THE JOINT CHIEFS of Staff have approved adding a Hughes long-range, moving target indicator (MTI) to the advanced synthetic aperture radar systems (ASARS 2) on board U-2 reconnaissance aircraft to keep track of elusive North Korean heavy mortars and rockets. Although these weapons have stayed in their caves near the South Korean border since the death of Kim Il Sung, the ability to keep track of them still poses a problem. Plans to put MTI and SAR on unmanned aerial vehicles, helicopters, light aircraft or tethered balloons have not won funding.
Altair Corp., Norwood, Mass., has appointed Peter C. Bransfield president/chief operating officer. He was vice president of Dynatech International Corp.
BOEING IS LEAVING NO STONE UNTURNED in its market research for a possible High Speed Commercial Transport. Participants in an interactive survey that precedes all public tours of the company's Everett, Wash., wide-body aircraft factory are asked: Would you rather spend $100 more for an economy class, one-way ticket on an HSCT that would cut 5 hr. from an 11-hr. flight or $650 on the full-length trip on a conventional, subsonic transport? A follow-up question assesses the value of the extra $100 if the HSCT schedule is more convenient than that for subsonic aircraft.
Illustration: ALADA standoff missile will have an approximately 500-kg. weapons payload. The Spanish military will consider procuring the missile. Spain's CASA will propose a turbojet-powered version of its ALADA stand-off attack missile concept to the Spanish air force and navy. The company is conducting an early feasibility study on the ALADA (autonomous distance launched missile).
These Special Item Arrow Clips are designed to provide unique fasteners for assembly applications where larger panel thicknesses and mounting diameters and increased fastening strength are required. The new clips, molded from UL94V-2 Nylon 66, are available for panel thicknesses of 0.045-0.275 in. and hole sizes of 0.230-0.275 in. Micro Plastics, Inc., Highway 178 North, Flippin, Ark. 72634.
The Epoch 3 is a full-featured ultrasonic flaw detector that can detect and characterize flaws in steel, aluminum or composite aircraft structures and components. A zoom feature eases recognition of small, hidden defects. A high-resolution pulser and standard unrectified radio frequency waveform display ease inspections of thin materials such as aircraft skins. It features an internal alphanumeric datalogger that stores and retrieves up to 300 screen images or 3,000 thickness readings. Data can be transferred via an RS-232 port or optional Microsoft Windows interface.
The French civil aviation authority (DGAC) has issued an emergency airworthiness directive prohibiting the use of autopilot on ATR42 and ATR72 aircraft in icing conditions. The directive also bans the use of autopilot when the French/Italian aircraft are flying in severe turbulence.
The world's civil aircraft manufacturers are studying, even marketing in some cases, next-generation superjumbo and supersonic aircraft, but difficult hurdles must be overcome before go-ahead for either--not least of which is the sorry financial state of most airlines worldwide. With an estimated $15.6 billion in cumulative losses since 1990, world airlines--with a few notable exceptions--are in no condition to think about the purchase or even lease of new aircraft likely to cost $200 million-plus each.
Airbus Industrie and its four partners, after comparing the merits of several ultrahigh-capacity aircraft (UHCA) concepts, determined in June the common A3XX configuration, now in the feasibility phase. Airbus officials currently are discussing the 530-670-seat transport concept with eight major international carriers, key airport officials and U.S.-European certification authorities to gather additional information. The consortium is considering four complementary versions:
Delta Air Lines will extend its ban on passenger smoking to all international flights and its lounges for frequent-flier program members starting with the New Year. On Jan. 1, the Atlanta-based carrier will no longer permit its customers to smoke on its transpacific flights, including those to Seoul, South Korea; Bangkok, Thailand, and Tokyo and Nagoya in Japan, or in the Crown Room clubs used at 38 airports throughout the Delta system by frequent-flier program members.
A new line of high-resolution, cooled charged coupled device cameras virtually eliminates dark current noise that often masks critical low-light images. The cameras use a two-stage Peltier-type cooler that lowers sensor temperature by 55C (99F). The cooler temperature improves signal-to-noise ratio and dynamic range. The result is a high-quality image in low light applications such as fluorescence microscopy, electrophoresis and forensics. The sensor is hermetically sealed in a vacuum to prevent condensation.
INITIAL NASA EXPERIENCE with a prototype Takeoff Performance Monitoring System (TOPMS) indicates the cockpit-mounted visual display can help pilots make critical takeoff/abort decisions. Some 9% and 13% of all accidents involving large and regional transports, respectively, are takeoff-related, according to a Flight Safety Foundation report on the TOPMS system. The display, flight tested on a NASA/Boeing 737, graphically indicates actual takeoff performance versus a reference value and signals Go or No-Go advisories.
Boeing Commercial Airplane Group is continuing to push for a risk-sharing, multi-national joint effort as the only economic way to bring a new, 600-800-seat transport to a limited market. Program management challenges include announced plans by Airbus Industrie to compete with any Boeing-led new large transport project (AW&ST Nov. 7, p. 37). Proposed, highly productive second-generation supersonic transports also could undermine demand with competitively priced seats on long-haul overwater routes.
GEC-Marconi ``ARIEL'' airborne towed radar decoy, now in operational use on Royal Air Force Nimrod maritime patrol aircraft, is designed to lure monopulse-radar-guided missiles away from their intended target. Full-scale mockup of the ARIEL, which operates over the 2-18-GHz. frequency band, was displayed at the recent Old Crows EW convention.
UBAC EP bright acid copper produces a brilliant, ductile copper deposit with excellent leveling characteristics. It is primarily used as an undercoat in a variety of nickel/chromium plating combinations on steel, brass, aluminum, zinc-based die castings and plastics. It provides excellent low-current density leveling and brightness, features a high tolerance to impurities and can tolerate higher temperatures than conventional acid copper. Enthone-OMI, Inc., P.O. Box 1900, New Haven, Conn. 06508.
U.K. and French aviation authorities will be asked next year to decide whether the French/Anglo Concorde, the world's only supersonic passenger aircraft, will operate into the next century.
The Motionpack FD all-digital, single-axis motion controller is designed to provide high-speed, high-accuracy positioning for a wide range of functions in machine tool and general automation applications, including dial-type and in-line transfer machines, slide unit systems, X-Y positioning tables and single-axis measuring systems. It also can be used with plasma cutting, drilling machinery and grinding machines and dressers. Variants of the base system allow additional built-in sequence logic, extra rigid tapping machining function, and servo and motion controller only.
GEC-Marconi Avionics, Ltd., Rochester, England, has named Saul Lanyado (see photo) managing director. He was managing director of STC Submarine Systems.
EnSight 5.2 is a distributed engineering postprocessor that can run on various platforms, including Silicon Graphics, Sun Microsystems and Cray. It supports results files in Ansys, Estet, Fidap, Fluent, Movie.byu. A new variable calculator allows users to create new variables from old ones using built-in or custom functions. Computational Engineering International, Inc., P.O. Box 14306, Research Triangle Park, N.C. 27709.
Delta Air Lines and AT&T Global Information Solutions have named William L. Belew president/chief executive officer for a planned information technology joint venture to be based in Atlanta. He was vice president/chief information officer at W.R.Grace and Co.
Dallas Airmotive has named Thomas R. Kincaid (see photos) president/chief executive officer. He was founder/chairman/ president of International Turbine Service, Inc. George F. Derby has been named executive vice president/chief operating officer. He was executive vice president/chief executive officer of U.S. Ink.
The 600 Series surface treatment system is a benchtop, plasma-based production system for cleaning parts, devices and substrates for enhanced bonding properties, solvent and rinse residue removal, enhanced wettability and surface modification. The plasma raises a substrate's surface energy and wettability for bonding adherence properties. The process uses no chlorofluorocarbons and generates no effluents. The unit may be set up with one or more processes. The unit can be configured for single-button operation. Anatech, Ltd., 6621-F Electronic Drive, Springfield, Va.
The National Technical Systems EMC/EMI laboratory, Fullerton, Calif., can conduct tests to the military specification of 200 v./ meter up to 40 GHz., and is able to perform commercial testing to IEC 801. ESD tests can be conducted on microcircuit components. A lightning simulation facility is able to meet the multiple strike, multiple burst and single strong strike requirements. National Technical Systems, Inc., 1536 E. Valencia Drive, Fullerton, Calif. 92631.
THE FRENCH AND U.K. air forces will form a planning group to develop some increased joint operational capability. The group, consisting of officers from both nations, will work out the mechanism under which British and French aircraft might be deployed together, rather than separately, as part of a response to some requirement.
