Mitsubishi Heavy Industries has delivered Japan's first F-2 to the Air Self-Defense Forces. The F-2 is to replace F-1 fighter aircraft at the ASDF's Misawa base, with 20 units expected to be delivered there by the end of March 2001. The F-2 was prohibited from flying from the Mitsubishi plant to the base because local government officials at Misawa had last-minute noise and safety concerns. Mitsubishi leads the joint Japan-U.S. F-2 development program, with Lockheed Martin, Kawasaki and Fuji as major subcontractors.
Brazilian aircraft manufacturer Embraer has secured the first firm order for the newest addition to its ERJ-145 family. American Eagle ordered more than 66 44-seat ERJ-140s, converting 66 ERJ-135 options and an unspecified number of firm orders for the smaller type. The order was announced at the European Regions Airline Assn.'s (ERA) general assembly in Interlaken, Switzerland.
L-3 Communications has received a contract worth up to $2.5 million from the USAF to supply Model FA2100 flight data recorders to be installed in the C-130 fleet.
The U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and the European Commission (EC) have approved Boeing's $3.75-billion purchase of Hughes Space and Communications from Hughes Electronics Corp., with the addition of provisions aimed at eliminating unfair competitive advantages. The deal--which will expand Boeing's current Space and Communications Group to a $10-billion, 43,000-employee organization, based primarily in Southern California--is expected to be closed on Oct. 6.
The FAA certified the New Piper Aircraft's Malibu Meridian on Sept. 27. Powered by a 500-shp. Pratt&Whitney Canada PT6A-42A turboprop engine, the PA46-500TP is priced at $1.5 million and cruises at more than 300 mph. Piper has orders for 135 Meridians. Plans call for producing 35 airplanes this year and more than 100 in 2001.
The Army's plan to speed its procurement of AAI's Shadow-200 unmanned aerial vehicle is drawing criticism. ``The Army has a questionable basis for revising its acquisition strategy to procure four additional Shadow-200 systems in February 2001 before operational testing is conducted,'' warns the General Accounting Office. The RQ-7A Shadow-200, with three aircraft per system, is supposed to meet the Army's long-unfulfilled requirement for a tactical UAV system. The Army wants to buy the system faster and sees minimal risk in accelerating the program.
Raytheon and the U.S. Navy have received approval from the Pentagon to begin low-rate initial production of the AIM-9X air-to-air missile. The decision sets the stage for Raytheon to receive $43 million for 143 missiles, including 76 for the Navy and 67 for the U.S. Air Force. The weapons are to be delivered in 2002 and become operational first on the F-15C and F/A-18C/D. The AIM-9X features high-off-boresight targeting capability. The Pentagon plans to buy about 10,000 of the missiles during an 18-year production program.
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.
