U.S. DEFENSE officials have confirmed that Iran launched at least one Scud missile Nov. 6, damaging buildings at the camp of Iranian revolutionaries operating from eastern Iraq. Infrared sensors on the Air Force's Defense Support Program satellites picked up a single firing. But U.S. officials were skeptical of Iranian mujaheddin reports that Tehran launched three Scud-Bs at their camps. The mujaheddin said the missile attack was followed with a raid, Nov. 9 by four Iranian F-4s.
The amended agreement for the Trunkliner program signed by China and McDonnell Douglas will sustain the Douglas Aircraft Co.'s U.S. twinjet production line and further open the potentially lucrative Chinese commercial transport market to Douglas Aircraft Co. As part of its previous MD-80 coproduction arrangement, Douglas agreed not to market U.S.-built twinjets in China, which would compete with MD-80s assembled by the Shanghai Aviation Industrial Corp. (SAIC).
The U.S. Air Force is starting an ``evolved expendable launch vehicle'' study that could result in a winner-take-all competition in 1997 to serve the country's medium- and heavy-lift launcher needs.
Delta Air Lines' transatlantic operations are producing more profits than ever, and the carrier's leaders are striving to sustain that performance by salvaging the sales support of travel agents disillusioned by its cut in commissions. The Atlanta-based carrier's North Atlantic operations recorded an operating profit of $26.3 million for the quarter ending Sept. 30, according to reports filed with the U.S. Transportation Dept. Unit revenues on North Atlantic routes rose 14.3% over the levels recorded in the same quarter for 1993, Delta said.
Responding to urgent safety recommendations by the U.S. National Transportation Safety Board, FAA and French civil aviation officials are launching a Special Certification Review of the ATR42 and ATR72 aircraft to determine if they can be operated safely in icing conditions.
CARIBBEAN AIRWAYS INTERNATIONAL will begin operations next month as the flag carrier of Barbados using a Boeing 757 wet-leased from Birgenair of Istanbul. Service will start with two round-trips per week on a rotating basis from Vienna and the German cities of Munich, Hamburg, Stuttgart and Cologne, to Barbados via Gander, Newfoundland. The 757 is available for charter operations on weekends.
Technology Strategies and Alliances of Washington has elected John S. Foster partner/chairman of the board. He was chairman of the Defense Science Board and a member of the U.S. President's Foreign Intelligence Advisory Board. Adm. David E. Jeremiah, (USN, Ret.) has been named partner/president. He was vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. Foster and Jeremiah succeed TS&A founders William J. Perry, now Defense secretary, and Paul G. Kaminski, undersecretary of Defense for acquisition and technology.
Seasonal depletion of the ozone layer over Antarctica is nearly as severe as it was during last year's record low levels, a variety of airborne and space sensors have shown. Richard Bevilacqua of the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory said depletion began in May, became extremely rapid in mid-September and bottomed out in October. The levels are now beginning to recover slowly.
INTEL AND SAMSUNG WILL COOPERATE TO SUPPLY massively parallel processing supercomputers to South Korea and other Asian countries. Intel Corp.'s Scalable Systems Div., Beaverton, Ore., will work with Samsung Data Systems Co., Seoul, to distribute Intel's Paragon XP/S and Paragon XP/E scalable, massively parallel supercomputers.
MAGNETIC SHAPE-CHANGE METAL micropositioning actuators directing the telescope on board the Flare Genesis balloon-borne solar observatory, likely represent just the beginning of aerospace ``smart material'' applications. Long-term potential uses include airfoil shape changes to eliminate wing flaps or ailerons, or automatic continuous minor airfoil adjustments to optimize wing aerodynamics to phase of flight.
Many in Miami's aviation community are thrilled that in December the world will focus at least fleeting attention on their industry when leaders of North and South American nations gather there for the ``Summit of the Americas.'' Whether the summit likewise will be a success for the nations of the region is greatly in doubt.
Veeco Instruments, Inc., Plainview, N.Y., has appointed Stephen L. Barker director of leak detector sales and marketing. He was director of marketing for CM Technologies.
AT LEAST TWO CONTRACTORS, including Lockheed, are proposing integrated design concepts for the Pentagon's Joint Advanced Strike Technology program that include the use of unmanned aerial vehicles. Employing UAVs for surveillance would allow contractors to offload sensors from a JAST aircraft. The technology is not yet available, however, to build an affordable, multirole UAV that could perform close support, strike and air superiority missions, Air Force Maj. Gen. George Muellner, the JAST program manager, said.
The turnaround of Scandinavian Airlines System (SAS) has continued with third-quarter pretax profits of 624 million Swedish kronor ($85.5 million), a sharp improvement over the 520 million kronor ($71.2 million) pretax loss a year ago. The profits were attained with gains from the sale of noncore businesses and equipment, the growing benefits of a continuing cost-reduction program, lower interest charges attributable to its halved debt burden, better capacity utilization, and rising airline traffic and yields.
USE OF REMOTE-CONTROLLED helicopters continues to expand in Japan. Heavy agricultural use of rotary-wing UAVs began in Fiscal 1991 when 106 unmanned light helicopters crop-dusted almost 6,500 acres. By Fiscal `93, there were 395 vehicles spreading chemicals on 174,000 acres, each machine typically covering about 50-acres a day. Independent operators of the mini-rotorcraft earn as much as $50,000 during a summer spray season. The helicopters are ideally sized for Japan's small family farms, where operating larger, manned spray helicopters is difficult.
Harris Corp., Melbourne, Fla., has appointed Ronald R. Spoehel (see photo) vice president-corporate development. He was senior vice president/treasurer of ICF Kaiser.
HARRIS CORP. WILL PROVIDE digital map computers for U.S. Air Force MH-53J Pave Low 3 heavy-lift helicopters operated by Special Operations Forces. Harris will supply the computers under a $4.1-million subcontract to Loral Federal Systems, the systems integrator for the integrated defensive avionics system and multimission advanced tactical terminal. Harris will produce five digital map units over the next 18 months.
THE REPUBLICAN LANDSLIDE GIVES DEFENSE ADVOCATES a solid political boost, but no big dollar gains. Political mavens predict military spending will be harder to cut, but no easier to raise. Harder to cut because the House Republican platform, ``Contract With America,'' calls for reinstating ``firewalls'' that would prevent defense funds from being siphoned into other accounts. No easier to raise because the deficit dragon remains unslain and red ink spews forth again in 1996 unless large spending cuts or major tax increases are made.
As chairman of the newly formed Joint Services Materiel Group, U.S. Army Maj. Gen. George Friel wants the Air Force to take on total responsibility for developing masks for military pilots. ``As we move to jointness in the programs, we would like to move us to where our competencies are,'' Friel said. ``We are not going to spend money on two different development programs.''
SCHAEFFER MAGNETICS of Chatsworth, Calif., is using a low-cost, modular test facility (above) to determine how it can make longer-lasting bearings for spacecraft. Bearings can be rotated at various speeds in the transparent chamber on top of the counter. The ion pump under the counter creates a vacuum of 10-6 Torr in the chamber. As many as three pairs of bearings can be tested in one of Schaeffer's six chambers. Inner and outer bearing races can be heated separately to 200C.
OPTICAL IMAGING SYSTEMS, INC., WILL OPEN what it believes to be the first Active Matrix Liquid Crystal Display manufacturing facility in the U.S. this week. The new Northville, Mich., facility represents an expansion into full-scale manufacturing for the company, which has been producing several hundred AMLCDs for the past few years at its Troy, Mich., headquarters. The facility will target military and commercial high-end users, and will begin prototype delivery next year for the space shuttle and the new U.S. Air Force F-22.
Northeast Asia will record the strongest growth in international scheduled passengers services in the next five years, but Western Europe will remain the largest travel market by far, according to the latest international travel forecast from the International Air Transport Assn.
Douglas C. Stone has been named by Boeing Defense and Space Group to lead the company's Houston-based International Space Station program as a vice president. Stone succeeds Larry Winslow, who has been named the group's vice president-research and technology. Stone was Space Station Vehicle Integrated Product Team manager.
Paradigm Technology, Inc., San Jose, Calif., has named Tony Langley vice president-human resources and administration. He held the same title at Catalyst Semiconductor, Inc.
