A Pentagon-chartered study to help shape next year's major Defense Dept. force assessment, the Quadrennial Defense Review, has produced national security strategy alternatives for the new Administration to consider as it begins defining its military policy. The National Defense University (NDU) working group was asked to develop options to be considered as the QDR is undertaken. The 64-page report, ``Quadrennial Defense Review 2001,'' released last week, comes as Pentagon officials are getting ready to shift from preparatory work to actual deliberations.
``My personal, overriding feeling is the lack of time to use and further develop B2B technologies. There is an onslaught of information and requests that stream across my e-mail and desk every day, to the point that they numb me. I not only receive this chatter from the source, but from coworkers and superiors who are [themselves] being pelted with it.
Instead of standing in line for a pass, airline passengers will soon be able to board by voice recognition biometrics using a personal digital assistant (PDA) or cellular phone. Impulsity Inc. has signed a letter of intent with Sabre to deliver the travel industry its first wireless check-in and boarding system.The voice recognition biometrics come from Nuance. ``Training'' the system to recognize an individual's voiceprint takes about 15-30 sec. and is accomplished by having the passenger answer a few questions.
THE MAASTRICHT UPPER AIR CENTER has conducted its first test flight with a Petal IIe-equipped aircraft. The Preliminary Eurocontrol Test of Air/Ground Data Link Phase IIe (Petal IIe) trials are aimed at obtaining firsthand data on the operational benefits, requirements, human factors, procedures and problems associated with using air/ground data link in busy, continental European airspace. The aircraft was a BAC 1-11 supplied by the U.K.'s Defense Evaluation and Research Agency.
Instrumentation for tracking boosters and missiles on U.S. Air Force Eastern and Western launch-range complexes will be upgraded under an $81.2-million contract awarded to ITT Industries' Systems Div. Annual options could increase the program's total worth to $1.3 billion over 10 years.
The Mode BA-96-1 precision Bearing Analyzer is used extensively by overhaul and repair facilities worldwide for rotary- and fixed-wing aircraft engine maintenance. It is designed to evaluate the working surfaces of anti-friction engine and accessory bearings. The compact analyzer uses standard PC computer technology and measures mechanical vibration that result in bearing noise. During use, a test bearing is operated to generate a noise signal, which is then compared to the previously established acceptance criteria.
Early next year an all-weather spaceport will become operational on Alaska's Kodiak Island, offering commercial competition to the government facilities at Cape Canaveral, Fla., and Vandenberg AFB, Calif.
Accident investigators last week began the painstaking examination of tapes secured from 150 cameras that comprise the Taipei airport's ground surveillance system, trying to fathom how natural forces and frailties of both man and machine combined to become the tragedy of Singapore Airlines Flight SQ006.
James L. Murdy has been appointed executive vice president, Richard J. Harshman vice president/controller/acting chief financial officer, Dale G. Reid vice president-finance for Allegheny Ludlum operations and Patrick J. DeCourcy vice president-finance for Allvac operations, all for Allegheny Technologies of Pittsburgh. Murdy was CFO and is being succeeded by Harshman, who was vice president-investor relations and corporate communications. DeCourcy, who was vice president/controller of Allegheny Ludlum, is succeeding Reid.
Parker Hannifin's H2O moisture sensor provides a compact real-time solution to continuous water contamination monitoring in most hydraulic and lubricating systems. The sensor alerts the operator to changes in water concentration within the operating systems fluid. The device is reasonably priced, which allows for multiple installations, ensuring optimum equipment reliability, according to the company. Parker Hannifin Corp., Catalog Services, 8940 Tyler Blvd., Mentor, Ohio 44060-2186.
EIC Laboratories of Norwood, Mass., has found potentially huge markets for its ElectRelease electrically releasable epoxy since the material was developed under a U.S. Air Force Small Business Innovative Research grant.
The Swedish Ministry of the Interior has ordered three Eurocopter EC135 helicopters, with options for another five, to replace Bell 206 JetRangers in law-enforcement operations. The sale follows recent orders for the twin-engine aircraft from Bond Air Services (15) and the Austrian Automobile Club (11). More than a dozen police forces, including units in Kuwait, Chile, Texas, Germany, Spain, the U.K. and Ireland, operate or will soon begin operating the EC135. Eurocopter has delivered more than 100 EC135s, according to the company.
Andrew C. Ross, director of technology for Dense-Pac Microsystems, Garden Grove, Calif., has been elected to the board of the Joint Electron Device Engineering Council Solid State Technology Assn.
Crossair has reached agreement on a new labor pact with its pilots, ending a dispute which threatened aircraft orders. The Swiss regional carrier had earlier reached a pay agreement with negotiators for the pilots' union, but it was rejected by a majority of union members.
Charlie Ergen, founder of the EchoStar Communications Corp., received the first Aviation Week Space Business Executive of the Year Award, during the annual Space Conference and Exhibition sponsored by the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics, Aviation Week and Business Week.
Securaplane Technologies has expanded the number of transport category aircraft using its ST3000 wireless smoke detection system to about 1,000, company President Dick Lukso said. The system uses spread-spectrum radio technology to link smoke detectors throughout an aircraft with a cockpit panel to warn of possible fires and to release halon (AW&ST Jan. 11, 1999, p. 448).
BFGoodrich Aircraft Sensors improved its renamed IceHawk Wide-Area Ice Detector and signed a major customer in Hudson General Aviation Services Inc., which provides deicing services at Lester B. Pearson International Airport in Toronto. The handheld IceHawk uses an eyesafe infrared laser to scan an aircraft wing in 1.5-2 sec. for signs of contamination. The laser fires 60,000 times during a scan, covering a grid of 200 X 300 pixels. ``You can get an entire MD-80 wing in the image,'' BFGoodrich Business Development Manager Vince LoPresto said.
China Northern Airlines, in a contract valued at approximately $120 million, has opted for the International Aero Engines AG V2500-A5 to power its 10 new Airbus A321-200s, the first of which is to be delivered in October 2001. The Shenyang-based carrier's 13 MD-90s are powerd by IAE V2500-D5s.
Kansai International Airport is sinking fast. The six-year-old, $15-billion offshore airport with a single 11,400-ft. runway, has accumulated about $1.5 billion in losses in its brief six-year history, and the artificial island has settled 11.5 meters (38 ft.) as of December--only half a meter less than that predicted after 50 years of operation.
The Army found itself paying $40 million per year to maintain a 25-30-year-old wholesale logistics management system, and now is paying the same amount to get state-of-the-art service. The Army Materiel Command asked the Communications-Electronics Command (Cecom) to implement a wholesale logistics modernization program (WLMP), and Cecom chose Computer Sciences Corp. as its WLMP industrial partner (www.wlmp.com). The old system was written in tightly-integrated COBOL 74 and was hard to maintain and adapt, with outmoded databases and sequential processing.
Absorption Corp.'s Absorbent GP is an effective, environmentally friendly, light-weight material that quickly absorbs all nonaggressive liquids. Venues for use include: emergency response, general maintenance sludge/liquid solidification and material packaging. Liquids are absorbed into natural cellulose fibers. The product is manufactured from reclaimed cellulose and can be incinerated to less than 1% ash. Absorption Corp., 1051 Hilton Ave., Bellingham, Wash. 98225-2908.
On balance, the global transparency engendered by satellite systems and the information revolution is more a plus than a minus for the West's security interests, a new university analysis says.
Pat Doyle has become corporate vice president/controller/chief accounting officer, Mike Gaines corporate vice president-finance and Ken Heintz corporate vice president-mergers and acquisitions, all for the Hughes Electronics Corp., El Segundo, Calif. Doyle was vice president-taxes and mergers and acquisitions. Gaines was acting treasurer and vice president/ controller/chief accounting officer. He succeeds Mark McEachen, who has resigned. Heintz was executive vice president/chief financial officer of the PanAmSat Corp.
SWISSCONTROL INTENDS TO START OPERATIONAL USE of Orthogon's Computer-assisted Approach and Landing Management (CALM) system in March. CALM was accepted at the Zurich airport in September and is now being used for training. It will support the planning and management of all inbound traffic to Zurich and gives controllers suggestions for optimum arrival sequences. The calculations use radar and flight plan data and consider airspace structure, operational procedures, specific aircraft performance and weather conditions.
The Defense Dept. and national security agencies are evaluating Globalstar's hand-held satellite telephones, using them in military exercises and negotiating development of an encrypted version. To establish communications in potential theaters of operation, Globalstar has proposed a mobile ground station to provide service in a 1,000-mi.-dia. circle that could be carried by a C-17 transport. The company also is exploring the general aviation market and inflight entertainment for airliners.
