Globalstar Telecommunications Ltd. will receive about $68 million in additional equity financing. The cash infusion will consist of $56 million from five of its founding partners and $12 million from ChinaSat, subject to government approval.
The U.S. Air Force and Navy are rapidly losing people with electronic warfare expertise, and are unable to attract new engineers, technicians and EW operators in sufficient numbers.
The U.S. National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) is trying to determine whether the pressurization system of a Learjet 35 that crashed Oct. 25, 1999, while carrying golfer Payne Stewart played a role in the accident. According to reports released by the safety board last week, maintenance records indicate the airplane lost pressurization during a flight in June 1986, 10 years after it was built.
Belgium's Barco Display Systems Avionics Div. and Virtual Prototypes Inc. have signed a partnership agreement for certification of DO-178B-standard code generators for multifunction display systems on commercial transports.
THE EFFECTS FROM THE WHITE HOUSE'S decision to turn off Selective Availability (SA) last May 1 were evident across the board at the world's biggest GPS forum, the Institute of Navigation's GPS 2000, held in Salt Lake City Sept. 19-22. A growing number of applications and manufacturers emerged after the U.S. discontinued the GPS-degrading SA. The R&D laboratories of Swiss watchmaker Swatch even developed a GPS analog watch, which is expected to sell for under $400.
KLM Royal Dutch Airlines will handle Bell Helicopter Textron's spare parts distribution in Europe, the Middle East and Africa under a three-year agreement inked last week by the U.S. manufacturer and KLM Cargo's Aerospace Logistics unit. Spare parts produced in Fort Worth will be flown to a bonded warehouse located near Amsterdam-Schiphol airport and shipped as required to helicopter operators.
The latest combat readiness reports to Congress suggest that neither the Bush nor the Gore campaign is promising large enough dollar increases to put the military into tip-top shape--not if its current structure and warfighting requirements are to be retained. Official and independent estimates of desirable increases in the existing $300 billion annual military budget range widely, from almost $50 billion to as much as $100 billion a year. Corollary estimates of how many years such hikes would have to last span 7-10 years.
Lufthansa German Airlines will acquire a 24.9% stake in Eurowings, a rapidly growing German regional carrier. Eurowings operates 27 ATR 42/72 twin turboprops, 10 BAe-146s and five A319s. According to the terms of the accord, in the next three years Lufthansa's stake in Eurowings could increase up to 49%. In an unrelated development, Lufthansa last week concluded a code-sharing agreement with Air China covering services between Frankfurt, Beijing and Shanghai.
The 18,400-lb. Z-1 truss to be launched by Discovery carries some of the most critical systems on the International Space Station. The 14 X 13 X 14-ft. structure is called Z-1 because it goes on the zenith (up-facing) side of the Node-1 Unity module. It also provides the foundation for the initial massive solar array truss structure. Later, other arrays will be assembled on a different truss to be mounted adjacent to the Z-1. Key systems inside the Z-1 are:
The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency has awarded a $5.3-million, three-year grant to study how living cells communicate and develop, and whether understanding such behavior can be applied to air traffic control. The agency's program calls for investigating cell behavior and how it may apply to mathematical models designed to analyze numerous aircraft taking off and landing simultaneously, according to Claire J. Tomlin, assistant professor of aeronautics and astronautics at Stanford University.
Steven Udvar-Hazy says the U.S. government has done very little and is ``20-30 years behind technology'' when it comes to ATC modernization and that Europe is even ``more archaic. In many instances, the passenger can pick up a phone on the seatback and call anywhere in the world, but the pilots have to use antiquated navigation systems.'' India, he pointed out, does not have high-altitude radar.
The Navy and industry officials are exploring a series of upgrades to the AGM-88 High Speed Anti-Radiation Missile (Harm) in a bid to keep the weapon operationally viable into the future.
The first CV-22 tiltrotor for the U.S. Air Force's Special Operations Command (Socom) has arrived at Edwards AFB, Calif., to begin a two-year flight test program. A second CV-22 should arrive this week, according to the Air Force. The CV-22 is intended to fulfill Socom's need for long-range insertion and extraction missions at night. USAF is acquiring 50 CV-22s.
Winston Churchill once said, ``You can always count on the Americans to do the right thing--after exhausting every other alternative.'' Recently, the House Appropriations Committee killed a demonstration of Discoverer II space-based radar. So, let's hope all of Churchill's observation is still valid.
Aloysius Rauen (see photos) has been appointed head of the European Aeronautic Defense and Space Co.'s Military Aircraft Div. He was head of corporate strategy at DaimlerChrysler. Rauen succeeds Karl-Heinz Hartmann, who will become deputy head of EADS Airbus Div.
The U.S. Air Force has grounded its T-6A Texan II trainers until all oil coolers can be replaced on the Pratt&Whitney PT6A-68 turboprop engine. Flight operations were already suspended for unrelated reasons because of a crash Aug. 31. The oil cooler manufacturing flaw was first discovered by a Canadian air force crew which was forced into a dead-stick landing.
The latest problem with Lockheed Martin's propulsion system for the X-35B short takeoff and vertical landing version of the Joint Strike Fighter began when a nut on the bearing channel around the power input shaft worked loose. It is located where the drive shaft from the engine joins the Rolls-Royce-designed lift fan. According to an industry official familiar with the problem, a locking device on the nut did not work properly. The nut backed off less than 1 in.
The aerospace industry is predictably exultant about the Senate's resounding 83-15 approval of permanent normal trade relations (PNTR) with China. The lopsided, bipartisan vote paves the way for Beijing's induction into the World Trade Organization. WTO membership and low U.S. tariff treatment of Chinese imports puts domestic aerospace companies on an equal footing with overseas rivals to compete for China's immense market.
The first 18-kw. XM Satellite Radio spacecraft is about half-way through testing at Hughes Space and Communications (see photo). The Hughes HS 702 satellite, which is about 23 ft. high, is one of two spacecraft with which XM Satellite Radio plans to begin subscription service during the first half of next year. The second satellite just entered testing at Hughes. XM Satellite Radio, with headquarters and a broadcast center in Washington, will offer up to 100 new channels with digital sound. In other news, Asia Satellite Telecommunications Co.
Simon Ramo and Dean Wooldridge, whose Ramo-Wooldridge Co. merged with Thompson Products to form TRW Inc., have won the John R. Alison Award for Industrial Leadership from the Reston, Va,-based Air Force Assn. The award honors industrial leaders who have contributed to the nation's defense and is named for Maj. Gen. (Ret.) John R. Alison, a World War II flying ace and former AFA president and chairman. Ramo and Wooldridge were cited for lifetimes of excellence as industrialists, scientists and authors of scientific and technical material.
China is planning a massive airport development program that would build 11 new airports and refurbish nine others in the western region--where, in the next five years, the demand for air transport is forecast to grow higher than the average for all of China. The project, led by the National Development and Planning Commission (NDPC) Bureau of Basic Industry, would provide a rare opportunity for foreign investors to enter a long-underdeveloped region.
Robert Q. Fugate, technical director for the Starfire Optical Range, a division of the Directed Energy Directorate at the Air Force Research Laboratory, Kirtland AFB, N.M., has received the Photographic Society of America's Progress Medal Award. He was honored for research and development work in adaptive optics, which is allowing astronomers to more clearly view planets, stars and other objects in space, and is an enabling technology for using a laser to power satellites.
Boeing plans to conduct flight tests late this year to baseline vibration characteristics of MH-47E Chinook helicopters used for special operations. Although similar tests have been performed on other models of the Chinook, they are not relevant to the -47E because of its larger fuel tanks and aerial refueling probe. The tests will verify Nastran design calculations against flight data. In addition, the U.S. Army plans to convert one of its existing CH-47Ds into a special operations MH-47E to replace an aircraft lost in March 1996.
Boeing and Lockheed Martin, opponents in the Joint Strike Fighter competition but likely collaborators once a prime contractor is selected, are mapping out their strategies for expanding the weapons payload of the next- generation stealth strike aircraft.
Joint Air-to-Surface Standoff Missile (Jassm) failed last week to complete a key flight test as the program resumed testing after a hiatus of several months. The break was caused by design changes made to the missile. The controlled test vehicle separated cleanly from its F-16D, deploying its wings and starting its engines. But it descended and hit the ocean after completing only 25% of the 25-min. mission. Failure analysis is ongoing. The next test is scheduled for late this year.
