The Finnish Defense Ministry has contracted with Sweden's Saab Training Systems in a $51.3-million award. The order includes the purchase of Saab's Combat Training System.
Later this month, the governments of Thailand and Singapore are to discuss the formation of a regional carrier in the northern Thailand tourist city of Chiang Mai. The goal would be to serve major regional cities, including destinations in China, beginning in mid-2004. The idea was sparked by Thai Prime Minister Thaksin, who directed the Airports of Thailand Plc. (previously known as Airports Authority of Thailand) to upgrade Chiang Mai's airport so it can serve as a tourist gateway.
The Israel Defense Force demonstrated that its Arrow ballistic-missile-defense system can acquire several targets at once, prioritize them and launch at least four interceptor missiles almost simultaneously to knock them down.
The first two tests of a full-scale rocket thruster powered by a 90% peroxide "tri-fluid" fuel mixture have been completed for NASA's Integrated System Test of an Air-breathing Rocket (Istar) program, which aims to develop a hypersonic flight vehicle by 2025. The tests were revealed last week by Aerojet, which conducted them last fall at its Sacramento, Calif., facility on behalf of the Rocket Based Combined Cycle Consortium (RBC3), which is working under a contract let in 2001 by NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center.
Alaska Airlines plans to take noncash charges of about $151 million against its fourth-quarter financial results. Approximately $80 million is tied to the carrier's underfunded pension plan, while the remainder relates to a write-off of all goodwill. As of Dec. 31, Alaska Airlines had $637 million of cash and short-term investments.
The Fiberoptic Video Lens Kit Model 135705 permits covert viewing into inaccessible areas lit by ambient light. The flexible camera lens allows penetration through and around obstructions to see inside rooms, hallways, etc. The unit can be used with various closed circuit video cameras, and with night-vision technology. The user can flex the distal tip of the fiberscope by rotating the control knob on the scope body. The kit yields bright, sharp images for observation and recording, says the company. Instrument Technology, 33 Airport Road, Westfield, Mass. 01086.
Mar. 10-11--European Transport Leaders Conference. Landmark Hotel, London. Mar. 12-13--Toulouse Symposium. Toulouse (France) Congress Center. Mar. 27-28--Defense Budget Conference. Holiday Inn, Rosslyn, Va. Apr. 15-17--MRO 2003 & MRO Latin America. Broward County Convention Center, Fort Lauderdale, Fla. May 6-8--Aerospace Defense & Finance Conference. Grand Hyatt Hotel, New York. May 14-16--Homeland Security Summit & Exposition. Hyatt Regency Crystal City, Arlington, Va.
The RJ-2000 series of hydraulic jacks are engineered to meet the needs of regional carrier maintenance facilities. Major components are accessible and easily removed for inspection and servicing, and replacement parts are standard components available from local sources, according to the company. The line of jacks reflects compliance with military standards, including: height-to-width rations; extra safety factors for material strength; and all-steel structural components with no dissimilar metals.
The 3470-II automatic wire bonder is designed for first-level, gold or aluminum wire interconnect assemblies used in military and aerospace applications. The machine enables deep access wedge bonds across a 633-sq.-in. bonding area, with 0.00025-in. accuracy, and repeatability for bonding complex parts such as compact hybrids, MCM power connections, microwave devices and microwave tuning. Bonding on large surface area assemblies is needed for defense and satellite applications, says the company, which began in 1995 as a spin-off of Hughes Aircraft's Test and Assembly Div.
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Following a widespread walkout by controllers from 47 of Russia's 120 air traffic control centers, the country's Ministry of Transport and controllers' union have settled a wage dispute. Beginning Jan. 1, controllers working high-density traffic sectors received a 26.72% pay increase; and those in other sectors,15.72%, with an unspecified increase to follow later this year. Under Russian law, labor strikes are prohibited for ATC controllers, so the union utilized a "hunger strike" tactic in late December to demand a twofold pay increase.
The U.S. Marine Corps has awarded a $135-million contract to BAE Systems RO Defense to produce M777 lightweight 155-mm. howitzers to be used for the MV-22 tilt-rotor aircraft.
Aerospace companies including Airbus, Honeywell and BAE Systems use Flowmaster software to simulate fluid flow in fuel, hydraulic and environmental control systems. The Flowmaster Group worked with Honeywell Normalair-Garrett to add models of a hydraulic power transfer unit and bootstrap reservoir to version 6.3 of Flowmaster, and a jet pump model has been added as well to improve fuel system simulation. Another new feature is a "master controller" that allows global variables to be changed.
NASA's decision in Fiscal 2002 to gut its rotorcraft research funding is reverberating in the Pentagon. The Army has had interest in a next-generation utility system, called the Future Utility Rotorcraft. But without NASA's funding, that effort has stalled. NASA's elimination of rotorcraft funding "has hurt the Army," complains a senior service official. Army officials would like to see NASA get back into the rotorcraft business since they have historically drawn on both the agency's and their own R&D funds to develop new systems.
Boeing is modifying B-1B bombers to carry a greater variety of smart weapons in the Conventional Mission Upgrade Program, which includes replacing the six computers in the avionics, navigation and weapons systems with four more powerful units, each with a pair of PowerPC processor cards. The new computers employ Green Hills Software's Integrity real-time operating system to take advantage of multiple-target capabilities and other new features, and programming will be done in Ada with the company's AdaMulti development environment.
In an effort to quickly process low-risk passengers and identify high-risk individuals who may pose a threat to national security, the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service is proposing changes in who must file manifest data, and how. Essentially, the INS' proposed rule implements Section 402 of the Enhanced Border Security and Visa Entry Reform Act of 2002--which requires electronic delivery of manifests to the INS beginning Jan. 1, 2003. Previously, manifest data were gathered and input manually, and electronic filing was voluntary.
An inquiry board investigating the failed inaugural launch of an upgraded Ariane 5 EC-A on Dec. 11 has conditionally cleared the basic booster for an early return to service, but recommended design and testing/validation changes that could idle the EC-A for up to a year. The report, released on Jan. 6, blamed the mishap on tube cracks in the active cooling system used to prevent the Ariane 5 EC-A's new Vulcain 2 engine nozzle from overheating, and a failure to adequately model loading to which the nozzle would be subjected to during flight.
America West last week launched a three-week trial in which it will offer to sell food to coach passengers on longer flights from Phoenix. The menu will vary from snacks for $3 to chicken Kiev for $10, and the airline will let passenger response determine whether to expand or drop the service.
This new generation of superabrasive vitrified diamond and CBN grinding wheels employs a patented bonding process that uses hollow glass spheres rather than traditional aluminum oxide as filler material to provide additional strength to the bond post, creating a porous wheel finish that resists loading and burning. This allows higher feed rates for improved machine throughput and higher wheel speed for improved metal removal rates.
WORLD NEWS ROUNDUP Malaysia approves flag carrier's Airbus purchase Malaysia Airlines to acquire six A380s when pricing is established 395 WORLD NEWS & ANALYSIS Milspace will be a major player in "gulf war 2" Shift to operational focus bulked up contribution to combat 398 Israel's Arrow successful in multi-launch demo Ballistic missile defense can acquire, prioritize several targets at once 399 China adds science ops to manned effort
The XtendaCam series pole cameras are slender, hand-held instruments to illuminate and view inaccessible areas (over walls and barriers, on roofs, under cars, etc.), and deliver video to any monitor or recorder. Central to the design of the product is a 1.6-lb. carbon-fiber composite collapsible pole that telescopes from about three ft. to nearly 12 ft. Interior cabling is designed for quick deployment and snag-free operation. Camera and lamps are aimed manually on a locking ball swivel, and fit through holes as narrow as 2.5-in. in diameter.
The shuttle Columbia is set for launch on a 17-day Spacehab science mission carrying diverse microgravity and educational payloads, along with Israel's first astronaut--a situation forcing the most intensive security measures against terrorist attack ever implemented for a U.S.-space mission. The flight is scheduled for liftoff Jan. 16, between 10 a.m.-2 p.m. EST, into a 150-naut.-mi. orbit inclined 39 deg.
