ITT Defense and Electronics, Arlington, Va., has named retired USMC Maj. Gen. Harry W. Jenkins, Jr., (see photo) director of congressional liaison and program development. He was director of expeditionary warfare on the staff of the chief of naval operations.
Rockwell International last week reached a definitive agreement with Reliance Electric to acquire that company for $1.6 billion in cash, but the transaction does not mean Rockwell is ``deemphasizing'' its aerospace/defense businesses, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Donald R. Beal said. Rockwell is exploring several possible aerospace/defense acquisitions and alliances, domestically and internationally, Beal told AVIATION WEEK&SPACE TECHNOLOGY.
In a secret operation, a team of U.S. nuclear engineers and military personnel dispatched to Kazakhstan retrieved a cache of 600 kilograms of highly enriched, weapons grade uranium, enough to make two to three dozen nuclear bombs.
Although U.S. intelligence and ``black world'' costs have been contained in recent years, considerable duplication of effort remains and substantial savings still can be achieved through program consolidations. Some duplication is healthy. Because the business of intelligence is inherently fraught with uncertainty, having independent agencies pore over the same information is prudent and provides checks and balances.
If U.S. industry begins operating a low-cost space launch vehicle based on technology work being done by NASA under the Clinton Administration's new access-to-space policy, it will probably ride to orbit on a propulsion system derived from engines that exist in some form today rather than on a completely new engine.
Japan's navy says an antisubmarine version of the proposed YS-X 100-seat regional transport is under consideration as a replacement for its 90 Lockheed/Kawasaki P-3Cs. Other alternatives include developing an indigenously designed aircraft for the ASW role and licensed production of a foreign-designed ASW aircraft or foreign transport. Prime objectives are to hunt future low-noise or ``stealthy'' submarines.
A 2.7% scale model of Boeing's baseline High Speed Commercial Transport undergoes testing in the 9 X 7-ft. supersonic wind tunnel at NASA's Ames Research Center. About 700 hr. of tests have been completed. Videotapes and the Aeronet national computer system were used to relay real-time data and images to industry experts off-site. The aluminum and steel model weighs 185 lb. and is more than 6 ft. long. It is being used to study pressure distribution on the wing and fuselage, and different engine nacelle designs.
Surrey Satellite Technology, Ltd., Guildford, England, has promoted Martin Sweeting to managing director/chief executive officer from technical director. He will be succeeded by Jeffrey Ward, who was a SSTL senior engineer. Ed Milton has been promoted to general manager from assistant general manager.
The U.S. Air Combat Command is upgrading facilities at Lajes Field, a joint U.S.-Portugal airfield in the Azores, to reflect its new importance as an interim staging area for operations in the Mideast and Mediterranean regions.
THE LAUNCH of the $340-million Orion Atlantic business communications network's first satellite on a Martin Marietta Atlas 2A was aborted seconds before liftoff from Cape Canaveral Air Station's Pad 36A on Nov. 22 when an umbilical line failed to disconnect from the booster's Centaur upper stage. Officials planned to try again to launch the satellite Nov. 29.
Airports Council International members have adopted three key resolutions intended to further involve world airport officials in the air transport regulatory process, reducing aircraft noise and pollution, and expediting movement of passengers and cargo through airports. The resolutions were developed and approved by 700 airport, airline and civil aviation officials from 78 countries attending the Fourth Airports Council International World Assembly and Conference recently held in Marrakech, Morocco.
Syracuse (N.Y.) Research Corp. has promoted Mary K. Tyszko (see photo) to director of its Information Technologies Center. She was manager of information and electronic warfare technologies/associate director of engineering development.
General Dynamics, Falls Church, Va., has promoted Michael J. Mancuso to corporate vice president/chief financial officer from vice president/controller.
Canada needs to decide whether it really wants an Air Force, now that it has depleted its fleet of McDonnell Douglas CF-18 fighter/bombers to the point where there may not be enough remaining on active duty to cover the nation's far-reaching defense commitments.
CIT Group/Industrial Financing, Denton, Tex., has named Richard K. Barret district manager for the Central Region for its Business Aircraft Div. He was district manager in the Dallas office of U.S. Leasing.
San Jose (Calif.) International Airport has promoted Bill Potter to deputy director of aviation. He was with the airport's Finance and Administration Div.
Manned Mars mission planning is flourishing despite the demise of exploration technology programs, according to Douglas A. O'Handley of NASA-Ames' Center for Mars Research. New studies offer a more robust Mars surface capability from the start, including ``abort-to-Mars'' emergency options, as opposed to ``abort-to-Earth'' scenarios. ``This approach results in 30% less delivery of mass to low Earth orbit, 50% more metric tons of usable exploration payload, and a Mars stay time of 500 days as opposed to 30 days,'' he says.
The fundamental shift taking place in the U.S. aerospace/defense supplier base will force those vendors who want to prosper--in many cases, to survive--to adopt a single-minded focus: customer satisfaction. Vendors who resist this shift in the face of increasingly demanding customer expectations will become uncompetitive.
First firing of the Ariane 5 cryogenic oxygen/hydrogen ``battleship'' stage on the launch pad at Kourou, French Guiana, gives the European Space Agency new momentum to achieve the first Ariane 5 launch in November, 1995. Aerospatiale is ESA's prime contractor for the $6.4-billion Ariane 5 program that involves 12 countries and more than 100 contractors. A major Aerospatiale subcontractor, SEP or Societe Europeenne de Propulsion, heads the battleship test program in connection with development of the Vulcain first-stage engine.
The U.S. and Ukraine have signed a series of civil space, defense conversion and trade agreements, aimed at using high technology to shore up Kiev's shattered economy and head off political/military instability in central Europe. At a White House summit here last week, Presidents Bill Clinton and Leonid Kuchma signed an ``umbrella'' space pact between the U.S. and the three-year-old independent Ukraine. It establishes for the first time direct cooperation between NASA and the Ukrainian National Space Agency.
Delta Airlines will equip six new Boeing 757s with Scandinavian Bellyloading Sliding Carpet lower hold loading systems to increase bag and cargo handling efficiency. The sliding belt system (above) already has been retrofitted to 80 Scandinavian Airlines System (SAS) McDonnell Douglas MD-80s and DC-9s. Northern European-based carriers Braathens and Hapag-Lloyd have retrofit a total of 35 systems to their Boeing 737-300, -400 and -500 narrow-body transport fleets with plans to add additional systems to nine more transports by this winter.
Lockheed is close to completing aircraft upgrade and management services agreements with Argentina that would expand the company's international sales and bolster the business base of its Lockheed Aircraft Service Co. in Ontario, Calif. The pending pacts call for the refurbishment and upgrading of 36 A-4M aircraft that previously had been acquired by Argentina from the U.S. Navy. The aircraft, currently in storage at Davis-Monthan AFB, Ariz., were operated by the U.S. Marine Corps.
FREIGHT SHIPMENTS ARE CROWDING European highways and railways. The traffic saturation point is approaching rapidly, and the situation can be alleviated only by the appearance of a huge, new, all-cargo transport, according to Airbus Industrie officials. The ``Flying Giant,'' now only a concept, would have to carry a 350 to 400-ton payload and land at 15 dedicated airports sited at closed military bases. Each aircraft would replace 150 to 180 trucks and up to five all-cargo trains.
