The U.K. government effectively rejected protests from families of pilots blamed for the 1994 crash of a Royal Air Force Chinook HC-2 helicopter in Northern Ireland. The Common Defense Committee, after studying the RAF Board of Inquiry findings, said that the Chinook Mk. II fleet was operating "reasonably and safely and reliably," and the aircraft involved in the crash did not suffer from design flaws. The committee also said it could find no "compelling evidence" to support claims attributing the crash to technical failures.
The U.S. National Reconnaissance Office said yesterday it has awarded TRW a $27.5 million contract to develop and build the new Launch and Network Control Equipment (LANCE) system to be deployed at Falcon AFB, Colo. The launch support and on-orbit telemetry processing system will replace a 20-year-old mainframe command and control system, NRO said. LANCE is expected to become operational in February 2000.
A Matra BAe Dynamics Advanced Short Range Air-to-Air Missile (ASRAAM) yesterday shot down a QF-4 target in a test at Eglin AFB, Fla. The missile, which carried no warhead, nevertheless destroyed the target. The firing, from an F-16 fighter, proved the latest ASRAAM software, Matra BAe Dynamics said. The test was one of a series being conducted at Eglin AFB. The missile is slated to be used on U.K. Royal Air Force Harriers, Tornados and Eurofighters, as well as Australian F/A-18s.
U.S. Naval Air Systems Command expects to announce in July the winner of a competition for a Targeting Sensor System for the Marine Corps' improved AH-1W helicopter, Navy Program Manager Capt. Tom Curtis told the American Helicopter Society in Washington. The system is expected to fuse an imaging infrared system with a thermal imaging third generation forward looking infrared system, he said Wednesday. The Targeting Sensor System is one of the issues to be settled for the AH-1 upgrade.
The House yesterday approved by voice vote an amendment that would require the Secretary of Defense to select an alternative contractor to Lockheed Martin as a potential source to develop the Theater High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) system. The House amendment also requires the secretary to establish an appropriate cost sharing arrangement with Lockheed Martin for future flight test failures.
RAYTHEON CO., Lexington, Mass., completed the sale of its European-based Raytheon Electronic Controls business to EGO Group of Germany for $38 million. The sale was the last resulting from Raytheon's strategic assessment of its appliance business. Raytheon realized a total of about $1.2 billion from the sale of all units of the former appliance business.
The Royal Netherlands Air Force took delivery of a new CH-47D Chinook helicopter at Boeing's Philadelphia facility. Boeing said the helicopter is the first of six "new-build" CH-47Ds to enter service in the Netherlands. They follow seven modernized Chinooks received by the RNLAF in 1995 and 1996. The remaining new helicopters are slated to be delivered later this year, Boeing said.
A former top KGB official who defected from the former Soviet Union said in Washington this week that the U.S. is in danger as terrorists step up their ability to launch attacks with electronic pulse weapons. Victor I. Sheymov, former chief of the KGB 8th Directorate who defected to the U.S. in 1980 and who has worked with the National Security Agency as a consultant on systems to protect against radio frequency (RF) weapons, told Congress there is an "urgent" need to develop technology to protect U.S. computers against RF interference.
United Defense L.P. (UDLP), York, Pa., and Swiss Ordnance Enterprise agreed to market internationally the Swiss upgrade to UDLP's M109 self- propelled howitzer, the companies announced. The upgrade, developed for the Swiss army, features an extended range 47 caliber cannon, semi-automatic loader, navigation and positioning system and improved electronics.
Bavaria International Aircraft Leasing Co. and Air Berlin announced orders for next generation 737s which, along with an order from Delta Airlines for a 737-800 earlier this month, brought Boeing 737 sales past the 4,000 mark. Bavaria ordered two 737-700s for delivery in the third quarter of 2001. The company now has ordered six 737-700s. Bavaria last month became the first European customer for the 717-200 with an order for five.
Consolidation of the Russian missile and space industry under the Russian Space Agency, ordered by President Yeltsin in January, is now complete. In accordance with Decree No. 440, signed by Prime Minister Sergey Kirienko on May 12 and released on May 20, RSA will assume control of three dozen more state companies, and will be responsible for implementing state policy in 21 stock-holding companies.
NASA set June 2 as the official date for the launch of the Space Shuttle Discovery, even though officials will continue to evaluate a minor water leak discovered in the fuel cell No. 3 relief valve. The leak was discovered during a test Monday of the super lightweight tank when the fuel cell was brought on line. The flight, STS-91, is set to make the ninth docking with Mir, delivering supplies and bringing home astronaut Andrew Thomas, who has been on Mir since late January.
The U.S. National Reconnaissance Office has slowed the Future Imagery Architecture program and may delay first launch of FIA satellites by about a year to resolve differences between the government and industry in estimating the cost of the effort, which would be about $1 billion.
Marine Corps Commandant Gen. Charles Krulak said yesterday that the need for short-takeoff-vertical-landing versions of the Joint Strike Fighter will increase as the U.S. military becomes more expeditionary. "I think the STOVL version of JSF will not decrease - it will increase in numbers," Krulak told reporters at a breakfast in Washington. "I think it will be a bigger seller than what is currently projected."
- Airbus Industrie yesterday formally rejected an offer to pull the Russian-designed Antonov-70 transport aircraft into a project to develop the Future Large Aircraft (FLA). Airbus' seven-nation Future Large Aircraft policy group of government representatives announced that "it could not act as a prime contractor on an An-70 based program under the current conditions laid down by the nations."
The National Reconnaissance Office is gradually increasing its research and development investment, NRO Director Keith Hall said yesterday. The investment, he said, is supposed to reach 10% of the agency's total, classified, budget by 2000. Hall described the move, taking place over a four - year period, as a "significant expansion in R&D accounts." Last year the NRO spent about 6% of its funds on R&D, and this year the amount has grown to 8%. Hall said he wants to maintain the investment once it has reached 10%.
WORLDSPACE, Washington, D.C., signed a $67.3 million contract with Alcatel for a fourth satellite. The satellite, which will serve as a ground spare, will be delivered in 2000 and is identical to the first three WorldSpace satellites now being built. They are intended to provide programming to underserved markets around the world. WorldSpace plans to launch its three satellites - AfriStar, AsiaStar and AmeriStar - beginning later this year.
A backup for the Wide Area Augmentation System "will be needed for the foreseeable future" because of uncertainties related to signal interference, according to the U.S. Dept. of Trans-portation's inspector general. The IG, Kenneth Mead, told FAA Administrator Jane Garvey this week that interference could come from intentional or unintentional jamming, communications satellites, or ionospheric variations.
Representatives of the German and French governments signed a memorandum of understanding for production of the German/French Tiger attack and support helicopter at ILA '98 in Berlin, DASA announced yesterday. The initial production goal is 80 Tigers each for Germany and France, it said. Germany needs 212 Tigers and France needs 215. Production and final assembly will be split equally between Eurocopter facilities in Donauworth, Germany, and Marignane, France.
DASA Chief Executive Manfred Bischoff said he has talked with British Aerospace and the U.K.'s General Electric Co. Plc about combining to buy pieces of Northrop Grumman if U.S. authorities block Northrop Grumman's planned merger with Lockheed Martin, according to press reports from Europe. Bischoff told the Wall Street Journal Europe that he had discussed the idea of "joining European forces" to buy parts of the U.S. company.
Delegates from developing countries at a conference in Rio de Janeiro were unsuccessful in getting the International Civil Aviation Organization to support the idea of a global fund to help nations install new communication, navigation and surveillance/air traffic management systems. The proposal was offered by African countries at last week's CNS/ATM Implementation Conference. Many other countries, including Bolivia and Pakistan, support the idea. A global $1 passenger ticket tax was seen as sufficient to create the fund.
AIRBUS since 1993 has converted 35 A310-200 aircraft into freighter versions and delivered them to final customers, the group announced at the Berlin Air Show. To date, 92 freighter conversions and 42 series-production freighters have been ordered from Airbus. The average period needed for Airbus to convert its larger aircraft is four months.
