Machining for Windows, Version 2.0 is a module of Boothroyd Dewhurst, Inc.'s Design for Manufacture and Assembly that allows users to easily obtain machining times and costs on concept stage designs. It can be used to develop operation and process plans, obtain cost estimates early in the design concept process, provide quotes and aid in production planning. Machining for Windows provides access to the DMA library, allowing selection of the tool material, type of cut, dimensions of cut and surface finish required.
GENERAL ELECTRIC HAS ESTABLISHED a partnership with Rybinsk Motors, located about 200 mi. north of Moscow. The agreement covers industrial turbines, but GE would like to form a joint venture with Rybinsk this year for broader purposes including local product support, some engine assembly and perhaps licensed production. Coproduction of the GE CT7 turboshaft engine is being considered for the Kamov Ka-62 helicopter and S80 transport designs. GE already has surveyed Rybinsk's quality control system and is buying parts from that company for its GE LM-2500 industrial engines.
The Jotron 7000 line of radios is designed for use in air traffic control applications where remote control is a must. Each transmitter and receiver has a built-in microprocessor that allows it to be controlled by a personal computer running Microsoft Windows software. The equipment operates in the 118-144 MHz. band with standard channel space of 25, 12.5 or 8.33 KHz. The microprocessor also makes remote diagnostics possible, which reduces maintenance costs. A single telecommunications line can be used to control up to 255 radios. The 7000 line fits into standard 19-in.
IMPROVED LASER THERMAL simulation and heat treating of metals could result from a cooperative research and development program underway by Spawr Industries of Lake Havasu City, Ariz., and the Argonne (Ill.) National Laboratory. The project, which centers on developing improved laser optics and beam shaping, could streamline heat and stress testing of jet engine and other aerospace components by focusing laser energy on parts to duplicate in-service heat conditions.
SPACE SYSTEMS/LORAL has finished propulsion integration and begun installing the electrical system on Tempo, its first direct-to-home television broadcast satellite (right). The satellite, one of Loral's FS-1300 series spacecraft and shown here during structures assembly at Palo Alto, Calif., is the first of two being built for the Tempo subsidiary of Denver-based Tele-Communications, Inc. (TCI). Scheduled for launch in early 1996, it will also likely be the first Loral spacecraft to launch on a Russian booster.
U.S. Air Force/Rockwell B-1B Conventional Mission Upgrade Program flight tests, now underway at Edwards AFB, Calif., are initially focused on integrating cluster bomb unit weapons with the bomber. Subsequent phases will add all-weather standoff weapons, and upgrade the aircraft's communications, radar and electronic countermeasures systems.
JAPAN AND EUROPE are drawing up plans for a complex satellite relay test that will mark their first collaboration in space communications. The tests, to begin about 1998, will involve Artemis, the European Space Agency advanced communications satellite that Alenia is building for launch in 1997, and Oicets, a communications research satellite that Japan's National Space Development Agency plans to orbit in 1998. The relay experiments will use a Matra Marconi laser communications system and an S-band system.
USAir expects all but the smallest jet aircraft in its fleet to be equipped with FlightLink 2 passenger communications systems within two years. The digital system, sold by In-Flight Phone of Oak Brook Terrace, Ill., permits passengers to make telephone calls, link their laptop computers with computers on the ground or send faxes from their seats. It also features a suite of video games and allows passengers to obtain 15-min. delayed stock quotes, reserve rental cars and buy merchandise from several vendors.
The aerospace traveler's notebook is full of Asian/Pacific show dates this year: Taiwan, Thailand, Malaysia, China, the Philippines, Australia, India. Mainly regional shows, they are not on a par with Paris this summer or next year's Singapore exhibition, but they offer important local connections.
MIRRORS FOR AXAF, the Advanced X-ray Astrophysics Facility, are ready for precise alignment after polishing and measurement was finished four months ahead of schedule at Hughes Danbury Optical Systems, Danbury, Conn. They will produce X-ray images analogous to images produced by optical telescopes. However, the mirrors are very different. They are roughly cylindrical and arranged in four nested pairs. They are polished to precise shapes so that X-rays entering the front reflect off inner surfaces at very shallow angles and come to a focus behind the mirrors.
ABB PLANS TO BUILD A SUPERCONDUCTOR TRANSFORMER using High Temperature Superconductor technology and components developed by American Superconductor Corp. ABB thinks that HTS technology has developed to the point where it will be cost-competitive with conventional power transformers by the end of the decade. The team, supported by French and Swiss utilities, will design and manufacture a 630-kVA. transformer, and plans to test a prototype in late 1996 in the Geneva power grid.
Russian airlines plan to lease up to 100 Western-built transports in the next five years to compensate for the small numbers of new aircraft scheduled to be built by indigenous manufacturers. Russian airline aircraft have not been competitive with Western-built transports chiefly because of the higher fuel consumption rates of Russian turbofan engines, according to Transport Minister Vitaly Efimov. This deficiency has been a major obstacle to marketing modern transports such as the Ilyushin Il-96-300 and the Tupolev Tu-204.
PRELIMINARY INSPECTION has revealed a faulty air-conditioning duct clamp and failed check-valve probably caused two sudden depressurizations of Boeing 777 flight test aircraft earlier this month. One incident sent four flight test technicians to the hospital overnight for observation. In the more serious of the two events, both of which occurred Feb. 2, Boeing 777 serial number WA002 experienced a sudden loss of cabin pressure while flying at 43,000 ft.
The Clinton Administration is proposing to reduce NASA's budget in 1996 as a first step in cutting $5 billion from previous spending plans over the next five years. Total budget authority for the agency in Fiscal 1996 would run $14.26 billion, down from $14.46 billion this year.
EXACTLY 30 DAYS AFTER an impromptu safety summit here, Transportation Secretary Federico Pena released the Aviation Safety Action Plan to achieve zero accidents. From pilot training to satellite navigation, the 173 initiatives Pena presented last week run the gamut. Some 104 of them are to take effect by Sept. 30. The centerpiece is a landmark pact among the FAA, airlines and labor groups to allow data recorded during flight to be shared freely and analyzed by all three parties. The FAA agreed not to use the data for regulatory enforcement against airlines or pilots.
President Clinton has before him the names of candidates who are well qualified to preserve the U.S. National Transportation Safety Board's power to eradicate air safety hazards. He should send his nominees to the Senate for confirmation now. The safety board has for too long served as a patronage plum, a role that has eroded its credibility. The result is more far-reaching than lost prestige.
The U.S. Navy plans to seek an off-the-shelf replacement for its aging CH-46D vertical replenishment helicopter fleet, with an initial buy of four budgeted for Fiscal 1999.
FOR YEARS, DEFENSE COGNOSCENTI HAVE JOKED bitterly but privately that the Pentagon is ungovernable. Now comes House Speaker Newt Gingrich (R.-Ga.) declaring publicly that attempts to reform the gordian defense procurement system are futile. ``It is hopeless, it is impossible, it is not worth the effort--and it is intellectually not doable,'' he told a military association last week. Yet he said in the next breath that there is no reason why weapon acquisition time could not be slashed 80% and procurement costs 40%.
ARIANESPACE IS ASSESSING a mid-March launch date--possibly Mar. 14--to return the Ariane 4 booster to flight following its accident in early December. One factor in the decision will be the final delivery schedule of a reverified Aerospatiale cryogenic third stage with an SEP HM7-B engine to the launch site at Kourou, French Guiana. An accident review board cited contamination that could have come from either the engine or stage as the most likely cause of the failure. Space insurers are skittish about the upcoming launch as Ariane failed twice in 1994.
Micro Craft Technology, Tullahoma, Tenn., has named Edward M. Kraft (see photos) general manager of Arnold Engineering Development Center activities. He succeeds John W. Davis, who has been appointed chief engineer.
The market has shown little enthusiasm for either Lockheed Corp. or Martin Marietta Corp. stock since August, when the two major military contractors announced their planned merger. In fact, shares of the majority of large defense companies are selling at above their August levels, with Lockheed and Martin Marietta perhaps the two most notable exceptions; their stock prices actually have lost ground.
AIR INDIA, HAVING JUST CONVERTED OPTIONS for two more 747-400s into orders, is beginning a campaign to procure 12 or more medium-capacity, long-range transports. Candidates include the Airbus A340, Boeing 777 and McDonnell Douglas MD-11. As envisioned, the aircraft would become the backbone of Air India's fleet, allowing nonstop flights from major Indian cities to destinations in Europe, the Middle East, the Far East and Japan.
Helicopter operators and FAA are working to showcase civil helicopter transportation as part of next year's Olympic Summer Games in Atlanta. A fleet of up to 200 helicopters could fly as many as 8,000 operations during the Olympics. The coordination effort now underway could become a blueprint for future urban air transportation systems.
This 500-megabyte SCSI solid-state disk drive has no moving parts. It is designed to operate in an environment where it could be subjected to 50g shocks, vibrational forces of up to 10g at frequencies of 5-2,000 Hz., at an altitude of 50,000 ft. and a temperature range of -40-85C (-40-185F). Its Flash memory architecture allows for true hard disk read-write compatibility without additional software drivers. It also incorporates a sophisticated automatic error correction/retry capability and fault management system.
