solidified plans to increase the power of the 84,700-lb.-thrust GE90 to 92,000 lb. However, the engine will be derated to 90,000-lb. thrust for the ``B-market'' 777.
Following are excerpts from a recent analysis of U.S. policy toward North and South Korea written by Robert A. Manning, a senior fellow at the Progressive Policy Institute, a Washington think tank. Manning previously was an adviser on Asia strategy to the U.S. Defense secretary and a State Dept. adviser on East Asia-Pacific affairs. He argues that the Clinton Administration should develop a follow-up strategy to the 1994 U.S./North Korean ``Agreed Framework,'' aimed at ending Pyongyang's nuclear weapons program.
