Supporters of NASA's Earth Observing System (EOS) consider their position bolstered by the National Research Council report urging prompt deployment of EOS space systems and plan to use the report in the upcoming EOS funding battle on Capitol Hill.
NASA's solar-powered, remotely piloted "Pathfinder" aircraft reached 50,000 feet during an 11-hour flight Monday at Dryden Flight Research Center, Calif., demonstrating the feasibility of long duration flights using sunlight as the only source of power, according to AeroVironment Inc., the plane's developer.
BOEING DEFENSE&SPACE GROUP said it is using a process called resin- transfer molding to reduce the cost of building the main structural framework of the F-22 fighter's wings by 20%. It also said it has cut in half the number of reinforcement parts needed to build the composite spars. Each F-22 wing will contain 46 of the spars.
Kenneth S. Reightler was named program manager for the engineering, test and analysis contract at the Johnson Space Center. Sandra L. Walls has been named vice president of business management for Lockheed Martin Aeronautical Systems. She succeeds Todd Kallman, who has moved to Lockheed Martin Corp. in Bethesda, Md. as vice president of business management for the Aeronautics Sector.
HUGHES AIRCRAFT CO. will support fielded U.S. Army AN/TPQ-36(V) and AN/TPQ- 37(V) Firefinder Weapon Locating Radar Sets on a sole-source basis under a 48-month program planned by the Army's Communications-Electronics Command, CECOM said in a Sept. 11 Commerce Business Daily notice.
Frederick L. Kocher, who most recently served as senior vice president, maintenance operations for USAir, was appointed senior vice president, customer support for Rolls-Royce North America Inc. (RRNA).
Mouhiddine (Mike) Ghalayini has been appointed regional marketing director to cover the Middle East/North Afica territories. Gahalayini joins the company after ten years with the Kollsman Company in international marketing.
NASA's Earth Observing System (EOS) has been restructured enough and its near-term spacecraft should be developed and launched without delay, a National Research Council panel has concluded in a report eagerly awaited on Capitol Hill.
MAGNAVOX ELECTRONIC SYSTEMS CO., Fort Wayne, Ind., will produce 129 AN/VRC- 83 and 146 AN/PRC-113 portable radios and associated equipment for Israel under a $6.1 million contract awarded Aug. 31 by the U.S. Air Force's Sacramento Air Logistics Center, McClellan AFB, Calif.
TEXTRON DEFENSE SYSTEMS, Wilmington, Mass., is the intended recipient of a U.S. Army contract for engineering and manufacturing development of a product improvement program for the Hand Emplaced Wide Area Munition (HE- WAM). "The effort targets the Early Entry Forces' urgent need for a 'smart' munition system that generates quick and decisive effects while mitigating risk to friendly forces on a digitized battlefield," the Army's Armament Research, Development and Engineering Center said in a Sept. 7 Commerce Business Daily notice.
Jon Dykstra has joined the company as director of applications marketing. Prior to joining Space Imaging, Inc., he was an executive manager for Intergraph Corp. Jolyon D. Thurgood has been named director of product marketing. Previously, Thurgood has held various technical and marketing positions with Wild Heerbrugg (now Leica), Prime Computer and Computervision.
C-17 manufacturer McDonnell Douglas has selected Lockheed Martin to provide a new processing system for the airlifter that will also be retrofitted onto existing aircraft. The Core Integrated Processor is the avionics system's central computer and is intended to provide enhanced services, such as world-wide navigation databases and moving maps, MDC said Monday. CIP is the first system selected under the U.S. Air Force's new, streamlined contracting process known as Product Enhancement/Product Improvement, MDC said.
Clayton Morwy was named associate director. Mowry comes from the U.S. Commerce Dept., where he served in the International Trade Administration's office of telecommunications as a commercial satellite industry analyst.
The Defense Dept. is undertaking a number of revisions to current U.S. export regulations, including a recently completed effort to change rules on the export of programmable electronic warfare systems that should allow for larger international sales of U.S.-produced equipment, a DOD official said yesterday.
Col. Richard W. Davis, former commander of the Phillips Laboratory at Kirtland Air Force Base, N.M., has assumed command of Aeronautical Systems Center's (ASC) Wright Laboratory.
Controllers shut down the Wake Shield Facility yesterday after the orbiting high-vacuum epitaxy experiment overheated while fabricating wafers of ultra-pure aluminum gallium arsenide. A spokeswoman for Space Industries Inc., which built the 12-foot steel disk released Monday by the Space Shuttle Endeavour, said yesterday the device had generated three of the semiconductor wafers when the molecular beam epitaxy process caused its attitude control computer to overheat.
Defense Secretary William J. Perry yesterday warned Republican members of the Senate Armed Services Committee that congressional add-ons for aircraft could lead to a presidential veto of the conference report on the fiscal 1996 national security authorization if they remain in the final version of the bill, several Senators said yesterday.
Carmen L. Lloyd, previously vice president, marketing and customer support at Pratt&Whitney Canada Inc., has been appointed president and chief executive officer of Canadian Marconi Co.
GENERAL DYNAMICS Land Systems, Product Support and Services Co., Warren, Mich., got a $26.1 million contract Aug. 31 from the U.S. Army Tank- Automotive&Armaments Command for maintenance and supply support services for government of Kuwait-owned M1A2 Abrams tanks, M113A3 Armor Personnel Carrier-Ambulance, M577A3 Command Post Vehicle, and the M88A2 Improved Recovery Vehicle.
Gordon J. Louttit was elected vice president, general counsel and secretary of The Aerospace Corporation, El Segundo, Calif. Louttit comes to Aerospace form the Whittaker Corporation in Los Angeles, where he served as vice president, assistant general counsel and secretary.
The first of 72 F-15S fighters for Saudi Arabia was rolled out yesterday by prime contractor McDonnell Douglas at its St. Louis plant. The plane made its first flight June 19, and has since been put through a flight test program and painted in Royal Saudi Air Force markings in preparation for yesterday's ceremony. MDC said the cockpit of the F-15S features enhanced multi-purpose displays, and a wide field-of-view head-up display. The plane also carries the Low Altitude Navigation and Targeting Infrared for Night (LANTIRN) system.
