Winthrop W. Smith has been appointed chief scientist of DNA Enterprises Inc., Richardson, Tex. He has developed numerous digital signal processing inventions, and holds 10 patents in digital signal processing and the design and development of radar systems.
Boeing has received a contract valued at $48 million to develop an upgrade to the defensive systems on USAF B-52H bombers. The program is called the B-52 Situational Awareness Defensive Improvement.
Air Algerie and Brussels-based Snecma Sabena Engine Services have concluded a workload exchange agreement covering the overhaul of CFM International CFM56-3 turbofans.
Barry Centini, director of Wilkes Barre-Scranton International Airport, is one of 18 members of the new Pennsylvania Aviation Advisory Committee. The others are: Thomas Hart, manager of Williamsport Regional Airport; Robert Shaffer, manager of DuBois Jefferson County Airport; Scott W. Foose, vice president of the Washington-based Regional Airline Assn.; Sharon Taylor, director of public affairs for US Airways; Mike D'Aries of Keystone Helicopters; Kelly Fredericks, director of Erie International Airport; Kent George, director of Pittsburgh International Airport; and H.
Fine Air Services Corp. has filed for protection and reorganization under Chapter 11 in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of Florida following failure to complete financial restructuring with bondholders. The Miami International Airport-based company cited soaring fuel prices and the economic downturn in Latin America as contributing factors in its financial difficulties. Six months ago, the U.S. government imposed a $3.5-million penalty on Fine Air as a result of criminal charges associated with alleged regulatory violations.
Robert J. Kohler and Gary Conners have been named to the board of directors of Recon/Optical Inc., Barrington, Ill. Kohler is a retired executive vice president/general manager of TRW, while Conners is interim dean of engineering at the Rochester (N.Y.) Institute of Technology.
The French government is convinced of the merits of refundable loans granted to the European aerospace industry to help support new commercial aircraft and engine programs, according to Transport Minister Jean-Claude Gayssot. In 2001, France plans to grant about $233 million to EADS' French arm and Snecma to aid development of the A3XX engines as well as other unspecified civil engine types. The funding complies fully with the U.S.-European Union protocol of July 1992, according to Gayssot.
DRS Technologies Inc. has won a $2.8- million production contract to provide aircraft wire harnesses, cable assemblies, panel boxes and related equipment for USAF Joint-STARS aircraft.
The National Missile Defense program used two U.S. Air Force Minuteman ICBM launches from Vandenberg AFB, Calif., to test various parts of its ground-based infrastructure. The first missile carried 20 objects to help the Pentagon refine algorithms for the ground-based radar to discriminate between a warhead and decoys. The second flight, which carried a NASA-built mock-warhead, simulated the missile flight path expected during the next intercept attempt early next year. Both tests were declared a success.
TRW Aeronautical Systems (formerly Lucas Aerospace) will launch Web access to its repair and overhaul shops throughout the world. Online customers will be able to get quotes, place repair orders, arrange shipping and track the product through final delivery. TRW expects to improve efficiency and reduce total cycle time by up to 50%. The new system will complement TRWAerospares.com, which has given similar online access to spare parts since March. The system will be on display at the National Business Aviation Assn. convention in New Orleans Oct. 10-12.
The U.S. Air Force has selected North- rop Grumman to supply the total system support responsibility for the E-8C Joint-STARS fleet, under a six-year contract valued at more than $500 million.
With only weeks to go before first flight of Lockheed Martin's Joint Strike Fighter demonstrator aircraft, the company is shaking up the program's management with the promise of more changes to come. The move has irritated the Pentagon's joint program office and the Marine Corps' aviation community which has mortgaged its future on the short-takeoff, vertical landing (STOVL) version of the aircraft, say aerospace industry and Lockheed Martin officials familiar with the program.
Lockheed Martin plans to make the first flight in the conventional takeoff and landing (CTOL) demonstrator version of its X-35 Joint Strike Fighter (JSF) in the middle of this month. Program officials said they had submitted final paperwork for the overall X-35A flight test program last week, with no significant open items potentially blocking clearance for first flight. A series of taxi tests, lasting about 12 days, was expected to begin the week of Oct 2.
Bruce S. Van Allen has been promoted to president/CEO of BBA Aviation North America, Orlando, Fla., from president/chief operating officer of Signature Flight Support. Other recent promotions are: Elizabeth Haskins to president/CEO of Signature from senior vice president/chief financial officer; Gary Boekenkamp to vice president-marketing of BBA from senior vice president-marketing for Signature; and T. Peter Whitehead to chief executive of BBA Aviation Europe from managing director of aviation products.
A congressionally chartered review of the National Reconnaissance Office is expected to be only the first step of a larger examination of the entire intelligence community.
A piece of aircraft metal last week shifted industry attention from investigator's laboratory to judge's chambers when it was learned that Air France filed suit against Continental Airlines, implicating the U.S. carrier in the July 25 Concorde crash. BEA French accident investigators, who have not yet determined the probable causes of the crash, say a strip of metal lying on Runway 26R at Paris Charles de Gaulle Airport (CDG) caused the supersonic transport's tire blowout, which in turn triggered a catastrophic series of events.
Troy A. Rolf has joined the law firm of Fafinski Mark and Johnson, Eden Prairie, Minn., as lawyer specializing in corporate aircraft transactions and operations.He was a lawyer for the FAA.
U.S. Army Brig. Gen. John M. Urias has become deputy commanding general of Army Space and Missile Defense, Huntsville, Ala. He was program director for Air and Missile Defense in Huntsville.
Amy Griffith Denicore has been appointed to the Democratic professional staff of the House Transportation and Infrastructure subcommittee on aviation. She was director of government relations/general counsel to the National Utility Contractors Assn.
Most information warfare is aimed at keeping the intruders out. But what to do once they've gotten in, especially in a battle management and command and control (BMC2) system? The National Plan for Information Systems Protection has a ``Program 5'' to create the ability to recover from enemy penetration. Involved in this scheme is the Data Resiliency in Information Warfare (DRIW) program--run by the Air Force Research Laboratory in Rome, N.Y.--which is designed to protect BMC2 systems.
Turkey-based Aselsan and Thomson-CSF will jointly supply electronic warfare systems to the Turkish air force for its Lockheed Martin F-16 combat aircraft, under a $190-million contract.
Dr. James C. Baker, director of the School of Aviation Sciences at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, Prescott, Ariz., has received the Theodore C. Lyster Award from the Aerospace Medical Assn. He was cited for contributions to aerospace medicine as a rated Navy pilot, flight surgeon, program manager and test pilot. Lyster was the first chief surgeon of the aviation section of the U.S. Army Signal Corps.
