A closer look at the Air Force's historic peacetime pilot shortage reveals the root problem is experience levels in operational units, according to a new report from Rand. The think tank developed an analytical model of the training that operational units require, showing fighter squadrons may need up to 25% more flying hours to provide continuation and upgrade training as they lose experienced pilots and pick up rookies.
The European Aeronautic Defense and Space Co.'s military aircraft division is developing an unmanned air vehicle capable of carrying internal payloads. The initiative is part of a multiyear study of future airborne weapon systems sponsored by the German Defense Ministry. The proposed design (see photo) is for a single-engine aircraft featuring a mid-wing configuration and twin vertical stabilizers. EADS officials said performance would be similar to a small combat aircraft but at a substantially reduced size. Current development centers on a demonstrator vehicle.
United Technologies Corp. and KLM Royal Dutch Airlines have expanded their negotiations to form a nose-to-tail aircraft maintenance joint venture. The companies now want to form the maintenance network in a single transaction.
George J. Kourpias has been named to the board of directors of Allegheny Technologies Inc. of Pittsburgh. He is retired international president of the International Assn. of Machinists and Aerospace Workers and a member of the board of Northwest Airlines.
Juan J. Leon has been named director of sales for Central America and the Caribbean for the Dassault Falcon Jet Corp. He succeeds Bill Arrazola, who has resigned. Leon was vice president-Latin American sales for the Gulfstream Aerospace Corp.
OriginLab has added more graphing power to version 6.1 of its Origin graphing and data analysis software. The $595 Windows-based program can now import and export raster images, query a variety of database types, export EPS-format images, print large graphs on multiple pages, and share custom programs between users via drag-and-drop techniques. Details at www.originlab.com . . . The FAA has signed Computer Sciences Corp.
AMONG THE START-UP COMPANIES competing with the major manufacturers to produce the smallest and least expensive receivers is FastraX, Helsinki, Finland, which developed a two-chip, 12-channel GPS receiver in a printed circuit board-module that measures 25 X 25 X 4 mm.
Tenzing Communications and Honeywell have concluded a series of inflight e-mail and Internet access deals, as they race with other suppliers to become the first to roll out these services on commercial aircraft.
A recent joint-service experiment demonstrated that the U.S. Air Force can now consistently detect, geolocate and strike time-critical targets in the air or on the ground in a matter of minutes.
An NTSB administrative law judge has denied ProAir's appeal of the FAA's emergency revocation of its operating certificate. The NTSB has scheduled a hearing to start Oct. 16 in Seattle, where ProAir is headquartered, on a second appeal, which addresses the FAA's specific findings (AW&ST Sept. 25, p. 73).
At a broader level, ``information assurance'' protects information systems by ensuring their availability, confidentiality, integrity, authentication, non-repudiation and restoration after attack. While this task has been ongoing for decades, the Defense Information Systems Agency now has specific ``I Assure'' contracts awarded to 11 primes, worth a total of $1.5 billion if all options are taken over seven years. ``Work in information assurance has blossomed in the past five years,'' said Lois Chadbourne, the Logicon program manager.
Michelle Perreault-Ieraci has become customer ombudsman at Air Canada. She was director of social rights and of employment equity and linguistic affairs.
Defense Dept. officials are betting that by tying together dispersed electronic warfare sensors they will find ways to more effectively attack enemy air defense sites.
The Pentagon's confusion over its long-term electronic warfare strategy has given rise to a number of studies designed to help sort out the future direction for this mission area. At least six EW-related analytical projects are ongoing, looking at such diverse topics as how to replace the aging EA-6B standoff jammer to a Central Intelligence Agency assessment of its electronic intelligence needs.
Philip I. Muncy has been named assistant director of aviation for planning and engineering in the Kansas City (Mo.) Aviation Dept. He was design manager for the construction of Austin (Tex.) Bergstrom International Airport.
Don Taylor has been appointed vice president-safety, training and flight operations of the Eclipse Aviation Corp., Albuquerque, N.M. He was a Boeing 747-400 check pilot and flight instructor for United Airlines.
Asia Satellite Telecommunications Co. has signed an agreement with Inter- national Launch Services to launch the AsiaSat 4 satellite on board Lockheed Martin's Atlas III.
Tests of high-temperature ceramics that will allow sharp leading edges for hypersonic reentry vehicles were conducted by a NASA Ames Research Center/Marshall Space Flight Center team last week using a Minuteman III launched from Vandenberg AFB, Calif.
TCHIP SEMICONDUCTOR, MANNO, SWITZERLAND, has developed an RF GPS receiver front end that has a power consumption of only 15 milliwatts--a new low, according to the company. Furuno Electric Co., of Nishinomiya, Japan, has a 28 X 21 X 10-mm., 12-channel GPS receiver with a passive antenna that is mounted directly on top of the receiver, or can be mounted separately using a pig-tail cable. Taiwan's EMTAC Technology Corp. is concentrating on antennas, and produces them in a low profile patch structure using ceramic substrates.
Japan's first H-IIA launcher is scheduled to lift off as scheduled in February 2001, but without its intended payload, the European Space Agency's Advanced Relay and Technology Mission Satellite (Artemis). The National Space Development Agency of Japan said the first launch will be regarded as a technology verification flight of the 9 billion yen ($9.3-million) launcher, including the guidance and navigation control system, solid rocket booster SRB-A separation capability and LE-5B engine operation.
IBM DISPLAYED A SERIES OF NEW RECEIVERS developed with Leica Geosystems, based on IBM's silicon-germanium (SiGe) chips. One 12-channel receiver with SiGe technology uses high density packaging and has an embedded PowerPC 401 on a 40 X 66-mm. (1.6 X 2.6-in.) board. Using double-sided packaging, IBM is working on a smaller receiver that occupies about half the area, and uses direct chip attachment modules to shrink the area dedicated to connectors.
Congressional zingers hailed down on the FAA last week, scourging a good deal more than the agency's computer security slips (see p. 50). In his valedictory as Transportation Committee chairman, Rep. Bud Shuster (R-Pa.) again urged his colleagues to take the FAA out of the Transportation Dept. He said he had begun to sense the lack of a ``vigorous, positive, energetic approach'' at the agency, and the next Congress may well have to make the FAA an independent organ, like NASA. Although the three-year, $40-billion Aviation Investment and Reform Act that took effect Oct.
